On August 10, 2024 downtown South Bend held its biggest event of the year- Art Beat! This art festival celebrates all kinds of artistic expression featuring local artists from around our community.

For the first time, the Marketing Committee set up a table for First Unitarian to participate in the event. We had a group art project where folks wrote their answer to “What is Community?” on colorful scraps of paper and added them to our canvas. Some elected to decorate their contributions with chalice stickers.

We had many excellent conversations with a variety of folks from throughout our community. Many people commented on our sign that read “God Optional Church.” Some with surprise and curiosity while a few folks were a little doubtful. We had several discussions including how a non-dogmatic church can exist and what its like to be with a community that priorities connection over agreement.

Folks who volunteered to table got to hang out and bond over their shared passion for First Unitarian. Many volunteers wore their church shirts from our recent print-on-demand pop-up shop.

We had many folks give us their contact info so that they could get the latest on what is happening in our community. If you would like to do the same check out this page to sign up for the Chirp – our weekly newsletter https://firstunitarian.us/news-events/newsletter/