In December 2020, the New Name Task Force was formed and comprised of Sharon Utz, Sachim Mehta, Debby Norton, Hayley Owens, Bonnie Hansen, and Elizabeth Breeden. The Task Force was charged with using an inclusive and democratic process for our congregation to choose a new name. Our new name was to be a link to our church’s Mission Statement and Covenant AND the process was to be inclusive, inspiring, fun, and a way of moving forward and “re-forming ourselves” as a congregation. The emphasis was to be on a transparent process with many opportunities for input. Our new name is a link to our church’s Mission Statement and Covenant AND the process will be inclusive, inspiring, fun, and a way of moving forward and “re-forming ourselves” as a congregation.
How we got there: the story behind the Congregation’s decision to change its name.
On September 27, 2020, following months of congregational conversations, and years of consideration, we, the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Charlottesville met virtually to vote to remove the words, Thomas Jefferson, from our name. More than 95% present voted in favor of this change….READ MORE
Congregation photograph by David Shutt One last look… In September 2022 the Church Signage Task Force was formed and charged with providing a recommendation to the Board of Trustees for updating and/or replacing the sign on Rugby Road to reflect the congregation’s name change from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church...
Exciting Update on the New Rugby Road Sign We reached our fundraising goal of $5,000 to replace the letters on the Rugby Road brick wall. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this possible! A special thanks to the anonymous donors who started our fundraising campaign with a $2,500 matching donation. We can all look forward...
At our annual meeting, our congregation voted to choose a new name for our faith community! The new name, chosen by our members, is Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville. This motion was brought to the congregational meeting by the Board-appointed New Name Taskforce, which helped create an inclusive and democratic...
At the June 6th Congregational Meeting you will be asked to vote on our new name. The three choices we will vote on are: Unitarian Universalists of Charlottesville Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Charlottesville Please submit comments for us to incorporate into our presentation on June...
New Name Town Hall Meetings April 18, 2021 After the Service: Notes on Conversation About 60 people attended through the middle of the meeting. Need the word Congregation because it says you don’t have to believe in Unitarian Universalism to be welcome and belong here. UU describes a gathering of...
We will hold small group Town Hall conversations about the top choices for a new name on April 18th AFTER Sunday Service (at the same zoom link) . We will also talk to the children and adults in Chapel on that day. There is also a chance to attend a...
Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey. Please stand by to see the results and where our congregation goes next. Once the results are in, we’ll talk about it in group conversations and see if we know how to come to consensus (Perhaps some ancestral Quakers will help...
In pursuit of brainstorming and then coming to consensus about our new name, we offered the following process as our first step: Conversation Questions: 1. What about our faith community brings you joy or is essentially us? 2. Should we include “Unitarian Universalist” in our name? 3. What organizational structure...
12 conversation groups met engaging 51 people using 7 facilitators and scribes. 11 Elders were interviewed individually. The YRUU teens discussed the questions and came to some consensus with their contributions. Submissions were also received from the January 31rst Chapel and Faith Development.
Sodano’s group picked the name Harmony, a Unitarian Universalist Church. “We wanted to get on the radar of church shoppers, so we went with a modern one-word name,” she says. Other names considered were “Discovery” and “Beacon.”