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The History of Unity in Champiagn-Urbana |
The earliest record concerning Unity in Champaign-Urbana is the report
of a successful and well attended 1909 class on "Practical
Christianity." The guest lecturer for the class was Leroy Moore,
founder of The First Unity Society of Chicago. Although Moore returned
again in 1910, the honor of having the first established Unity center
in central Illinois belongs to nearby Decatur, started in May 1909.
Fast
forward to 1977: Two separate Unity study groups meeting in
Champaign-Urbana came together to begin discussing the possibility of
establishing a church. The two groups merged into one and started
holding classes and services in the basement of the First United
Methodist Church of Urbana.
The Rev. Ron Coleman came
in 1984 to serve as the church's first minister. Under his leadership,
the prosperity that is 1206 East Main Street was purchased and on
Easter Sunday, 1985, the first service was held at this location.
During this same year, the church was incorporated and became a member
church of the Association of Unity Churches. In 1989, Rev. Coleman
moved to Houston, Texas to pioneer a new ministry.For the next two
years, the spirit of Unity of Champaign-Urbana was kept alive by a
group of committed members, lay leaders, and Licensed Unity Teachers.
Rev.
Juhlie M. Fancher began serving as minister in July 1991, and continued
to provide spiritual leadership and vision for the next 15 years.
During her tenure, we adopted the name "Christ Unity Church, rebuilt
the membership, and opened our doors to host a number of groups
including St. Mary Magdalene's Apostolic Catholic Church, Tashi Choling
Center, Al-Anon, and AA.
In fall 2006, our prayers for a minister were answered by Rev. Sara Duncan, who began serving Christ Unity in October.
Today,
Christ Unity continues to grow in service to members, friends and the
community. It remains our goal to make the Unity teachings available to
everyone in our area who find them of value. Working always to increase
our giving, we envision ourselves as "an expanding spiritual
environment for those drawn to the Christ light of Unity!"
For the history of Unity in the United States and around the world or a listing of Unity churches worldwide contact, www.unityonline.org.
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Our History 