In September 2007 the exterior sanctuary roof was replaced!
Check out the work on the Photographs page.

WHO WE ARE and WHAT WE HAVE

University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation is both the Lutheran Campus Ministry of Philadelphia and a parish congregation of families and single adults.  We are a Reconciling In Christ Congregation, welcoming all persons regardless of affectional orientation or gender presentation.  We welcome all with varying degrees of physical and mental abilities.

Our roots stretch back to 1889, when the parish of Incarnation Lutheran Church was begun in the then expanding street car suburb of West Philadelphia.  In the late 1960's, the congregation merged with the Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Pennsylvania.

Our building, designed by the noted architect Pietro Bulluschi, was completed in 1969.  His design philosophy was "an austerity which relies for its impact on the structural form of the building" with color, form, and texture providing the building's strength and integrity.  UniLu has been identified as an important example of twentieth century architecture by the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and is included on their list of Philadelphia's modern monuments.

In 1994, the congregation dedicated a new baptismal font in the Narthex, becoming one of the first Lutheran parishes to offer baptism by full immersion.  The font is symbolic of our common bond with all Christians under one baptism, is the focus of many of the Feast Days during the liturgical year, and the place we gather for Evening Prayer and our mid-week celebration of Eucharist.

WHAT WE DO WITH WHAT WE HAVE

We gather for worship several times a week.  Our main gathering on Sunday is in the traditional Lutheran style using the liturgical format of the ancient church framed within a structure of gathering the community together, listening and reacting to God's Word, eating and drinking at the Lord's table and being sent out to witness God's transforming grace in our daily lives.

Music of many types and traditions is integral to how we worship at UniLu.  The wonderfully alive acoustical space Belluschi designed enhances the voices lifted in song each week accompanied on our rare 1899 Harry Hall nineteen rank tracker organ.

As the Lutheran Campus Ministry in Philadelphia, we provide a spiritual home for college students from the surrounding campuses of Drexel, Penn, and the University of the Sciences, as well as students living in the area who attend Temple, Swarthmore, University of the Arts, and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  The Lutheran Student Movement gathers weekly for food, fellowship, and worship during the academic year.

As Christians, we are compelled to offer hospitality to those who are less fortunate than our selves.  Since 1988 the congregation has hosted a weekly evening of hospitality for the AIDS/HIV affected homeless population of Philadelphia. Guests gather for Bible study, a meal, and end with Evening Prayer.  The program involves members of parishes from across the Delaware Valley, students from the adjacent campuses, and neighbors from the surrounding community.  Each week a case worker is on hand to offer assistance with housing and medical needs.  Many of our guests join us again on Sunday mornings for our main worship service.

We offer space and hospitality to a myriad of other groups from the Philadelphia area.  Each weekday a recovery group meets on our premises.  We provide space for parenting classes conducted by Lutheran Settlement House; a dance school whose offerings range from classical ballet to hip-hop; rehearsal space for vocalists and instrumentalists; and a non-competitive martial arts school.

UniLu hosts monthly meetings of the Brandywine Peace Community, Lutherans Concerned--a ministry for LGBTQ Lutherans, StandUp for Kids--an outreach program assisting homeless youth, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Hunger, a Community Building Circle, and the Extraordinary Candidacy Project which advocates full inclusion of partnered gays and lesbians in ordained ministry.  We make space available for the Graduate Employees at the University of Pennsylvania who are committed to achieving a more equitable employer-employee relationship; and for the Service Employees International Union.

The building is also used for concerts ranging from performances by Captive Free, a Youth Encounter Group, to classical chamber music and vocal ensembles. We have also hosted dramatic productions as diverse as inter-active interpretations of Macbeth/Rosencranz and Guilderstern are Dead to one man shows dealing with mental illness.

WHAT WE NEED

All of these things occur in a building of less than 8,000 square feet, packing a lot of program into a small structure.  The wear and tear of so many people passing through our doors coupled with the effects of weather and time have taken their toll.  If the people of UniLu are to be good stewards of the building which we occupy as well as the resources needed to use it, several issues must be addressed.

Every building needs to keep out the rain: ours doesn't.  Modifications to the roof to introduce air conditioning after the structure was completed compromised the water-tightness of the sanctuary.  Undersized drain lines cannot handle the heavier storms which have become more frequent.  The roof needs to be re-engineered to be water-tight and adequately sloped to drain quickly and without frequent human intervention.

Over the years the lighting systems in the building have been modified compromising their safe usage.  Pendant fixtures in the sanctuary have been damaged by vibrations from the constant vehicular traffic on Chestnut Street.  Lighting Industry standards have changed radically in the past 36 years, moving toward greater energy efficiency.  In addition, the emergency light system has been disabled and the exit lighting system has become outdated.  We need to restore and increase lighting in our sanctuary; implement updated, safe control systems and circuit panels; and reestablish the integrity of the life-safety systems.

Currently there are three members on our roles who are movement-impaired and confined to wheelchairs.  It is impossible for them to use the bathrooms in the building.  Greater numbers of people who are wheelchair bound are moving into the surrounding community.  We need to be able to minister to them.  We need to provide toilet facilities which can be used by all persons who are part of the community.

In the decade preceding UniLu's design, energy was inexpensive and building design ignored energy efficiency in favor of raising the temperature on the thermostat.  All of the windows in the building are single glazed, allowing tremendous heat-loss during the winter.  We have set back the thermostats to 68 degrees for occupied spaces, and placed timers on all thermostats.  We are equally conservative with our cooling system in the summer.  Refitting and reconditioning the windows in the building will allow better conservation of our energy dollars.

Like every community of faith, there are other needs, some more pressing than others.  The four areas outlined above are needs which the congregation believes stand directly in our way of carrying out our mission of being "an inclusive community sharing Christ on campus and in the city."

We need to raise $270,000 over the next three years to accomplish these goals.  You can link to a pledge form to support this ministry!

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