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Unity Church
Established 1889 by the Fillmores
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Unity Church of Christianity was founded in Kansas City in 1889 by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore. Myrtle was diagnosed with “Consumption”, and had only a short time to live. She later attended a metaphysics seminar held by Emma Hopkins, and heard an affirmation that rang to her as absolute Truth: “I am a child of God, and therefore I do not inherit sickness.” Myrtle spent the next two years affirming her health, over and over, locked upstairs in her bedroom. She would speak to the cells in her body, apologizing for giving them wrong beliefs over the years, and affirming them healthy, whole and blessed. Her consumption finally left. Charles had a withered leg, damaged from labor on the railroads, which required him to use a cane or crutch to get around. Applying Truth principles for himself, his leg extended some and allowed him better movement. With no intention of starting a religious movement, the Fillmores began teaching others what they had learned about Truth, in order that they could be blessed as well. Unity is now the largest New Thought denomination in America and has reached around the world.
To find a Unity church near you, please visit this website: https://www.unityworldwideministries.org/find-church
From www.UnityOnline.org:
Unity is a center of spiritual light for people of the world. We are dedicated to letting this light shine so brightly that people become more aware of their spiritual nature and express it in their daily lives. We address physical, mental, and emotional needs through affirmative prayer and spiritual education. We serve those who seek inspiration and prayer support as well as those who use Unity teachings as their primary path of spiritual growth.
Unity is a not-for-profit organization based on the teachings of Jesus and the healing power of prayer. Our world headquarters in Unity Village, Missouri, provides a tranquil atmosphere for quiet meditation and a place for all people, regardless of faith or nationality, to worship.
Unity was founded in 1889 in Kansas City, Missouri, by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore. After Mrs. Fillmore’s remarkable healing using prayer and affirmations, many friends became interested in how she accomplished this healing. Unity grew from small prayer circles in living rooms to the worldwide movement it is today.
Our prayer, publishing, and education ministries allow us to provide people all over the world with positive, spiritual messages of hope, healing, prosperity, and peace.
Our Prayer Ministry
Prayer is the foundation and the heart of our work. For over one hundred years, Unity has been dedicated to helping people through prayer. Silent Unity, the prayer ministry of Unity, responds to nearly two million requests from people who write, call, or e-mail for prayer support throughout the year. A vigil of prayer is maintained in Silent Unity around the clock to pray for those who request prayer.
Our Publishing Ministry
Unity operates one of the largest religious publishing houses in the Midwest, offering hundreds of books, pamphlets, CDs, and tapes on a variety of spiritual subjects. Our Message of Hope literature is distributed to hospitals, prisons, nonprofit organizations, and the military. Unity also publishes two magazines to inspire and advance personal growth.
Daily Word is a monthly magazine of daily inspirational messages published in 7 languages and distributed in 137 countries. It includes affirmations, prayers and a monthly calendar.
Unity Magazine is a bimonthly magazine filled with articles written to encourage spiritual education and development.
Our Educational Ministry
At Unity we offer a variety of classes, workshops, and seminars designed to increase spiritual understanding and promote inner growth. Spiritual Retreats are also offered throughout the year and are open to anyone who would like to attend.
Unity Institute (UI) offers a resident study program for adults. Classes in the Spiritual Education and Enrichment Program may be taken by individuals interested in informal study for personal growth or by those seeking to become licensed Unity teachers. UI also conducts a two-year resident Ministerial Education Program for those preparing for ministry.
You can also read “Answers to Your Questions About Unity” by James Dillet Freeman online.
Religious Science (Centers for Spiritual Living)
Established 1927 by Ernest Holmes
In 1926, Ernest Holmes published his seminary book “The Science of Mind”, and Religious Science was born. Like the Fillmores, he never intended to start his own denomination. Holmes studied Christian Science (which is not a part of New Thought), from which he got the name. The Religious Science church split over differences in 1953, creating Religious Science International and the United Church of Religious Science. In 2011 the two branches (then called International Centers for Spiritual Living and United Centers for Spiritual Living) reconciled their differences and became one church again as Centers for Spiritual Living. Religious Science is alive and thriving! To find a Religious Science church near you, visit the Centers for Spiritual Living’s website: https://csl.org/map/
There are also more resources available here- https://www.csl.org/en/spiritual-community/connect
What is the Science of Mind? By Ernest Holmes:
The Science of Mind that is taught in these lessons is an outgrowth of the spiritual faith which people have had throughout the ages. Before science was conceived the Presence of God was felt. Before ever mental actions or reactions were analyzed history was filled with instances of men and women who had experienced God.
The Science of Mind is comparatively new, but the mental experience of the invisible universe is as old as the history of man. It is new in that for the first time in history we have put together all findings which contribute to the establishment of man’s relationship with the universe, to the end that he may be able to apply his spiritual understanding to the everyday problems of human life.
This science necessarily starts with the proposition that we are living in a spiritual universe whose sole government is one of harmony, and that the use of right ideas is the enforcement of its law.
The Science of Mind is built on the theory that there is One Infinite Mind which of necessity includes all that is, whether it be the intelligence in man, the life in the animal, or the invisible Presence which is God. In it we learn to have a spiritual sense of things. This spiritual sense of things is what is meant by the Consciousness of Christ. To be able to discern the spiritual idea back of its physical symbol is to use the mind that Jesus used.
The Science of Mind is intensely practical because it teaches us how to use the Mind Principle for definite purposes, such as helping those who are sick, impoverished, or unhappy. Each one of us should learn to become a practitioner of this science, a demonstrator of its Principle, a conscious user of its Power. Power already exists, but the existence of Power is of no particular value to us until we use it. We must not only be conscious of Power, but we must be actively conscious of it. This is one of the first lessons we learn in the Science of Mind.
This science is more than mental; it is also spiritual, since we live in a spiritual universe. The Science of Mind declares the Truth about this spiritual universe and it also declares the Truth about false belief, considering everything which is opposed to good as an accumulation of human thought, the collective negative suggestion of the race.
Wrong conditions are resolved into false beliefs, and through the use of right ideas a transformation of thought takes place. We learn to build our ideas upon an affirmative rather than a negative factor. To state the Truth and deny or disregard that which in belief is opposed to it, is to prove that the Principle of the Science of Mind is actual.
The ever increasing thousands of persons who are daily proving this Principle add to our conviction that we are dealing with the most intense reality the human mind has ever conceived. As you will learn later, the practice of this science is the application of a definite technique, the law of right thought, of true spiritual understanding.
Divine Science
Established 1887 by Malinda E. Cramer, and later Nona Brooks, with sisters Mrs. Small and Fannie Brooks James
Divine Science has dual beginnings, and a very interesting history. In 1886, Nona Lovell Brooks of Denver was in poor physical condition, only able to digest “soft, especially prepared food”. She and her two sisters, Mrs. Small and Fannie Brooks, attended a workshop by none other than Emma Hopkins, the metaphysics teacher who inspired Myrtle Fillmore and the Unity movement. Nona had been praying almost constantly “God give me light” for more than a year. During the fourth class with Emma Hopkins, Nona describes “my whole being was completely flooded with a great light-a light brighter than sunlight, brighter than any I had ever seen. It filled me! It surrounded me! I was conscious of nothing but that intense white light!” She was instantaneously healed, and the sisters’ lives improved greatly, including their financial burdens being lifted. The Brooks sisters differed from Emma Hopkins in the belief that the Universe was not real, and to be denied; they believed that “form was the product of God’s creative activity, and this wonderful world was not to be denied but to be understood and interpreted”. All this is chronicled in “Divine Science: It’s Principle and Practice.”
At the same time and unknown to the Brooks sisters, in San Francisco a woman by the name of Malinda E. Cramer had realized God’s presence. Burning with the desire to show people they could be freed from disease, poverty and disharmonies, she held workshops and taught classes in her home, which she had incorporated in 1887 as Home College of Divine Science. In 1889 Malinda Cramer came to Denver, and taught a class whose principles matched the Brooks sisters. They asked if they could call their teaching “Divine Science” also, as they had no name, and Malinda Cramer agreed. Malinda Cramer’s book is called “Divine Science and Healing” and her personal experience can be found here.
The Divine Science Statement of Being:
God is all, both invisible and visible.
One Presence, One Mind, One Power is all;
This One that is all is perfect life, perfect love,
and perfect substance.
I am an individualized expression of God
and I am ever one with this perfect life,
perfect love, and perfect substance.
Divine Science was once the largest New Thought denomination, but now is quite small. There are few churches left, and the ones belonging to the Divine Science Federation are found here, under “Member Organizations”.
Universal Foundation for Better Living
Established 1974 by Johnnie Colemon
In 1974, Johnnie Colemon founded the Universal Foundation for Better Living church. Friend Della Reese, famous singer and actress from Touched by an Angel, founded the Understanding Principles for Better Living church in LA after being ordained by the UFBL church. Says the UFBL website:
WE BELIEVE that it is God’s will that every individual on the face of this earth should live a healthy, happy and prosperous life.
WE BELIEVE that such a life is within the reach of each one of us and the way to its attainment begins with the realization that the Kingdom of God is within us, waiting for us to bring it into expression.
WE BELIEVE that we can bring this Kingdom forth by practicing the universal spiritual principles handed down through the ages and taught by our Way-shower, Jesus the Christ.
WE BELIEVE with Jesus that our experiences are the reflections of our beliefs and therefore the key to happy and successful living is right thinking followed by right action.
WE BELIEVE with Jesus that the basis for right thinking is LOVE – love of God and all that is good in ourselves and others.
WE BELIEVE that learning to listen to the whispering of the “still small voice” within us will ensure that we are guided into right action.
WE BELIEVE that rather than devoting our primary efforts to providing for the needy of the world, the time has come to make available to all people everywhere a teaching that will enable them to provide for themselves by learning to release the divine potential within them.
WE BELIEVE that the Universal Foundation for Better Living is a vehicle for the spreading of such a teaching.
WE BELIEVE that a mighty new wind is blowing. People everywhere are hungry for practical techniques that will show them how to fulfill the good desires of their hearts. We in the U.F.B.L. believe that we have these techniques and we offer them to everyone without distinction, confident that with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can teach all who are willing to learn how to overcome whatever would keep them from their highest good.
WE BELIEVE IN GOD!
WE BELIEVE IN HUMANITY!
WE BELIEVE IN THE UNIVERSAL FOUNDATION FOR BETTER LIVING!
To find a UFBL church in your area, visit http://ufbl.org/ufbl-churches/