International Council of Unitarians and Universalists

International Council of Unitarians and Universalists
The official logo of the ICUU, containing both an image of the Earth and a flaming chalice.
Abbreviation	ICUU
Classification	Unitarianism, Christian Universalism, Unitarian Universalism
Executive Director	Rev. Steve Dick
Region	International
Origin	March 4, 1995
Members	17 (organizations)
Publications	Global Chalice
Official website	www.icuu.net

The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) is an umbrella organization founded in 1995 bringing together many Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist organizations. The size of the affiliated organizations varies widely. Some groups represent only a few hundred people; while the largest, the Unitarian Universalist Association, has over 160,000 members and is larger than all the other groups put together.

The original initiative for its establishment was contained in a resolution of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (British Unitarians) in 1987. This led to the establishment of the Advocates for the Establishment of an International Organization of Unitarians (AEIOU), which worked towards creating the council. However, the General Assembly resolution provided no funding.

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) became particularly interested in the establishment of a council when it had to deal with an increasing number of applications for membership from congregations outside North America. It had already granted membership to congregations in Adelaide, Auckland, the Philippines and Pakistan, and congregations in Sydney, Russia and Spain had applied for membership. Rather than admit congregations from all over the world, the UUA hoped that they would join a world council instead. The UUA thus became willing to provide funding for the council's establishment.

As a result, the council was finally established at a meeting in Essex, Massachusetts, United States on 23–26 March 1995. The Rev. David Usher, a British Unitarian minister of Australian origin who had proposed the original motion eight years previously, became the ICUU's first President.