Our history
Serving the call since 1979
What began in Detroit as a five-year pilot program has become an online, graduate-level path to Unity ministry. Every milestone below is drawn from the school’s own record.
1979
Founded in Detroit as a five-year pilot
Rev. Ruth Mosley founds the Unity Urban Ministerial School as a five-year pilot program, created to reach those committed to living the principles of Jesus Christ as taught by Unity School of Christianity.
1982
The Detroit Eight graduate
The Urban School graduates its first class. The eight students, known as “The Detroit Eight,” join the Unity School of Christianity students at Unity Village to complete their final year.
1983
First class licensed and ordained
That first class is licensed and ordained by Unity School of Religious Studies, establishing UUMS as a working path into Unity ministry.
2009
The online program launches
UUMS opens its program to students anywhere by moving it online. Rev. Sandra Campbell — later the school’s Executive Director — is the first student to enroll.
2012
First online graduating class
The online program graduates its first class of three students.
2013
Ordination through Unity Worldwide Ministries
All three graduates of the first online class are ordained by Unity Worldwide Ministries.
2018
Rev. Sandra Campbell becomes Executive Director
Rev. Sandra J. Campbell, MSM — the online program’s first student — takes leadership of the school she graduated from.
2019
40 Years of Prayer and Celebration
The school marks its 40th anniversary with a banquet on November 8, 2019 at the Hotel St. Regis in Detroit, chaired by Rev. Bonnie Gardner and Rev. Kelly Coles.
2020
Rev. Dr. Ruth Mosley makes her transition
The founder of West Side Unity and Unity Urban Ministerial School makes her transition on November 8, 2020 in Memphis, Tennessee. A memorial service is held on March 29, 2021.
Today
Roughly 200 students, and counting
Some 200 students have attended the Urban School since its founding, and practically all of them have gone on to become licensed and ordained Unity ministers.
In honor of our founder
Rev. Dr. Ruth M. Mosley
Rev. Dr. Ruth M. Mosley, pastor and founder of West Side Unity in Detroit, carried a conviction that would not let go: that everyone hungering for Unity’s teachings deserved a path into ministry — including those the movement had overlooked.
As a student at Unity School herself, she knew the barriers firsthand — her questions disregarded in class, her seat set apart from her white counterparts. Even then she stayed focused on the Truth, determined to serve those whom Unity did not serve, want, or welcome.
When Stan Hampson, minister of Unity Village Chapel, asked her in 1978, “What can we do to help your people?” her answer came without hesitation: “Educate them. We need our own school.”
Her proposal won full approval at the Unity Conference in June 1979 — with no money to support it. She stepped out in faith and started the school practically on a shoestring, basing its mission on Isaiah 61:1: to bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the brokenhearted, and proclaim liberty to the captives. Years later, under her leadership, the school developed the first online learning program in the Unity movement — the program that carries her vision to students everywhere today.
Rev. Mayola Salt Paw, the school’s first dean, paid her this tribute: “The vision of Rev. Ruth Mosley and the courage she has shown in rushing to fulfill her vision is to be commended. Each of us has our dream, but rare is the person who pursues it to its conclusion.”
In 2020, the school established the Rev. Dr. Ruth M. Mosley Scholarship in her honor, so that the students she dreamed of can keep answering the call.
Add your name to the story
Learn how the school works today, who leads it, and how to begin your own path to ordination.