Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that our church building resides on the land of the Lenape People, who stewarded this ground, the waters, mountains and shorelines for generations.  May our remembering help us find the courage to do all we can to restore wholeness to the earth and all her peoples.

UUCWC History and Centennial (1916 – 2016)
The UUCWC History Project Timeline, displayed in the sanctuary in the fall of 2013, invited UUCWC members and friends to reclaim and reframe our history as we looked to the future and a new settled minister, who joined us in August 2014.  On April 16, 2016, UUCWC celebrated 100 years of faith, hope, love and action.

Welcoming Congregation
UUCWC was one of the first five Unitarian Universalist congregations in the United States to receive designation as a “Welcoming Congregation.” This means that we openly welcome and accept people who are gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual into all aspects of congregational life and leadership. UUCWC has unanimously affirmed the right of same gender couples to be married, and proudly performs civil unions while continuing to work for full marriage equality.  Learn more about what UUCWC does to be welcoming.

Vera Hancock Peace Site
We are a “Peace Site.” On October 23, 1983 the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing declared itself the “Vera Hancock Peace Site.” This made our congregation the 13th peace site in the nation. A peace site is defined as “… a living active symbol of peace, a peace presence within the community. It is a place where people gather in peaceful pursuits. It announces to the community that our church is working toward achieving world peace.”

We named ours the “Vera Hancock Peace Site” because Vera was such a strong and outspoken leader within the congregation for justice and peace. Vera Hancock joined our congregation in 1931. She was lovingly referred to as “the conscience of this congregation.” When she died in 1982, she left a modest bequest to this church for a Social Action project. Motivated by Vera’s gift and her example, the Social Action Committee worked to declare our congregation a Peace Site.

Exploring the Response To Racial, Gender and Other Oppressions in the History of the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing, Highlights – 1916 to 2005

The more detailed version of this history is available for loan.

Beloved Community: 8th Principle Adopted in 2018
The Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing was the 8th UU congregation to adopt an 8th Principle at its 2018 annual meeting. The 8th Principle states: “We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.” Adoption of the 8th Principle is an important step in UUCWC’s Racial Justice Initiative, a church wide project begun in 2015 to deepen its understanding of and longstanding commitment to dismantling racism both within and outside its church community.