Neighborhood Church

Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena traces its origins to shared Presbyterian and Congregationalist worship in 1885. In 1923 the West Side Congregational Church and the Unitarian Church merged as the Union Liberal Church of Pasadena. The name Neighborhood Church developed from its relationship with surrounding residential communities. In 1972 the congregation ended its Congregational affiliation and joined the Unitarian Universalist Association. Located on North Orange Grove Boulevard, it maintains a liberal religious tradition centred on spiritual inquiry, inclusion and community participation. Sacred music has an obvious home in a church, and this Pasadena congregation lends its sanctuary to musicians as readily as to worshippers. Bach's solo cantata "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen", BWV 51, has been sung there — a work written for a soprano, trumpet and a small band of strings, and better suited to a resonant church interior than to any concert platform.