c. 1996 Religion News Service

LOS ANGELES _ At first glance, the Rev. Della Reese Lett’s congregation seems like a fairly traditional church. There’s a choir, a Bible-based sermon and the passing of a collection basket.

But before the 11 a.m. Sunday service, there is a 15-minute time of”guided meditation.”A prayer is offered to”Father-Mother God.”And on Monday nights _”Bible night”_ the church offers a class on the”metaphysical interpretation of the Bible.” Although rooted in Christianity, Lett’s congregation espouses a philosophy known as”New Thought.””They’re Bible-based, but it’s their interpretation that’s different,”said J. Gordon Melton, director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif.”This group takes the Bible very allegorically. Everything in the Bible becomes a symbol.” The Rev. Delores McMillan, assistant minister at Lett’s Understanding Principles for Better Living church, said metaphysical Bible study looks at the holy book as more than a volume of history or poetry.”Our approach to it is it has an inner meaning and it has a message for each one of us,”she said.”Each of us is every character in the Bible and we each have all of this in our consciousness.” New Thought was founded in the 1800s by Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, who broke away from Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science Church. Among the groups associated with New Thought are Unity School of Christianity, Divine Science and Religious Science.

Mimi Ronnie, executive director, of the New Thought Alliance in Mesa, Ariz., said her organization has 350 member churches, ranging from small, 50-member congregations to Christ Universal Temple in Chicago, which draws about 4,000 people every Sunday.

Melton said Lett’s emphasis on God’s positive virtues can be compared to”possibility thinker”Robert H. Schuller, founder of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., and the late Norman Vincent Peale, author of the best-selling”The Power of Positive Thinking.””Those are the two most successful New Thought teachers in the country,”said Melton, adding that neither man would describe himself that way.”Possibility thinking and positive thinking is New Thought, no getting around that.” Although Lett’s church focuses on Christian themes, other New Thought congregations may not. Some New Thought groups, including those espousing Religious Science and Mind Science, may focus less on the Bible and Jesus and more on Asian religion or other influences.

The meditation that is part of the Sunday morning ritual at Lett’s church aims to bring worshipers closer to God.”It’s an attempt to put a person at one with God and help overcome negativity,”said Melton of the meditation that is guided by a worship leader.

New Thought adherents tend to focus on Jesus as a teacher rather than a savior, said Catherine Wessinger, chair of the new religious movements group of the American Academy of Religion, a scholarly group based in Atlanta.”People in the New Thought movement stress that Jesus is a teacher, a way-shower,”said Wessinger, an associate professor of religious studies at Loyola University in New Orleans.”Jesus’ life and what he taught and how he lived is considered to be important, not (his) death in terms of vicariously atoning for the sins of others.” The leadership of ministers like Lett and the Rev. Johnnie Colemon of Christ Universal Temple, who influenced Lett, are examples of the prominence women have in this movement.”These New Thought denominations … are noteworthy for religious leadership of women,”said Wessinger.”They are religions that are shaped by women.”

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