Our History

Unity in the Heart

Unity in the Heart was cofounded in the fall of 2001 by those who sensed a need for a Unity presence on the east side of the Twin Cities, The following April the young congregation moved to its current location at the Triune Masonic Temple, a beautiful 100-year-old-plus historic building located near Marshall and Fairview.

  • Rev. Edward Conrad and his wife Katherine Conrad cofounded Unity in the Heart in 2001.
  • Rev. Laurie Brandt served this dynamic family congregation from 2005-2017.
  • Rev Sher McNeal (Interim minister) lead us from 2018-2019.
  • Guest speakers lead us through 2020.
  • Rev. Ray Nelson leads our community to explore Unity/New Thought ideas and spiritual development since Nov. 2020.

In addition to nurturing our own spirituality, we are committed to

  • giving back to our community through volunteer activities and financial support, and 
  • getting together on a regular basis just for fun.

If you'd like to be part of a happy spiritually evolving family, please join us on Sundays at 10:30am.

See Events listings and calendar for further information on current activities.

Introduction to New Thought 

Charles married Myrtle in Clinton, Missouri, on March 29, 1881, and the newlyweds moved to Pueblo, Colorado, where Charles established a real estate business with the brother-in-law of Nona Lovell Brooks, who was later to found the Church of Divine Science.

After the births of their first two sons, Lowell Page and Waldo Rickert Fillmore, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Two years later, in 1886, Charles and Myrtle attended New Thought classes held by Dr. E. B. Weeks. Myrtle subsequently recovered from chronic tuberculosis and attributed her recovery to her use of prayer and other methods learned in Weeks' classes. Subsequently Charles began to heal from his childhood accident, a development that he, too, attributed to following this philosophy. Charles Fillmore became a devoted student of philosophy and religion.

A Growing Movement

In 1889, Charles left his business to focus entirely on publishing a new periodical, Modern Thought. In 1890 they organized a prayer group that would later be called "Silent Unity" and in the following year, the Fillmore's Unity magazine was first published. On December 7, 1892, Charles and Myrtle penned their Dedication and Covenant.

We, Charles Fillmore and Myrtle Fillmore, husband and wife, hereby dedicate ourselves, our time, our money, all we have and all we expect to have, to the Spirit of Truth, and through it, to the Society of Silent Unity.

It being understood and agreed that the said Spirit of Truth shall render unto us an equivalent for this dedication, in peace of mind, health of body, wisdom, understanding, love, life and an abundant supply of all things necessary to meet every want without our making any of these things the object of our existence.

In the presence of the Conscious Mind of Christ Jesus, this 7th day of December A.D. 1892.

Charles Fillmore
Myrtle Fillmore

Dr. H. Emilie Cady published a series titled Lessons in Truth in the new magazine. This material later was compiled and published in a book by the same name, which served as a seminal work of the Unity movement. Although Charles had no intention of making Unity into a denomination, his students wanted a more organized group. He and his wife were among the first ordained Unity ministers in 1906. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore first operated the Unity organization from a campus near downtown Kansas City. Unity began a formal program for training ministers in 1931.

Myrtle Fillmore died in 1931. Charles remarried in 1933 to Cora G. Dedrick who was a collaborator on his later writings. Charles Fillmore made his transition in 1948.