Unitarian Universalist Church West

Meet new members Mike and Bob who have differing ideas of what a church really is.

Michael Mader II and Cortland Robert Grzywinski, commonly referred to as Mike and Bob, started attending UUCW service about a year ago.

Bob was raised Catholic and knew she wanted church to be part of her life, and yet she was not satisfied with the Catholic Church. Many of her friends had started going to Unitarian Universalist churches and she liked what she heard. Bob found this church online, and after attending a service knew that this was the church for her. For Bob, the decision was not about if church should be part of her life, but rather which church should be part of her life. The same was not true for Mike.

Mike was raised secular. His upbringing wasn’t so much atheist or agnostic as it was simply secular. Christmas was a time for the family to come together in love and harmony and celebrate Santa Claus. Easter was also a time of joy, good times, love, and,  of course, the Easter Bunny. When Mike and Bob started dating, Mike had attended exactly two church services in his life.

Growing up, Bob was in her church band. She was an alter server. Her family went to mass every week without fail. Church was important. But Bob was not so sure about some key tenets of Catholic faith. She wanted a church that would help her grow spiritually in a way that made sense to her.

Mike was at first uncomfortable with the idea of going to church and being part of a church. He admits that he initially started going because of Bob, but, after a few services, that began to change. He noticed that he was really looking forward to Sunday services, and soon it was he, not her, who encouraged attending service on Sundays, even at the cost of a few extra hours of sleep. Mike loved the way the services really made him think about things he hadn’t thought about before. Mike also loved the friendliness of the community. He felt welcomed. He felt comfortable. Before this church he had said that he always felt uncomfortable in churches. This church was different. He said it doesn’t feel like a real church.

And that is the best part. Both Mike and Bob love UUCW. Bob jokes that she has spent the last year trying to convince her family that yes it is in fact a real church, and Mike has spent the last year trying to convince his family that it is in fact not a real church. Given their individual definitions of what a church is, they are both right.