Sunday Services are held every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at 2032 Central Avenue, Billings. Look for the sign and the large spruce tree in the front yard.
Parking is available in the lot next to the Fellowship, in the alley behind the building (enter by way of Birchwood or South Santa Fe Drive), and across the street on Central Avenue. The main entrance is on the west side of the building. As you enter, you will be greeted and handed an order of service.
If you have children, you’re welcome to keep them with you during the service or bring them to the nursery, where we offer year-round infant and toddler care, or to the Religious Education room, where we offer Children’s RE classes during the school year and activities during the summer.
To start the service, the service leader rings a bell and begins the service with announcements and words of welcome, followed by the lighting of the chalice, which is the symbol of the Unitarian Universalist faith.
Our services are developed by the congregation, and they celebrate many traditions and beliefs. We explore them in a variety of ways each Sunday through readings, meditation, music, ritual, lay- and clergy-led presentations, and more. You can find details about our upcoming services by clicking the links on the Home Page’s calendar.
The service ends when we extinguish the chalice and sing our traditional song, “Shalom Salaam,” while holding hands in a large circle. Afterwards, we invite everyone to join us for fellowship, refreshments, and occasionally, discussions, meetings, and special events.
Unitarian Universalists do not require adherence to any creed or dogma. Whatever is presented during our services is to be taken as a stimulus to your own thought and not as a demand for your acquiescence. We have seven commonly held principles that we affirm and promote, and you can find them here. We invite you to return on a few different Sundays to get a taste of the variety of paths we travel as we celebrate the values we find meaningful and true.
Special Services
Intergenerational Services: Several times a year, we hold fun and meaningful services that involve contributions from the children. The more kids, the merrier!
Justice Sunday: Each spring, in conjunction with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), UU congregations nationwide stand together and set aside one Sunday for worship and education focused on one pressing human rights issue.
Passover Seder: This seven-day holiday is the most commonly celebrated holiday among Jews and is related to the Exodus from Egypt after generations of slavery. The Fellowship has a Seder dinner in the afternoon and observes many of the Seder customs and traditions.
Pledge Drive Kickoff Sunday: This service is held in the spring and focuses on stewardship, giving as spiritual practice, and the role of money in our lives as we begin the annual Pledge Drive, which funds our budget and supports the Fellowship’s programs.
Earth Day service: Unitarian Universalism’s seventh principle, “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part,” makes Earth Day, on April 22, a day to celebrate religiously. Themes include earth-centered spirituality, connecting to the divine through nature, caretaking of the environment, and the interdependent web.
Homecoming: This is the first service of the new church year in September. It includes teacher dedication as well as the Water Communion ritual, when we pour either a small amount of water from a place we found meaningful or “symbolic” water into a large bowl. The combined water represents our coming together and our shared faith that comes from many sources.
Candlelit Christmas Eve service: As with all of our services, families, friends, and visitors are welcome. Generally, we sing Christmas carols, listen to a story that conveys the spirit of Christmas, perform a candle-lighting ritual, and enjoy Christmas refreshments.