While I didn't attend a Sunday service at Unitarian Universalist Church of Muncie, I certainly…read morewould after my initial experience this evening in attending a fundraising event at one of Muncie's more progressive religious voices.
Unitarian-Universalists are, by intention, religiously diverse communities. This can differ from community to community, though none that I've ever seen would fall within the realm of anything resembling a traditional Christian faith community.
Instead, they tend to embrace diverse paths and also tend to be respectful of individual faith journeys. You certainly will find some who attend who would define themselves as more progressive Christians. You'll find Buddhists, humanists, agnostics, atheists, and pretty much everything across the progressive theological spectrum. While you can certainly find some people who are more conservative in U-U churches, for the most part the denomination leans progressive.
The Unitarian-Universalist Church of Muncie had generously agreed to host a comedy DVD release show, 100% of the proceeds to charity, at no cost to the event. There was even a member who attend to ensure set-up was complete and that audio was handled. While I had wished other church members would attend, especially given the comic's attending a U-U church and my own membership in an Indy U-U church, but hopefully this can occur sometime in the future with more relationship building.
The church itself is quite beautiful, a wooded lot provided a serene setting . There's a front parking area with two accessible spots (both ADA compliant with curb cuts). There's another lot to the side of the church, as well, though I don't believe it has accessible parking and is a little rocky in spots. That said, I had zero issues with parking. The church has a couple of entryways and being on one floor they were all fairly easily accessible (though the doors were not automatic, as is the case at my U-U church).
The sanctuary is stunning with some floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the wooded lot. Quite beautiful. The entire sanctuary is accessible except for the small speaker's area that could likely be made accessible - the ground is level enough that a disabled speaker could also easily sit in front of the congregation (I used this basic set-up tonight myself).
This church has a senior minister and a community minister on staff. They also offer a Coordinator of Youth Programming, Director of Music, Director of Lifespan Education, and an Office Administrator. The church is in a residential area, though it's actually quite close to SR 332. They offer Ball State campus ministry and, as is true of nearly all U-U churches, do a wide variety of social justice projects.
They don't seem to be super strong with web/social media - for example, in looking up their website I noticed they still have an event listed for May, 2019.
The U-U church history in Muncie goes back all the way to 1859, though I believe they've only been in their current location since the late 1960's.
Overall, I was really happy with this experience and would unquestionably return. There seems to be a strong interfaith embrace here - their windows and stain glass reflect a wide variety of interfaith traditions and I loved the church's open display of its historical roots and pastoral lineage. The member we met with tonight, Rick, was super friendly and helpful and we were really impressed when a member came in to try to help with an air conditioning issue. They were warm, open, hospitable, generous, and the U-U Church of Muncie is open, affirming (including LGBTQ), and is quite accessible (in fact, I noticed another wheelchair in the building at one point). I spend a fair amount of time in Muncie and hope to go back in the future for a Sunday service!
