A Sanctuary at 22nd and Guadalupe Since 1908
University Baptist Church stands at the corner of 22nd and Guadalupe Streets, directly across from the University of Texas at Austin. The congregation organized on September 27, 1908 with eighty charter members, sixty-five of whom came from First Baptist Church. For its first seven years it worshipped in rented space at Highland Presbyterian Church on Nueces Street, then bought the building for $3,750 in 1915. The current sanctuary, designed by Philadelphia architect Albert Kelsey in the Spanish Colonial Revival style so it would complement the university buildings across the street, was completed in 1921. Kelsey's plans originally included a bell tower that was dropped to save money, but he made the baptistry the architectural centerpiece, fulfilling a lay leader's reminder that "water is an important element in our service." The sanctuary was built to seat 1,100 and has been called, in Kelsey's words, "a Baptist cathedral for Texas." The buildings, the ministries that have grown up around them, and the corner they occupy remain central to the life of the church and to the city block they share with the university.
Rooted in Faith, Progressive in Action
The church describes itself with the phrase Rooted in Faith. Progressive in Action. Members listen for God's call through Scripture, the Spirit, the Baptist tradition, and personal experience, treating the Bible as "a friend and guide" rather than a blueprint. Four Baptist freedoms shape the congregation: the freedom of the local church, the freedom of each individual's soul in relation to God, the freedom of the pulpit, and the freedom of religion protected by the separation of church and state. From that foundation has come a long public record of taking stands that put the church at odds with the wider religious culture of its region. UBC accepted Black members into full membership in the 1940s, a move that led to its expulsion from the Austin Baptist Association (eventually rescinded). It added a woman to its ministerial staff in the 1950s and voted to ordain women as deacons in the 1970s. In 1994 it ordained an openly gay man as a deacon, leading to a second expulsion from the Austin Baptist Association. The church disaffiliated from the Southern Baptist Convention in 1997 and from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in 2001, and today its primary denominational home is the American Baptist Churches USA, alongside fellowship with the Alliance of Baptists and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. A welcome statement on the church's materials affirms that "the church welcomes all persons of any age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, education, nationality, ability or disability, marital or family status."
Sunday Morning at 11:00
The central rhythm of the week is Sunday morning at 11:00 AM in the sanctuary. The service is both in person and online, livestreamed on YouTube. Worshipers can expect what the church calls a "full liturgy (by Baptist standards)," with organ music from a chancel choir and pastors in robes. On the second Sunday of every month, the service includes Communion, and "all are welcome at God's table." Adult Sunday Study meets at 9:30 AM in the library, where the group works through Scripture, books, and social justice topics in conversation. A separate Young Adult Bible Study gathers at the same hour, often at Medici Coffee Roasters on Guadalupe, just down the block from the church. Sensory bags, small tables with chairs, and rocking chairs are available at the back of the sanctuary for families and children who want to stay close to worship.
Two Tables a Week: God's Family Dinner and Campus Community Dinner
Hospitality at UBC reaches well beyond Sunday morning. God's Family Dinner, which began in 2004 and has served more than 150,000 free meals, takes place every Thursday evening and is open to anyone who is hungry, with no requirements or restrictions. Food Program Director Fadi Odeh cooks from 1:00 to 5:00 PM, and a rotating crew of at least ten volunteers serves, sits, and cleans from 4:30 to 7:00 PM. The ministry operates 50 weeks a year, pausing only on Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks, and draws regular volunteers from Hope Presbyterian, Highland Park Baptist, Congregation Agudas Achim, Westlake Hills Presbyterian, University Presbyterian, the Nueces Street Mosque, Muslim Space, Hillel, UT international groups, and youth groups from across Austin. On Wednesdays from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, Campus Community Dinner fills the Fellowship Hall with another free, home-cooked meal, this one aimed at UT students and neighbors who want a place to gather, connect, and organize. Programming at the Wednesday meal is student and community led, and UBC also opens the space to student groups affected by SB17 who need a meeting place near campus.
Labyrinth and the College Connection
The university's proximity has shaped UBC's mission since the founding generation organized a separate Sunday school for UT students in 1907. In 1919 UBC hosted the first Baptist Student Union in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention, and that student-centered instinct remains. Today the church is a founding partner of Labyrinth Progressive Student Ministry, a student-led organization that meets in UBC's chapel every Sunday evening at 6:00 PM during the school year for music, conversation, and worship. Labyrinth also hosts a Tuesday lunch buffet in its lounge from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM and a Thursday evening student Bible study at 6:00 PM at University Christian Church. The Young Adult Bible Study on Sunday mornings adds a third gathering point for students who want to dig into Scripture before heading into worship.
Children, Youth, and Family
Katy Kammerdiener directs Children, Youth, and Family ministry across the church's three buildings. Childcare for infants through kindergarten is available from 9:30 AM to 12:15 PM every Sunday, and during Sunday School the toddlers use the lectionary-based curriculum Play-N-Worship. Pre-K through fifth graders use the lectionary-based Whirl curriculum to learn Bible stories in an age-appropriate way. The Nelle Barrow Building, known as the UBC Kids' Place, has four classrooms, a library, a kitchen, two storage closets, and an attached playground. Youth in sixth through twelfth grade meet after worship on Sundays for activities that range from Lectio Divina and scripture blackout to church history, and they take part in a summer camp and in cultural immersion trips, including service work with the Ghost Ranch Youth Service Corps in New Mexico. Vacation Bible School runs free for incoming kindergartners through sixth graders each summer. Parent's Night Out events happen throughout the year. Two background-checked staff or volunteers are present at every children's and youth gathering.
The Music Ministry and a 4,000-Pipe Organ
Music is built into the architecture of UBC. Minister of Music and Outreach Jonathan Castillo leads a Chancel Choir that is open to adults 18 and over with no audition, rehearsing Wednesdays from 7:00 to 8:15 PM in the Choir Room and singing weekly at the 11:00 AM service. The choir is supplemented by four Choral Scholars and has performed works from Charpentier's Messe de minuit pour Noël and Handel's Messiah to Haydn's Seven Last Words, Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna, and Taylor Scott Davis's Magnificat. Behind the choir is a sanctuary organ that has been growing for a century. The current instrument traces its lineage to a 1924 electric pipe organ, expanded between 1931 and 1937 by UT physics professor Dr. C. P. Boner and Robert Newman to 2,100 pipes, rebuilt by Austin organbuilder Otto Hofmann to 2,945 pipes by 1963, and renovated by R. A. Colby, Inc. in 2023 to more than 4,000 equivalent pipes, including new console work from Walker Technical Company. The congregation voted unanimously in February 2022 to fund the renovation.
Social Justice at the Capitol and Around Austin
UBC's justice commitments are organized into specific funds and partnerships that members can support. The church is a designated Reproductive Freedom Congregation with Just Texas, pledges that anyone who attends will be free from stigma for their reproductive decisions, and partners with the Bridge Collective to expand equitable access to reproductive care. The Migrant Support Fund, run in partnership with the UT student organization Rooted, provides legal and emergency resources for migrant UT students, workers, and their families. A Refugee Assistance Ministry is currently helping resettle three families from Afghanistan. UBC hosts the Micah 6 Street Youth Ministry in its education building on Saturday afternoons for guests under 30, offering shelter, a meal, laundry, and computers, and helps support the Micah 6 food pantry across the street at University Presbyterian Church, open Thursdays from 6:00 to 7:00 PM and Saturdays from 10:30 to 11:30 AM. Members also turn out for Habitat for Humanity builds, Austin Pride, freeze night shelters, and other citywide efforts. Ministers and lay leaders testify at the Texas State Capitol and show up at rallies on issues including racial justice, gun law reform, public education, and immigrant and refugee rights. A land acknowledgment at the church names the Carrizo & Comecrudo, Coahuiltecan, Caddo, Tonkawa, Comanche, Lipan Apache, Alabama-Coushatta, Kickapoo, and Tigua Pueblo peoples and commits UBC to learning from and materially supporting Native-led groups in Central Texas.
The Three Buildings on the Block
The Sanctuary Building at 22nd and Guadalupe contains the Fellowship Hall, pastoral offices, Bible study rooms, and the 600-plus-seat worship space used for weddings. The Education Building at 22nd and San Antonio, designed by Carlton Brush, has three stories of classrooms, a chapel, and a full kitchen downstairs with a kitchenette and auditorium upstairs. The Nelle Barrow Building, or UBC Kids' Place, anchors children's ministry. Parking sits behind the Education Building, and the most convenient driving entrance is through the portico on the corner of San Antonio and 22nd Streets, across from the Callaway House. Visitors on Sunday can park in any available space in the basement garage of the Callaway House at 2110 San Antonio Street and use the marked wooden "Elevator Entrance" door; a greeter will let them in. Sanctuary and parking maps are available on the church's site, and the building has been retrofitted over the years for accessibility, including elevator access.
Joining UBC, Weddings, and Getting Around
The sanctuary hosts weddings for any loving couple, with ceremonies in the historic sanctuary seating about 600 or in the mid-century chapel seating roughly 50. Three months' lead time is asked before a planned wedding date. Anyone interested in joining UBC is invited to talk with a pastor; the church's vision statement reads, "Guided by Christ, we build relationships to transform lives and our community through divine love in action." Sunday parking in the Callaway House garage at 2105 Nueces Street is reserved for church services from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM, with public parking on levels 2 and 3 and license-plate validation available inside the sanctuary and kitchen. Contract and hourly parking in the same garage are managed by Metropolis, and all parking income supports UBC's ministries. Giving is available online through UBC's giving page, and the Sunday bulletin, building and history PDF, sermons archive, and a growing list of volunteer opportunities are also online. Office hours run Monday through Thursday from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and the staff can be reached at staff@ubcaustin.org or (512) 478-8559.