Unitarian pews runneth over

Political stance pushes membership to 1,000; third service pondered

By Peter Korn

The Portland Tribune, Nov 14, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (4 Reader comments)

The First Unitarian Church, 1211 S.W. Main St., is undergoing expansion as it struggles to accommodate a growing number of parishioners who are drawn to, among other things, the church’s political leanings, guest speakers and educational programs.

DENISE FARWELL / PORTLAND TRIBUNE

While most of the traditional downtown churches have plenty of available seats Sunday mornings, at the First Unitarian Church on downtown’s western edge, congregants have to come early if they want to sit up close.

First Unitarian, under the direction of Pastor Marilyn Sewell, has grown to the point where its two services Sunday morning often can’t accommodate the nearly 1,000 people who arrive. The church is enlarging its facility, and Sewell is considering a third Sunday service. But she isn’t sure she’s up to conducting three in a day.

According to Sewell, First Unitarian has the highest attendance of any Unitarian church in the country. The next largest, she says, averages about 700 worshippers Sunday mornings.

Apparently, a downtown church – in spite of the challenges felt by many Portland downtown churches – can thrive. Sewell says politics that speak to the downtown community is one of the reasons.

She recalls first arriving in Oregon 15 years ago, when a measure to restrict gay rights was on the state ballot. A congregant suggested they wrap their entire block with a red ribbon and declare it a hate-free zone. Which they did.

The media attention from the incident labeled First Unitarian as a liberal church, Sewell says. “People saw us as a place where they could come if they were progressive and had spiritual needs,” Sewell says. “We became the place where it was happening.”

What happens at First Unitarian is different from most downtown churches. Sewell is outspoken in declaring her church’s intention to enter not only the social-service arena, but the political one as well.

“We’re not talking about necessarily hands-on programs so much as we’re talking about levels of systemic change,” Sewell says. “Instead of starting a food program we might ask the question, Why are there so many people who are hungry? We might do lobbying. Politics – that’s where real change is going to happen,’ ” Sewell says.

First Unitarian keeps an updated list of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq in a hall downstairs. It participated in a project in which small toy soldiers were scattered around town with “Please bring me home,” written in signs around their necks. “We’re very anti-war here,” Sewell says.

In recent months Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer and Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., have addressed First Unitarian. The church’s list of guest speakers and educational programs probably are the longest in town.

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