2. Congregation Histories : Minnesota

Excelsior

Lake Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

The Lake Fellowship of UUs had been active since 1960. The membership of the group has been relatively small, about thirty family units. Attendance has been very good, averaging about 25 on Sunday morning. The group is more of an extended family than the average organization.

The lake referred to in the name of the fellowship is Lake Minnetonka, located in the western side of the Minneapolis area, in the City of Shorewood, near Excelsior. The group enjoys a fine A-frame as a permanent home, and it is located on an off-the main-road lot with a wooded view through the glassed-in wall at the front end.

In the early days, the Lake Fellowship met in typical rental places: schools, lodge room, town hall. Good fortune smiled one day. In 1968, a gas company exhibited the A-frame at the State Fair as an all-gas home. One of the members was a successful bidder to buy and move the building within two weeks. The A-frame, the moving, purchase of property, and building of a basement was a boon to the group at about sixteen thousand. When the balloon date of the loan arrived in 1979, the members handled their own financing. In one day, enough members accepted debentures to pay off the mortgage. The plan is going well, and they will be paid at the maturity in 1990.

Sunday mornings are informal, consisting of opening music, a reading, and a presentation followed by open discussion. Volunteers from the membership present the topic about half of the Sundays; speakers are engaged on others. Criteria for content of the presentations were set through the years. Programs committees have agreed that they should not simply be instructive or only entertaining, but be philosophical, issue-oriented, or thought stimulating.

Enough years have passed so that fine younger people are coming to the Lake Fellowship, and all indications are that it will continue to be a steady, important part of life to those who belong.

(Author not noted)

This history has been updated.