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ABOUT UNITY

EDUCATION

What is Unity?

Unity is a positive, practical, progressive approach to Christianity based on the teachings of Jesus and the power of prayer. Unity honors the universal truths in all religions and respects each individual's right to choose a spiritual path.

Follow the links below for statements about the Unity movement.

Joint Statement for Peace

Honoring Diversity Within the Unity Movement

Association of Unity Churches, International

What We Believe

God

God is Spirit, the loving source of all that is. God is the one power, all good, everywhere present, all wisdom. God is divine energy, continually creating, expressing and sustaining all creation. In God, we live and move and have our being. In Unity, some other ways we speak of God are Life, Light, Love, Substance, Principle, Law and Universal Mind.

Jesus

We believe that Jesus expressed his divine potential and sought to show humankind how to express ours as well. We see Jesus as a master teacher of universal truths and as our Way Shower. In Unity, we use the term Christ to mean the divinity in humankind. Jesus is the great example of the Christ in expression.

The Nature of Humankind

We are each individual, eternal expressions of God. Our essential nature is divine and therefore inherently good. Our purpose is to express our divine potential as realized and demonstrated by Jesus and other master teachers. The more we awaken to our divine nature, the more fully God expresses in and through our lives.

The Bible

Unity founders Charles and Myrtle Fillmore studied the Bible as history and allegory and interpreted it as a metaphysical representation of humankind's evolutionary journey toward spiritual awakening. In addition, Unity recognizes that the Bible is a complex collection of writings compiled over many centuries. We honor the writings as reflecting the understanding and inspiration of the writers at the time they were written. The Bible continues to be a valuable spiritual resource for us.

Our Teachings

Unity teaches that each person is a unique expression of God created with sacred worth. Living from that awareness transforms our lives and the world. Unity emphasizes the creative power of thought in our life experience. We refer to this as the Law of Mind Action. When we take personal responsibility to choose life-affirming thoughts, words and actions, we experience a more fulfilling and abundant life.

Unity emphasizes the importance of applying spiritual principles in our daily lives.

Unity teachings continue to evolve as we identify, embrace and apply spiritual insights and the spiritual implications of new discoveries.

Prayer and Meditation

Affirmative prayer is the highest form of creative thought. It includes the release of counterproductive, negative thoughts, as well as holding in mind statements of spiritual truth. Through meditation, we experience the presence of God. Prayer and meditation heighten our awareness and thereby transform our lives.

Youth and Family Ministry

Unity recognizes that there are many expressions of family life. All are welcome. Unity creates an affirming environment that fosters positive self-image, personal responsibility and unconditional love and acceptance.

Unity:

Beholds all children as whole and perfect expressions of God.
Empowers children to fulfill their divine potential.
Teaches children to meditate and pray.
Invites children to experience a loving God.
Unity provides a strong spiritual foundation for children's lives.

Spiritual Action

In Unity, we feel a sacred responsibility, individually and collectively, to make a positive difference through personal example and active service in our churches, our communities and our world.

Click for more about:

Unity
Association of Unity Churches International
Unity Village

Comments

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First day

Last Sunday 8/22/10 I went to Unity for the first time I was amazed I felt Love and joy for the Love of God and spirit Thank you

LRP

8/23/2010 1:23:16 PM

Prayer

Please,send me more information about prayer and how to improve my relationship to God

Marjojo

8/19/2010 2:13:08 PM

my health

thank you so much for keeping me in prayers for these 30 days after i have requested i was so sick being anemic i had blood transfusion done prior to requesting for prayers. i have taken all test for possible cancer and all is well and normal thank you so much for all your prayersGod is Spirit, the loving source of all that is. God is the one power, all good, everywhere present, all wisdom. God is divine energy, continually creating, expressing and sustaining all creation. In God, we live and move and have our being. In Unity, some other ways we speak of God are Life, Light, Love, Substance, Principle, Law and Universal Mind. forever im a firm believer in miracles. God is my life.

gabrilla007

8/4/2010 1:18:49 AM

Response to vhhcm#1

Dear friend, Duke Tufty has offered an illuminating response to the first part of your question. In regard to the second part, Unity does not, as an organization, change The Lord's Prayer to say "deliver us from error" rather than "deliver us from evil." Some Unity churches may do this, but Unity churches are autonomous, so you will not find all of them using the same exact prayers or holding services exactly the same way. Here at Unity Village, for decades at 11:00 a.m. we have broadcast a recording of Charles Fillmore saying The Lord's Prayer--and he says "deliver us from evil," not "error." We trust this explanation is helpful, and we bless you on your spiritual journey!

Unity Customer Care

8/3/2010 10:24:36 AM

Jesus Christ and salvation

Dear hlissak, In Unity we believe the Bible is meant to be approached primarily as a spiritual or metaphysical document. This is much the same approach the early Christians took to the Jewish scriptures. For example, Paul describes the story of Abraham and his sons as an allegory (Gal. 4:21-26), and in 2 Corinthians 3:6 he states that the Bible should be read in the Spirit rather than in the letter, because "...the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." Unity interprets Jesus'statements about being the "way, the truth,and the life" and so on as being not about Himself, but about the Christ idea He represented and expressed. The Christ is God's idea of a human being; it is what and who each of us really is, how God sees us, what God created us to be. We can't have "salvation" (which we regard as the realization of our oneness with God, as well as freedom from erroneous thoughts and actions and their effects) without recognizing the Christ in us, accepting it, and expressing it. It's already a fundamental part of who we are, so if we deny it, we're denying that which makes us whole and complete. Even so, many Unity believers do consider Jesus their personal savior, because His teachings, example, and the inspiration He continues to provide today help them realize and express the Christ within themselves. They have accepted His invitation: "Follow me."

Unity Customer Care

8/3/2010 10:14:50 AM

Response regarding directed prayer

Thank you for your question. Following is a response from Rev. Duke Tufty, Unity's board chair and senior minister at Unity Temple on the Plaza in Kansas City, MO: In the beginning God was seen as the "Sky God" responsible for sun, wind and rain. This god was seen as a man, in control of various factors effecting people's lives. As time went on and the hunter gathers became settlers/farmers, they quickly learned that the earth was the source of their basic needs. Mother Earth or Earth Goddess became the feminine nomenclature for this deity. With Greek myth, deities were multi-gendered. Gods and Goddesses, each with authority over a particular aspect of life, became active and were prayed to by the people. With the Hebrews development of a God, because they were a patriarchal society, the one deity was cast in a masculine form. So what is God? Man, woman, many or one? God is spirit. God is it all. God is not man and not woman but the everywhere present energy and intelligence of the universe. In order for people to develop a personal relationship with God, they personalize God with terms that are endearing and comfortable for them. Whether it be Father, Mother/Father or Spirit. I would suggest not to be put off by another's way of naming God but remember that we are all referring to the same thing in a different language.

Unity Customer Care

8/2/2010 2:10:47 PM

Dear Friends:

Thank you for your inquiry and responses. We invite you to check out a previously posted Discussion on our Unity Facebook page. It is entitled "The Bible-is it the only true source of Truth" and it was originally posted April 5, 2010. In it Unity minister and Unity Institute faculty member Rev. Tom Thorpe offers a very detailed posting that may answer your question. You will also find several other questions and comments from Unity Facebook fans that may be helpful to you as well.

Sally-UnityWebTeam

8/2/2010 7:42:42 AM

In response to a few posters here.

The Bible has changed much throughout history. Looking at the earliest manuscripts, we can see that there have been great deals of information that has been added or removed. Truth is not something that you can monopolize. Your truth is your belief, and that is all. What you think God is saying is your belief, and that is all. The Bible also supports slavery, and has been used to support slavery in the past, as well as other unsavory deeds. In the past Christians did not even agree on some of the basic ideas of Christianity. Look at the number of atonement theories for example. Believe that the world is not flat? Or that the earth revolves around the sun? You would be deemed a heretic and spreading falsehoods if you lived during those time periods. This is because people's understanding of the Bible changes. The Bible cannon was decided by men that voted on what was divine and what was not. Ideas that would have been considered 'heretical' to some and agreed on by others were thrown out. Do you know how it was decided that there should only be four gospels, while there were originally 30 or so floating around? It was decided that there should be four because: "there can only be four gospels as there are only four winds." Something to ponder about. People's understandings of science have changed, and that means that their spiritual understandings can change as well. You can grab some verses to support your view, and call everyone else that doesn't agree heretical... but get in line with the tons of other people that do the exact same thing. Even on the topic of how to be 'saved' in the first place, in which Christians have split off on as well. And on 'hell' (the word for which doesn't even mean the same as our modern understanding of it. (Look up hades, sheol, gehenna.) Not all Christians agree on what happens in 'hell' and a lot don't believe a hell exists. There is Universal Reconciliation, which had a very strong hold in the early stages of Christianity, then there is the annihilation theory, and others as well. And there are simply those that see a God of Love and a God of Eternal Torture as the height of cognitive dissonance. So please, don't tell people to repent and be saved, because you yourself do not have the authority, or the knowledge even, to tell others what God wants, and to dictate exactly how one should interpret their Bible. People would be throwing those exact same words at you if you lived about 1,000 years ago and if you still hold the same beliefs you do now (eg- interracial marriage is okay in God's eyes, slavery is immoral, the world is not flat... etc.)

Michelle

8/1/2010 3:57:46 AM

Relationship to Jesus

Does Unity believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the light? Do Unity believers believe that one can only have salvation through the love for Jesus as their personal savior?

hlissak

7/24/2010 8:35:39 PM

First Time

Last Sunday was the first time in nearly thirty years that I went to Church. I attended Unity in Bellevue, and I was amazed. This website led me there. I have wanted to reconnect to God for a long time, but I believed that there just wasn't a place for me. I wanted a place that taught that God was love and not intollerance, a place that was inclusive instead of exclusive. Last Sunday, for the first time in a long time I prayed, listened to music, and felt joy for God and Spirit.

Cynthia in Redmond

7/13/2010 9:11:38 AM

Unity Blog

Power of Prayer Retreat:
Prayers and Practices from Around the World

September 5–10, 2010
Unity Village, MO

Participants will experience diverse forms of prayer, discover a deeper appreciation of how prayer unites us, and enjoy beautiful music and practices from many different spiritual traditions. Participants will be at Unity Village during World Day of Prayer 2010.

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What is Unity?

Power of Prayer Retreat: Prayers and Practices from Around the World

Power of Prayer Retreat:
Prayers and Practices from Around the World