Our Mission – Who Are We?
We are an open, religious community for people of all ages.
We gather for renewal and fellowship.
Our spiritual search is joyful, compassionate, and curious.
Together we strive to bend the world towards love, truth, and justice.
Our Vision – Where are We Going?
(adopted in May 2024)
Wy’east is a thriving, diverse, multigenerational Unitarian Universalist community.
Each of us…
- Sees how we matter.
- Seeks spiritual growth, and experiences love at the center.
With each other…
- We have fun and learn together while sharing our strengths, interests, and hopes.
- We nurture, support, and inspire each other.
As a congregation…
- We share roles and responsibilities of ministry.
- We weave worship, connection, creativity, and commitment to create a vibrant community.
Partnering with the broader community…
- We share resources, effort, and time to support justice in all of its forms.
- We practice and model a world we dream is possible.
Our History
Where do we come from?
Wy’east Unitarian Universalist Congregation was formed in 1996, growing out of the desire for a small, diverse East Portland church with a strong sense of community. We celebrated our official birth as a congregation with a Charter Sunday service in April of 1997. Wy’east continues the over 140-year tradition of liberal religion in Portland.
The name Wy’east derives from a Northwest Indian legend that relates the origins of the geography of the Pacific Northwest to a tragic love triangle involving the Klickitat chief Pahto, the Multnomah chief Wy’east and the maiden Loo-wit, over whom the chiefs quarreled. This quarrel grew so fierce that the Great Spirit had to intervene, destroying the Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia and turning Loo-wit into Mount St. Helens, Pahto into Mt. Adams, and Wy’east into Mount Hood, the peak that dominates Portland’s eastern horizon and gives us our sense of place.
We acknowledge the indigenous people on whose traditional and ancestral lands we live and gather for worship, including the Multnomah and Clackamas bands of Chinookan peoples, and the Tualatin band of Kalapuya. We also recognize that this acknowledgement is only the first step in a journey to learn more, do better, and honor those who came before us and are still here.
Our Governance
As a Unitarian Universalist congregation, we operate as a democratic organization. Every member of our congregation has a vote in congregational matters. Our Board of Trustees is democratically elected from the membership. You can learn more about being a member on our membership page.
The Board of Trustees is the governing body of Wy’east and is entrusted with the responsibility for the development, management, and application of policies and procedures. The Board is composed of five members who serve offset 2 year terms. Trustees are elected by the congregation each year at its Annual Meeting. For current information about the Board’s activities, see the Board Minutes. Our current board is:
- Linda Burk: Moderator
- Kendra Staley: Vice Moderator
- Larry Burt: Treasurer
- Eileen Watters: Secretary
- Andy Lasnik: Member at Large
