The North Shore Unitarian Church is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), which was founded in 1961 following the merger of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church in America. The association headquarters is in Boston, Massachusetts, and there are more than 1,000 UUA member congregations, mostly in the U.S., representing more than 217,000 members.
Unitarian Universalists follow a congregational model of church governance, with power residing at the local level. Ministers are called by the church. Each congregation is self-governing with democratically elected leaders drawn from church membership. The congregation makes all decisions involving worship, theology and day-to-day church management. The denominational headquarters in Boston provides support to congregations on many aspects of church life.
The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), founded in 1995, coordinates national Unitarian and Universalist associations of churches throughout the world.
