Message from the Executive Director January 2024

You Gotta Have Faith!

Forty-five years ago, Rev. Dr. Ruth M. Mosley stepped out on faith and launched a program to bring Truth principles to those who were underserved. Faith is a power that Rev. Ruth demonstrated consistently as she moved Unity Urban Ministerial School from its humble beginnings to the flourishing program it is today where alumni, students, faculty, staff, and board members carry out our mission “to bring good news to the poor, comfort the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to those who are in prison.”

Faith is one of the Twelve Powers taught by Emma Curtis Hopkins, founder of Religious Science, is one of the most unique teachings to come out of the New Thought movement. Unity co-founders, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, were among her students. There couldn’t be a better power to begin the new year. Rev. Ruth employed these powers and showed how to use them in manifesting the good we seek in spirit, soul, body, and relationships. Her longtime friend, Hilda Smith of West Side Unity, tells the story of how she and Rev. Ruth practiced this power by praying on the bare floor in the yet-to-be furnished sanctuary of West Side Unity. The two of them affirmed their vision of a church that would be a beacon of faith and hope for people in urban Detroit. Were it not for Rev. Ruth’s unwavering faith, this school would not exist.

I encourage you to join us as we continue to walk by faith and not by sight in furthering the mission of the “house that Ruth built.” We also set aside time this month to honor another exemplar of Faith through the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his birthday–January 15. It was Dr. King who said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” History records that Rev. Dr. Ruth had no way of knowing with certainty the future of UUMS, but because of her unwavering faith in what was possible, the “house that Ruth built,” rests on a firm foundation. As the song goes, “We’ve come this far by faith.” Hers was that kind of mountain-moving faith–” the evidence of things hoped for, the vision of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). I encourage everyone reading this newsletter to focus your attention this month on your innate power of faith. As scripture tells us, with only a tiny bit of faith, you can move mountains. Our beloved Reverend Mother Ruth M. Mosley proved that whatever you are trying to accomplish, you gotta have faith!

“I have unshakeable faith in the perfect outcome of every situation in my life, for God is in absolute control.” Rev. Dr. Ruth M. Mosley