All Souls Church: Standing on the side of love

Rev. Robert M. Hardies and lay leaders from All Souls are among the organizers of a coalition of clergy from every ward in the District of Columbia who have joined forces to support the gay marriage bill that's expected to come before the DC Council later this year and to call on all people in DC to engage in a respectful and loving dialogue on marriage equality. Read and watch all of the press coverage of this important civil rights movement.

Stewardship Team's report to the UUA

Did you know that All Souls Church was selected as a demonstrate site for a UUA program on fundraising and stewardship? A Stewardship Team was formed with representatives from the Executive Team, Board of Trustees, Generosity Campaign, Religious Education, Membership, and Investments. You can read the full progress report including the Stewardship Team’s goals, responsibilities, accomplishments, and disappointments along with a list of members.

Hiroshima Children's Drawings
Gifts of Peace and Hope

On Sunday, April 5, All Souls Church celebrated an important chapter in its history. In 1948, inspired by the sermons of the Rev. A. Powell Davies, children at All Souls collected school supplies to send to children in Hiroshima, Japan. In appreciation, the school children in Hiroshima created original works of art in crayon, water color, pen, and calligraphic brush, which they sent back to All Souls as gifts. Sixty years on, the church has had these precious creations restored.

You are invited to view these drawings (high-quality reproductions) in Pierce Hall, where they will be exhibited through the middle of June.

Also, inspired by the story, the Intermediate classes (3rd-5th grade) will collect school supplies (washable markers or preschool crayons only) to help support our homeless or hungry neighbors who attend the after-school activities at Martha's Table. Place your donations in the baskets at the 16th Street and Harvard Street entrance. In 1948, they collected over a half ton of supplies. Let's see how much we can collect!

How have you responded to
Rev. Hardies' "call to solidarity"?

On Sunday, March 1, Rev. Rob Hardies preached about spiritual choices in difficult times, calling the congregation to practice generosity with our neighbors in need. All Souls will now tithe 10% of our cash offering on Sundays to neighborhood service organizations. As a first step, we purchased $1000 of Safeway gift cards, and asked congregants to use them with neighbors on the street or for their own meal if needed. If you have reflections on the themes of the service, or the experience of taking and using a card, please go to the new All Souls online discussion group (http://groups.google.com/group/all-souls-church-unitarian). We hope to create an ongoing conversation about how solidarity can triumph in tough times.

2008 Year End Financial Report

Access the 2008 Year End Financial Report from this page.

All Souls children read Obama's letter to his daughters

After the MLK Sunday service on January 18, CBS news taped children of All Souls reading President Barack Obama's letter to his children. The video was shown by local affiliates with an introduction by Katie Couric (this link displays the video without Ms. Couric's introduction).

Watch CBS Videos Online

All Souls Bed & Breakfast program

All Souls Church, Unitarian has re-opened its B&B program. All proceeds from the program will benefit our historic church and support our many spiritual and social justice ministries. More information here.

Generosity lives on If you've already pledged, we thank you. If you've not yet had a chance to pledge for 2009, there's still time. Members of the Generosity Committee will be contacting people to help them complete this cycle, and pledge cards are still available at church. You can also download the Generosity Brochure and the Pledge Card here, or donate at any time by clicking on the "Click here to donate to All Souls Church" button near the top of this page. Our sincerest thanks go out to Aaron Knight and Allison Denny, who led the budget drive campaign this year. Aaron (aaronmknight@hotmail.com) and Allison (allison_denny@hotmail.com) are still on the job, so please contact them if you need to discuss your pledge.

The Ministers' Journey towards Social Justice
1821 - Present

We still deal with many of the same issues today that the All Souls ministers have been challenging their members to consider through almost 200 years in the nation’s capital: race, rights, environment, peace and more. The Ministers’ Journey tells a story of leadership, courage and justice through almost two centuries of work in contentious times.

Silver Souls cordially invite you to visit this fascinating exhibition in the main hallway of the lower level, weekdays 11:00 am - 5:00 pm and weekends 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. Or view it online.

The "Music From All Souls" CD is available online

Joyful music is central to our life together at All Souls Church. The All Souls Choir, one of the first multiracial choirs in DC, celebrates a half century of musical excellence, singing a repertoire as diverse as our congregants. The artistic versatility of the singers allows the ensemble to perform everything from ancient church chant to Fauré, spirituals to South African songs, jazz to gospel.

Order the CD online.