Our Ongoing Mission – The Road to Jericho

The Universal Life Church Monastery strongly believes in the rights of all people from all faiths to practice their religious beliefs, regardless of what those beliefs are, be they Christian, Jew, Gentile, Agnostic, Atheist, Buddhist, Shinto, Pagan, Wiccan, Druid or even Dignity Catholics; so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others and are within the law of the land and one’s conscience.

We ordain ministers, priests, rabbis and clergy worldwide who are totally non-religious or even anti-religious. This may seem contradictory, but we are looking to change the negative perceptions of religion, faith and spirituality, by encouraging people to take control, stand up and speak truth to power by fearlessly stating their personal religious beliefs. The ULC Monastery seeks to fulfill the spiritual needs of as many different groups as we can by offering a wide variety of services, ordinations, information and networking opportunities.  We teach that the communication and fellowship of our ministers is equal to the once a week sacramonious fellowship in some of our most segregated and elitist churches.  We further proclaim that "We are all Children of the same Universe" and as such we each have a right to be here. Thus said, that is the way that your God and Mother Nature planned it.

We can best accomplish this with your help. If there is anything you would like to see added to the website which will help you grow spiritually, please feel free to contact us.

We have the same legal standing as any worldwide religious institution. Upon request we issue Ordination Certificates and notarized Letters of Good Standing to all ordained ULC ministers in our data banks.

In closing, we need your prayers. We know where we are going. If you should decide not to travel our path and seek fellowship somewhere else; God speed. Nonetheless, do drop by from time to time as we know you will. It is our hope that you’ll remember us on this day we met on our journey to Jericho where Joshua fought the battle and the walls of intolerance came tumbling down. We continue Joshua’s battle herein

Statement of Universal Life Church Monastery

We believe that everyone should be an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church Monastery. Anyone who has not yet done so is simply unaware of the accorded privileges to perform wedding ceremonies, funerals, baptisms and yes, even exorcisms. This church will legally ordain anyone who asks and we will never charge a fee for doing so.

Select Get Ordained to begin the ordination process today. We offer this service as part of our non-profit ULC ministry, without any question as to your religious or spiritual faith, beliefs or practices. We keep a formal legal record of all ordinations for life.

This ULC church has two tenets: to ensure for each of our ordained ministers the absolute right of freedom to practice their religion in the manner of their choosing, as mandated by the First Amendment; and to encourage our newly ordained ministers to do that which is right and in accord with their government’s laws. 

The Universal Life Church Monastery will not stand between you and your God and we recognize that each minister and clergy member has the right to choose his or her own spiritual path. Each minister legally ordained by the ULC Monastery is at liberty to follow any religious path so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of others.

 

Moving Forward

The Monastery has stepped up to the plate to show leadership that the Universal Life Church needs; why settle for the failed bankruptcy and deceptive tactics of the past. The Monastery carries the torch of the Universal Life Church, ordaining hundreds of ministers everyday, and providing assistance grants to charitable organizations in the community. As well as fighting for the rights of ministers on a daily basis, all the while advancing the notion that “We are all Children of the Same Universe”.

View more celebration photos on Flickr

With many ministers in good communion, the ULC monastery regularly holds multi-cultural celebrations.

The ULC Monastery is the largest congregation of Universal Life Church ministers online. As Martin Luther held,… we are not bound by Rome, but guided by the need to search for the creator, of our independent conscience.

We need your prayers, your support, and if you are ordained somewhere else, join us.

 

Universal Life Church History

Reverend Kirby Hensley grew up in a Christian home in North Carolina. In his lifetime he neither learned to read nor write, yet he still had a strong desire to learn and was a student of life. He began the Universal Life Church in 1959 with the idea that all people should be accepted regardless of their faith. The people who opposed him found out that although he was illiterate, he was more clever and tenacious than they had presumed, and he was a natural good judge of character.

By 1977 the ULC revivalist movement had exploded and a separate organization – the Universal Life Church Monastery – was founded by Br. Martin to accommodate the personal needs of the homeless, marginalized and disenfranchised individuals, New Age seekers and newly ordained ministers through monastic training.

Hensley fought in the courts for the universal right to life and preached throughout the United States for sixty-five years, dying in 1999 after seeing his message reach the entire world through the Internet.

Br. Daniel Zimmerman, former ULC Chaplain, and the Monastery staff continued the fight for religious liberty even to the point that only his motivation and the grace of God relieved his ailing personal health and postponed his retirement. In August of 2006 Br. Daniel received wisdom to recognize that the Universal Life Church had become the nationally-recognized vanguard of religious rights’ preservation, and that his part in ULC history was complete. Headquarters for the Universal Life Church Monastery in Seattle legally ordains more ministers than any other church in the world. The sun never sets on the Universal Life Church.

We champion the underdogs and the oppressed just as the legacy of Christ, King, Kennedy, Mother Theresa and Gandhi taught. There are no other international churches with the proven history of devotion to ministers for the sake of their own ministries such as this.  We do not require our ordained ministers or ULC congregants to bow before us or kiss our rings, because we believe that we are all equal universally. We meet the needs of our ministers and bless their calling, whether they intend to change the world or to simply officiate a wedding for a loved one in their new found capacity as a legally ordained minister of the Universal Life Church Monastery.

Thank you and welcome.
-Br. G. Martin Freeman, Presiding Chaplain

Top page