Our Mission

Union cultivates the divine spark in our neighbors for the good of the city and the world it inspires through outstanding coffee, robust community and engaging causes. 

A little bit about Union...

The idea for Union started with dreaming-out-loud conversations between Mike Baughman, Neil Moseley and Phil Dieke. Eventually the idea developed into a concept and a reality. The North Texas Annual Conference of the  United Methodist Church launched Union as laboratory and new church start to experiment with three key things: 1) what could the church learn from a neighborhood by so embedding itself within the neighborhood that people beyond the worshipping community would actually notice if they closed? 2) What are alternative means of sustaining good work? 3) What might it look like to engage in ministry with young professionals who have left or never engaged the church? 

Since opening in 2012, we’ve developed a top-rated independent coffee shop, three worshipping communities, a long list of arts events and kept the city of Dallas awake with more caffeine than we could measure. We’ve learned a lot along the way and are always happy to share. 

the most generous cup of coffee in dallas

This is a bold statement, but Union lives up to it. Union dedicates at least $25,000 each year to support Oak Lawn UMC's efforts to care for unsheltered neighbors in Dallas. We have also raised thousands of dollars for North Texas Food Bank, Project Transformation, Wesley Rankin Center, Junior Players, Capes 4 Kids, Readers 2 Leaders, Mustang Heroes, Cafe Momentum, North Texas Tornado Relief and United Methodist Disaster Relief.

Organizations Supported:
North Texas Food Bank
Project Transformation
Capes 4 Kids
Cafe Momentum
North Texas Tornado Relied
United Methodist Disaster Relief

Our Core Values

Apostleship: We don’t adhere to ‘the way things have been done,’ but entrepreneurially take old pathways and bring them to new communities, contexts, schools of thought, conversations and paradigms. We construct new matter from old materials.

Boundary-Breaking: We embrace playful, constructive ways to color outside the lines that separate people from people, institutions from institutions and the present from the future. We poke social divides and peer through holes to see what is on the other side. We may even experiment with what might germinate from cross-pollination.

Generosity: We offer our vulnerability, our resources, our time, our voice, our privilege, our light, our hope, our story and ourselves. So that Dallas might be betters. So that the world might be better, So that we, through our generosity might be better.

Quality: When there are few standards to follow, we will be the standard against which others are measured. We set an example by our bold failures and brilliant successes. We set the standard so that others might improve upon our work and forge a more perfect Union.

Sanctuary: Sanctuary is more than a place. We must choose sanctuary in order to offer refuge to those who feel threatened. Sanctuary dwells in people and swims in cups of coffee that warm our hands and tell us we are okay. Sanctuary is any act that makes us a bit more like God. 

Storytelling: We tell stories on stages, around tables, behind counters, online, over the phone and, most importantly, with the decisions we make. We tell our own stories, other people’s stories and the stories that make us who we are. 

Sustainability: We attend to and craft ecosystems that nourish the long-term health of that which is alive--communities, people, plants, ideas and dreams (to name a few)