Religionists, as a group, must never concern themselves with anything but religion, albeit any one such religionist, as an individual citizen, may become the outstanding leader of some social, economic, or political reconstruction movement. [Paper 99:3.15, page 1089.7]
Indirectly, cultural civilization is influenced by the attitude of these individual religionists as they become active and influential members of various social, moral, economic, and political groups. [Paper 99:3.3, page 1088.47]
Whenever we gather as a group at a conference, there is a question that often gets raised: “What exactly are we as a group?” and “Is Urantia a religion?” In many ways we resemble a religion. We are a group of religionists; as a group, and as official organizations, we do not concern ourselves with the social, economic or political issues; we actively encourage each other and others to get to know God and to become more like him.
The difference is that throughout our history organized religions have become ingrained in the social, economic and even political realms. Group thinking replaces individual choice, and group ideas of deity replaces individual relationships with the Father. As a group of religionists, we need to actively work to keep our mission focused on God and our relationship with God.
But as individuals, we are charged with getting directly involved in society. We have the ability slowly to adjust the trajectory of the social, economic, and political realms with our spiritual and universal insights.
There are many levels of service that we engage in both inside and outside our Urantia Community. At the European Conference in Tallinn there were long discussions about how we should engage the world with our services. Across the world students of The Urantia Book are actively changing the world for the better. One of the great joys of conferences is getting updates on many of these projects.
I hope we can all gather together in the coming years to share our service updates. Upcoming conferences in Nigeria in December 2019, Canada in July 2020, and Peru in 2021 will be wonderful opportunities to get together and share.
In service,
Chris Wood
President
Urantia Association International