Faith with an open mind

What is special about the Unitarian church?

The shortest answer is that it is a church without a creed. It sees faith as something personal, developing and changing as we mature and acquire knowledge and experience.

In the light of this the Unitarian Church provides a supportive religious environment, but does not preach any single set of beliefs, nor does it attempt to exercise any institutional authority over anyone's life. There is no rite of passage into the church. more info...

The content of services varies, but usually consists of readings, music, hymns, prayers, and an address. The texts may be taken from any worthwhile source. We also have family services and an active children's programme.

Shared Values

Unitarians find their bond of unity in shared values such as:

• The nurture of life's spiritual dimension.
• The use of reason and honest doubt in the search for Truth.
• Mutual respect and goodwill in personal relations.
• Constructive tolerance and openness towards the sincerely held beliefs of others,
• Peace, compassion, justice and democracy in human affairs.
• Reverence for the earth and the whole natural system of which we are part.

We aspire to make these values visible in the way we live our lives, as individual and as a community. more on our social action activities...

Personal Statements

These personal statements shared by members of Meadrow during a Sunday service, give a flavour of the diversity of Unitarian belief:

'A Spiritual Journey of Ever-increasing Circles' - by B. C

My own spiritual journey has been more of a circular walk than a pilgrimage. There is no destination, no arrival and no worshipping at a shrine. The importance of the journey is the journey itself, the discourse with myself on that journey and with the people who travel with me - such as members of this congregation. I started out on this journey in middle age. All my adult life I had been an atheist. I suppose my beliefs were very much linked to humanism. Like most people I had some sort of ethical framework - a belief in progress through human effort - particularly collective human effort for the collective good. read more...

'A Personal View on Doubt' by Louise Baumberg

...I was raised an Anglican and then moved towards the Quakers in my late teens. I still have a book that I called "A Personal Collection of Prayers and Quotations", started when I was 19, and only continued for a few months. It contains many references to God, sources such as Julian of Norwich, Martin Luther King, Muslim writers, the Bible and 'Christian Faith and Practice' (the Quaker collection of writings) - there is a strong theme of Universalism and social justice running through it. read more...

'Teaching is in Every Moment' by Rob Oulton

In my first (and only) long summer holiday as a student; and at a loss what to do, I decided to go on a T.S Eliot hitch-hiking tour round Southern England, arriving in due course at "Little Gidding". As Eliot's poem of the same name suggests, it really was "England and no-where"; and, though Summer and not Winter as for Eliot, it seemed still a very out of the way place. There was no one there, and so I, as the poem suggests, knelt in the little church, feeling a bit self-conscious. read more...

'A personal view on Jesus' by Nick Morrice

I suppose I am not particularly interested in the historical Jesus. This Jesus has been interpreted by so many artists over the years, from the makers of altarpieces and stained glass windows, to the makers of Hollywood films, and in that process to me, the essence of Jesus has been lost in great waves of emotion and sentiment. read more...

'Bless My Soul' by Michael Barrett

I write as a doubting Anglican and a faltering Unitarian, but as a hoping seeker after truth. In this, one of the things I cling to is the phrase 'Bless my soul'. read more...

Video clip from the London District Minister

Click for more video clips on the London District website...