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Fifty years of simplicity and faith

Unity Temple of Truth celebrates its nontraditional ways and its resiliency.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
Published November 7, 2007

Nat Williams, 56, joins in song at Unity Temple of Truth. As part of its 50th anniversary, the church will have a Renewal Celebration today at 6:30 p.m. and a special worship service Sunday at 11 a.m.
	[John Pendygraft | Times]

ST. PETERSBURG- The Unity Movement's message of positive, practical Christianity and a readily accessible God arrived in Jordan Park in the 1950s, took root and today is one of the group's oldest black congregations worldwide.

This week Unity Temple of Truth Church is celebrating its 50th anniversary, its sturdy masonry structure softened with beds of petunias at its entrance and neatly pruned hibiscus hedges. The church has persevered despite the death of one of its co-founders, short-term teachers and ministers and decline of a once vibrant membership. Today longtime members are proud of the community's resilience, saying that challenges notwithstanding, Unity Temple of Truth at 511 Prescott St. S has never closed its doors.

Perhaps no one better embodies hope for its future than the Rev. Prentiss John Davis, the energetic minister hired three years ago from a church in Detroit.

When he arrived, the congregation had dwindled to 20. "A strong 20," he said. "Some have come back. Some new ones have come."

Sunday, close to 50 people attended the 11 a.m. service.

Vyrle and Mozelle Davis, members since 1962, were there. The retired educators grew up attending the AME Church, but joined Unity Temple of Truth after their marriage.

Mozelle Davis was introduced to Unity as a young girl and attended weekly classes with her mother in Jordan Park. She likes the principles of Unity and "the fact that it's practical and it emphasizes a personal relationship with God," she said.

Martina Haywood also went to the Jordan Park classes. "Mrs. Mamie Hughes started Unity classes at houses, then it moved to the Jordan Park Community Center," she said, recalling the church's genesis.

The Rev. Catherine Brooks, who founded Unity Temple of Truth with her husband, James, taught Sunday school in her garage before the congregation moved to its present building, on land donated by Mamie Hughes. The church itself was built almost solely by James Brooks.

On Sunday morning, Margarette Nelson, president of the board of trustees, gave a tour of the sturdy building that abuts I-275 and is tucked away at the end of a dead end street. A secluded room in the front of the sanctuary - where the platform, pew cushions and carpeting are rose colored - has been transformed into a small prayer room. On the walls of the tiny alcove are the words, "Peace Be Still."

Nelson, a retired nurse who grew up attending traditional churches, said she was seeking "simplicity and love and faith," when shefound Unity.

Frances Stockton, who has belonged to the church for about 45 years, brought her children up in Unity. At one time she was the Sunday school superintendent.

"I like unity. I like all the things they stand for," she said. "I went to Kansas City this summer and it was one of the most moving experiences of my life. I had always wanted to go," she said of the trip to Unity Village, the organization's world headquarters outside Kansas City, Mo.

Stockton was among 18 members of the church who flew to Unity Village. Outsiders are most familiar with Unity through Daily Word, the organization's devotional booklet, and Silent Unity, a prayer line used by people around the world.

Its Web site describes Unity as "positive, practical Christianity" that teaches "effective, daily application of the principles of Truth taught and exemplified by Jesus Christ." The organization says it promotes a way of life that leads to health, prosperity, happiness and peace of mind.

Davis, Unity Temple of Truth's minister, acknowledges that some might find it difficult to relate to the New Thought religion, with its nontraditional approach to Christianity and openness to other faiths.

"Some come and they stay. Some come and say, 'Whoa!'" Davis said during an interview Sunday before his church's hour-long service that included the singing of the Lord's Prayer, hymns and meditation.

"We believe that there are other ways to God. I've been called a leader of a cult. Even though we say we follow the teaching of Jesus Christ, they still say we're a cult. Unity practices a new way of thinking for everyday living."

These are the principles Catherine Brooks taught fellow African-Americans who attended her classes first at Jordan Park, in her garage and eventually in the church her husband built. Brooks herself learned about Unity's principles from the Rev. Louise Beaty, minister of First Unity Church, also in St. Petersburg. In 1960, Mrs. Brooks was one of three black students ordained at Unity Village.She died in 1990.

Lula Williams remembers Catherine Brooks well. She drove Williams and others to the Jordan Park classes in her green and white station wagon. Williams also remembers the Sunday the congregation marched into the new church.

"There are many that have worked hard in that church," she said. "Thank God that our church doors have never been closed."

"Because," said Mozelle Davis, "there was a nucleus of people there who believed in the goodness of the church and the principles and just really enjoyed getting together and believing in what the churchstands for.

"And knowing that the church would not end. That the church would live on."

Waveney Ann Moore can be reached at wmoore@sptimes.com or 727 892-2283.

[Last modified November 6, 2007, 22:34:56]