The first Universalist church in the United States, located in New Jersey, was created by John Murray in 1770. The Universalist movement spread first along the Atlantic seaboard and then west across the country. Universalists, a liberal sect of Christianity, did not adhere to any one creedal statement; instead they believed in one God and that every religious tradition was based upon one universal truth.

Conflicting dates place the creation of the First Universalist Church of Lansing between 1848 and 1852. The congregation first met in the Michigan Senate Chamber in Lansing until the first Universalist Church was dedicated on October 14, 1863 on Grand Avenue. The location of the Church changed several times; in July 1896 it moved to the northeast corner of Ottawa and Capitol Streets, in 1946 it moved to 831 North Washington, and finally in late September 1957 it merged with the East Lansing Unitarian Fellowship and moved to Allegan Street.

This merger resulted in a name change, Universalist-Unitarian Church of Greater Lansing; then in a 1961 decision made by the Council of Liberal Churches that fused together all Unitarian and Universalist Churches across the nation. To comply with the newly created Unitarian Universalist Association, the Lansing based Church changed its name once again to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing.