Unity East: A Vision Come TrueNEW & EXCITING: Manifesting a Space of Our OwnAfter four years of sharing the Newport United Methodist's Church with that congregation, and months of looking for the right and perfect space for a spiritual center, Unity East has joyfully and gratefully moved into our new home at 1890 Wooddale Drive in Woodbury.
A New Day - A New NameWhen Unity Church in Woodbury moved to our temporary quarters in Newport in 2003, and we realized our community members come from many places other than Woodbury (including Newport, Woodbury, St. Paul, Roseville, Inver Grove Heights, Hastings, Cottage Grove, Lake Elmo, Oakdale, Afton, Lakeland, Hudson and River Falls, WI — to name just a few), it became clear: time for a name change! After several community discussions, Board meetings, and finally a discussion and vote at the Annual Membership Meeting, we changed our name to Unity East. It became official with the state on June 4, 2003. Why Unity East? Several reasons. One is that most of our community members come from the eastern half of the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area. We really are an "east-side" church. Another is that we join the tradition of our "sister" Unity churches — Unity North in Coon Rapids and Unity South in Bloomington. Finally, in looking up the word "east" in the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, written by Unity's co-founder Charles Fillmore, we read that east "represents the within ... the significance is that from the regions of interior wisdom come thoughts of reverence and rich gifts of substance and understanding and every spiritual help for the holy life, the Christ Child, that has begun its growth in the consciousness." The Board, leadership team, and congregation all agreed that name fit very well for where we are and where we want to go as a spiritual community. Keep reading for the full history of UNITY EAST! A History of Unity EastIt began with a pioneering minister's vision: When he took on the job of senior minister at Christ Unity Church in Golden Valley, Rev. Don Clark's vision was to expand the Unity message by founding more Unity churches in Minnesota. It was furthered by another person's dream: "Having a Unity Center in St. Paul was my deepest desire when we moved here from California in the early 1980s," says Norma Serene. "I wrote to Unity Village to find out how we could start a study group in St. Paul. Two or three weeks later, Don Clark called me and said, 'I understand you want a Unity Church in St. Paul.' That call hastened the formation of Unity of St. Paul." With Rev. Clark's vision to expand the Unity movement and the identified interest for a Unity church in St. Paul, the Golden Valley church united behind its minister and set about organizing what is now Unity East. 1981: Organizing Begins In the summer of 1981, Rev. Clark, with the support of his Board of Directors, began the organization for the new church. That board interviewed ministers and supported the new church financially. Rev. Clark asked Don Ahern to be the liaison to the St. Paul church, to write the checks, do the banking, and communicate back and forth during the early organizing period. Rev. Clark asked Norma Serene if she and her husband, Lou, would have a reception for Doug Quimby, a new ministerial graduate of Unity, at their home. Invitations were sent to St. Paul area residents who subscribed to The Daily Word. As Norma recalls, Doug and his wife, Garnet, "were enthusiastically received by the guests. We definitely wanted Doug to be our minister, and he agreed to return to St. Paul after finishing business in Unity Village." In August 1981, Rev. Douglas Quimby and his wife, Garnet (who in 1987 also became a minister), arrived to minister to the new Unity of St. Paul. Don and Phyllis Ahern hosted them and found a home for them. The first Board of Directors consisted of Don Ahern, Norma Serene, Jane Livingston, Dan Corcoran, Leif Nestingen, Mona Palesh, and Bob Emberger. Early Locations When we started out that summer, we had no building and no funds for one, so we rented the chapel at the Council of Churches building on Summit Avenue for about a year. We were limited in our use of that space, however, and needed to find our own home. Finally, after much searching, Unity of St. Paul was able to rent the old Masonic Hall on 9th Street in downtown St. Paul. In this more spacious building, the church set up a bookstore and Garnet Quimby set up a health center where Drs. Ginger and John Hill practiced wholistic health procedures. We remained there until we outgrew the space and again searched for a home. This time, we found a former school building in West St. Paul to rent, and we moved there in 1984. 1984: Name Changes to Unity Center of Positive Christianity It was in December 1984 that the congregation voted to change our name to Unity Center of Positive Christianity. During these years, the congregation continued to grow. To assist with the teaching of classes, the Golden Valley church again lent support in the form of one of their Licensed Teachers, Doris Moses Finke. We also continued to search for a building we could buy and call our permanent home. Finally, in early 1986, the church discovered a large house and acreage in the rural town of Woodbury. The building was owned by Pauline Oden, who had run a group home for boys on the property. She was pleased to sell it to Unity because she wanted it to be used for Christian purposes. On March 23, 1986, the congregation made an offer on the property. After negotiating with the owner and the bank and coming up with a financing package that included "love notes" - loans made to the church by members of our congregation - Unity Center of Positive Christianity took possession of its new Woodbury home in the fall of 1986. 1986: Move to Woodbury That was just the start. In the winter of 1986-87, the congregation and the builders it hired worked in cold, snowy, and rainy weather to build the sanctuary onto the house, to remodel the house, and to put in a parking lot. Work on the new church continued through the summer, with virtually every member of the congregation contributing some "sweat equity." In August of 1987, the new church was ready for services, but having gotten the church started and settled in its new home, the Quimbys decided to leave their posts in February 1988. Peg McGinley, a newly Licensed Unity Teacher, took over as spiritual director while we searched for a new minister. Licensed Unity Teachers Kathy O'Kane and Doris Finke helped with the classes and other programs. 1988: New Minister Arrives The long and careful ministerial search ended in November 1988 when Rev. Festus Umeojiego became the new minister of Unity Center of Positive Christianity. Since Rev. Festus' arrival, the church grew and expanded, both in programs and services and in numbers of attendees. In 1996, feeling the crunch of a much-welcomed growth, we began to look seriously at options for increasing our space. 1997: Name Changes to Unity Church in Woodbury At the 1997 annual meeting, the congregation voted to change the name of the church to Unity Church in Woodbury. At the same time, the congregation authorized a committee to pursue the goal of expanded space. A year later, the Angel Wing Expansion Committee had done the visioning and the action and delivered an expansion plan to the Woodbury Planning Commission, which wholeheartedly approved the plans. In August 1999, Unity Church in Woodbury began construction of an addition that resulted in a major increase in youth education space, adult classrooms, a fellowship area large enough for the congregation, and space for the music ministry, bookstore, and many other programs. Once again, with the sweat equity and financial support of our community, the addition was built and ready for occupancy in June 2000. 2001: Changes in Leadership In September 2001, after nearly 13 years of ministry to the church, Rev. Festus Umeojiego determined it was time to move on. The Board of Directors decided to participate in the Interim Ministry program of the Association of Unity Churches, and hired one of the program's consultants, Jeanette Monterio, as our interim consultant and spiritual leader. She served us until we completed the Interim Journey program and were ready to call a new minister. 2003: New Location & New Name - Unity East In 2003, finding that our church building was too large for our congregation's purposes, we sold the building to a private school and moved into temporary quarters at the Newport United Methodist Church building, where our spiritual community thrived. To better reflect the geographical area that we serve and to mark the beginning of a new phase of growth for the church, on June 4, 2003, the name was changed to Unity East. 2004: New Senior Minister - Rev. Geoff Davis Under the guidance of our Interim Spiritual Leader, we completed a three-year process of healing, rebuilding, and moving to a new and higher level. We had created a new vision and mission statements, updated our core principles, and developed key goals. We sent this information to the Universe and attracted the perfect minister for our spiritual community. The Reverend Geoffrey Davis, an ordained Unity minister, began his ministry here in September 2005. |
