Introduction
Associated with a free and responsible search for truth and meaning Unitarian Churches are creedless and non-dogmatic. This liberal and tolerant approach to religious ideas have enabled us to adapt and remain remarkably relevant in a changing world.
Unitarians trace their history back to the courageous heretics who dared to apply reason to religion, such men as Michael Servetus, Giorgio Biandrata, Faustus Socinus and Francis David. Outstanding Unitarians in the past century and a half include Joseph Priestly, Theodore Parker, William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Albert Schweitzer and Florence Nightingale.
The motto of the Melbourne Unitarian church is "Seek the Truth and Serve Humanity". The Church was established in 1852 at a meeting at what is now the Athaneum Theatre and was chaired by the first Chief Justice of Victoria, Sir William a'Beckett. The Melbourne Unitarian Church also has the honour of having the first ordained woman Minister in what was the British Empire, Martha Turner, who was elected by the congregation on 26 October 1873,
Unitarian churches are democratic and congregationalist, which means that each church is autonomous and governs its own affairs. This is distinguished from less democratic systems of church governance, such as presbyterian governance (by elders) or episcopalian (by a hierarchy of bishops). Ultimate authority for the governance of the church lies with its members.
The Melbourne church is also affiliated to the Australian and New Zealand Unitarian Association. The Unitarian Universalist Association in the U.S.A. and Canada has a membership of 1,000 congregations serving over 200,000 adults and church school children.