A Teacher
Johnnie Colemon
Better living through applied truth principles
The transmission
Johnnie Colemon (February 18, 1920 - December 23, 2014) was an American New Thought minister, teacher, and institution-builder often called the “First Lady of New Thought.” Trained in the Unity movement, she founded a Chicago congregation in 1956 that grew into Christ Universal Temple, which became one of the largest and most influential churches on the city’s South Side and the first New Thought megachurch in that community.
The church’s prominence is reflected in its having hosted the funeral of Mayor Harold Washington and addresses by Barack Obama as both senator and president. In 1974, in response to racism she had experienced within Unity, Colemon founded the Universal Foundation for Better Living (UFBL), an independent association of New Thought churches and ministers rooted in the African American religious experience.
UFBL and the affiliated Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary trained a generation of Black New Thought leaders, establishing her as a central figure in the development and institutionalization of New Thought within African American communities. She retired from active leadership in 2006.
What they gave
Institutionalizing Black New Thought: Built UFBL and a major congregation that carried mind-power metaphysics into African American religious life at scale.
- Applied truth principles: Taught practical use of affirmative thought, faith, and disciplined mental practice for healing and “better living.”
- Ministerial training: Founded a seminary that propagated New Thought teaching through trained ministers.
- Mainstream visibility: Gave New Thought a prominent civic and cultural platform through Christ Universal Temple.
In their words
The greatest discovery that I made was to know that within every man, woman and child there is the Christ. And, the Christ is God’s idea of Himself.
The line they stand in
Influenced by: Unity and the Fillmores; the New Thought metaphysical tradition descending from the Emma Curtis Hopkins lineage.
- Influenced: The Universal Foundation for Better Living and its affiliated churches; Black New Thought ministry; the wide congregation and seminary she established.
Revelations they taught
Orders & Societies
Essential Works
- Open Your Mind and Be Healed1993