All Souls Unitarian Church
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All Souls Unitarian Church (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
| All Souls Unitarian Church | |
| 36°07′16″N 95°58′35″W / 36.121181°N 95.976332°WCoordinates: 36°07′16″N 95°58′35″W / 36.121181°N 95.976332°W | |
| Location | Tulsa, Oklahoma |
|---|---|
| Country | U.S. |
| Denomination | Unitarian Universalism |
| Membership | 1,900 (as of January 28, 2011)[1] |
| Weekly attendance | 914[1] |
| Website | www.allsoulschurch.org |
| History | |
| Founded | 1921 |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Church |
| Functional status | Active |
| Architect(s) | John Duncan Forsyth |
| Completed | 1955 |
| Clergy | |
| Minister(s) | Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister Rev. Tamara Lebak, Associate Minister Rev. John Wolf, Minister Emeritus |
For other similarly named churches, see All Souls Church.
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 had 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]
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Contents
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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 met at Tulsa's City Hall, Jones's house, Temple Israel, and a movie theater before erecting their own building at 14th and Boulder in 1930.[2]
After 25 years, 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,[7] 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][8][9][10]
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."[11]
Recent years
Wolf took emeritus status in 1995.[12] Under his successors, Brent Smith and the current senior minister, Marlin Lavanhar, the church's activism has continued.[13] Lavanhar was a leading opponent of the Tulsa Zoo's controversial (and short-lived) 2005 decision to include a creationism exhibit.[14][15] 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.[16] In February 2010 he travelled to Uganda to speak in opposition to the proposed Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill.[17] 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] [18]
In 2008 the church absorbed the congregation of Carlton Pearson, a prominent evangelist, former protege of Oral Roberts, and bishop of the Church of God in Christ, who was declared a heretic by a group of Pentecostal bishops[19] for preaching his "Gospel of Inclusion" that salvation is afforded to all persons including non-Christians.[20][21] The merger received attention for its efforts to combine All Souls' staid traditional Unitarian worship style with the livelier, predominantly African-American Pentecostal style of Pearson's followers.[9][22][23]
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." [24]
Largest Unitarian Universalist congregation
All Souls Unitarian Church has been identified as one of the largest UU congregations for many years.[23][25][26] A second Unitarian church, Hope Unitarian Church[27] 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.[8][28] 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.[25]
However, the Unitarian Universalist Association certified membership statistics show that as of January 28, 2011, All Souls Unitarian had 1,900 members, giving it the largest membership of any single-church UU congregation. The only larger congregations are the Church of the Larger Fellowship, an outreach ministry, and the 25 combined churches[29] of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines.[1] According to the same statistics, All Souls Unitarian was second in average weekly attendance, behind First Unitarian Church of Portland, Oregon.
References
- ^ a b c UUA Data Services: Certified Congregations (retrieved March 3, 2011).
- ^ a b c d e f 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.
- ^ "Richard Lloyd Jones" at Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography (retrieved July 17, 2009).
- ^ "Jenkin Lloyd Jones" at Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography(retrieved July 17, 2009).
- ^ Joe Robertson,"Great Lake", Tulsa World, January 12, 1998.
- ^ a b Glen Roberson, "Grand River Dam Authority" at Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture (retrieved July 17, 2009)
- ^ Judy Randle, "Architect pens book celebrating his mentor, John Duncan Forsyth", Tulsa World, January 1, 2007.
- ^ a b Susan Everly-Douze, "A Free Spirit: The Rev. John Wolf Has the Most Liberal Pulpit in Town", Tulsa World, December 3, 1989.
- ^ a b Bill Sherman, "Pearson's Church to Meet in All Souls", Tulsa World, June 14, 2008.
- ^ "The Public: Disillusioned", TIME, May 20, 1974.
- ^ "Communications" at Unitarian Universalist Association website (retrieved July 16, 2009).
- ^ Carolyn Jenkins, "Minister to Enter `Semi-Retirement'", Tulsa World, March 25, 1995.
- ^ Bill Sherman, "All Souls' worldly leader", Tulsa World, September 6, 2003.
- ^ "Biblical account of creation to go on display at Tulsa Zoo", AP in USA Today, June 9, 2005.
- ^ 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).
- ^ Michael Overall, "Friends mark life of Fern Holland", Tulsa World, March 20, 2004.
- ^ Julie Bolcer, "Pro-gay Activists Meet in Uganda", The Advocate, February 15, 2010.
- ^ "Unitarians Speak Out On Race Riot", Oklahoma Eagle, July 12, 2001, reprinted at Unitarian Universalist Association website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
- ^ "Black Pentecostal Group Denounces Carlton Pearson as a Heretic", Charisma, June 30, 2004.
- ^ Bill Sherman, "After last sermon, no regrets" Tulsa World, September 21, 2008
- ^ "Formerly major church is folded into another", AP in Deseret News, September 27, 2008.
- ^ "Guess Who's Coming to Worship?" at Unitarian Universalist Association website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Anatole Browde, Faith Under Siege: A History of Unitarian Theology (iUniverse, 2009), ISBN 978-1-4401-1163-1, p. 131, p. 171
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "A Brief History of the Southwestern Unitarian Universalist Conference" at Southwestern Unitarian Universalist Conference website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
- ^ Hope Unitarian Church official website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
- ^ Good News Newsletter, Jan/Feb 2009, p.3 at Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
- ^ Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines website (retrieved July 17, 2009).
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