Unitarian Universalist Live Oak Congregation

Unitarian-​Universalist (UU for short) churches are different from most churches in that they do not give you answers, but encourage you to ask questions and then give you tools and a community to help you find your own answers.
Live Oak is a vibrant, close community of art and friendly people.
Once a month, Live Oak hosts the SongTree folk music concert series.
I should note that this is MY church for the last 20 years.

I first attended Live Oak as a child when it was in Isla Vista, and continued to attend through its move to Goleta. It has always been a very warm, very genuine, very progressive and open minded bunch of people. As a youth, I went to Religious Education classes, which weren’t your normal Sunday School classes, but rather a very unbiased overview of the many faiths of the world. No one told me what to believe, and no one told me what not to believe. It was a place where good people would come together for community. Some of my closest friendships (with adults and other kids) were developed here. I participated in pageants, choir, and numerous field trips. When I got into my teen years, I went through the coming of age ceremony where I chose an adult to be my mentor.
Since I’ve been out of high school I haven’t attended much, though every time I do I am overcome with a sense of love. There is no guilt about not attending, but rather joy and excitement that I’ve returned to visit. I figure I could have been raised in a conservative religious and political household, where I was told what to think and was scared into living a good life just to stay away from hell. Instead, I was taught that my opinions mattered, that I could still be a good person and live a meaningful life without having to accept or conform to a certain set of ideas, that all people should be treated equally regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or lifestyle.
I am so thankful that places like this exist. Live Oak is truly an amazing place with a group of amazing people.