WELCOME TO UNITY OF SPRINGFIELD

In 1914, a young journalist turned minister, Frank Waller Allen left his two congregations in Missouri to become pastor of Springfield’s First Christian Church. The large brick edifice on Sixth Street was home to a very prosperous congregation.

Searching on his own path, Reverend Allen included literature and popular psychology in his sermons. Unable to incorporate all his ideas in messages for the fairly conservative congregation, Frank began holding evening lectures at the church and the Springfield YWCA. In his final sermon at First Christian, he said "And finally I believe in God. By God is meant the Creative Force that keeps the star on its course, or shapes and unfolds, color and perfumes the petals of a rose. By God is meant the ideals and high purpose of men when they turn to Truth and love. He is the Autumn when the grain becomes golden with ripeness. He is the progress when nations make peace and establish justice. He is the Light and Love and the Life of the world."

Claiming ill health, Reverend Allen resigned as pastor of First Christian Church in 1917 and began a career as a lecturer on New Thought Principles. The New Thought movement had grown steadily from the spiritual work of such pioneers as Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, Emily Cady and Emma Curtis Hopkins.

In 1921, Dr David Bush, a lecturer on "applied psychology and scientific living", arrived in Springfield to appear at the YWCA for a week of evening lectures on such topics as "How to be well, happy, and prosperous" and "How to think and achieve your highest ambition". After a second week of "advanced classes in applied psychology", the attendees were so enthused that they formed the Springfield Society of Applied Psychology.

The Society existed for three years and sponsored lectures primarily by Frank Waller Allen. Lectures were usually held at the YWCA or the Springfield College of Music and Allied Arts on South Second Street run by Clarence Meyer. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer were enthusiastic supporters of New Thought in Springfield until their departure in 1925 to continue New Thought Studies in California.

During this time, Allen traveled for several weeks at a time bringing his lectures to towns throughout central Illinois and as far away as Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas. In 1920, Frank returned to his journalistic roots and began contributing a weekly column for the Illinois State Journal titled "The Open Road". In one early column, Reverend Allen wrote "Make men believe they are the children of the devil and they will act accordingly. Make them believe they are children of God, that from Truth they draw their life and unto freedom they are unfolding and you inspire them with a boundless inspiration."

For his audiences, Frank had two important messages; first, life is an extension of thought and subject to control and second, that happiness comes when our thoughts are in harmony with God. "Thought is the thing," he wrote, "Control thought and you control yourself and master life." Possibly a revolutionary idea for many, but not an entirely new thought in central Illinois. About 60 years earlier, another native, Abraham Lincoln, said " I have found that a man is as happy or unhappy as he makes his mind out to be."

In 1924, Frank Waller Allen and his wife moved to Los Angeles, California where he taught at the Metaphysical Library, a New Thought Center.