© 2001 Merlyn Cox
© 2001 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
I believe there is a necessary evangelical imperative to faith. All of us want to share the Good News of the Fatherhood of God, and of ourselves as his human family, as witnessed in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
Secondly, we also have a passion to introduce them to the expanded witness of this Good News in the Fifth Epochal Revelation, The Urantia Book. Without the first, the second is fruitless; and without the second, the first lacks the context for its fullest understanding.
To whom are we sent to share this great Good News? To all the world, of course. And where is the harvest most ripe?
The world is undergoing a mighty transformation, and a purely materialistic understanding of life, nourished and undergirded by a narrow and presumptuous understanding of science, is giving way to a more wholistic world view where the realm of spirit is not just speculative, but realized as paramount.
And where, then, is the forum, the real life situations, where we may enter into dialogue concerning this greater, truer, more joyful, and more liberating understanding of life? Well, it’s virtually everywhere — in the streets, the universities, the work place, in any gathering where honest searching is going on.
It is even going on in the churches. Despite the massive inertia of institutional religion, the defensive strategies of denominations, and the addiction of churches to dysfunctional forms and relationships, it is a field ripe for harvest.
We need to clarify: The Good News has indeed been proclaimed and shared by the church, but its power and witness has been muted by infighting, competition, bigotry, and superstition. Its divisions are an embarrassment and contradiction to the message it proclaims. The Christian church remains one of the greatest impediments to its own stated task.
Nevertheless, while “Jesus did not found the so-called Christian Church, … he has, in every manner consistent with his nature, fostered it as the best existent exponent of his lifework on earth.” (UB 195:10.9) And the authors of The Urantia Book suggest it will someday awaken and be transformed by the advanced revelation of Jesus’ life and teachings, albeit the source of that awakening may come from outside the church.
I know and share regularly with caring, searching people in the church who are passionate about their faith. I see this as a “view from the trenches,” where the nittygritty faith struggles of day to day living get played out. This great reservoir of faith and good will and searching minds and hearts is one of the best kept secrets to many in the Urantia Movement whose experience with institutional religion has been so negative.
I believe these communities represent a field ripe for the proclamation of a fuller understanding of the Good News as revealed in The Urantia Book. I sometimes feel like Paul preaching at Athens, who after looking at all the signs of religion around him, begins by saying, “I perceive you are a very religious people. … I even saw an altar with an inscription that read, ‘To an unknown God.’ What you worship but do not know — this is what I proclaim.”
As the pastor of a church, I sometimes want to say, “I perceive you are a people of great faith and charity, and your proclamation of faith in Jesus of Nazareth has borne much fruit in the Spirit. But let me now show you a more excellent understanding of the One whom you proclaim, an understanding of God’s good and gracious ways, of his Incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth that will not only confirm your deepest hopes, but will exceed them, and add great joy and comfort to your life.”
I believe the Christian church will someday be transformed by this new revelation. As to what it will look like, and what its institutional expression will be, I don’t know. The changes may be so dramatic that we will recognize little from the past. But I believe there will always be some institutional expression of any community of faith.
If this is true, and the church will eventually be transformed by this revelation, then why are we talking about new institutions and expressions for the Urantia movement? Why not just work in the traditional churches?
I believe it is because of the obvious resistance of the church now and the need for people and families in the movement to be nurtured in a setting more closely in keeping with their understanding of God’s revelation in Jesus of Nazareth, as it is confirmed and expanded in The Urantia Book.
I can envision families in the Urantia movement with a healthy participation in a traditional church and a Urantia church at the same time. A Urantia church will be a place for many searching people, as well as a place for the creative expression of many whose faith cannot be adequately expressed or shared in a traditional church.
What will this look like? It may in some instances look a lot like a present day church. I suspect, and hope, it will be diverse, flexible, constantly changing and reshaping itself in such a fashion that people in each generation can choose the kinds of communities and structures that best nourish and address their needs. And although such institutional expressions will always be secondary to faith, and carry with them their own unwanted baggage and dangers, we can pray they will be instruments for the glory of God and the transformation of the world. No lesser objective is worthy of our efforts and the revelation that has inspired us in its service.