Many of our members may not realize that we are among the fastest growing Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregation in the United States in recent history; UUCV is well known within the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) as a model start-up congregational success story. We have more members than any congregation started at the same time in the Joseph Priestley District (JPD), and we occupy a building impressive in both its appearance and moderate purchase price—a building that gives our congregation significant credibility in the community at large as well as an extremely useful space to meet.

But we did not start out with a building or more than 150 members as we have now. We did not initially meet for weekly services—we started that in 1997. We had no money at first. We had to do everything ourselves—we had no janitor, no ministers, no place to hold services, no classrooms for our children and youth, no auction, no Worship Associates, no Small Group Ministry, no Social Action committee, no religious education program, no Welcoming Congregation, no choir. And our rapid growth led to growing pains throughout our short history, pains that have thus far been overcome with a fascinating combination of creativity, new volunteer talent, shared vision, grit, and determination. Ours is a remarkable story of continuous and evolving individual effort that, at times, gives the appearance that our congregation "runs itself." But, of course, it does not.

To understand how things get done now and how they need to be done in the future, it’s important to understand what also went on behind the scenes as we evolved. Who did what, and why, and all that.

Early services at the Ruby-Baird farm in the meadow

Our congregation grew from two initial Sunday afternoon gatherings held in the summer of 1994 by Carlisle area members of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg (UCH) and their friends at the picturesque farm of Jan Ruby and Barclay Baird, located on Crossroad School Road between Carlisle, Shippensburg, and Newville. It’s also fair to say that informal social gatherings of UCH members and friends in the Carlisle area about ten years earlier provided a cornerstone for growth. At the farm gatherings, we brought our own folding chairs and shared fellowship, inspiring services, potluck dishes, and—of course—coffee under the open sky. Barclay Baird offered thoughtful sermons. It felt good to be together, and to not travel thirty miles or more to the Harrisburg church.

  Our congregation grew from two initial Sunday afternoon gatherings held in the summer of 1994 by Carlisle area members of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg (UCH) and their friends at the picturesque farm of Jan Ruby and Barclay Baird, located on Crossroad School Road between Carlisle, Shippensburg, and Newville. It’s also fair to say that informal social gatherings of UCH members and friends in the Carlisle area about ten years earlier provided a cornerstone for growth. At the farm gatherings, we brought our own folding chairs and shared fellowship, inspiring services, potluck dishes, and—of course—coffee under the open sky. Barclay Baird offered thoughtful sermons. It felt good to be together, and to not travel thirty miles or more to the Harrisburg church.

 At a subsequent meeting held at the farm that year, a group of nine members of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg (UCH) and friends decided to explore the possible formation of a Cumberland County UU "fellowship"—whatever that was—and to pay for this exploration out of their own pockets if need be. We weren’t sure how to do it, but we did it anyway.

We persuaded others to join in the exploration. We formed a Steering Group. We managed to muster up some funds to meet our basic needs, including renting the Carlisle Friends (Quaker) Meeting House for monthly Sunday afternoon lay-led services be-ginning on June 11, 1995. We remain grateful to the Friends for their early support in the form of a very modest rental fee, and we made good use of their kitchen as we followed each monthly service with a bountiful potluck meal. We’re also grateful to the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg for the use of their banking services—they deposited our contribution checks into their bank account to facilitate tax deductions by contributors and paid our bills—an arrangement that UUCV now provides for the new monthly UU gatherings in Gettysburg. In our early years we were known as the "Carlisle Extension of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg."

Our youth were involved from the beginning