Our pastor is Julian A. Davies




Julian was born in England where he grew up entirely outside the church. It wasn't so much that he never gave church a second thought, he never thought about it at all.

After completing his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees he moved to Canada where he held a postdoctoral fellowship in chemistry for two years before coming to Toledo to take up a faculty position in the chemistry department at The University of Toledo. He served at UT as Assistant Professor for 3 years, Associate Professor for 3 years, Professor for 3 years and as Distinguished University Professor for 14 years, including nearly 3 years as Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences and Mathematics. During this time he was awarded the university's outstanding teaching award, the outstanding research award and various other bits and pieces that seemed important at the time.

Along the way he got married to Mary Kay Smith who had been raised in a small United Methodist Church in Pemberville, Ohio. She persuaded him to visit a church with her one Sunday where Julian proceeded to irritate everyone by asking questions about almost everything ("why do you say 'amen' at the end of prayers?" .... "is it OK to ask questions during the sermon?" .... "why does everyone keep standing up and then sitting down all the time?".... and so on). Fortunately the people there embraced him and made him part of their church family. After a journey through many Sunday School classes, retreat experiences and a host of other formative events, Julian realized that he was called into ministry.

He took himself off to seminary to obtain the M.Div. degree, resigned his position at UT and entered the ministry in The United Methodist Church. He served at Epworth U.M. Church in Toledo for three years, first as Youth Pastor and then as Interim Pastor before being appointed by his Bishop to return to the university community and start a new church. Because Julian didn't grow up in a church and still doesn't really know why churches do most of the things that they do, don't expect The University Church to look like anything you've ever seen before!

You can contact Julian by email.



Mary Kay Smith




Mary Kay is a UT alumna who is a faculty member at the medical school (formerly MUO) in Toledo.  She is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Director of Public and Community Psychiatry, and Director of Psychiatry Clerkships. Mary Kay is much involved in international medical and educational missions, spending time each summer in northern Zambia working with United Methodist pastors in HIV/AIDS prevention and education initiatives. Mary Kay spends a lot of time in the air, traveling from place to place convincing people to take mental illness seriously  and to understand the cultural contexts in which they work.







Joshua A. Davies




Joshua is a junior at St. John's Jesuit High School in Toledo.  Along with his mom, Josh is sold out on international mission work and has spent part of each of the last four summers in Zambia, working with children and developing sports initiatives in the communities there.  He has also been on mission workteam trips in Mexico and around the US, including Youngstown (Ohio), New York City, Chicago and a host of other places.

Josh likes to play table tennis and is getting dangerously close to beating his dad these days.








Anna V. Davies




Anna attends school at the West Side Montessori Center in Toledo where she is in seventh grade.  Unlike her dad, Anna has grown up in the life of a church and sees her church as her second home.  She would be horrified at the idea of not attending church on Sunday!

Anna has recently undertaken training for babysitters at a local hospital and is fast becoming an entrepreneur in her neighborhood where her skills and training are in high demand.