OUR FOUNDER
The Reverend Dr. Johnnie Colemon, often referred to as the first lady of the New Thought Christian Community, founded Christ Universal Temple (C.U.T.), a thriving, spirited and progressive New Thought Church in l956. In 1974, she established the international organization of affiliated New Thought churches and study groups called the Universal Foundation for Better Living (UFBL).
“Johnnie,” as the Rev. Colemon is affectionately called, celebrated fifty years of building and teaching in 2006. She has built six structures to spread the “better living” teachings: three churches, two institutions of learning, and a restaurant and banquet facility. The first church, built in l962, was Christ Unity Temple; its addition was built in l972. When the congregation outgrew the first church building, Rev. Colemon built and moved into the current Christ Universal Temple, located on the sprawling campus grounds at 119th Street (named Rev. Johnnie Colemon Drive in 1996) and Ashland Avenue in Chicago. Close to 3,000 people flock to CUT every Sunday and are taught how to think, rather than what to think.
Open Your Mind and Be Healed is not only the title of Rev. Colemon’s book; it is her remarkable personal story and an introduction to the universal principles of healing. In 1953, after learning that she had an incurable disease, Johnnie enrolled in the Unity School of Christianity in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. There, she received her healing as well as a teaching certificate, and she went on to become an ordained minister. Always a trailblazer, Dr. Colemon pioneered many “firsts” while at Unity, including being the first Black to live at Unity Village and the first to have been elected President of the Association of Unity Churches.
As a member of the International New Thought Alliance (INTA), Rev. Colemon served as the district president and the chairperson of the 60th INTA Congress held in Chicago. In 1979, she traveled to London, England to be the guest speaker at the Festival of Mind and Body, accompanied by her children’s choir, the Youth Vibrations.