University Baptist Church sits in the heart of Midtown Hattiesburg, a few blocks south of the University of Southern Mississippi and a few blocks west of Forrest General Hospital. From its campus at 3200 Arlington Loop, the congregation has shaped the religious and civic life of the surrounding University Heights neighborhood since its founding in 1959. Known across the Pine Belt for being a progressive, inclusive, and liturgical Baptist community, the church is surrounded by deep neighbors including Thames Elementary School and the Midtown Neighborhood Association.
A Church Built by the College and the Community
As early as 1928, Christian friends connected to what was then Mississippi Southern College and the surrounding community felt the need for a Baptist church to serve the school and the adjacent territory. It took more than thirty years for that vision to take shape. Work began in the winter of 1959, and on May 3, 1959, University Baptist Church was officially founded. From its earliest days, the church directed much of its mission outward toward the student populations at the University of Southern Mississippi and William Carey University; two of the first checks the church ever wrote funded student ministry at both schools.
UBC made decisions in its first two decades that set it apart among Baptist churches in South Mississippi. On June 16, 1971, the church voted to accept into membership a student from William Carey University who had grown up in Nigeria, becoming the first Baptist church in Hattiesburg to integrate its membership. In 1976, UBC licensed its first woman to ministry and elected its first woman deacon. In 1979, the church sponsored a refugee family of fourteen from Vietnam, helping them find housing and a new start in the United States.
These early choices shaped a congregation willing to engage the most difficult issues of the day with the gospel as its guide. In April 2016, after another extended period of study, UBC affirmed three words as the core of its identity: inclusive, inquisitive, and community-minded. On February 9, 2025, the congregation unanimously voted to adopt a welcoming statement as a matter of church policy, formalizing the language it had lived by for roughly a decade. That statement draws on Galatians 3:28 and names a long list of distinctions - including race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, mental and physical ability, and marital status - that will never stand in the way of full participation in the life of the church.
Inclusive, Inquisitive, and Community-Minded
Three values shape everything the church does. Inclusive means what it sounds like: a billboard once stood at the corner of 34th Avenue and Hardy Street that read, “Jesus welcomed everyone. So do we.” The church means it. Inquisitive comes from a Paul Tillich line the congregation takes seriously: the opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty. Members ask big questions and expect the church to wrestle with them honestly. Community-minded reflects a conviction that the church is not a building but a gathering of people - the Body of Christ - sent out to love and serve their neighbors.
Sunday Mornings at UBC
The Sunday rhythm begins early and runs deep. The choir rehearses at 8:30 AM in the sanctuary, and around 9:15 AM people begin gathering for Sunday School. Eight different adult study groups meet at 9:30 AM, covering everything from traditional Bible studies and book studies to discussions of social justice and the lectionary. Children and preschoolers gather for Godly Play and Sunday School classes in the Garner Building at the same hour.
The whole church family comes together for worship at 10:30 AM. The service is liturgical and traditional, following the Christian year and drawing on the Celebrating Grace Hymnal. Members of the congregation help lead worship, reading scripture, leading litanies, and offering prayers. Children regularly take part as readers and singers. A nursery is available for the youngest children, and preschoolers may leave worship about halfway through for an extended session. Services are also recorded and posted on the church's YouTube channel for those who would rather worship from home or who cannot attend in person.
Eight Study Groups, One Sunday School
Adults at UBC have a real range of choices on Sunday morning, and the church is proud that nearly everyone can find a fit. The eight groups include:
- The Class (detailed) - a discussion-based group that tackles big thinkers from Marcus Borg to the Sermon on the Mount.
- Agape, taught by Mo and Dick Conville in the Downey Gallery; intergenerational, with a topical curriculum.
- Contemporary, taught by Mike Ratliff in Garner 100; a traditional Bible study using Smith and Helwy's Formations.
- Koinonia, taught by Kim Walker in Garner 105; alternates between Bible study and book studies, with a fondness for Eugene Peterson.
- Patience, taught by Jan Davis in Garner 104; a women-only class focused on deep biblical knowledge.
- Justice, taught by MJ Moore in Garner 201 upstairs; studies the Revised Common Lectionary through a justice lens.
- Nursery and Preschool, taught by Idella McSwain and Olivia Carter in Garner 101 and 102; serves infants through two-year-olds using the Holy Moley curriculum.
- College, which meets on Wednesday nights after the potluck rather than Sunday morning.
Children's classes round out the Sunday School hour. Godly Play, taught by rotating certified Godly Play Foundation teachers in Garner 200, 202, and 204, divides children into two groups: three-year-olds through first grade, and second grade through sixth grade. The youth class, using the Echo the Story curriculum, meets in Garner 203 for seventh through twelfth graders. A church library is also open on Sunday mornings for those who want to read, work on a puzzle, or simply take a break.
Worship: Liturgical, Traditional, and Lay-Led
Worship at UBC strives to align with what the congregation believes to be the character of God. Pastors preach mostly from the Revised Common Lectionary, a three-year rotation that covers most of the biblical narrative; each summer, the church generally departs from the lectionary for a sermon series. The liturgical calendar shapes the year, with special emphases, colors, and banners marking Advent, Lent, Easter, Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Pentecost, and World Communion Sunday.
The music ministry leans traditional. The church uses the Celebrating Grace Hymnal and regularly welcomes special musicians and singers. Children's choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings right after the church potluck. Both choirs are under the direction of Dr. Ian Cicco, who also teaches music education at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Children at UBC
Children are at the center of life at University Baptist. Godly Play is the flagship children's program: at 9:15 each Sunday, children gather in the storytelling circle to enter the biblical story, wonder about it, and create meaning for their own lives through play, art, and a shared feast. Each teacher has been trained and certified by the Godly Play Foundation.
Preschoolers have Sunday School, Godly Play, Children's Choir, and the Extended Session during worship, with special events throughout the year. Older children participate in Sunday School, choir, mission projects, and worship leadership, and the church hosts family-oriented events that connect families to the wider congregation.
Youth and Senior Adults
Youth at UBC have their own Sunday School each week at 9:30 AM with a rotation of teachers and an emphasis on how the Bible applies to daily life. Questions and conversation are always welcome. Throughout the year, youth volunteer with off-site ministry projects and often serve in worship as musicians, scripture readers, or prayer leaders. Youth are welcome to join the sanctuary choir at 8:30 AM on Sundays - no audition required - and the church is a proud participant in Passport Youth Camps, sending students each summer to deepen their faith in a phone-free environment.
The senior adult ministry, known as PrimeTime, is described by the church as a vibrant and active group of the more mature members of the congregation. PrimeTime members teach Sunday School, lead committees, and participate in mission work. They fold small-group fellowship, day trips to places of local interest, and extended travel. The ministry is grounded in Isaiah 46: a God who carries them from birth through every season, even when their hair is white with age.
Neighbors: Breadbasket, Thames Elementary, Prison Ministry
UBC takes seriously the call to love its neighbors, beginning with those just outside the church doors. Breadbasket is a food pantry supported by University Baptist and eleven other Hattiesburg faith communities, with volunteers from those congregations distributing food to local families. Thames Elementary School, just a few blocks south of the church, is a long-standing partner; highlights of the partnership include the school garden program, tutoring, reading with children, stocking and organizing the clothing closet, and supporting school events and teacher appreciation efforts. The Prison Ministry committee keeps the church aware of prayer needs among friends in prison, encourages regular note writing, and publishes a newsletter that many of those friends help write. Each year, the Alternative Gift Fair invites members to make donations in the name of a friend or family member to local and international social service agencies, with cards sent to recipients in place of a traditional gift.
The Arts: Phyllis Downey Gallery and the Artist-in-Residence Program
The arts are taken seriously at UBC as windows into the deepest parts of human experience. The Phyllis Downey Gallery, established in 2014 thanks to the generosity of the Downey family, hosts exhibitions of work by artists from Hattiesburg and beyond, including watercolorist Tommie Hollingsworth Williams, digital photographer Marvin Kendrick Jr., and architect John Kochtitzky. Each year the gallery shows work by art students from William Carey University and the University of Southern Mississippi, and recent partnerships have brought exhibitions featuring students from Thames Elementary and Hattiesburg High School.
Since 2016, the Artist-in-Residence program has provided early-career artists with secure studio space and the basic necessities for creating new work in the visual arts. Two recently renovated studios are available for residents, who in turn help nurture the arts within the life of the congregation. The conviction behind the program is simple: the arts are doorways into the tragedies, comedies, quandaries, and hopes at the heart of life.
The Grounds
The UBC campus is actively used by the wider Midtown community. The grounds are open to the public for rest and reflection. A new Columbarium and Memorial Garden offers a space for solitude, and the back parking lot is a popular place to shoot hoops. Civic groups from the Pinebelt Quilters to the Midtown Neighborhood Association meet on the campus, and the sanctuary regularly opens to the School of Music at USM and others who need space for recitals and weddings.
Baptist, and Proud of It
Many first-time visitors wonder what kind of Baptist church UBC is. The congregation has wrestled for years with how best to articulate its identity as an inclusive, progressive, liturgical, and Baptist community in South Mississippi. Like other Baptist churches, UBC is autonomous in its organization and governance, but it partners in ministry with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists, is a member congregation of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, and is a supporting congregation of the Baptist World Alliance. The church has ordained women as deacons and ministers since 1976.
What to Expect When You Visit
Visitors are welcome at every level of dress - the church has hosted guests in suits and in their most comfortable jeans. The congregation is large enough to offer programs for every age and small enough that people know each other by name. Coffee is poured in the library and around the building throughout the morning. The music is traditional. The preaching is rooted in scripture and shaped by the lectionary. The people are friendly and serious about asking big questions together. Visitors are encouraged to fill out a visitor's card when they arrive so the church can follow up and share more about life at UBC. Online worshippers can join the service each Sunday on YouTube.