When Two Become One

When Charles and Myrtle Fillmore started the Unity movement the last thing in

the world they wanted to do was found another religious denomination.

They originally envisioned Unity as a great prayer and educational ministry. At

first they held their Sunday services in the afternoon. The idea was that in the

morning you would go to your regular church: Methodist if you were a Methodist

or Congregationalist if you were a Congregationalist, etc. Then in the afternoon

you would come to the Unity gathering.

The hope was that Unity principles would help you become a better Methodist or

Congregationalist, etc. It was also the hope that some of Unity’s concepts about

the nature of God or prayer might rub off and into your Sunday morning spiritual

community. In a sense this is what the Dalai Lama hopes to accomplish today. He says his goal is not to make you a Buddhist, but if you are a Christian, the goal is to make you a better Christian or a better Jew if you are a Jew, etc.

My first ministry was at the Unity Center of Tulsa (UCOT). What happened at

UCOT provides a very representative tale of what happened in many places. Long ago two people left Tulsa to study with the Fillmores in Kansas City. When they came back from Kansas City, they started a study group in their home in Tulsa.

The Tulsa study circle grew and grew. It could no longer fit in a living room, so

they had to rent outside space. But it kept growing, so they rented a church that

was not being used. What was once a study group had now become a de facto

church. This pattern was repeated in many cities across the nation, and when

Unity acquired a very powerful radio station a similar thing happened in other

countries.

The Fillmores may not have wanted to found a new denomination, but the reality

was that in fact they had. The Fillmores had established Unity Village in a forest

outside of Kansas City. But this spiritual oasis was mostly dedicated to prayer,

education, retreats, and publishing.

There were now “spiritual leaders” at the local Unity “churches,” and many of

them felt that their needs, and the needs of their churches, were not being served by the Unity Village organization. So these Unity ministers founded a second organization called The Association of Unity Churches. Later, it was renamed and became Unity Worldwide Ministries (UWM). Also, what was known informally as Unity Village became Unity World Headquarters (UWH).

It can be confusing. If you are at church and want to hire a new minister, you go

to UWM. If you want a copy of the Daily Word, you have to go to UWH. But if you

want to go to classes on metaphysics, you need to contact UWM. However, if

you’d like to go to a retreat on metaphysics, don’t call UWM – – call UWH! It has

sometimes seemed like an Abbott and Costello routine: who is on first, what is on second, and I don’t know who is on third base?

This situation very much reminds me of the history of Coca-Cola. Back in the day

Coca-Cola was only served at places like drugstore soda fountains. Several

entrepreneurs came to Coca-Cola and said that they could make a mint by

bottling the stuff. The central organization said they weren’t interested, but the

entrepreneurs kept pressing. Finally, Coca-Cola gave these entrepreneurs the

right to bottle Coca-Cola and sell it that way. Thus started real tensions between

the central Coca-Cola organization and the bottlers.

Needless to say there also have been at times serious tensions between UWM

and UWH. Also, at times it seemed that these two organizations were not

modeling “unity.” In the past there have been attempts to merge the two

organizations into one. But these previous escapades have never been successful

for one reason or another.

After the experience of Covid, a growing movement inside of Unity has been

pressing for the unification of UWM and UWH. Both organizations agreed to give

it a try, and in the last few years we have seen a movement to “reimagine” Unity. I believe that there would be serious and significant advantages if we could see a unification between UWM and UWH, including:

• Economies of scale and the end of wasteful duplication

• The resources to launch vital programs that are needed to keep Unity growing in the 21st-century

• The reduction of bickering between the two organizations which has not served our movement well

• Better linkages and synergies between publishing, education, and activities within Unity spiritual centers

• An organization that will be much more nimble and ready to advance when key changes take place in our society culture

• An organization that will be much more responsive to SLC and other spiritual centers in the field

A draft charter to accomplish this “reimagining of Unity” is being released in

September. Our movement will have a chance to vote on this draft in November. I plan to keep you informed about all of this in upcoming blogs and perhaps at a

future roundtable.

I will be one of the people representing and voting for SLC in this process. I really welcome input from you on all of the above.

I know that the above might not sound like fun to many of you. But I believe that this “reimagining Unity” will have a key impact on Unity and on SLC. I wish to see that this influence is highly positive.

Many blessings,

Rev. Rick