© 2002 Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger
© 2002 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
“If you are not a positive and missionary evangel of your religion, you are self-deceived in what you call religion is only a traditional belief or a mere system of intellectual philosophy.” [UB 160:5.3]
“The religion of the spirit means effort, struggle, conflict, faith, determination, love, loyalty, and progress.” [UB 155:5.11]
I have always known that The Urantia Book would inspire new religious organizations. The Spiritual Fellowship appears to be the first of these new religious organizations that seeks to intentionally found a community based on worship, personal spiritual growth, outreach, and evangelism, the things that we have traditionally associated with a church, synagogue, or mosque. It has had a forty-five year gestation period. Dr. Sadler and I used to discuss the probable nature of religious organizations inspired by the Fifth Epochal Revelation. We observed that the authors of the Urantia Papers talked about the need for a new religious organization.
“Notwithstanding that the cult has always retarded social progress, it is regrettable that so many modern believers in moral standards and spiritual ideals have no adequate symbolism — no cult of mutual support — nothing to belong to.” [UB 87:7.3]
“It is difficult for religion to survive as the private practice of isolated individuals. This has ever been the error of the religious leaders: Seeing the evils of institutionalized religion, they seek to destroy the technique of group functioning. In place of destroying all ritual, they would do better to reform it.” [UB 97:10.7]
“While it is true that the institutionalization of religion has usually detracted from its spiritual quality, it is also a fact that no religion has thus far succeeded in surviving without the aid of institutional organization of some degree, greater or lesser.” [UB 98:6.1]
“Regardless of the drawbacks and handicaps, every new revelation of truth has given rise to a new cult, and even the restatement of the religion of Jesus must develop a new and appropriate symbolism.” [UB 87:7.6]
“There is a real purpose in the socialization of religion. It is the purpose of group religious activities to dramatize the loyalties of religion; to magnify the lures of truth, beauty, and goodness; to foster the attractions of supreme values; to enhance the service of unselfish fellowship; to glorify the potentials of family life; to promote religious education; to provide wise counsel and spiritual guidance; and to encourage group worship. And all live religions encourage human friendship, conserve morality, promote neighborhood welfare, and facilitate the spread of the essential gospel of their respective messages of eternal salvation.” [UB 99:6.2]
When I finished reading The Urantia Book in 1956 I recognized that its superior teachings were very close to the theological positions of the leading thinkers on the growing edge of Christianity. I saw the Fifth Epochal Revelation as the great hope of a revitalization of the Christian faith. It seems that the midwayers in the Life and Teachings of Jesus are trying to upstep Christianity.
I therefore sought to follow the pattern of Jesus’ ministry. At the beginning of his public ministry Jesus went to Annas, the most prominent leader of Judaism, in the hope of communicating with the leaders of Judaism. He continued his ministry in the synagogues of Judaism whenever possible. In a similar fashion, I contacted many of the leading theologians in 85 seminaries belonging to the American Association of Theological Schools. Between 10,000 and 15,000 personal letters offering loan books were sent to ministers in the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, The Disciples of Christ, and Unity ministers, and 5,000 letters were sent to the members of the American Philosophical Association. We presented the paper “The Urantia Book and Religious Studies” at the national meeting of the American Academy of Religion and published The Spiritual Fellowship Journal interfacing with mainline Christian ministers. We made presentations of The Urantia Book to ministerial groups, college classes, and individual church groups. After more than forty years of interfacing with Christian leaders and laypeople, it is obvious that it will be a long time before the leaders of Christianity will seriously examine the Urantia Papers.
We should observe that this is consistent with the history of religion. Whenever an advanced paradigm of religion has appeared on our world, it has never won over the power structure of the old religions. Usually, the new spiritual paradigm is carried to the world by ordinary people who are seekers of spiritual truth.
Realizing that eventually the Urantia Papers would need to be presented in a form that would permit studying the Papers in settings such as Sunday School classes, I condensed the central facts and truths of each paper in the exact language of The Urantia Book, so that sufficient time is permitted for discussion. I have used these papers for the last nine years in an Explorers Sunday School class I teach in the United Church of Christ that we attend. They have inspired some excellent discussions. In anticipation of the time when the Urantia Papers would inspire a new religious organization, I composed The Spiritual Fellowship Constitution in December of 1988.
We should also point out that there has been a negative attitude toward religious institutions and to some degree a “spiritual vacuum” in the official organizations in the Urantia movement. Urantia Foundation, The Urantia Book Fellowship, and the International Urantia Association have emphasized that they are not religious organizations. Antagonism and a struggle for power and influence have dominated the official organizations.
At the same time, in recent years people have been searching for spiritual meaning on an unprecedented scale. There has been an increasing longing among students of The Urantia Book for a religious community, something to belong to that gives a sense of belonging to a spiritual family. There is a growing sense of the need for spiritual nourishment from birth to death. It was in this atmosphere, after many years of planning, that The Spiritual Fellowship was formed. It is the first religious organization designed to carry the Fifth Epochal Revelation to the indigenous communities of the world.
While we must always keep in mind that God is the end and all other things are means, there is a danger in forgetting that it is the means that are instrumental in getting to the end. When using terms like “church” or “fellowship,” there is a danger in getting bogged down in semantics — a religious organ-ization is also a brother/ sisterhood. The history of religion shows that new spiritual value systems are always established in society through some kind of religious organization. The social dynamics of a religious organization are basic in carrying the religion of Jesus to the grass roots of the world. We believe The Spiritual Fellowship has this potential.
In addition to these preliminary activities, it appears that the Most Highs are using evolutionary religion to prepare the way for a new religious organization inspired by the Urantia Papers. We are living in one of the most promising periods of history. The most distinctive contemporary development of religion in our world is the advent of the ecumenical movement and the unprecedented search for meaningful spiritual experience. This expanding quest for spiritual guidance and direction has taken many forms. The theologian Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923) observed that all religions are relative — that is limited, partial, and incomplete. The historian Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) examined all of the religions of the world and pointed out that there is a common core and goal behind all religions. The psychiatrist Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) in an in-depth study of religions found that there is a common psychic origin and function among religions. These and other scholarly studies of religion set the stage for the contemporary ecumenical movement.
Paul F. Knitter’s book, No Other Name? … A Critical Survey of Christian Attitudes Toward the World Religions, is one of the most insightful present day discussions of the ecumenical basis of religion. Dr. Knitter reminds us that Jesus established a theocentric (religion of Jesus) foundation of religion rather than a Christocentric (religion about Jesus) basis of religion. He believes that all religions could profit from the insights and experiences of other religions. The last chapter of Professor Knitter’s book entitled, “The Challenge of Interreligious Dialogue,” makes an eloquent argument for the development of a global theology. Knitter’s more recent book, Introducing Theologies of Religions (Orbis, 2002), continues this discussion.
Stemming from this new pluralism in theology over the past quarter century or more, Lonnie D. Kliever’s book The Shattered Spectrum … A Survey of Contemporary Theology, observes that the kaleidoscope of new theologies that have appeared in recent times defy classification under the old categories. Professor Kliever believes that radical changes will take place in the form and content of religion in the future: “In such crisis circumstances, the search for and conversion to a new worldview can and does occur. Such a breakthrough depends upon finding some new organizing metaphor or shared paradigm through which to re-view and reshape the world.” (p. 197) The authors of the Urantia Papers have given us such a new spiritual paradigm that will bring a renaissance of religion on our world.
Evidence of the changing nature of religion and the searching attitude of people is seen in the Congregational Life Survey funded by the Lilly Endowment and the Louisville Institute. In April of 2001, nearly 300,000 worshipers filled out questionnaires answering questions about their church attendance and religious convictions. Nearly one quarter of them switched congregations in the past five years. But only 7 percent of newcomers had no earlier involvement with a faith community which suggests that only a small number of the unchurched are looking for traditional religious affiliation. A great number of people are searching for a more meaningful spiritual experience. In the February, 2002 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, an article, “Oh Gods!” by Toby Lester, says that the new century will probably see religion explode — in both intensity and variety. New religions, he says, are springing up everywhere and old ones are transforming themselves dramatically.
The stage is set for the advent of a new spiritual vision that will transform our society. Our world has been prepared by:
The Fifth Epochal Revelation, in my opinion, is the only resource that has the spiritual vision and power to fulfill these longings and aspirations of our human condition. The history of religion shows that spiritual value systems are always established by some kind of religious organization.
Early on, after my discovery of The Urantia Book, I intuited that my mission was to interface with Christian leaders, but I would help anyone who wanted to start a new religious organization based on the Urantia Papers. Over the years, I have worked with many such people, but none succeeded in actually starting such a religious organization. In January of 2001, Sherilyn Henry came to Fort Wayne and asked if I would help her organize such a religious organization. I was happy to do so. This was the beginning of a new phase for The Spiritual Fellowship.
We composed a Constitution and decided that a Board of Directors would make final decisions about The Spiritual Fellowship policy until there were twenty-five fellowships. At that time representatives from these fellowships would determine the structure and policy of The Spiritual Fellowship. An announcement of the organization of The Spiritual Fellowship was placed on the Internet and a survey of around forty interested people was made to determine membership of various committees. A logo or emblem of three azure blue concentric circles intertwined with a gold cross and a symbol at the center was adopted. Sherilyn Henry acting as Executive Director incorporated The Spiritual Fellowship in the State of California.
Several teleconferences of the Board were held in 2001, and we met at Fort Wayne in January, 2002, at Boulder in June, and at Fort Wayne in September. The IRS granted us nonprofit standing in August of 2002. Also in August Sherilyn Henry resigned from the Board of Directors. She had philosophical differences with the other memebers of the Board. The officers of the Board are: Meredith Sprunger, Chair; Larry Mullins, President; Tom Choquette, Vice President; Nancy Long, Secretary and acting Executive Director; Dick Bain, Treasurer; and Irene Sprunger, Director. Another Director will be selected in the near future. The Spiritual Fellowship will probably be in the process of organizing for the next couple of years.
Guiding Principles — The Spiritual Fellowship Should:
The Purpose of The Spiritual Fellowship is to:
The Spiritual Fellowship Seeks to Avoid Dangers, Such As:
The central objective of The Spiritual Fellowship is to create a polity with maximum flexibility that will function with small groups or large congregations, utilize lay leadership and/or ordained clergy, have crosscultural adaptability, and broad theological inclusiveness.
We strive to be “a gathering of persons who have accepted a common purpose, and a common discipline to guide the pursuit of that purpose, to the end that each involved person reaches higher fulfillment as a person, through serving and being served by the common venture, than would be achieved alone or in a less committed relationship.”
The Spiritual Fellowship is a religious organization whose mission is to bring the spiritual teaching of the Urantia Papers to all people.
The Spiritual Fellowship is committed to motivating, empowering, and supporting all people in their growing relationship with God and encouraging loving service, forgiveness, and ministry among all of God’s children. The Spiritual Fellowship believes the Urantia Papers present an expanded revelation of the Life and Teachings of Jesus and a fuller revelation of God and our relationship to God. While recognizing that any revelation is incomplete short of the attainment of God, our Universal Parent, The Spiritual Fellowship recognizes the value of a continuing study of the Urantia Papers and other spiritual sources for inspiration and guidance.
The Urantia Book, in my judgment, has the greatest potential of spiritually advancing our world of any event since the coming of Jesus over 2000 years ago. The history of religion shows that spiritual value systems are always established and promoted by some kind of religious organization. The Spiritual Fellowship is seeking to establish the grassroots religious foundations based upon the teachings of the Urantia Papers that will carry their transforming message to the spiritually hungry people of the world. I believe we are at the beginning of a new era of religion on our world. We invite you to join us in this outreach mission.
This outreach ministry will not be easy. It is not for timid souls. It is difficult for people who are balanced and solid citizens in their community to risk being viewed as “different” or as belonging to some strange cult or movement. Pioneers always face difficulty and hardship. New and enlarged presentations of truth have always been, and will always be, attacked by religious traditionalists and fundamentalists. The history of spiritual growth shows that not until an enlarged vision of truth is attacked and its pioneers persecuted does it come to the attention and make its appeal to a significant number of creative seekers for spiritual truth in society — “Happy are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” [UB 140:3.11]
Nevertheless, those who have the courage and wisdom, to bring a knowledge of the Fifth Epochal Revelation to the individuals and institutions of our world are engaging in one of the most important ministries of our times. Such missionary evangels will open the door to a spiritual dynamic that will undoubtedly transform our planet in the next thousand years. An Archangel of Nebadon reminds us, “The weak indulge in resolutions, but the strong act. Life is but a day’s work-do it well. The act is ours; the consequences God’s.” [UB 48:7.13] Now is the time for courageous and wise action!
Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger is Chairman of The Spiritual Fellowship and is Founder and Editor Emeritus of The Spiritual Fellowship Journal. He lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana with his wife, Irene. Dr. Sprunger can be reached at: