About Thermal Belt UU: Our Mission

The Thermal Belt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association of North America and is an ethical and liberal religious community dedicated to promoting the ongoing search for truth and affirming the inherent worth of the individual.

We understand reality through human experience, enlightened reason, scientific method, and the democratic process, and we find the central source of power and goodness within the human heart, mind, and spirit. Individually and collectively, we assume responsibility for our future, our community, our children, and our interdependent world.

Our growth and actions as thoughful, compassionate, and ethical human beings advance our vision of a world of peace and love, dignity and equality, freedom and justice. Through its membership, the Fellowship has been a force for good in the Thermal Belt area.

Our History

On Friday, March 2, 1990, a short advertisement appeared in the Tryon Daily Bulletin asking "Unitarians, Humanists, or other likeminded persons who would be interested in forming a Thermal Belt Fellowship" to call a local telephone number. The first meeting of of the Thermal Belt UU community was held at the home of one of the twenty attendees. The group established a format, chose officers, and agreed to conduct meetings twice a month. On June 3, the Fellowship began meeting at the Tryon Youth Center. Among its first articles of incorporation was this statement: "The Fellowship is bound by the common purpose of human betterment through the never-ending search for truth. In accordance with advancing knowledge and the growing vision of humankind, the Fellowship is committed to freedom of belief. Unified in spirit, the Fellowship holds a diversity of convictions. We believe in the importance of religious community that recognizes the worth and dignity of each human being"

The congregation has had a consulting minister since 2000 who conducts services once a month and is available for members' needs. At its second service each month, an invited speaker addresses the Fellowship. These speakers often attract visitors because of their subject matter and extensive knowledge. Since January 2007 the Rev. Jean Rowe of Brevard has been the consulting minister for the Fellowship. She is a graduate of Tufts University and Andover Theological School, both in the Boston area, and served for the past 13 years as minister of the Neshoba UU Church in Cordova, Tennessee.