All Souls Unitarian Church

For other similarly named churches, see All Souls Church.
All Souls Unitarian Church
36°07′16″N 95°58′35″W / 36.121181°N 95.976332°W / 36.121181; -95.976332Coordinates: 36°07′16″N 95°58′35″W / 36.121181°N 95.976332°W / 36.121181; -95.976332
Location Tulsa, Oklahoma
Country U.S.
Denomination Unitarian Universalism
Membership 2,023 (as of February 2, 2016)[1]
Weekly attendance 890[1]
Website www.allsoulschurch.org
History
Founded 1921 (1921)
Architecture
Status Church
Functional status Active
Architect(s) John Duncan Forsyth
Completed 1955
Clergy
Minister(s) Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister
Rev. Barbara Prose, Executive Director of Ministry
Rev. Dr. John Wolf, Minister Emeritus

All Souls Unitarian Church is a Unitarian Universalist ("UU") church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is one of the largest UU congregations in the world.

All Souls Unitarian Church was founded in 1921 by two leading Tulsans from families with Unitarian roots:[2] Richard Lloyd Jones,[3] the publisher of the Tulsa Tribune daily newspaper, whose father, Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, had served as Secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference and founded All Souls Church in Chicago;[4] and William Rea (W. R.) Holway, an engineer who was instrumental in the development of Tulsa's water resources.[5][6]

History

Early years

The church began when Richard Lloyd Jones ran an advertisement in the Tribune seeking people interested in starting a "liberal church." The group, originally calling itself All Souls Liberal Church, met at Tulsa's City Hall, Jones's house, Temple Israel, and the Majestic movie theater before erecting their own building at 14th and Boulder in 1930 - 31.[2][7]

In 1957, the church moved to its current home at 2952 South Peoria,[2] adjacent to the historic Maple Ridge district. This building was designed by Tulsa architect John Duncan Forsyth, who also designed the E. W. Marland Mansion in Ponca City, Southern Hills Country Club, and Pensacola Dam at Grand Lake o' the Cherokees,[8] the last of which also involved All Souls co-founder W. R. Holway as chief engineer.[6]

Ministry of John Wolf

In 1960, John Wolf became senior minister. He became prominent as a liberal activist in Tulsa's predominantly conservative politics, and his church grew to become the largest Unitarian congregation in the world.[2]

Some of Wolf's notable causes included his efforts to reform the funeral industry; his leadership of protests against the administration of the Tulsa Public Schools; a controversial sermon entitled "Tulsa is a Hick Town" that was credited with leading to the construction of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center; his consistent pro-choice activism; and his frequent criticisms of Tulsa's most famous evangelist leader, Oral Roberts.[2][9][10][11]

In 1974 All Souls began a broadcast ministry, initially known as Univision, that included a multipart series hosted by Wolf called "Faith in the Free Church."[12]

Recent years

Wolf took emeritus status in 1995.[13] Under his successors, Brent Smith and the current senior minister, Marlin Lavanhar, the church's activism has continued.[14] Lavanhar was a leading opponent of the Tulsa Zoo's controversial (and short-lived) 2005 decision to include a creationism exhibit.[15][16] Lavanhar presided over the 2004 memorial service for Fern Holland, a Tulsa lawyer and human rights activist who was the first U.S. civilian to be killed in the Iraq War.[17] In February 2010 he travelled to Uganda to speak in opposition to the proposed Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill.[18] All Souls has also been noted for its efforts to re-examine the 1921 Tulsa race riot, including the controversial role of the church's co-founder and Tribune publisher Richard Lloyd Jones.[2][19]

In the summer of 2008 the church rented space to New Dimensions, the congregation of Carlton Pearson, a prominent evangelist, former protégé of Oral Roberts, and bishop of the Church of God in Christ, who was declared a heretic by a group of Pentecostal bishops[20] for preaching his "Gospel of Inclusion," a message that salvation is afforded to all persons including non-Christians.[21][22] At the end of the summer, Bishop Pearson dissolved New Dimensions and invited the members of his congregation to join him in signing the membership book at All Souls, and to enroll their children in the church's religious education program.

All Souls began hosting the All Soul Acoustic Coffeehouse in 2008 in Emerson Hall, founded by Anitra Lavanhar, wife of the church's senior minister. The coffeehouse is not a part of the church's official program, but is a monthly venue for music aficionados. Lavanhar was first exposed to the concept of a smoke-free acoustic coffeehouse that catered to folk musicians while living in Boston. It is a non-profit venture, staffed by eight volunteers. The music is predominantly blues, bluegrass and alternative country style. Attendance varies, but has reportedly been as high as 200.[23]

The influx of new members received attention for the concurrent move to introduce a worship liturgy with the livelier, predominantly African-American Pentecostal style of Pearson's followers during one of the church's two Sunday services.[10][24][25]

As the church has continued to grow in recent years, it has strained the capacity of its Maple Ridge campus. Expansion plans were developed in 2007–2008 but not pursued. In 2011, serious consideration began of a master plan to move the church to a new Downtown Tulsa campus. In November 2011, the congregation voted to accept the donation of a vacant city block in downtown's East Village neighborhood.[26]

One historian of the UU movement has described All Souls Unitarian Church as a "prominent" example of a small group of urban UU churches that became "powerful voices of liberal religion in their communities and in the nation." [27]

Largest Unitarian Universalist congregation

All Souls Unitarian Church has been identified as one of the largest UU congregations for many years.[25][28][29] A second Unitarian church, Hope Unitarian Church[30] in south Tulsa, was established in 1968, drawing off some membership; later, another small spin-off, Church of the Restoration, was started in the Greenwood district.[9][31] In the early 2000s, All Souls Unitarian dropped some inactive members from its rolls, and for a time it was supplanted in the top spot by Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City and then by the First Unitarian Society of Madison, Wisconsin.[28]

The Unitarian Universalist Association certified membership statistics have shown All Souls Unitarian to have the largest congregation of any single-church UU congregation since at least 2009; as of February 2, 2016, All Souls Unitarian had 2,023 members, more than 500 members larger than any other church-based congregation, as well as the largest number of students enrolled in religious education of any congregation. The only larger congregation is the Church of the Larger Fellowship, an outreach ministry.[1][32]

References

  1. 1 2 3 UUA Annual Congregation Inventory (accessed 2016-02-02).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Marlin Lavanhar,"Tulsa, A Divinely Inspired City" in Davis D. Joyce and Fred R. Harris, eds., Alternative Oklahoma: contrarian views of the Sooner State (University of Oklahoma Press, 2007), ISBN 978-0-8061-3819-0, pp. 211-219.
  3. ↑ "Richard Lloyd Jones" Archived May 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. at Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography (retrieved July 17, 2009).
  4. ↑ "Jenkin Lloyd Jones" at Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography(retrieved July 17, 2009).
  5. ↑ Joe Robertson,"Great Lake", Tulsa World, January 12, 1998.
  6. 1 2 Glen Roberson, "Grand River Dam Authority" at Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture (retrieved July 17, 2009)
  7. ↑ Harvard University. "The Pluralism Project: All Souls Unitarian Church." 2008. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  8. ↑ Judy Randle, "Architect pens book celebrating his mentor, John Duncan Forsyth", Tulsa World, January 1, 2007.
  9. 1 2 Susan Everly-Douze, "A Free Spirit: The Rev. John Wolf Has the Most Liberal Pulpit in Town", Tulsa World, December 3, 1989.
  10. 1 2 Bill Sherman, "Pearson's Church to Meet in All Souls", Tulsa World, June 14, 2008.
  11. ↑ "The Public: Disillusioned", TIME, May 20, 1974.
  12. ↑ "Communications" at Unitarian Universalist Association website (retrieved July 16, 2009).
  13. ↑ Carolyn Jenkins, "Minister to Enter `Semi-Retirement'", Tulsa World, March 25, 1995.
  14. ↑ Bill Sherman, "All Souls' worldly leader", Tulsa World, September 6, 2003.
  15. ↑ "Biblical account of creation to go on display at Tulsa Zoo", AP in USA Today, June 9, 2005.
  16. ↑ Jesse Donahue, Erik Trump, Political Animals: Public Art in American Zoos and Aquariums (Lexington Books, 2007), ISBN 978-0-7391-1120-8, pp. 164-171 (excerpt available at Google Books).
  17. ↑ Michael Overall, "Friends mark life of Fern Holland", Tulsa World, March 20, 2004.
  18. ↑ Julie Bolcer, "Pro-gay Activists Meet in Uganda", The Advocate, February 15, 2010.
  19. ↑ "Unitarians Speak Out On Race Riot", Oklahoma Eagle, July 12, 2001, reprinted at Unitarian Universalist Association website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
  20. ↑ "Black Pentecostal Group Denounces Carlton Pearson as a Heretic", Charisma, June 30, 2004.
  21. ↑ Bill Sherman, "After last sermon, no regrets" Tulsa World, September 21, 2008
  22. ↑ "Formerly major church is folded into another", AP in Deseret News, September 27, 2008.
  23. ↑ Blevins, Kendra. "All Soul Acoustic Coffeehouse Provides Nightspot Alternative." GTR Newspapers. September 29, 2008. Accessed June 2, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Guess Who's Coming to Worship?" at Unitarian Universalist Association website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
  25. 1 2 Kimberly French, "The gospel of inclusion: A black Pentecostal bishop embraces Universalism, befriends a Unitarian minister, and shakes up the largest congregation in the UUA." UU World, Fall 2009.
  26. ↑ Bill Sherman, " Church on path to return to downtown: All Souls Unitarian members vote to accept a gift of property in the East Village." Tulsa World, November 22, 2011.
  27. ↑ Anatole Browde, Faith Under Siege: A History of Unitarian Theology (iUniverse, 2009), ISBN 978-1-4401-1163-1, p. 131, p. 171
  28. 1 2 "Biggest in the U.S.: That Now Describes The First Unitarian Society Of Madison, And In 15 Years It Has Doubled To 1,300 Members", Wisconsin State Journal, December 26, 2003.
  29. ↑ "A Brief History of the Southwestern Unitarian Universalist Conference" at Southwestern Unitarian Universalist Conference website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
  30. ↑ Hope Unitarian Church official website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
  31. ↑ Good News Newsletter, Jan/Feb 2009, p.3 at Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
  32. ↑ According to the same statistics, All Souls Unitarian was third in average weekly attendance, a category led in 2016 by First Unitarian Society of Madison.

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