Our DNA

Our DNA

WellSprings’ Mission is to be a community charged-full with the charge of the soul. The words are borrowed from Walt Whitman’s poem “I Sing the Body Electric.” Faith is an embodied experience at WellSprings, lived out through our heads, hands, and hearts. Our Vision is that WellSprings is called to make the world whole. Wholeness doesn’t mean perfection to us, but it does mean healing what’s broken, weaving together what’s torn apart – and, true to our Unitarian Universalist tradition, not leaving anyone behind.

DNAis how we refer to our congregation’s core identity, found in our Mission, our Vision, and our Beliefs & Commitments, below. DNA expresses itself in response to the environment and people it encounters. Yet DNA also provides a unique imprint – a map, as our community develops. Our list of Beliefs & Commitments below will give you a sense of what we’re about.

we believe in…

Original Blessing:  We are each born into original blessing, inherently whole because we are a part of a Source that is whole. Although our life experiences and our choices may fragment us, there is always the potential for integration within each of us.

Embodied Spirituality:  Spirituality is an embodied experience. A growing, honest spiritual life fills our “God-shaped holes” in a way that materialism, unhealthy relationships, and addiction cannot. We come to know the Divine by living fully, loving generously and being who we are called to be.

Streams of Faith: We can experience God without defining God. The Divine is not limited by any single text, gender, or dogma. There are many streams which flow to the same ocean and many paths paved with grace and wisdom upon which to explore our faith.

The Power of Community: Healthy human relationships offer a connection to the Sacred. We value the gifts and yearnings of all people, honoring the many ways we are different. We build bridges and connections between people with different life experiences, at all ages and stages of life, so we may all more fully experience our humanity and our faith.

Ripples of Connection: Like a pebble dropped into a pool of water, we do not know how far the ripples of our actions may reach. We are mindful of the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part in exercising our freedom.

The Burning Bush That Blazes Everywhere: The Divine is present to us in the holiness of our everyday experiences. The possibility of revelation is always open to us through our mindful attention.


we commit to…

Recharge Through Worship:  Our worship services will motivate, sustain, celebrate and strengthen our connection to the Divine and to each other through the shared experience of song, story, and inter-generational community.

Speak a Living Language of Faith: We will use words like God, Divine, Source, Spirit, Sacred, and Holy to guide us as we define our ever-evolving faith. Our spiritual voice will offer a choice beyond either secularism or fundamentalism.

Support Spiritual Practice and Growth: We will encourage one another to develop daily spiritual practices and will work to equip families to grow together spiritually in all the days they share.

Embrace a Large Vision in Intimate Ways: Teams and small groups will be the primary way our vision and mission are embodied. Spiritual formation, belonging, and faith development for our children, teens, and adults will be nurtured through our small groups.

Live Our Faith:  We will aspire to express our spirituality through mindfulness, gratitude, generosity and compassion wherever we find ourselves. We will actively discern and openly articulate the spiritual motivations and sources for our actions.

Honor Our Relationships:  We will be accountable to each other and will treat each other with respect, kindness, and compassion. We will receive, give, and share gratitude and recognition eagerly. We will acknowledge that conflict is necessary for authentic relationship, and will work through conflict with honesty, empathy, and openness.

Work For Justice:  We will live into shared principles of love and compassion to impact lives and promote justice with local and global communities.

Listen Deeply:  We will strive as individuals and a community to listen deeply, with humility and vulnerability. We will honestly evaluate where we are in the hope of courageously going where we are called to be. We will be open to the ongoing evolution of our vision, mission, beliefs and commitments as our community changes and grows.