It was founded in 1889 by Charles Fillmore (1854-1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931), in Kansas City, Missouri. It currently has its headquarters in Unity Village, Missouri.
Unity was founded on the practice of affirmative prayer in the late 1800s. Over time, these prayer groups evolved to form churches, now all across the world. Here's some of the history:
The co-founders of Unity, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, met in Texas and married in 1881. In 1884 they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Charles sold real estate.
In 1886-1888, Myrtle became very ill. Since she was a child, she was often sick and was told she had inherited the tendency. After attending a class taught by Dr. Eugene B. Weeks, Myrtle gained a stronger faith in God and a new way to pray. She began a dedicated practice of this affirmative prayer: "I am a child of God, and therefore I do not inherit sickness." Within two years, Myrtle was healed of her life-long illness. Her family and friends were excited, and they began praying too. Charles began to study world religions and philosophies, and the link between religion and science. Charles and Myrtle started writing about their beliefs, and shortly thereafter Unity was born.
In 1889, the Fillmores published the first issue of Modern Thought, a national monthly magazine devoted to spiritual questions. The magazine’s name was changed to Unity Magazine in 1894. In 1890, The Fillmores used the magazine to tell people about the Society of Silent Help (renamed Society of Silent Unity in 1891), and that the work of the Society of Silent Help is “open to everyone.”
In 1891 Charles chose Unity as the name for the movement they were founding and adopted the Unity Wings as a symbol.
In 1893 Myrtle started a monthly magazine for children called Wee Wisdom. When it was discontinued in 1991, Wee Wisdom was the oldest continuously published children’s magazine in the country.
In 1894 Lessons in Truth by H. Emilie Cady, a former homeopathist, was published as the first Unity book. Over the years it has been translated into 11 languages, published in braille, and sold more than 1.6 million copies. Her writing became a cornerstone of Unity’s teachings.
The Unity Society of Practical Christianity was incorporated as the first Unity church in 1903.
In 1914 the Fillmores started Unity School of Christianity to handle their publishing and educational work. They purchased the first 58 acres of the present Unity Village site in 1919, about 20 miles southeast of Kansas City, Missouri.
In 1922 Unity became a pioneer in radio broadcasting. Charles gave his first Unity lesson over radio on station WOQ, which was documented to be the first radio presentation by a clergyman in Kansas City, Missouri.
In July 1924 the first issue of Unity Daily Word (renamed Daily Word in 1939) was published. Frank Whitney was the first editor of this popular magazine of daily devotionals, which is now printed in 8 languages (including Chinese).
One of the well-known symbols of Unity, the 165-foot-tall Tower and the Silent Unity building (later known as the Education building) was constructed at Unity Village in 1929. The Tower contains a 100,000-gallon water tank that provides fresh water. The Tower also houses a carillon that chimes music at different times of the day. In 1989 these buildings were put on the National Register of Historic Places.
1942 saw the opening of The Heritage Room library (renamed Unity Library and Archives in 1997). The Library remains open to the public today and houses one of the world’s largest metaphysical collections.
In 1947 Unity School moved from downtown Kansas City to its new headquarters at its Unity Farm site between Lee's Summit and Kansas City, Missouri. Beginning as a locally renowned produce farm and orchard, the site expanded and incorporated as a municipality named Unity Village in 1953. Today the campus occupies 1,400 acres and is open to the public. Free tours of Unity Village have been offered by the Visitor's Center staff since 1978.
The first spiritual retreat is held at Unity Village in 1951. Today there are about a dozen retreats a year for adults, including Spanish-language retreats.
Unity’s Rose Garden was planted in 1951. Today the garden has 800 bushes, with nearly 50 different kinds of roses.
The Association of Unity Churches was officially organized in 1966 to support other Unity ministers and ministries in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada.
In 1989 Unity celebrated its centennial, and the Unity School of Christianity Historical District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Unity’s first World Day of Prayer was organized in 1994. On Unity’s World Day of Prayer, more people contact Silent Unity for prayer than at any other time. Unity’s World Day of Prayer is on the second Thursday in September each year.
In 1997 Silent Unity, one of the oldest 24-hour prayer ministries in the United States, answered a record-breaking number of prayer requests: two million.
In 1998 Unity Village dedicated a new labyrinth patterned after the famous medieval labyrinth that was carved into the stone floor of Chartres Cathedral in France around 1200 A.D. The labyrinth at Unity is open to the public during daylight hours and is designed to accommodate wheelchairs.
Celebrities affiliated with Unity include Betty White, Eleanor Powell, Wally Amos, Licensed Unity Teacher Ruth Warrick, Barbara Billingsley, Matt Hoverman, Patricia Neal, Holmes Osborne and Esther Williams.
In March 2008 Maya Angelou stated that she plans to spend part of the year studying at the Unity Church. In 2005 she attended a Unity Church service in Miami and decided that day to "go into a kind of religious school and study" on her 80th birthday.
The Unity wings symbol, the winged globe, appears in many Unity publications. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, explained the symbolism of the winged globe this way:
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