The Urantia Book Fellowship
Annual Report of the International Fellowship Committee
July 2003
Section 11.13 of The Fellowship Constitution contains the following mandate for the International Fellowship Committee:
"The International Fellowship Committee shall promote knowledge of The Urantia Book and its teachings among the inhabitants of countries other than the United States of America; it shall encourage and assist suitable persons to interest themselves in securing funds for the translation of the English text into the various other languages; it shall encourage and assist in the dissemination of The Urantia Book among the inhabitants of countries other than the United States of America; it shall assist and foster the organization of Local Societies in all such countries; and it shall assist and co‑operate with such Local Societies in furthering the purposes of such societies and the purposes of THE FELLOWSHIP."
Following IC99, with the International Fellowship Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. John Lange, the committee established some additional objective. These were as follows:
1. Provide support for focused international visits.
2. Develop an international book distribution program.
3. Assure timely communication and appropriate handling of inquiries from international readers.
4. Provide technical and translation support.
5. Work to have each committee member informed regarding activities in a specific part of the world.
In April of 2000 the committee agreed upon four initiatives intended to foster the growth of reader communities in the Spanish speaking world. These were:
1. Employ a bilingual reader to coordinate Spanish and International reader services.
2. Support book fair participation and book distribution.
3. Provide Internet services and technical support.
4. Sponsor travel-work-study scholarships.
In its report for 2000 the committee indicated its hopes that these initiatives would serve to build "an infrastructure of support to serve as a model as additional cultures and languages in the world were engaged."
I view the task of the committee as that of proceeding within these guidelines and objectives.
The greatest portion of our effort for the past year was devoted to International activities at IC02. We were able to provide scholarships for people from Africa, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Lithuania, and Korea. A room was set aside to serve the International readers. There were Spanish language workshops scheduled during each workshop period and these were well attended. These workshops were led by native Spanish speakers.
In addition, international guests were featured on the main program each day. A very well-attended forum was held during one of the workshop periods in which a panel of international guests each presented a view of the spread of the revelation in their country. A question/answer period followed with good audience participation.
In addition to providing services and scholarships for international guests at IC02, the committee provided support for several additional conferences. The two Lithuanian guests returned home and organized a conference of their own -- the first of its kind in Lithuania. At the end of my report I've copied portions of a letter I received from Algimantas Jokubenas describing this conference. I've included this because I think his letter will give you a sense of this conference which I could not convey. Algimantas is currently working with Georges Dupont to complete the formatting of the Lithuanian translation.
There was also a major conference in Ecuador where several strong groups are emerging in the major cities. Agustin Arellano attended and maintained a very tight schedule of speaking, looking up readers who had contacted us via the Internet, and working to get new groups going. (He spent a week in Peru as well, working in the Lima area.) The regional groups had arranged for both radio and television interviews which enabled him to provide information about the book to a large number of people. He remained in the studio after the television interview and responded to a fairly steady stream of calls which came in over the following few hours. Over 100 people attended the meeting in Guayaquil. There is a strong leadership group emerging in Ecuador that is well-connected with groups in Argentina.
Book distribution is ongoing through the "Pipeline of Light" project. Through contributions to this fund we're able to send out 20 to 30 Spanish books each month. A $25.00 contribution covers the cost of the book and shipping.
At present I am in the process of restructuring the committee. The growing nature of the international work is such that it will require a team of people dedicated to the project. At its July meeting the Council will be asked to approve three new members of the committee -- Christal Garrick, Barry Clark, and Joan Biek-Evans. These are individuals who have had a long and productive commitment to international work. Lila Dogim, Stephanie Shaefer and Adrienne Jarnagin will be moving to adjunct status. Norman Ingram has also agreed to serve as an adjunct. I feel that having this expanded group holds a great deal of potential for our international outreach effort.
Respectfully submitted,
David Kantor, Chair
The International Committee__________________
Letter from Algimantas Jokubenas describing this Spring's Lithuanian conference
Dear David,
It is a great honor for me to share my impressions on our gathering with you. I do not dare to call it a conference since the key objective of this get-together was to see other people, even from different parts of Lithuania, who are interested in the same source of our studies - The Urantia Book.
Not all those who arrived had managed to cover the Urantia Book in Russian. They limited their studies to my lectures only. And since the Lithuanian translation of this source is not yet available people do not want to read it in Russian and wait for the book to be printed in Lithuanian. The total number of participants was over thirty. They arrived from five different cities. The venue of the gathering was in the forest at a nice lake. We
lived in wooden summer cottages: two or three in a room. It is like a campus because these homes - and their total number is over sixty - are scattered in the pine wood. It also has a mess, a small cafe, two conference halls, sauna and the so-called Russian bathing house. The difference between the two is that sauna is heated with electricity and it is dry while a Russian bathing house is heated with wood being burnt in a specially erected stove and people do wash in it from big water bowls.
Originally, we were planning to finish our regular season of the Urantia Book studies in the Vilnius Urantia Goup as usually at the beginning of June by having an open-hearted chatting with songs and a little bit of food. But gradually this idea developed into inviting the Kaunas group, i.e. the group from the second largest city of Lithuania, to join us on this occasion since the Kaunas group had already asked me to arrange this type of our mutual gathering as early as last year. Then, we thought it would be nice to have it somewhere in a corner of nature. And finally we decided to invite all the people who attended my lectures in different cities. Unfortunately, I had contact phone numbers of a very few of them. And since Romas' company owns these recreation facilities he did agree to help us with our accomodation. Several days before this gathering Romas and I went to see the place so that we would know where to hold our sessions, prayers, and even have a huge fire at night.
Our gathering took place from May 30 to June 1. It was titled "GOD IN ME, I AM IN GOD" And all the sessions as well as all the prayers were held in the open air even though it was rather hot, some 25 degrees above zero in Centigrade.
On May 30, at noon, we had a joint lunch, and a short prayer of thanksgiving to God for sustaining us both materially and spiritually. At 14.00 I innaugurated our gathering and held a 30-minute service of worship of our Universal Father and the prayer to God the Sevenfold. After this I delivered the main discourse of the first session "GOD IS THE UNITY MANIFESTING ITSELF IN THE UNIVERSE AND ON URANTIA THRU A VARIETY" It was followed by discussions presented by the members of the Urantia groups from different cities. Since this was the first ever gathering of the kind in
Lithuania I had done my best prior to our getting-together to encourage the people for speaking out their minds for they had been too embarrased, especially those from other cities, to share their impressions and experiences for some ten minutes each. Thus I was faced with the opposite phenomenon in comparison with other international conferences when the organizers have to limit the number and time of speakers. I had to persuade
the people that they would not be afraid to speak out even if what they might be saying would not fit the topic of the session in progress.The most important thing was that they would get accustumed to even hearing their own voices while uttering words about God. Until quite recently, and in the absolute majority of cases even today, people do warn others that they would not mention the name of God often. It is considered to be a sin by catholics. Besides, people believe that only priests were entitled to speak about God. Thus for these people it was too much to keep to the subject of the discussions and at the same time to overcome these superstitions. So I was encouraging them to share their experiences with God. Of course, the members from the Vilnius group, especially those who had attended it for many a year did manage to participate in the discussions while sticking to the topic of the session. The session lasted for one hour and a half without a break. And some people remained too shy to say anything. They were telling me that they would do their best to speak next time. But in general I had 4 speakers as I had planned.
After the session we had a 30-minute break and then I presented a report on the translations of the Urantia Book into the world languages and into Lithuanian in particular. And after dinner we had a huge bonfire. We sang Lithuanian folk songs, and discussed various issues from the Urnatia Book.
On Saturday, May 31, I started morning service at 10 o'clock. And thirty minutes later the second session began. The topic of this session was "GOD IN ME, I AM IN GOD." The main discourse was presented by one member of the Urantia group from Vilnius Genovaite (it is her first name). She was speaking very well even though she had not managed to cover all the Book yet. But at some time in the middle of her discourse she deviated from the main topic sideways into the so-called energy spheres, and began to
demonstrate how she can evaluate one's energetic potential in one's different energetic points by using a metal spring. Of course, for those who were well familiar with the Urantia Book all this caused but a smile. But when this demonstration on another woman went on and on, and when some of the members of the Vilnius group started showing their displeasure at this type of shamanism, I decided to intrerrupt which caused a negative reaction on the part of those who had not read the Urantia Book at all. I was at a
cross fire, and to solve the situation said that the main speaker of that morning would be able top demonstrate her abilities on an individual basis at the bonfire at night. Even though she was displeased but she did agree to accept this proposal. And after she finished her discourse discussions started. And one speaker mentioned that God did not demand from humans to do any shamanistic actions, he demands only our love for him and others.
After lunch we held the third session - BY ACQUIRING THE FAITH OF JESUS A
MORTAL CAN FORETASTE THE REALITIES OF ETERNITY. The main speaker at this session was Romas. While delivering his discourse he was concentrating on the personality qualities of Jesus that lead one to eternity alonside one's Thought Adjuster. And those participating at the discussions were mainly concentrating on their personal experiences with God. It seemed to them to be easier to relate these thigs to their own life
and their personal relationship with Jesus. But those participating at the discussions did not read the Urantia Book yet. And in the evening we had another bonfire and again we were sitting at the fire singing and discussing different things untill 3a.m. And on the last day, the Sunday of June 1, we held the fourth session "WHO SHALL SAVE ONE'S LIFE SHALL LOSE IT, BUT WHO SHALL LOSE ONE'S LIFE, SHALL FIND IT."
The main speaker of this morning session was Alexander (who did not manage to come to the Colorado conference last year when you arranged the funds for him as the third person on our delegation). He was comparing the life of Jesus to the life of our contemporaries who devote their interests and energy to satisfy only their personal needs or utmost those of their families while Jesus was serving the universe. And after the discussions that were very hot because people had familiarized with each other, and they
were feeling less and less of their embarrasment that they might say something wrong they even started reciting their own verses devoted to Jesus and to our Universal Father we had our last lunch. And after the lunch we held our final session. At the end of the morning session I asked all of them to think and share their impressions about this gathering at our final session after our final lunch.Thus at 13.30 I started our final session and put the same question again. And they were all so glad to have come to this gathering that they had no doubts about attending it next year again. And then gradually we moved over to the discussions on how we might arrange our next meeting, next year, next summer. They were all fascinated with this event, and with the establishemnet of personal relationships that might develop futher on up to...Paradise.
And after the final session I conducted the last service of worshipping our
Father on high and praying to God the Sevenfold.
Peace be upon you, David.
With brotherly love,
Algimantas