After mostly renting spaces for Sunday services for 46 years, the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship will meet and host programs in a newly built center at 3327 Old Conejo Road in Newbury Park.

The $4.4 million home in the new Bollinger Executive Office Park consists of two buildings. An open sanctuary has a vaulted ceiling and is rimmed with floorto-ceiling windows on three sides. A separate, twostory building has a social hall with kitchen, five classrooms for religious education, a board room, office space, a child care room and a multipurpose room. The two buildings are connected by a patio that is used for social gatherings between services.

The Rev. Dr. Betty Stapleford, minister of the fellowship, said she is "thrilled and inspired by the possibilities that having buildings of our own now offer. They certainly provide more opportunities for a greater variety of programs for our own congregation. But they will also allow us to share our ideas and activities with the larger community and to become a beacon of liberal religion in the Conejo Valley and beyond."

The new space qualifies as a green sanctuary, with many features that conserve energy and water. The windows have double pane glass with inert gas in between layers for insulation. The building makes maximum use of natural lighting, and fluorescent lamps are used for the light fixtures. All faucets have a low-flow feature, and one of the restrooms has a waterless urinal.

The fellowship had been meeting on Sundays for the last 11 years at the Goebel Senior Center in Thousand Oaks and prior to that has mostly rented in various locations since its establishment in 1962.

Sunday services are held at 9:15 and 11 a.m. Religious education is available for children from 5 through high school age during the first service, with child care provided for those under 5. Child care for infants to fifth grade is available during the second service. A coffee social is held between services.

Monies for the facility were obtained through two capital fundraising campaigns and a seed grant from the national Unitarian Universalist Association. The Rev. Bill Sinkford, UUA national president, will dedicate the new campus later in the year.

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religious movement, with members engaged in a search for truth, bound by no dogmas or creeds, and taking inspiration from a variety of religious traditions, science and reason.