WELCOME STUDENTS, STAFF, FACULTY, ALUMNI, & NEIGHBORS!

 

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Join us for:

Sunday Morning Eucharist: 10:00 am at UniChu

Sunday Night Compline: 9:00 pm at MemChu

Tuesday Bread and Belonging: 5:30 - 7:30 in the CIRCLE

Tuesday Taize Prayer: Every Tuesday of Lent, 10:00 in MemChu

Wednesday Choir Practice: 7 pm during the school year at UniChu

Thursday Midday Eucharist: 12:10 pm in the side chapel of MemChu

Read on for more information. You are welcome here!
Who we are:

ELCM @

A Student Group
We are undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and faculty from all around the world. We have a wide variety of backgrounds and majors, but we have one thing in common: a need to take time from our busy lives of studying and working, a need for fellowship and engagement, and a need to keep our perspectives healthy.

Engaging the world
While issues have changed since our founding in the 60s, ELCM is still a community committed to social justice and hospitality to strangers. (Click here to see the results of our Oreo Cookie Federal Budget!) As a community "at work in the world," we are committed to justice, respect for conscience, and equality for all people, especially those who are most at risk in society.

Part of University Church
University Church, or UniChu as it is affectionately known, is our home base, providing a center for our activities and an important link to the community. You've probably walked or ridden your bike right by us on the Southeast side of campus. We're at 1611 Stanford Avenue.

UniChu

A Church Home
University Church, a progressive, ecumenical, congregation across Stanford Ave. from campus in the College Terrace neighborhood, is the church-home for ELCM. Our theology is progressive, our worship is organic, our welcome is radical, and Christ's table is open to all. If you are in search of a congregational community, join us here at 1611 Stanford Ave for worship, fellowship, study, reflection on God's call, and engagement with the world.

Our History
This church's origin is in the Lutheranism of the turbulent 1960's, when the nation, the universities, and the churches were polarizing around issues like the Vietnam War, Women's Liberation, Sexual Freedom, and political and individual freedom from inherited values. During the time of the Death Squads in El Salvador, the church social halls became a place of sanctuary for people fleeing Central American wars. It was a new voice in Lutheran Christianity for many students & townspeople. Today, in the midst of war and a global struggle for liberation, Uni Chu finds itself bringing new perspectives to old questions.

Read more about UniChu

A Faith Community
We are a united ministry of the Episcopal and Lutheran churches, but this community is made up of people from many (or no) denominations. We use scripture, tradition, reason, and experience to inspire a living faith. We are barrier-free, welcoming all people from the community - faculty, staff, students, family, friends, neighbors, and alumni. If you want to be here, God welcomes you.

A Group of Friends
We are a welcoming group that often serves as a family away from home. Fellowship, food, laughter, and community play an important role in our gatherings, bringing us closer to each other and bringing us closer to God.

This is more than a Sunday gathering.

This is a loving, supportive, extended family into which you are heartily welcome.

 

Join Us For...

Worship

  • Sunday morning worship, with Eucharist every week, is at 10 AM at UniChu, 1611 Stanford Ave. Dress is casual, singing is festive, theology is progressive, worship is organic, our welcome is radical, and Christ's table is open to all. Join us!
  • Sunday Night Compline: 9:00 pm at MemChu. Relax in the candle-lit ambiance of Memorial Church and allow this reflective 30-minute musical service of hymns, chant and psalms to ease you into the week ahead. All are welcome. Sundays, 9:00 - 9:30 pm, during the academic year. Fall quarter: through November 16. Free and open to all.
  • Tuesday Bread and Belonging: 6 - 8 in the CIRCLE. Primarily for Students, our gathering always consists of dinner (almost always home-cooked), conversation, and prayer. We have Bible study, discuss current events, play games, watch movies, etc.
  • Tuesday Taize Prayer: 1st and 3rd Thursday, 9:00 in Memorial Church. Taize worship originated at the Taize Community in France in 1940 as an ecumenical Christian monastic community of both Catholics and Protestants. Taize worship is composed of simple songs or chants, usually in English or Latin. It may also include readings from scripture and prayer around the cross.
  • Wednesday Choir Practice: 7pm at UniChu. Love to sing, but too little time? The University Church Choir may be right for you. The choir rehearses during the school year on Wednesdays at 7 pm in the UniChu sanctuary, and sings twice a month at our 10:00 Sunday morning worship. The choir schedule follows the Stanford calendar and the choir director is very accommodating to student activities, homework loads, etc. So come sing when you can! We would love to have you!
  • Thursday Eucharist is a quiet, contemplative service celebrated during the school year at 12:10 in the side chapel of Memorial Church, right in the center of Campus. If your day provides for a break around noon, stop in for about 20 minutes of quiet, conversation, and eucharist.
  • For a holiday worship schedule, check the Banner portion at the top of the page.

 

Bread and Belonging

College students (and college-aged folk) are welcome to this weekly gathering for dinner and conversation, every Tuesday evening of the school year from 6:00-8:00 in the CIRCLE Common Room. Our gathering always consists of dinner (almost always home-cooked), conversation, and prayer. We have Bible study, discuss current events, play games, watch movies, etc. Bring a friend . . . All are welcome!

 

Service Projects, Recreational Events, Forums, and More

There is a lot going on in addition to our regularly scheduled programming. Be sure to check the calendar regularly, and email the Pastors with specific questions or suggestions!

 

Stanford Associated Religions The Office for Religious Life has as its mission "To guide, nurture and enhance spiritual, religious and ethical life within the Stanford University community." As a member of Stanford Associated Religions, ELCM is committed and devoted to ensuring lively, thoughtful and supportive contexts for Stanford students, faculty and staff who wish to pursue spiritual interests. We recognize that a spiritual/religious journey can be an important, balancing complement to the numerous challlenges one faces in the pursuit of academic and career goals.

Ministry Partners

Amigos de Palo Alto

Amigos de Palo Alto is a Spanish Immersion preschool housed at, but not affiliated with, University Church. Amigos offers parents a safe, loving, and trustworthy environment where they may leave their children, both for childcare and to begin learning from bi-lingual instructors how to speak and learn Spanish the same way their native language was learned — naturally! The two preschool sessions are offered: Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 8:30 AM to 11:45 AM and Tuesday and Thursdays from 8:30 AM to 11:45 AM.

The After School Program known as Amigos Fun Club is designed for children in Kindergarten, First and Second grades. The program offers story time, arts and crafts, games and homework help if needed. Children will have a chance to socialize in Spanish, regardless if Spanish is the language spoken at home or acquired through our immersion program.

South Bay Sanctuary Covenant

SBSC is an ecumenical group of churches, religious groups and concerned individuals from Redwood City to Los Gatos. SBSC began in 1983 by assisting Central American refugees living among us and later expanded its concern to include some of the crucial problems facing people in El Salvador that were forcing them to flee to the U.S. In general, SBSC has advocated for better local and federal policies in order to improve conditions for refugees here and in Central American countries.

This October 26, 2008, SBSC will celebrate its 25th anniversary at 5 PM at First Presbyterian Church. It will include a Salvadoran pupusa dinner. Also, SBSC will have its 20th delegation to El Salvador, February 5 - 15, 2009. There is some scholarship help available, especially for young people. All are welcome!

 

Alcoholics Anonymous

AA is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; it is self-supporting through participant contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, political organization or institution. The primary purpose is to stay sober and to help others do the same. For a schedule of AA group meetings at UniChu, please contact the AA hotline at 408.374.8511.

 

The Friends Program

The Friends Program is a therapeutic group program designed to address the developing needs of young children with Asperger’s Syndrome and their families. The goals of the program are twofold. The first is to address the areas in which these children have the most difficulty: social communication, social interactions, and joint symbolic play with peers; the second is to help the children cope with the daily challenges of school, such as making transitions from the playground or a group activity.

The parents group provides the parents with guided observations of their children in the therapeutic group in addition to participating in a parents-only group facilitated by a therapist. The group aims to enhance the parent’s understanding of the child, provide guidance and support for the daily issues the parents are encountering, and provide an empathic setting for parents as they struggle with the impact that their child’s diagnosis has on various aspects of their lives.

The Friends Program is housed at, but not affiliated with, University Church. See thefriendsprogram.com for more information.

Music Lessons:

Talented Musicians have their music studios on our proerty as a service to the community. For Joy Li Piano Studio, contact 650-269-4119. For the Violin Studio, contact

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