UUSG

Our History

In 1996, a group of like-thinking residents of St. Simons Island incorporated the Fellowship that has become Unitarian Universalists of Coastal Georgia. The Fellowship met in various members homes at first. Later, they met in various halls or restaurants. The old Post Office building on St. Simons was home for several years. Shortly before that building was demolished, the group, hoping to reach a larger audience, voted to move to Brunswick. From 2004-2008, it met at the Ritz Theatre in downtown Brunswick. With membership growing, the Fellowship decided it was time to find a place of its own. In 2006, it purchased property on H and Norwich Streets near the old Court House in Brunswick. After hiring an architect and debating plans for this new building, another opportunity arose, and the congregation reacted rapidly. An existing building, a five-year-old former lawyer's office, was purchased, and soon after a contractor was hired and modifications were begun to make it more churchlike. The congregation was to move into this building in November, 2008.

For the first several years, the Fellowship met without a minister. Guest speakers and members of the congregation provided the Sunday services. In 2001, the Rev. William Phillips, a Methodist minister and retired psychotherapist, was hired on a part-time basis. He continues to lead the Fellowship.

History of Unitarianism

For many years, Is Rapoport was a stalwart at Unitarian Universalists of Coastal Georgia. Among many other things he brought to our congregation, he gave us a sense of history. He gave several talks on UU history to the congregation, and for a long time he wrote a column on UU history for the Voice, the Newsletter of UUCG. Is died in 2009 and our Sunday forum room was named for him. His sense of history lives with the following links. Click on each one to read UU history by Is Rapoport:

    UUs of Fame, a Voice article on famous Americans who were UUs.
    Unitarians in Europe,a talk given to UUCG on Oct. 15, 2000
    UnitarianNineteenth Century s in the South, a talk given to UUCG on March 16,3003
    How You Became a You You, a talk given to UUCG in March 2004

VoiceHistory articles; seven articles on UU history including pieces on Joseph Priedtly and William Ellery Channing, the UU merger and the first and only Unitarian king.

The Rev. Bill Phillips (above) retired as minister of the Unitarian Universalists of Coastal Georgia at the end of 2010. After an extensive effort led by a Search Committee, a new minister was hired. The Rev. Lynne Garner became minister in September 2011. Rev. Garner resigned in 2014 and in September 2014 Rev. Jane Page became our consulting minister. 

We will be adding a page about Rev. Page later, however, you can click HERE to see information about her on the Statesboro UU website.

Click HERE to read Rev. Jane Page's sermons.

Click below to read some of sermons by the Rev. Mr. Phillips.