Our Mission

To change lives and heal our world

Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church actively seeks to improve our congregational, local, and global community.

We encourage spiritual growth in a diverse congregation which respects the free and responsible expression of ideas. We covenant compassionate fellowship, provide a joyful environment that nurtures creativity, and collaborates with others to promote our values. We provide a vibrant life span program while promoting environmentally sustainable practices.

Our Vision

To be the most vibrant center of liberal religion at work in the world

Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church is a vibrant liberal religious home welcoming all people while advocating our Seven Principles in the Houston community and the world. Dedicated to religion, not to creed, Unitarian Universalists do not impose a list of doctrinal formulas upon our congregation.

Our Church regards love of all creation and the perfecting of our spiritual nature as the unchanging substance of our religion. We consecrate to these Principles with a reverence for truth, moral character and insight, helpfulness to humanity, and the spirit of communion with the Infinite.

All who are in sympathy with the simplicity and freedom of our religion are welcome to worship in fellowship at Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church.

Our Values

Integrity to keep our promises to each other, our communities, and the wider world. Consistency of action, worthy of trust, honesty, truthfulness, authenticity, responsibility, accountability, and discernment requires courage to live in accordance with our Unitarian Universalist convictions to not be silent or fail to act when our Values and Principles are threatened.

Stewardship through our words and deeds to manage all that has been entrusted to our care for future generations. This extends beyond our financial and physical assets, to include our care for all of creation and the lives that we touch. 

Respect & Compassion in the inherent worth of all people, to honor diversity, and to nourish our sustainable environment. Our success is measured by how we include and treat each other and all living things, by the contributions that flow from our diversity, by the achievements of our community, and by the lives we change. We are saddened by the suffering of others and endeavor to widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of the universe.

Our Minister

Rev. Bruce Beisner is a recent graduate of Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago and was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in June of 2012. Born in West Virginia, Bruce lived in southwest Ohio prior to coming to Houston. Ministry runs in his blood as his grandfather and great grandfather were Southern Baptist preachers. During his seminary years, Bruce served as intern minister of Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church in Cincinnati and consulting minister of Hopedale Unitarian Universalist Community in Oxford, Ohio. In addition to his Master of Divinity degree, Bruce has a Bachelor of Science degree in Graphic Design.

 Bruce often says his calling is to preach and teach a “gospel of interdependence,” seeking to hold up the sacredness of our connections to others and to all of existence. At the core of his personal theology is a reverence for relationships and a passion for social justice.

Before entering the ministry, Bruce managed a small bakery for two decades. He was an active leader in the Cincinnati area LGBT community including serving as the president of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Cincinnati and editor of an Ohio gay newspaper.

Bruce and his husband, Jim Beisner, were married in 2000 and are the proud “parents” of a basset hound named Daisy.

Our Sundays

Sunday worship is the center of congregational life and spirituality at Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church. Services are held at 9:30 am and 11:00 am and are open to those of all cultures, classes, orientations, and theological beliefs.

Children begin in worship and later recess to Children's Chapel (during the 9:30am service) or curriculum-based Religious Education classes (during the 11:00am service). Our offerings for children  promote spiritual curiosity with age-appropriate conversations and activities.

Between the Sunday morning services, everyone gathers for fellowship and snacks in our Fellowship Hall from 10:30 am to 11:00am.

An Adult Discussion Group meets each Sunday during the 11:00 worship service.

Childcare is provided for infants and toddlers from 9:15am to noon every Sunday in our nursery.

Our Covenant of Loving Kindness

 To make kindness and good relationships a priority

Give help, support, hope, love, comfort and joy, value and nurture our relationships.

To encourage and trust others

Recognize, trust and encourage the strengths of others, apply our strengths to help and encourage others.

Give others the trust, time and encouragement to reach their own conclusions.

To be patient and forgiving peacemakers

Promote peace, solve problems by patiently seeking the reasons of feelings and opinions of others; Be slow to anger

Seek common ground rather than differences; forgive past wrongs and pursue common goals for the future

To generously work for tolerance, fairness and equity

Care about, share with those in need, welcome, and support those who are vulnerable or wrongly excluded; welcome diversity

To be considerate, respectful and sensitive

Take the time to know and appreciate others, by paying attention and listening carefully

Be sensitive to the personal boundaries and feelings of others; avoid distracting others during meetings and presentations

Offer feedback lovingly, quietly and privately and in an encouraging and gentle way

To be responsible, honest and trustworthy

Keep commitments and take agreed-upon actions; gently use our resources and surroundings, care for them and make them better

 Our Covenant

During every Sunday worship service, we affirm our Covenant. We are united not by a common belief, but by the concept of covenant where we agree to walk together as a congregation with common values, but not necessarily common belief. Covenant is a way of being in right relationship with each other and the world.

Love is the doctrine of this church

The quest of truth is its sacrament,

And service is its prayer.

To dwell together in peace,

To seek knowledge in freedom,

To serve humanity in fellowship,

To the end that all souls shall grow in harmony with the divine—

Thus do we covenant with one another.