Brief History of UUCiL
Livermore's "UU" Church began as a fellowship 50 years ago by about 10 families in Livermore.
The idea for a Unitarian Universalist Church in Livermore started when one family wanted to adopt a baby and thought belonging to a faith would help the process. The couple started their own branch of the Unitarian Universalist Association, but left after adopting the child. Fortunately,the church remained and continued to grow.
The group was originally led by lay people, meeting in members' homes or renting out spaces around town. In the early 1960s, the Fellowship found a home near what is now Lowe's Home Improvement store in Livermore but soon outgrew it. In the late 1970s, the Livermore UUs bought an existing church building on North Vasco Road and took possession in September 1977.
The Fellowship called its first permanent minister in 1981, Elizabeth Selle Jones. With continued growth, the Fellowship became the Unitarian Universalist Church in Livermore (UUCiL) in 1987. On Selle Jones’ retirement in 1996, a formal search process ended with the arrival of Rev. Eric Meter in Livermore in 1997, which began a ten- year sojourn of spiritual and physical growth for UUCiL. The church undertook an ambitious building program in 2002, adding a religious education building and a multi-purpose building, to form the campus as it exists today. Recently, Rev. Meter accepted a position in New York State, and the church called Rev. Carolyn Colbert to be its interim minister during its search for a new settled minister. Rev. Alicia McNary Forsey was our interim minister as we continued the search for a second year. In 2009, The Reverend Lucas Hergert became our new settled minister.
