Unity is part of the New Thought movement, a spiritual and philosophical movement that emerged in the 19th century and explored ideas about the nature of God, consciousness, the power of thought, healing, and our capacity to change.

New Thought did not begin with one person or one set of teachings. It developed through many voices and influences, including Transcendentalism, metaphysical Christianity, the teachings of Jesus, world religions, and emerging ideas about the relationship between mind and experience.

Charles and Myrtle Fillmore were avid students. They explored widely, questioned deeply, and drew wisdom from many traditions. Among their influences were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emma Curtis Hopkins, Warren Felt Evans, Annie Rix Militz, and other New Thought teachers.

What emerged was not simply something to believe.

It was something to put into practice.

Can changing the way we think change the way we experience life?

In 1886, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore attended lectures by metaphysical teacher E. B. Weeks. Myrtle had experienced longstanding health problems that physicians of the time described as tuberculosis. She began an intensive practice of prayer, meditation, affirmations, and changing the way she thought about herself and her health.

Myrtle attributed the improvement in her health to these spiritual practices and to a profound change in her understanding of herself. Her experience became one of the catalysts for what would eventually become Unity.

Charles began his own exploration of philosophy, religion, metaphysics, and the relationship between mind and body.

Together, the Fillmores began asking not simply “What should we believe?” but “What happens when we live these ideas?”

An Idea Becomes a Movement

In 1889, Charles and Myrtle began publishing Modern Thought, sharing the ideas they were studying and exploring. That year is recognized as the founding of Unity in Kansas City, Missouri.

Prayer soon became central to their work. Myrtle began gathering people to pray, and the prayer ministry that eventually became Silent Unity developed from those early gatherings.

On December 7, 1892, Charles and Myrtle signed their Dedication and Covenant, committing themselves, their resources, and their work to what they called the “Spirit of Truth.” The document became an important expression of their commitment to living the principles they were exploring.

Their publishing work continued to grow. H. Emilie Cady's Lessons in Truth became one of the foundational texts associated with Unity, while magazines, books, correspondence courses, prayer, and eventually churches and spiritual centres carried Unity teachings far beyond Kansas City.

What began as conversations, experiments, prayer, and publishing became an international spiritual movement.

Early thinkers and teachers explored questions about mind, Spirit, consciousness, healing, human potential, and the relationship between our inner and outer experience.

Emma Curtis Hopkins became known as an influential teacher within the movement. Other streams eventually developed into organizations including Unity, Divine Science, and Religious Science/Science of Mind.

Women played an especially significant role in the development of New Thought, including Hopkins, Myrtle Fillmore, Nona Brooks, Annie Rix Militz, H. Emilie Cady, and others.

The Fillmores themselves never claimed to have invented the truths they taught. They studied widely and drew ideas from many sources, including Christianity, Transcendentalism, New Thought, and Eastern philosophy.

Different voices. Different paths. An ongoing exploration of what it means to live consciously.

More than a century later, many of the questions explored by early New Thought thinkers sound surprisingly contemporary.

How do our thoughts influence our experience?

Can we change long-established patterns?

What role do meditation and focused attention play in our lives?

What is consciousness capable of?

What happens when we mentally and emotionally experience a possibility before we see it in our outer lives?

Across the decades, writers and teachers have continued exploring these questions from different spiritual, philosophical, psychological, and sometimes scientific perspectives.

Neville Goddard placed imagination and consciousness at the centre of his teachings. Later writers and speakers—including Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle, and Joe Dispenza—have brought their own perspectives to conversations about consciousness, meditation, thought, spiritual potential, and personal transformation.

These teachers do not all teach the same philosophy, and their ideas should not all be considered Unity teachings.

What connects them here is something simpler:

The conversation continues.

Questions that fascinated the Fillmores more than a century ago are still being asked today.

Unity in Unexpected Places

Unity's influence extends far beyond Unity churches and spiritual centres.

Poet, author, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou described herself as “a student of Unity.” As a young woman, she was introduced to Unity through her voice teacher and encountered H. Emilie Cady's Lessons in Truth.

Years later, in a conversation with Oprah Winfrey, Angelou recalled the profound realization that came from contemplating three simple words:

God loves me.

She continued studying Unity throughout her life and maintained a close relationship with Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth.

Perhaps one of the most distinctive things about Unity is that understanding an idea is not considered enough.

Unity's fifth spiritual principle says that spiritual knowledge becomes meaningful when we apply it to our thoughts, words, and actions.

That idea has been present from Unity's earliest days.

Explore.

Question.

Practice.

Experience.

And see what happens.

From Kansas City to New Westminster

From small gatherings and a publishing venture in Kansas City, Unity grew into an international movement. Study groups and spiritual communities formed as people encountered the teachings and began exploring them together. Unity World Headquarters eventually developed at what is now Unity Village, Missouri.

And eventually, that story reached New Westminster, British Columbia.

Unity began with people willing to question, explore, and put spiritual ideas into practice.

More than a century later, we're still doing that.

At Unity of New Westminster, we honour the ideas and people who came before us without believing the exploration is finished.

We continue to ask questions.

We continue to explore new possibilities.

We continue to put ideas into practice.

Because spiritual ideas aren't simply something to think about.

They become meaningful through the way we live.

The ideas that began taking shape in Kansas City eventually found their way north to New Westminster, British Columbia.

Our spiritual community began around 1969–1970, originally known as Unity in Action.

Our little white church at 1630 Edinburgh Street has an even longer story. Built in 1933, the building was originally home to Westminster Heights Baptist Church.

Unity in Action moved into the building in June 1975, following renovations. On July 13, 1975, the church was formally dedicated, with resident minister Rev. Mary Fourchalk and Rev. Robert Sikking, then executive director of the Association of Unity Churches, taking part in the celebration.

Over the decades, both the community and the neighbourhood around us have changed.

Unity in Action eventually became Unity of New Westminster, but the little white church on the corner remained a place where people could gather, question, explore, celebrate, pray, meditate, learn, and experience community together.

Today, Unity of New Westminster brings together the spiritual ideas at the heart of Unity with contemporary questions about consciousness, relationships, community, our planet, and what we are capable of creating together.

Our history matters.

But we don't believe our best ideas are behind us.

We're still exploring.
We're still imagining.
We're still creating what comes next.