All Church Camp: Sponsors an annual all church, intergenerational weekend retreat filled with workshops, entertainment, socializing, support and a worship service
Archives: The archives are devoted to preserving the church history in text, sound, and graphic forms.
Art Guild: Brings beauty and culture to church members and grounds in the form of diverse art, art shows, and artist discussion groups.
Book Room: Provides material to expand knowledge of Unitarian Universalism and sells new and used books and magazines.
Buddhist Sangha: A teaching, learning, and sharing spiritual community of Buddhist study and practice.
Campus Ministry: Working with local college communities to bring the voice of liberal religious freedom to young people.
Channing Society: The Church’s endowment to help to ensure a strong liberal religious program for our future.
Choir - Adult: Performs twice a month at Sunday Services and performs a major choral work with instrumental accompaniment twice a year.
Choir – Hand Bell: A musical ensemble of adults, each ringing several handbells. Each bell has a different pitch--something like the keys on a piano, and offers musical beauty to our Sunday worship.
Choir - Children and Youth: Children ages 4-9 and youth ages 10-14 perform during Worship Services, special occasions, and rehearse Sunday mornings in the chapel.
Communications Action Group: Description coming soon.
Community Building: Strives to deepen the bonds among members and friends of the church, and is the driving force behind Neighborhood Groups.
Concert Series: Since 1978, a wide variety of musical traditions and styles in a chamber music setting.
Cosmos: Cosmos tells and celebrates the 14 billion year epic of evolution of the cosmos and the earth, as we now know it from science, and explores our role, as human beings, in this ongoing evolution.
Denominational Affairs: Supports activities that connect First Church to our larger UU family and serves as a link with cluster, district, and continental UU organizations.
DRUUMM Diverse Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries: Provides support and advocacy for People of Color as well as leadership for creating an anti-racist UU identity and practice.
Dynamic Duos: Sponsors social activities for couples of all ages and orientations with similar values to become acquainted through enriching experiences.
Earth Centered Spirituality Circle: Holds rituals, drumming, prayer circles, labyrinth walking, and pagan classes. Families welcome.
Environmental Justice: Implements a Green Sanctuary Program, bringing awareness of environmental issues and builds a connection between spiritual practice and environmental consciousness.
Flowers: Coordinates flowers for Sunday worship. Sign up for donating flowers through the Flower Group coordinator.
Friends of deBenneville Pines: Supports our church camp and conference center in the San Bernardino Mountains through fundraising, publicity, and hands-on work projects.
Grants Panel: Creating opportunities for giving and receiving UU grants.
Helen Meyers Forum: Arranges and publicizes special church programs “for the purpose of providing for lectures and sermons by outstanding Unitarian Ministers and lay people, by meeting transportation costs, fees, and expense needs thereof.”
Hospitality: Hosts the Welcome Table on Sunday mornings, orientation sessions, and provides Sunday morning docent tours, greeters, nametags, and visitor follow-up.
Humanist Discussion Group: Holds regular discussion and study groups and lunch. This group promotes humanism as being common ground among all people of good will.
Journey Toward Wholenesss: Implements the congregation’s anti-racism, anti-oppression commitment on a church-wide basis. This group focuses on dismantling racism, eradicating other oppressions, and on bringing about transformation through increased awareness.
Kitchen: Maintains and coordinates our two busy and fun campus kitchens.
Lay Minister Program: Trained church members work alongside the professional ministers in caring for members who are experiencing significant losses, difficult life transitions, or have other serious needs.
Leadership Development: Promotes learning and leadership skills by individuals and committees and assists with organizational development issues and recruits leadership school candidates.
Library: Receives and catalogues donated books, magazines, and other material such as tape recordings, sermon reprints and software.
Looking Glass Theatre: A multi-generational acting company dedicated to presenting theater which reflects UU beliefs and values.
Meditation: Open, ongoing meetings to learn and practice seated, standing, and walking meditation.
Membership: Helping people become members of this church, and find a place within the community.
Memorial Wall: A memorial sculpture in which tiles carry the individual name, date of birth and death.
Men’s Fellowship: Personal support, intellectual stimulation, creative growth, spiritual deepening, and social outreach to the men of the church and community.
Music: Activities include four choirs, music for worship services, and the Concert Series. It also maintains the organ and pianos, assists with children’s musical activities.
Neighborhood Groups: Gatherings of people who live in common areas who meet in social gathering for support and fellowship.
Network of Spiritual Progressives: Building a network of spiritually alive people who are working to bring about the urgently needed paradigm shift of our age—the shift from competition and the current “bottom line” to compassion and sharing, from consumerism to planetary stewardship, from isolation to connection and community. www.nspsandiego.or.
Organizing for Justice: Affiliated with the San Diego Organizing Project, advocating and promoting programs that deal with issues of economic justice, poverty, affordable housing, healthcare, and racism.
Partner Church: Nurtures the relationship with our sister Unitarian Church in Brasov, Romania through activities and events here and abroad.
Peace and Democracy: Provides current and accurate information related to issues of peace and democracy through the use of e-mail, information tabling and our monthly Matters of Controversy series.
Planned Giving: Informs and encourages members and friends to consider all types of planned gifts that can benefit the Church and its work.
Practical Care Network: Provide services to church members in need such as rides to church or medical appointments; visits by phone or at home, and errands and chores for the homebound.
Preschool: Connects with the 40-year-old, renowned cooperative preschool located on the church campus.
Promise the Children: Initiates and supports community activities and organizations working to ensure that children grow in a safe, nurturing, stimulating, and loving environment.
Rainbow Action: Facilitates activities dealing with topics of interest to lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual persons, as well as to heterosexual and celibate persons and AIDS awareness.
Religious Education Committee Children: Description coming soon.
Religious Education Committee Youth / Adult: Promotes the religious and personal growth of the adult church community and the community at large by offering a varied and cohesive program within the context of the larger Unitarian Universalist tradition.
Reproductive Rights: Informs the congregation and wider community in matters and activities concerning reproductive choices.
San Diego Memorial Society: Founded in the late 1950’s by First Church minister emeritus John Ruskin Clark, this non-profit was organized to provide prearranged simple, dignified mortuary services at a reasonable cost.
Singletarians: Social opportunities for single persons over 50, including brunch after church at a local restaurant and occasionally, gatherings hosted at members’ homes.
Social Hour: Creates an enjoyable atmosphere for building beloved community between worship services on Sunday mornings by providing coffee and refreshments.
Spiritual Friendship Groups: Small groups of people who meet regularly for topic driven facilitated sharing which brings opportunities for deep and meaningful connections.
Unitarian Cooperative Preschool: This on-site school has been serving children of church members and non-members for 35 years with child oriented activities which encourage the development of whole children.
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry Liaison: Part of a statewide social justice ministry that give voice to UU religious value in the public arena.
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee: A voluntary, non-sectarian organization working to advance justice throughout the world.
Ushering: Provides ushers for Sunday services, monitoring and preparing Meeting House supplies.
Voluntary Simplicity: Supports people in living simpler lives more in line with what is important to them, being intentional about the way they spend their time, energy, and money and taking care of the planet.
Women’s Federation (UUWF): Enables church women to join together for mutual support, personal growth, and spiritual enrichment via monthly programs, discussion groups, and special events.
Women Together: Sponsors an annual empowering women’s weekend retreat filled with workshops, entertainment, socializing, support, and a worship service.
Young Adult & Campus Ministry: Young Adults (ages 18-35) are involved in many facets of First UU Church of San Diego. In addition to the opportunities described below, young adults serve as Religious Education leaders, on the Intern Committee, in Social Justice groups, on the Board of Trustees, as ushers, in the choir, on district committees and are involved in special projects.