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Lincoln
The Unitarian Church of Lincoln
All Souls Unitarian Church of Lincoln arose from the symbolic ashes of All Souls Universalist Church, which had been formed as a congregation in 1870 and which built a small chapel in 1872 on land granted to it by the State Legislature. Two decades later a larger building was needed and was built on the same site. At the same time there was a small Unitarian group abiding in the city, and it even had a minister for a one-year period, but the Unitarians were few in number even though it was publicly charged in 1890 that Unitarians “controlled” the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.
Back at the Universalist Church there was trouble. The economic collapse of 1893 and the general demise of Universalism throughout the Midwest were making it difficult for the Universalists to remain solvent. Their minister, Eben Chapin, resigned, but the group remained intact, struggling to pay the mortgage. When Boston clergyman Edward Everett Hale came to Lincoln to speak at the university he was approached by the Unitarians to see if the American Unitarian Association might loan them some money to buy the Universalist building. That was done and the two groups merged, changed the name of the congregation from Universalist to Unitarian, and called a minister. 1898 was the founding year. The Reverend Mr. Marsh stayed for nine years and was paid an annual salary of $1800.
The most illustrious minister of the early years was Arthur Weatherly, who served from 1908 until 1919, and again, from 1929 to 1942. He was a writer and preacher and was fully involved in the community. He worked for women’s suffrage. He helped form a community hospital (now Lincoln General Hospital). He is recognized as the father of the Workmen’s Compensation Law in Nebraska. He invited well-known figures to his pulpit (Clarence Darrow and Lincoln Steffens among them) and with a colleague, John Haynes Holmes, formed the Unitarian Fellowship for Social Justice. An annual Holmes-Weatherly Award is still given each year by the Unitarian Universalist Association.
The congregation supported Weatherly in his social activism, but they did not fully support him in his pacifism during the First World War. He had been a member of the Ford Peace Expedition, along with a layman, C. A. Sorensen. As the United States was drawn into the war, Weatherly became an opponent of our policy. He was granted leave to work in civilian work projects, but when the war ended he felt it unwise to return to his ministry in Lincoln. He moved on. But he returned ten years later, to continue his ministry of social involvement. He helped form a local Urban League and he chaired the organization that became the Family Service Agency. He retired in 1942 and died in 1944.
The 1920s were difficult years for the congregation. Attendance and membership were down. Even with the return of Weatherly in the 1930s, membership was low and income slight. The total income of the church in 1940 was $2,630.86. Growth was slow, but able ministries helped in the next generation, and a series of five-year ministries (Carl Storm, Philip Schug, Peter Raible) contributed to the stability of the congregation.
A new building was constructed in 1961, the result of congregational growth under the ministry of Peter Raible. Growth since his departure has continued until the congregation today (1986) has a membership of 410 and a budget of $105,000. Charles Stephen came as minister in 1961 and will observe his 25th anniversary this year. During his ministry an addition was built and the post of Religious Education Director was created. Ginger Luke remains in that half-time post.