© 2023 Aprilhelen
© 2023 The Urantia Book Fellowship
by Aprilhelen
August, 2022, is marked as a highlight in our community. We a experienced the first Urantia Book conference in Uganda. I appreciate taking a few months to process my experiences prior to publicizing my personal reflections here. Life always seems to bring more insights the longer time (in communion, contemplation, and conversation) passes. In the spirit of trans-organizational unity, below is my story with some contributions from several peers. With an ever-present passion in service of the eventual era of light and life, I have enjoyed gathering more details about Uganda to present through this specific lens, elevating the value of integrity in teamwork, with clarity regarding the history of The Urantia Book in Africa. Perhaps you might enjoy reading my Other article, “Spirit-Led Teamwork: The Pearl of the Universes,” in this Mighty Messenger which provides suggestions for aiding our international community for ages to come.
¶ Go team!
One of the most important lessons to be learned during your mortal career is teamwork. (UB 28:5.14)
I’ve recently become the Youth and Young Adult (Ya YA) Committee chair of The Urantia Book Fellowship (a.k.a. the Fellowship), having served the committee for a decade. Two of our main goals have been inreach (multi-committee action) and outreach (trans-organizational collaboration). Oluwatooni “Toni” Oyeyemi and I are prime examples of this goal. We have worked very well together over the past several years, currently as Ya YA Committee members, and serving several Other Urantia Book committees, programs, and organizations. He and I have bonded over our passion for nurturing youth. We agree that the most efficient route is to live the teachings to the best of our abilities, being good examples, and bearing the fruits of the divine spirit.
Toni and I also serve on the Fellowship’s International Fellowship (IFC) committee, and we traveled to Uganda as representatives. The shared conclusion from our experience in Uganda is the validation of the necessity of elevating teamwork. This means engaging in spiritually-motivated collaboration, especially when representing a spiritually-centered organization.
Not only are kindred spirits attracted to each Other, but kindred minds are also very fraternal and inclined towards co- operation the one with the Other. (UB 16:6.3)
Our brother Toni had a very different experience at the conference than I did, which was also a significant experience involving teamwork. The day after arrival, his body insisted on taking leave to the health clinic, which was conveniently on the first floor, just below the hotel where the conference was being held. He was able to be embraced by the loving care of several of the attendees. In his words:
Ugandans are friendly and quite hospitable. In both times of strength and weakness, I was treated with hospitality and care. Quite notably [two new readers], both of whom made sure that I had all I needed to be restored back to good health. [One] even stayed the night in my hospital room, so that I was not left alone. Although he had never read [The Urantia Book] until the conference, he displayed the virtues we all seek to emulate.
On the final day of the conference, Toni was fortunate enough to return to good health, by the teamwork and generosity of Ugandan healthcare providers and of these new Urantia Book students. He was able to share with the group one of the best presentations of the weekend. It was a simple, yet mighty, call to forever remember that God is our father and we are family. From this knowledge, we are to actuate God’s modeling of forgiveness and understanding in order to reveal true love in our lives—two very integral aspects of spirit- led teamwork.
The birth of The Urantia Book revelation in Africa was at least two decades prior to this conference.
¶ Background About the First Urantia Book Conference in Uganda
The first Urantia Book Conference in Uganda was approved as a project for partial funding by the The Urantia Book Fellowship’s International Fellowship Committee in mid-2019 and was slated for August of 2020. The delay of public gatherings in 2020 gave conference planners and participants an expanded timeline in which to produce and anticipate this conference. The IFC and Spiritual Family Network (SFN) were the financial and administrative supporters.
The birth of The Urantia Book revelation in Africa was at least two decades prior to this conference. My recent research reveals that the service work and ministry of Pato Banton and Antoinette Rootsdawtah builds on the previous passion and service of our late brother, Norman D. Ingram, during a world-wide library-placement program. This enthusiastic power-couple, who are unabashedly outspoken in regards to The Urantia Book, have been traveling to build relationships in Africa since 1995. Pato and Antoinette are currently in partnership with our brother Gard Jameson, producing a documentary about the loving-teamwork philosophy of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu Reflections — Phase I by Pato Banton & Crew
The short translation of Ubuntu is: "I am, because we are.
Several conversations with Antoinette have helped me to see a bigger picture of Urantia Book activity in Africa. She and I have a unified vision of lifting up the women of Uganda and many more regions of sub- Saharan Africa. Alongside Toni’s personal experience as a native from Nigeria, we see great possibilities in Uganda related to empowering our siblings there. The Ubuntu philosophy is synonymous with the elevated version of the Golden Rule, which enhances the motivation to love and serve one another. Both of these transcendent living arts call for teamwork. Pato Banton gives these words:
We stand on the shoulders of great pioneers like Norman Ingram, who planted the Fifth Epochal Revelation [which is a nickname for The Urantia Book] seeds across the African continent. But what is needed most right now, is teamwork. The Urantia movement has enough resources and capable people to bring about great changes not only in Africa but around the world.
Spiritual Family Network has also done much for The Urantia Book readers of Uganda long before 2019. More specifically, it was through this organization that a generous donation was given to fund a popular Christian Bishop of Uganda, Moses Kaharwa, who was interested in infusing the Urantia Book message into his own life and teachings. He was brought to Canada by Spiritual Family Network for an intensive three-week workshop, mostly on the Jesus papers (Part IV of The Urantia Book). Moses then returned to Africa and has helped spread the word about The Urantia Book into Uganda, The Congo, Kenya, and several Other countries. The Spiritual Family Network website acts as a social media platform for several African regions and South Asia. In many ways, their continued efforts also identified the original team of conference planners.
The IFC began to support the Ugandan efforts when a founding member of Spiritual Family Network became an adjunct member of the IFC in 2019. They came on board to promote and cosponsor this first major Urantia Book based event in that country. Three years later, Toni and I, as General Councilors of The Urantia Book Fellowship, were sponsored delegates of the IFC. During this same time frame, the Second Miler Grant Program started, and it also funded approved projects in Uganda. Additionally, hundreds of Urantia Books were sent to Uganda through the Pipeline of Light book placement program and Other library projects. In total, I observed that our siblings in the “Pearl of Africa” (a nickname for Uganda) have been very generously cared for over the last four years. With so many organizations now involved and trying to help the Ugandan readers, it is my opinion that ()ur organizations, donors, and the Ugandan readers would all be better served by true and open collaboration on funding, responsibility, accounting accuracy, and transparency.
¶ The Conference
It was certainly an interesting experience to be one of the presenters at a conference whose participants had varying levels of understanding with the English language. A current passion project of mine, the Art of Universal Language, was given a reduced time slot, just enough to provide an introductory workshop. The Six important pillars of the Art of Universal Language are subjects that our master teacher Jesus was brilliant at, one of them being understanding the audience and speaking to their capacity and receptivity. Using this pattern, I quickly realized it benefitted me to have a translator. Even though within registration to the conference all attendees had confirmed their understanding of the official English language, I literally felt a deeper understanding when I asked a local to translate my words into Luganda, the main but one of the many indigenous languages of Uganda. After a short summary of each of the Six communication techniques, there was a brief time for participants to discuss the concepts, such as universally-accepted centering practices. Many appreciated it so much that they asked for the slide deck so to be able to explore a lengthier version of the session with their local study groups.
I believe that a spiritually-based communications course would be a great asset to those just learning or desiring to enhance their leadership skills and study-group methods, or simply living the teachings of The Urantia Book. The Six pillars of the Art of Universal Language are easy P.E.A.C.I.E.:
- Preparation through centering
- Existence in full presence
- Awareness of audience
- Consciousness of expressing spiritual values
- Inquiry to the fore
- Exchange of language
Many attendees had only a rudimentary knowledge of The Urantia Book or had just been introduced to it the first day. They were most aware of the knowledge in Part IV, The Life and Teachings of Jesus. The presentations which seemed most compelling to the audience were in alignment with the conference theme, “The Gift of Revelation: The Life and Teachings of Jesus,” which was proposed by the original planning committee. We all spoke on varying qualities of which Jesus was a master. Several were concerning religion as a personal experience, worship and prayer, the asset of studying and living the truths, the importance of associating with children and remaining childlike, forgiveness and understanding, and the art of universal language. I also learned that, although numerous programs that were audience-appropriate had been developed and planned for more than a year by Spiritual Family Network, only one was used, because organizational changes were happening spontaneously.
After lengthy planning, the organizational changes were the result of the unusual nature of the planning team. For various and incongruent reasons, there were only two of the original nine committee members making the decisions. One of the major decisions was made at the last minute by asking a representative of Urantia Association International (UAI) to help with planning the program. UAI had not been part of the two years of organizing the conference. New topics were proposed by UAI representatives without collaboration with the rest of the planning team. As a result, topics were presented that seemed beyond the understanding of the attendees. As a result, most of the attendees looked confused during those presentations. Since the conference, I have had interviews which clarified that there were attempts to get Other Urantia Book organizations involved prior to the conference, yet those attempts wound up in further misunderstanding, due to the problems with communication of the many people involved and the lack of spirit-led teamwork within the organizational team.
As we move forward, we Will keep communicating our desire for coordinated working harmony among all the planners and presenters and Will continue to recommend that the content presented be a good fit for the audience.
The approximately eighty attendees were mostly from Christian and Muslim backgrounds. The men were much more outspoken than the women. It was within private conversations and breakout discussions when women would speak their minds and hearts. This reflects the continual struggle of women around the world, living in cultures where their voices are not heard or appreciated, especially as they strive to rise above inequality.
The breakout groups were certainly high on my list of best experiences because the women spoke and had so much to offer. More time could have been given for these breakout sessions and social free time, as it felt to me that too much time was scheduled for lecture presentations. The highlights from the smaller discussion groups give insight as to the level of understanding about The Urantia Book and possibly where to target our next collaborative action to further the active study of the book and to identify spirit-led leaders who Will serve the locals with loving power, as opposed to what I felt was authoritative force.
Another fabulous takeaway from my experience at the conference was the vast difference of age demographics in comparison with North America. The younger generations far outnumbered their elders. This also seems to be similar to the trends we are seeing in our Latin American communities. We are looking at this as an incredible opportunity moving forward. Therefore, we have begun to integrate our experience into plans for this year’s Urantia Book Fellowship International Conference 2023 (IC23) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This article’s publication is also synchronized with the reignited collaborative efforts of the Youth and Young Adults (Ya YA) Committee with Urantia Young Adults International (UYAI) study group, yet another goal to progress.
This conference was a new endeavor in Uganda and, as I speak as a sister, a self- proclaimed representative of Spiritual Family Network, and an adjunct of the IFC, my experience taught me so much in terms of how to move forward with international Urantia Book communities, especially the need to be elastic to the reality of the local variations. I reminded myself to remain open- and heart-minded, accepting and releasing control, moving more into an observer role, as the Ugandan conference revealed its newness in many ways.
The multiple interviews I have had upon returning from Uganda have also clarified Other points, like the history of Urantia Book dissemination in Africa mentioned above. I understand that most of our community is not aware of the backstory of this conference.
There was disorganization related to the conference program, its presenters, its leadership, and overall planning. I learned there was a good deal of confusion at the conference in terms of who the decision makers were regarding finances, accounting, presentations, speakers, and the like. We have a great opportunity to serve, and I lift up the spirit-value of patience, especially during the period of establishing integrous teamwork prior to beginning major event planning.
¶ Epilogue
Overall, traveling to Uganda was an outstanding experience, especially because of the challenges provided for worshipful problem solving. The ostensibly-fraught issues are solvable. I am excited that I connected with so many new younger readers and the women, specifically those who wish to teach children.
Most of the personal conversations I had were fully endowed with the fruits of the spirit. I am continuing to communicate with the many Ugandans, learning of their service projects (one being a Luganda language translation), and even mentoring several newer students of The Urantia Book. Although I am Still learning of their level of devotion to the teachings, it was fabulous to realize that some of the attendees at the first Uganda Urantia Book Conference are eager and Willing to learn, to integrate our beloved revelatory message into their art of living, and with their passion to serve, study, and teach.
Let us continue to remember the first of any endeavors always has the distinct opportunity for growth. Both Toni and I View the conference as a success, specifically because it was beset with challenges that are now being considered by Spiritual Family Network and the IFC. To be explicit, we recognize that various cultures allow for some differences in management, organization, and structure. However, we Will forever agree upon the importance of actualizing the examples of God’s pattern of serving. Teamwork is a part of the universal whole. Expressing spiritual values in teamwork is the key!
My gratitude abounds for the continued spiritual and financial support I have been given over the years from my family who are The Urantia Book Fellowship and the Urantia Book movement in general. It is especially an honor to have been a delegate to the first conference in Uganda. Surely this is a great step for the expansion of the community of Urantia Book students. It was a pleasure to serve the bridge that is being built across Urantia. Toni and I are both full of appreciation to have been of service in this way. Our Ugandan experiences, albeit radically different from each Other, were necessary for helping to shape the future of the relationships between continents, organizations, Urantia Book students, and each Other. We know the celestials had much to do with our involvement and safety. We are blessed that God knows inconceivably more than we do. We continue to live up to the faith we say we have.