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All Souls Unitarian Church
All Souls Unitarian Church is a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is one of the largest UU congregations in the world.
All Souls Unitarian Church was founded in 1921 by two leading Tulsans from families with Unitarian roots: Richard Lloyd Jones, the publisher of the Tulsa Tribune daily newspaper, whose father, Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, had served as secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference and founded All Souls Church in Chicago; and William Rea (W. R.) Holway, an engineer who was instrumental in the development of Tulsa's water resources.
The church began when Richard Lloyd Jones ran an advertisement in the Tribune seeking people interested in starting a "liberal church". The group, originally calling itself All Souls Liberal Church, met at Tulsa's City Hall, Jones's house, Temple Israel, and the Majestic movie theater before erecting their own building at 14th and Boulder in 1930 and 1931.
In 1957, the church moved to its current home at 2952 South Peoria, adjacent to the historic Maple Ridge district. This building was designed by Tulsa architect John Duncan Forsyth, who also designed the E. W. Marland Mansion in Ponca City, Southern Hills Country Club, and Pensacola Dam at Grand Lake o' the Cherokees, the last of which also involved All Souls co-founder W. R. Holway as chief engineer.
In 1960, John Wolf (1925–2017) became senior minister. He became prominent as a liberal activist in Tulsa's predominantly conservative politics, and his church grew to become the largest Unitarian congregation in the world.
Early in his ministry at All Souls, Wolf began building bridges with other religious leaders in Tulsa. The Tulsa Council of Churches (TCC) had previously excluded groups whose beliefs did not coincide with those held by the majority of its members. Those ineligible to join included Roman Catholics, Jews, Unitarians and Muslims. In 1965, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King's call for leaders of all churches to join him in his Freedom March at Selma, Alabama, Wolf called for an ecumenical (and integrated) service to be hosted by All Souls. Such an event had never before happened in Tulsa. Many church leaders participated. Soon afterward, the TCC opened its membership to those religious faiths that it had previously declared as ineligible.
Some of Wolf's notable causes included his efforts to reform the funeral industry; his leadership of protests against the administration of the Tulsa Public Schools; a controversial sermon entitled "Tulsa is a Hick Town" that was credited with leading to the construction of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center; his consistent pro-choice activism; and his frequent criticisms of Tulsa's most famous evangelist leader, Oral Roberts.
In 1974 All Souls began a broadcast ministry, initially known as Univision, that included a multipart series hosted by Wolf called Faith in the Free Church.
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All Souls Unitarian Church
All Souls Unitarian Church is a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is one of the largest UU congregations in the world.
All Souls Unitarian Church was founded in 1921 by two leading Tulsans from families with Unitarian roots: Richard Lloyd Jones, the publisher of the Tulsa Tribune daily newspaper, whose father, Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, had served as secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference and founded All Souls Church in Chicago; and William Rea (W. R.) Holway, an engineer who was instrumental in the development of Tulsa's water resources.
The church began when Richard Lloyd Jones ran an advertisement in the Tribune seeking people interested in starting a "liberal church". The group, originally calling itself All Souls Liberal Church, met at Tulsa's City Hall, Jones's house, Temple Israel, and the Majestic movie theater before erecting their own building at 14th and Boulder in 1930 and 1931.
In 1957, the church moved to its current home at 2952 South Peoria, adjacent to the historic Maple Ridge district. This building was designed by Tulsa architect John Duncan Forsyth, who also designed the E. W. Marland Mansion in Ponca City, Southern Hills Country Club, and Pensacola Dam at Grand Lake o' the Cherokees, the last of which also involved All Souls co-founder W. R. Holway as chief engineer.
In 1960, John Wolf (1925–2017) became senior minister. He became prominent as a liberal activist in Tulsa's predominantly conservative politics, and his church grew to become the largest Unitarian congregation in the world.
Early in his ministry at All Souls, Wolf began building bridges with other religious leaders in Tulsa. The Tulsa Council of Churches (TCC) had previously excluded groups whose beliefs did not coincide with those held by the majority of its members. Those ineligible to join included Roman Catholics, Jews, Unitarians and Muslims. In 1965, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King's call for leaders of all churches to join him in his Freedom March at Selma, Alabama, Wolf called for an ecumenical (and integrated) service to be hosted by All Souls. Such an event had never before happened in Tulsa. Many church leaders participated. Soon afterward, the TCC opened its membership to those religious faiths that it had previously declared as ineligible.
Some of Wolf's notable causes included his efforts to reform the funeral industry; his leadership of protests against the administration of the Tulsa Public Schools; a controversial sermon entitled "Tulsa is a Hick Town" that was credited with leading to the construction of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center; his consistent pro-choice activism; and his frequent criticisms of Tulsa's most famous evangelist leader, Oral Roberts.
In 1974 All Souls began a broadcast ministry, initially known as Univision, that included a multipart series hosted by Wolf called Faith in the Free Church.