Unity Village celebrates power of prayer

UNITY VILLAGE, Mo. -- It's a little piece of the Riviera in eastern Jackson County.

With its stuccoed walls and Mediterranean red-tile roofs, the 1,400-acre Unity Village complex, just northwest of Lee's Summit, looks little like the working farm and orchard it once was.

Unity Village is the world headquarters of a worldwide prayer and publishing ministry. It also is a municipality, incorporated 50 years ago, and Unity recently celebrated that anniversary with a band concert and a 1950s car show.

The decision to incorporate was made to avoid being swallowed up by Kansas City or Lee's Summit.

"That was done to keep our own identity," said Tom Taylor, Unity's community relations director.

The identity of Unity, however, has been evolving in recent years.

Charles and Myrtle Fillmore of Kansas City founded Unity in 1889. After Myrtle Fillmore used prayer to heal herself of illness, others grew interested in the healing power of prayer.

Today the Unity School of Christianity, based at Unity Village, identifies itself as a religious educational organization based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. It promotes reflective prayer and meditation to increase an individual's connection to God.

In 2001, Connie Fillmore Bazzy, a great-granddaughter of the founding Fillmores, announced a restructuring of Unity's top management. Named president was Tom Zender, the first Unity president outside the Fillmore family.

"I do not believe we have drifted from our core principles; we hold those as sacred," Zender said.

"We continue to teach, to write and to pray from a central Christian viewpoint," he said. "I do not see us participating in New Age. I do see us participating in what long has been called 'New Thought,' many of which are absolutely Christian rooted."

For example, Zender said, some Unity adherents consider meditation as a healthy spiritual practice.

"Of course, that has been embraced by many faiths. Frankly, when Jesus went off into the desert to pray, he was probably praying and meditating."

A hunger for learning goes back to Unity's beginnings, said the Rev. Duke Tufty, co-minister of Unity Temple on the Plaza and Unity board member.

"Charles and Myrtle Fillmore always said that the discovery of truth is an ongoing process," Tufty said.

"Once, when Charles Fillmore was giving a talk, someone in the audience stood up and said, 'Six months ago, you told us exactly the opposite.' And Charles said, 'Well, six months ago, I did not have the awareness I have now."'

Recently, Unity has moved to make itself more accessible to those not familiar with its legacy.

The weekend's event was one example.

Another is how the Unity Village retreat center, often the site of spiritual conferences, has been booked by groups with no specific spiritual agenda. Later this month, for example, a regional Rotary group will convene there.

Last fall, Unity revived the "Word From Unity" spots, with brief appearances filmed by actors Beau Bridges and Della Reese. The commercials advertised subscriptions to Daily Word, Unity's monthly inspirational magazine.

Unity is considering resuming the "Word from Unity" spots permanently.

In 2000, Unity decided for financial reasons to cease publication of Unity Magazine, which dated back to Unity's 19th century Kansas City origins. But soon, citing reader response, Unity reinstated the magazine, now appearing every other month.

"Unity wants to be more visible, to grow and reach new audiences," Taylor said.

Unity Village, the ministry's world headquarters, employs about 560 on a campus dominated by long low structures with a Mediterranean flavor brought to Jackson County by a son of the Fillmores who studied design in Italy.

The village has its own ZIP code, the better to process the more than 30 million pieces of mail sent each year.

In 2002, Silent Unity, Unity Village's 24-hour on-site prayer ministry, received more than two million prayer requests.

Though a larger percentage of prayer requests now come by telephone, a significant number still arrive by mail. Written requests are kept in baskets for 30 days behind wooden cabinet doors by the Silent Unity prayer vigil chapel.

"It's nothing mysterious. We don't lay our hands on the letters," Taylor said. "But it's just the consciousness of them being here."

The written prayer requests are shredded after 30 days.

Today, inside the Silent Unity offices, employees sit at work stations with telephones and computers. Unity does not allow photographers inside. Prayer ministry work, Unity officials think, is best done by anonymous employees.

"We think we owe that to the people who call or write," Zender said.

Unity did, however, allow members of a Harvard University medical school team to visit Silent Unity. Their visit was part of an investigation into the role of prayer on good mental and physical health.

The results will be released soon.

The Unity Silent Unity Prayer Ministry operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

If Unity has been trying to reposition itself to attract new friends and supporters, many had no trouble finding it on and after Sept. 11, 2001.

"Our attendance on the Plaza jumped 35 percent the Sunday after 9/11 and it hasn't gone back down," Tufty said.

The same effect has been seen and heard at Silent Unity. Officials added staff members to help with the work load, Zender said.

Meanwhile, prayer traffic remains brisk.

"Many people are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of prayer and its positive impact on our lives," he said.