We affirm, promote, and celebrate the full participation of everyone in all of our activities without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, physical or mental challenge, affectational or sexual orientation, marital status, age, or national origin. UU Eugene is a welcoming congregation, which means our community is open to all. It's nice to have YOU with us.

Membership in our Church is open to anyone who is at least 15 years of age and in general sympathy with our purposes and principles (linked here). There is no creedal test and no obligatory ceremony connected with becoming a member; we encourage you to get to know us and our UU values before making this commitment.

The membership process includes attending the three-session orientation class "GETTING TO KNOW UU" offered by the Membership Committee and the Minister, receiving information about the local church, about Unitarian Universalist principles and purposes, and discussion of responsibilities and benefits of membership. Even transferring members are encouraged to participate to share their 'journeys' and to get to know others and their journeys.

A private appointment with the Minister is encouraged.

Your signature is needed in the Membership Book.

A pledge form is provided for you.

The New Member Recognition Ceremony held two or three times a year officially welcomes and introduces groups of new members to the congregation. We often hold a reception for new members to help you get to know current members.

MEMBER RESPONSIBILITIES

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UU Orientation - Three evenings where you get to know UUs and we get to know you. Offered twice a year for prospective members. Strongly recommended prior to joining. Preregister by calling the office - 686-2775
NEXT CLASS SERIES BEGINS OCTOBER 8, 2002

Other Adult RE classes are also recommended (Evensong, Cakes for the Queen of Heaven, Parenting series, BYOT, Seven Deadly Virtues, Our UU Faith, etc)

040.1 MEMBER: A person who has signed the membership book Through such signing the member enters into a covenant with the members of the church to use the Unitarian Universalist Association's Principles and Purposes as guiding values in their lives.

040.2 VOTING MEMBER: Voting Members are the caretakers of the church: A voting member is a member who is either entering ninth grade or 15 years of age or older, who has been a member of the church for at least 30 days and who annually makes a pledge of money and/or time, thus reaffirming membership in the church. In addition, the Board may give lifetime voting member status to individuals whose names are submitted by the Membership Committee for approval. Exceptions for those who cannot meet these requirements can be granted by the Minister or the President of the Board of Trustees.

040.3 Lifetime Member: A person who has been a member for an extended period of time and is no longer physically or financially able to meet the requirements for membership. Names will be submitted by the Membership Committee to the Board of Trustees for approval. Any lifetime member who is present at a congregational meeting is entitled to vote.

040.4  Resignations: Members may withdraw from membership by submitting a written or oral resignation.

040.5  Removals of Names from the Membership Rolls: A member may be excluded from membership for cause by action of the Board of Trustees. The Safe Congregation Policy may provide guidelines for action.

040.6 Membership Roll: The official roll for denominational purposes shall be updated annually by the Membership Committee and shall be submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval on or before January 20th. A preliminary figure shall be submitted to the Board of Trustees prior to the Board meeting each January.

Lifetime member: a person who has been a member for an extended period of time and is no longer physically or financially able to meet the requirements of membership. Names will be submitted by the membership committee to the Board of trustees for approval.

Resignations: members may withdraw from membership by submitting a written or oral resignation.

Removals of names from the membership rolls: a member may be excluded from membership for cause by action of the Board of Trustees in accordance with the safe congregation policy.

Membership Roll: the official roll for denomination purposes shall be updated annually by the membership committee and shall be submitted to the Board on or before January 20th. A preliminary figure shall be submitted to the board prior to the Board Meeting each January.

6-96.2 New members are to be informed of the general financial condition of the church and the cost to the church of each membership is to be explained clearly.

6-96.3 New members are to be informed on opportunities for participation in church activities and for volunteering time to maintain church operations.

6-96.4 New members are to have read the "Principles and Purposes of Unitarian-Universalism"

6-96.5 A mentor, Board of Trustees Liaison or the minister will help in welcoming a new member in the above ways and by emphasizing that the primary value of each member to the church is the gift of their personhood and not their tangible contributions.

Full Bylaws
Full General Policies

We receive fragments of holiness, glimpses of eternity, moments of insight. Let us gather them up for the precious gifts that they are and, renewed by their grace, move boldy into the unknown.
- Sara Moores Campbell

Blessed are those who yearn for deepening more than escape; who are not afraid to grow in spirit. Blessed are those who take seriously the bonds of community; who regularly join in celebration and learning; who come as much to minister as to be ministered unto...
- John Buehrens

Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the attendant of truth. Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery. A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief. Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false. Let no one fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it; for doubt is the testing of belief. The truth stands boldly and unafraid; it is not shaken by the testing.
- Robert T. Weston

I call that church free which enters into the conenant with the ultimate source of existence. It binds together families and generatios, protecting against the idolatry of any human claim to absolute truth or authority.
- James Luther Adams

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Out of wood and stone, out of dreams and sacrifice, the People build a home.
Out of the work of their hands and hearts and minds, the People fashion a symbol and a reality.
May all who enter here trust one another so surely that they dare to share the deep fires that burst into anger as much as the sweet springwaters that swell into laughter; the slow erosion of wounded tears as much as the soaring song...
- Eileen Karpeles

When we speak, we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed. But when we are silent we are still afraid. It is better to speak, remembering we were never meant to survive.
- Audre Lorde

I call that mind free which guards its intellectual rights and powers, which
* does not content itself with a passive or hereditary faith,
* opens itself to receive new truth as an angel from heaven,
* is not the creature of accidental impulse,
* does not cower to human opinion,
* which resists the bondage of habit,
* sets no nounds to its love,
* delights in virtue and sympathizes with suffering,
* casts of all fear save that of wrongdoing.
- William Ellery Channing

Love is not concerned with whom you pray, or where you slept the night you ran away from home. Love is concerned that the beating of your heart should kill no one.
- Alice Walker

Those roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for waht they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.
- Emerson

Despair is my private pain, born of what I have failed to say, failed to do, failed to overcome.  - Thandeka

To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends upon it; and when the time comes, to let it go.
- Mary Oliver

If, recognizing the interdependence of all life, we strive to build community,
the strength we gather will be our salvation.
If you are black and I am white, It will not matter.
If you are female and I am male, It will not matter.
If you are older and I am younger, It will not matter.
If you are progressive and I am conservative, It will not matter.
If you are straight and I am gay, It will not matter.
If you are Christian and I am Jewish, It will not matter.
If we join spirits as brothers and sisters, the pain of our aloneness will be lessened,
And that does matter.
  - Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley

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