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Unity Village is a small, rather unique community in Eastern Jackson County, with about only 140 residents spread over no more than two square miles at the northwestern edge of Lee’s Summit.
However, Unity Village is more than just another quiet Midwestern town with its unique Mediterranean architecture. It is the base of a powerful organization that boasts more than two million members.
Unity Village is the home of the Unity School of Christianity, also known as the Unity Church, and is best known to many through its Daily Word devotional publication. It is a New Age type church, founded within the past 150 years, and many say it is one of the more influential religions in American history.
Charles Fillmore and his wife, Myrtle, founded Unity Church in Kansas City back in 1889 after Myrtle was stricken with tuberculosis. In an effort to find a cure, the couple began seeking spiritual methods of healing. They fell in with Christian Scientists shortly before Myrtle’s miraculous recovery. Many of their friends became interested in how Myrtle accomplished this healing, and Unity soon grew from small prayer circles in living rooms to the worldwide movement it is today.
In its official name, the church promotes itself as being affiliated with Christianity; however there are many differences between beliefs of the two. For one, Unity Church believes that Jesus was a man who attained spiritual perfection, but is not necessarily the literal Son of God or was resurrected from the dead.
And, whereas Christianity is taught largely based on the New Testament of the Bible, Unity not only uses the Bible, but also the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, along with its own self-published Unity magazine, and the texts from a number of other religions as the foundation for its teachings.
Instead of being purely Christian, Unity teachings veer more toward combining a belief in God with the power of positive thinking. Unity is a way of life that leads to health, prosperity, happiness and peace of mind, according to its literature.
To spread news of their experiences and their new beliefs, the Fillmores began publishing “Modern Thought” magazine. They also founded the “Society of Silent Help.” Over time, the organizations converged into what is now known as the Unity Church.
Unity became its own distinct religion as the Fillmores kept ties with the Christian Science movement. Unity branched out to incorporate spiritualism, Hinduism and a number of other religious beliefs. In time, Charles Fillmore set himself up as a figurehead for the entire movement.
Unity Village is a small, rather unique community in Eastern Jackson County, with about only 140 residents spread over no more than two square miles at the northwestern edge of Lee’s Summit.
However, Unity Village is more than just another quiet Midwestern town with its unique Mediterranean architecture. It is the base of a powerful organization that boasts more than two million members.
Unity Village is the home of the Unity School of Christianity, also known as the Unity Church, and is best known to many through its Daily Word devotional publication. It is a New Age type church, founded within the past 150 years, and many say it is one of the more influential religions in American history.
Charles Fillmore and his wife, Myrtle, founded Unity Church in Kansas City back in 1889 after Myrtle was stricken with tuberculosis. In an effort to find a cure, the couple began seeking spiritual methods of healing. They fell in with Christian Scientists shortly before Myrtle’s miraculous recovery. Many of their friends became interested in how Myrtle accomplished this healing, and Unity soon grew from small prayer circles in living rooms to the worldwide movement it is today.
In its official name, the church promotes itself as being affiliated with Christianity; however there are many differences between beliefs of the two. For one, Unity Church believes that Jesus was a man who attained spiritual perfection, but is not necessarily the literal Son of God or was resurrected from the dead.
And, whereas Christianity is taught largely based on the New Testament of the Bible, Unity not only uses the Bible, but also the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, along with its own self-published Unity magazine, and the texts from a number of other religions as the foundation for its teachings.
Instead of being purely Christian, Unity teachings veer more toward combining a belief in God with the power of positive thinking. Unity is a way of life that leads to health, prosperity, happiness and peace of mind, according to its literature.
To spread news of their experiences and their new beliefs, the Fillmores began publishing “Modern Thought” magazine. They also founded the “Society of Silent Help.” Over time, the organizations converged into what is now known as the Unity Church.
Unity became its own distinct religion as the Fillmores kept ties with the Christian Science movement. Unity branched out to incorporate spiritualism, Hinduism and a number of other religious beliefs. In time, Charles Fillmore set himself up as a figurehead for the entire movement.
Unity’s literature is all marked with its logo, a globe with wings. The symbol is in many ways a sign of the incorporation of occult imagery into their beliefs, and in Egyptian times, represented the sun god, Ra, fleeing across the sky. To those who believe in the Unity Church, the wings represent the earth itself being lifted to a new consciousness.
The Unity Church today has celebrity followers, including actress Betty White, and is active in 15 countries. It is a part of the International New Thought Alliance and the New Thought movement, an umbrella organization of fringe religious groups that all preach a New Age, metaphysical message. Because of this, Unity is closely associated with Divine Science and Religious Science, two other groups within the New Thought Movement that preach similar – although not identical – values.
Myrtle started Wee Wisdom in 1893, a monthly magazine for children, and was the oldest continuously published children’s magazine in the country when it was discontinued in 1991.
Charles Fillmore passed away in 1948, but the church has stayed within the family. In 2001, Tom Zender became president and chief executive officer of Unity.
Reference: Unity Church.
