Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder


The Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder is a Unitarian Universalist church in Boulder, Colorado.
In 2017, congregation members voted to become a sanctuary church and from December 2017 to March 2022, undocumented immigrant Ingrid Encalada Latorre lived in sanctuary within the church building prior to being pardoned by Colorado Governor Jared Polis and granted a stay of removal in 2021. Encalada Latoree was one of more than 70 immigrants nationally who lived in sanctuary in churches during the first Trump presidency.

The Unitarian Fellowship of Boulder

On July 30, 1948, the American Unitarian Association granted the first-ever "Fellowship Charter" to the Unitarian Fellowship of Boulder. Granting that charter kicked off a two-decade expansion of Unitarians—the largest and most consequential period of growth in Unitarian history; a third of current-day congregations formed during the movement. The charter required no minister, but at least ten religiously liberal laypeople who expressed sympathy with the purposes of the American Unitarian Association, had bylaws, and made an ongoing financial commitment to the AUA.
In 1958 the church reincorporated under the name "The Unitarian Church of Boulder" and in 1979 adopted the name "The Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder."
In 1979 a group of 49 members dissatisfied with the minister at the time broke off to form the Boulder Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship to reflect its new location in East Boulder County.
In 2008, the UU Church of Boulder hired the first Developmental Minister in Unitarian Universalism. The Rev. Howell Lind served seven years in a capacity specifically aimed at changing and revitalizing the congregation—a move unusual in the Unitarians' congregational polity.

Settled ministers

  • 1957–1962 – Thomas J. Maloney
  • 1964–1969 – Philip Pennington
  • 1971–1993 – Forrest Whitman
  • 1995–2000 – Kurt Kuhwald
  • 2000–2005 – Jacqueline A. Ziegler
  • 2008–2015 – Howell Lind
  • 2015–2019 – Kelly Dignan
  • 2021–present – David Schwartz

Notable members