History of Tapestry, A Unitarian Universalist Congregation

Two Progenitor Congregations

In November 1995, two Unitarian Universalist churches in the Mission Viejo area decided to combine resources and congregations to form what is now known as the Tapestry, A Unitarian Universalist Congregation (UUCSC). One of the predecessor churches, All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church (a young congregation formed in August of 1990), had just managed to lease the present facility in Mission Viejo, but their Minister, Rev. Don Northcutt had decided to pursue a career outside the ministry. The Aliso Creek Church (a long-time Mission Viejo congregation started in September 1975) was still meeting in neighborhood schools, and their Minister, Rev. Robert Jordan Ross, had announced his intention to retire 18 months hence.

The Two Congregations Join Together

On St. Patrick's day in 1995, the two congregations had a date at the “new facilities” on Obrero drive. They found that they could cook delicious food, have excellent conversation, and it didn't take much more than that to start the process of uniting the two congregations. Committees were formed, and staffed by both congregations, and thus a new church was formed with Rev. Ross as the minister. A new search committee was formed, a church packet put together, and both the UUA and Pacific Southwest District informed of the intended search for a settled full time minister. Rev. Ross was elected to be Minister Emeritus upon his retirement and still serves our congregation in that capacity today.

A New Minister: Rev. Suzanne Black

Rev. Suzanne Black was called to the full-time ministry of UUCSC in 1997 and served for three years before leaving to further her career in the ministry in Upstate New York. During her time with us, Rev. Black helped grow our congregation as well as helped us define who we are in our ministry together.

An Interim Minister: Rev. Anne Hines

Rev. Anne Hines served our church as interim minister in 2001-2002. Under her guidance, the congregation conducted some self-examination to better understand where we had been and where we wanted to go. We surveyed all members of the congregation for their ideas on what they desired in a religious home, we held a series of small-group meetings to explore these ideas further and we reformulated our congregation's mission statement.

The Rev. John Millspaugh

As an interim minister, Rev. Hines' contract was for only a single year and during that time, we conducted an intensive search for a settled minister. The search committee found a candidate in Rev. John Millspaugh who visited us that spring to present two sermons during his candidating week. The search was concluded in the spring of 2002 with the decision to call John Millspaugh as our settled minister. Rev. Millspaugh joined us as our full-time, permanent minister in September, 2002.

From 2002 through 2008 with Rev. Millspaugh's guidance we expanded our Children's Religious Exploration program and hired Katelynn Riva our Director of Children's Religious Education as well as a part-time office administrator. We also added a second Sunday morning worship service and have been growing the congregation membership. During his time with us Rev. Millspaugh was a strong proponent of gay rights and was in the forefront of efforts to extend marriage rights to gays. Rev. Millspaugh, a vegan, was also active in promoting animal rights.

During Rev. Millspaugh's tenure we changed our name from the Unitarian Universalist Church of South County to Tapestry, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation. In 2007 we began exploring possibilities for merging with the Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church.

Interim Minister: Rev. Mitra Rahnema 2008-2009

The Rev. Mitra Rahnema joined Tapestry in the fall of 2008 as an Interim Minister to provide support to a congregation in transition. While in the process and work of a merger with Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church continues, Rev. Mitra Rahnema is focusing on creating a healthy balance between finding comfort in change and building stability.

Consulting Minister: Rev. Tom Owen-Towle 2009-Present

Rev. Tom has been a parish minister since 1967 and brings a profound commitment to growing Tapestry into a beloved community with a civic circumference. He is honored to be Tapestry's partner in this shared mission.

Come Visit Us!

We are a warm, welcoming, and enthusiastic congregation on an exciting spiritual journey. The best way to get to know us is to visit a few times and then, we are confident, you will join us to begin the hard work of building your own theology. So feel free to browse this web site, but do come and visit soon.