At the Union Church, Christians of different backgrounds gather, with respect for our differences At the Union Church, Christians of different backgrounds gather, with respect for our differences,with compassion for those in need, and with the deep desire to discover God's presence and God's calling in our lives.Our church is member driven and is run by two member populated Boards. The Board of Trustees oversees the business aspects of the church and the Board of Elders oversees the spiritual elements of the church.The best manner to grasp our mission and purpose is to review the following 10 Trusths about UCLB.Truth 1: We are a worshiping church. We share communion. We baptize our children. We pray together. We sing together. We share our joys and concerns. The sanctuary is our shared space. In this space, as we worship together, we are transformed from strangers into brothers and sisters. What binds us to one another is not that we think the same things or make the same choices. What binds us to one another is the yearning to open our hearts to God.Truth 2: We are an informal church. In a world in which you have to decide what you're going to take seriously, we care about and love the guy in a Blackhawks sweater and the woman struggling with Alzheimer's and the child in the toucan costume at the Christmas pageant more than we care about how things look.Truth 3: We are a thinking church. This is a Church in which we believe God gave us a brain with the hope and expectation that we would use it. This is not a sanctuary where folks hang up their coats and their minds before entering.Truth 4: We are a learning church. Real thinkers share one common insight: the more we learn, the more questions we have. We are deeply committed to educating our children and our youth.Truth 5: We are a diverse church. Many of us come from Lake Bluff. Yet in increasing numbers, we are from any number of surrounding communities. The roots of this church are Protestant, but quite a few of us grew up Catholic. Quite a few of us grew up in no church at all. A number of our families blend religious backgrounds: Jewish and Christian, Muslim and Christian. We have folks regularly reading our sermons in Holland, England, Germany, Russia, China and Brazil, among other places. Some of us are white collared managers and executives. Some of us are craftsmen and women. And the work some of us are currently pursuing is simply finding a job. Still others of us are more or less retired. We are conservative and moderate and liberal in our politics. We are affluent and middle class and struggling mightily.Truth 6: We are an eating church. Not unlike the family that sits down at the dinner table, when our church family sits down to eat together, we remember just how much we enjoy each other's company.Truth 7: We are a member-driven church. Here's the bottom line on how this church runs: aside from what the pastors preach and the baptisms and weddings they perform, everything in this church is up to its members. See remainder at UCLB.ORG