The Mesabi Unitarian Universalist Church is an ethical and liberal religious community dedicated to promoting the ongoing search for truth and to affirming the inherent worth of the individual. MUUC is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association, a voluntary association of autonomous, self-governing member congregations, which have freely chosen to pursue common goals together. We welcome all who find our emphasis on personal religious integrity and commitment meaningful. We especially welcome those LGBTQIA individuals and families who have found other churches unwelcoming, or who are just seeking a loving community. We are handicap accessible and welcome those of all abilities. We welcome those experiencing mental health challenges who want a religious community to call home. And we welcome all BIPOC community members who long for a religious community on the Range.
We agree on seven principles and six sources underlying our religious ideas. You can learn more about them at the Unitarian Universalist Association website here.
Land acknowledgement: Our physical church building as well as the land on which most of us live is Anishinaabe land stolen from the indigenous people who first inhabited this place. We extend our hearts in apology and our hands in solidarity with the indigenous community here.
We are a lay-led congregation drawing from the surrounding 50 mile radius of Virginia, Minnesota. We meet every Sunday between Labor Day and Memorial Day at 10:30 a.m. at 230 South 7th Street, Virginia, Minnesota 55792. We proudly celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2012.
Our History
During the fall of 1911, a group of young Virginia, Minnesota people of Finnish descent were considering the establishment of a new church. Unable to accept the tenets and creeds of the orthodox churches and yet unwilling to forego a communal religious life, they wished to create and develop here a center of liberal Christian worship. The Bible and Christian traditions formed the basis of their theology, but they were left free to define their own religious understandings. This was a radical idea to the Finnish American religious community of the time and a very much welcomed idea to some. It freed them to integrate religion with contemporary philosophy and socialist thinking, and provided a spiritual community as well. They were led by the Rev. Risto Lappala, already ordained to the Unitarian ministry, and they had the interest and support of the American Unitarian Association. In December of 1911 twelve of them met and formally organized the "Free Christian Church of Virginia". Meetings were conducted in Finnish, a practice that continued into the 1940's.
In 1912 two lots were purchased and work on a church building was begun. The church was dedicated in June and it was decided to build a parsonage on the land adjoining the church. The Rev. Milma Lappala was ordained to the Unitarian ministry in August 1916.
This same church is still being used by our congregation for weekly services.