© 2003 Nancy Long
© 2003 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
We of The Spiritual Fellowship are grateful for the opportunity to bring the spiritual teachings of the Urantia Papers to all people through the development of a religious organization. Our emphasis during these early years is the establishment of small spiritual groups, groups with two to twenty-five or so people. While larger groups may emerge, we anticipate that smaller groups will be the more common during this start-up time. Our approach to organization embraces both order and chaos, creativity and process. We place primary importance on locally-based worship groups over a national organization. Small groups and fellowships are the essence of The Spiritual Fellowship. This article addresses two types of fellowships: Fellowships and Living-the-Teachings Groups.
A Fellowship is a group of individuals with a common spiritual purpose who have come together and formally affiliated with The Spiritual Fellowship. They are small groups that gather together for worship. Each Fellowship will have a local focus, being responsive to its unique environment, situation, and community.
As many of you know, we have been laying the groundwork and developing materials/ resources that might be of use to those forming a Fellowship. This groundwork has taken the form of templates and examples, and is included in a Fellowship startup kit, which is comprised of:
Currently, our examples for music, liturgies, and services are of Christian origin. Of course, it is our hope to have examples from other traditions as well as from the Urantia community. In addition, we anticipate that Fellowships will also develop their own formats and share them with one another. Dick Bain, chair of the Spiritual Outreach Team, the team responsible for the start-up kit, envisions a shopping list of ideas from which a Fellowship can choose to fashion a service or other worship or spiritual event.
While we have been developing suggestions and templates, we are not establishing anything detailed or in-depth. Neither are we developing anything that is mandatory. We believe it is preferable for the symbolism, rituals, music, etc. to be developed by those forming the Fellowships so that it remains fresh, dynamic, and relevant to the environment and situation of those involved in the Fellowship. As our preamble stresses, “The Spiritual Fellowship recognizes the freedom of each local fellowship to evolve its own celebration of God’s love and supports each fellowship in providing community worship and religious education.” So, while many Fellowships might resemble the Christian congregational style with periodic worship services, it is not necessary that they do so. In addition, we surmise that most Fellowships will start with lay leadership, although it does not have to be that way — they can be started and/or led by an ordained leader or minister. We joyfully expect to see all sorts of different Fellowships, Fellowships as varied and beautiful as our Heavenly Father’s children!
The Spiritual Fellowship seeks to carry the transforming message of the Urantia Papers to the spiritually hungry people of the world. As Meredith Sprunger shared in an earlier article, new spiritual paradigms are carried to the world by ordinary people who are seekers of spiritual truth. We are looking for such seekers of spiritual truth. We have a need — a need for balanced, solid, resourceful, creative, persistent, unwavering souls who are called to venture into this important ministry establishing spiritual groups and fellowships. This type of ministry is not for timid souls. In our current state of development, those who wish to start a Fellowship will have to be bi-vocational and start the fellowship “from scratch.” That is, they will have to earn a living from some other source while building the fellowship. Some of you may hear the call to this worthy service. If, after prayerful consideration, you believe this is the path for you, or if you wish to discuss this further, please feel free to contact Dick Bain, chairperson of the Spiritual Outreach Team. Dick’s e-mail address is N4RB@worldnet.att.net. Or, you can reach him in care of The Spiritual Fellowship, 9554 Lick Creek Road, Morgantown, IN 46160.
Living-the-Teachings (L-T) Groups are small groups that may form independently of any congregation or church, although members might belong to another religious group or they might also attend a Fellowship. The L-T Groups are solely dedicated to applying the teachings of Jesus, as portrayed in the Urantia Papers, to their lives. In relation to the five phases of the kingdom of heaven, L-T Groups are focused on the first phase: The personal and inward experience of the spiritual life of the fellowship of the individual believer with God the Father. The purpose of the L-T Groups is to assist in establishing the kingdom of heaven in one’s own soul. This individual spiritual growth is done in an intimate, peer-oriented setting of spiritual brothers and sisters helping each other along in their spiritual journeys.
L-T Groups are for those individuals who are hungry for the truth, who are not satisfied with themselves, who recognize that they need help in their personal spiritual growth. The L-T Groups are an attempt to actively apply the dynamic ideas of Jesus’ doctrine of the kingdom of heaven, as represented by the five cardinal principles of the kingdom of heaven:
L-T Groups are usually comprised of no more than eight people. The groups are usually closed, although they do not have to be. The groups are urged to be closed because an environment of total trust and commitment needs to exist in order for the group to function. Experience has shown that it is disruptive and hard to build trust when members drop in on an ad-hoc basis or do not mesh well with the rest of the group. Therefore, it is preferable to have a closed group. If someone wishes to join, and all in the group are amenable, the person can be invited to attend a session or two to see if there is a good fit.
There is no ‘leader’ in an L-T Group. It is a peerbased, spiritual-support endeavor. L-T Groups meet periodically, usually weekly. During meetings, members share their spiritual inner life with one another. Each person discusses the spiritual events of the week and their inner life. Other participants listen, but do not offer advice or make comments unless the person asks for advice or comments. Worship can be a part of the L-T Group experience and some groups have incorporated worship, contemplation, and prayer into their sessions.
Joan and Larry Mullins have developed start-up materials for L-T Groups. If you are interested in forming an L-T Group, please feel free to contact Larry Mullins. Larry’s e-mail address is lmullins@ultrasales.com. Or, you can reach him in care of The Spiritual Fellowship, 9554 Lick Creek Road, Morgantown, IN 46160.
Nancy Long has been a student of the Urantia Papers since 1985. She currently serves as Secretary of The Spiritual Fellowship and can be reached at nlong@reliable-net.net.