Welcome

Learn more about UCY from a few of our undergraduate and graduate Student Deacons and our pastors, Rev. Ian Oliver and Rev. Jenny Peek. 

The University Church in Yale is the first university congregation in America, starting at Yale in 1757.  Today, we are a student-focused church welcoming Christian students of all backgrounds, as well as staff, faculty and New Haven neighbors.  

Our church life is centered around Sunday worship in Yale’s historic Battell Chapel, which features beautiful music, challenging and thoughtful preaching, and the prayer of a diverse, faithful community. 

We share our love of God with our neighbors through a commitment to service and advocacy for the hungry and homeless in New Haven.  And we have lots of fun together with retreats, study groups, meals, concerts, lectures and other events.  Whether you’re a lifelong Christian or exploring church for the first time, you are welcome here.

Our Mission Statement

God calls us together to be an ecumenical Christian community in the midst of Yale University, extending an authentic and inclusive welcome to all Yale students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and all of the New Haven community.   We are called to worship the Triune God with joy and in beauty, to bring together lived faith, moral perspective and critical thought, and to serve our neighbors in the New Haven area and around the world.   As we remind ourselves each week, we are being formed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ into leaders and disciples who will do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

UCY and Race and Justice:  Our UCY Student Deacons, Liturgical Ministries Group, and pastors have approved this statement of grief, reflection and commitment:

The University Church in Yale is a diverse community of Christian students, faculty, staff and neighbors at Yale. We stand together now to express our horror and grief at the recent murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Breonna Taylor. These deaths are a part of a long line of deadly attacks by police and vigilantes on black Americans that our faith calls on us to condemn. This violence and murder is only one expression of systemic racism extending back through centuries and continuing through today, implicating our nation, the Christian church, Yale University, and us as individuals and as a congregation. We support those protesting across the country for racial justice and criminal justice reform, and we pray for their safety. Jesus said of his ministry, quoting Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed." In that spirit, we pledge to listen and learn, to steadfastly interrogate our own privileges and systems, and to repent and change.