The Unity Church (also known as the Unity School of Christianity) is the largest of the New Thought denominations of Christianity. It was founded by Charles Fillmore (1854-1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931) in 1889 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Unity is not to be confused with, or in any way connected with, Unitarianism

There are many Unity churches throughout the world, with roughly two million adherents. The Unity Church is today represented by two main groups, Unity, located in Unity Village, Missouri, and the Association of Unity Churches, located in Lee's Summit, Missouri, which associates over nine hundred member churches. The Unity Church was founded with the intention of being a teaching organization rather than a separate denomination, and the teaching side continues in the Unity Institute, or UI, in Unity Village.

The Unity Church teaches that God is a universal presence and that divinity exists within all people, not just Jesus. The church emphasizes prayer, meditation, and positive thinking. According to the Unity organization, the five basic ideas that make up its belief system are:

1. God is the source and creator of all. There is no other enduring power. God is good and present everywhere.
2. We are spiritual beings, created in God’s image. The spirit of God lives within each person; therefore, all people are inherently good.
3. We create our life experiences through our way of thinking.
4. There is power in affirmative prayer, which we believe increases our connection to God.
5. Knowledge of these spiritual principles is not enough. We must live them.

External links

• Association of Unity Churches (http://www.unity.org/)
• Unity (http://www.unityonline.org/index.htm)