Learning As We Go - Growing in Unity Group

Welcome again to everyone who has joined this group. My hope is that you will feel comfortable to engage and will invite others to join us as well.

One of the questions that is at the forefront of my consciousness right now is how I would describe Unity to people who have never heard of it or who have less informed ideas about it.

If you Google "Unity Church", the new AI function describes the Unity Church this way, "It is a non-denominational organization that focuses on spiritual growth and a practical way of life, believing in universal truths found in all religions."

If you go to the Unity.org website and go to the About Us page, right at the top it say, "We are a global, inclusive, spiritual community, and we offer practical tools and uplifting resources to help people of all faiths apply positive spiritual principles in their daily lives."

"Help people of all faiths..." I found that very interesting. I am really informed by the idea of being an invitational presence. Even though I don't personally use the word faith as a synonym for religion, I like the idea of being a part of a community that invites people from all backgrounds to "gain" from being in relationship with us.

So perhaps a way that I could describe Unity to people is the "spiritual salt that brings out the best flavors of our personal faith experience." Maybe I will test it out and report back. 😜

But here's an interesting experience I had yesterday that informed why I am asking this question. Yesterday I was on a Zoom call for the "Bridging Community"--people who work to bring people together across differences. In a breakout, the question came up about what churches could do to help facilitate positive social change in the world. Since folks knew that I "used to be a pastor", they wanted to know my thoughts. I said a few things, but when I thought about mentioning Unity, I hesitated because I wasn't sure how to introduce it in the limited time we had left. So, I just decided to ask someone in the group who hadn't spoken in the breakout, but who had mentioned earlier that he was doing work to measure the impact of bridging efforts, if they had ever done any work in churches. Well guess what.

He started off by saying, "Well I am part of a faith community that you might not have heard of. It's a kind of interfaith 'synchronistic' church called Unity and I am writing a report on the potential impact Unity churches can have on bridging." I would say I was shocked accept the Universe just works that way. I then revealed to everyone that I was serving a Unity Spiritual Center and asked the man if I can read his report when he is done.

I also could tell from the other people's faces that they had no idea what an "interfaith synchronistic church" meant. This isn't to knock his definition. Heck, I don't have one either. But, it did remind me how important it is to have a way to describe a place that exists to "help people". So here are some ideas that are floating around in my head right now.

Unity is:

1. A community where we remember and remind one another of who the Divine is and who we are.

2. A center people participate in for personal spiritual growth and real world application.

3. A place where people invest in themselves and their communities through fellowship and developing spiritually, mentally, and physically.

Another thought was that rather than having an answer to what Unity is, I can offer questions such as:

1. Have you ever wondered how you could establish an intimate relationship with your inner divinity? Well, that's what we facilitate at Unity Spiritual Centers.

2. Where you ever taught that the heaven is within you? Then if they say "yes", I can say. Well at Unity, we work to connect with the heaven within you, so that you can bring more heaven out into the world.

But as it also says on the Unity site, "Because we know that each person comes to Unity at a different place on their journey, we invite you to use the language that resonates with you."

So, I guess what it comes down to for me is intent. Why do I want to tell people about Unity? How do I think knowing about Unity will add to their lives and experiences? And perhaps it's living into these questions that will help me to know what to say when the moment arises.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts and learn from and with you learning as we go.