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Note: This sample constitution is provided here as a starting point for discussion by reader groups who may be considering establishing a formal religious body. The choice to become a formal religious body is a choice to be made by groups at a local level. Such an undertaking is neither endorsed nor discouraged by the Fellowship. Likewise, neither is this sample document nor the idea of its implementation endorsed by the Fellowship.

PREAMBLE

1. The Fatherhood of God and the implicit truth of the familial relationships existing between all human beings is the guiding principle of the Congregation. We acknowledge all individuals and traditions, past and present, who recognize this principle as kindred spirits. Recognition of the religion of Jesus as the ultimate ideal of living is central in our teaching, but we seek to avoid all forms of coercive literalism and legalism. The scriptures used for worship and education in the Congregation shall be The Urantia Book and the Bible as well as passages of scripture from the varied religions of the world which portray spiritual wisdom.

2. The Congregation is ecumenical and nonsectarian in orientation. We accept into membership people from all backgrounds who recognize the Fatherhood of God and the kinship of all humanity as interpreted by the teachings of Jesus. The Congregation seeks to relate to all people in love and recognizes the sister/brotherhood of all humanity.

3. The Congregation seeks to develop ritual and ceremony which symbolize the highest values of truth, beauty, and goodness, along with the supreme values of love and social interaction found in the family and in the communion and caring of Congregation. We recognize the freedom of each congregation to evolve its own ritual and symbolism which shall include the sacrament of the Remembrance Supper, as well as such other rites as the local congregation may desire.

4. The Congregation recognizes the key role of evolution and growth in the process of the life of each individual and congregation.

5. The Congregation seeks to foster the most inspiring intellectual, emotional, and service sentiments of humanity and promote loyalty to such values and activities and to the groups and individuals who strive to actualize them.

6. The Congregation strives to facilitate spiritual progress, enhance cosmic insight, augment moral values, encourage social development, and stimulate the highest expressions of personal religious living.

7. The Congregation assists its members to visualize and articulate supreme purposes and goals of living for both time and eternity. It seeks to stimulate and support them in the actualization of these objectives.

8. The Congregation seeks to support, honor, and enhance the values associated with the biologic, sociologic, and religious significance of the home.

9. The Congregation acknowledges and lives with the mystery of personal and epochal revelation. We stand in awe at the incomprehensible love which God has for us, imperfect, often defective, finite beings, in bestowing upon us a fragment of his own spirit essence to live with us and guide us toward reality and eternal life. We are confronted by the inexplicable efficacy of intercessory prayer and the mysterious integration and coordination of persons and events. We are challenged by the impossible-possible potential of the spirit mastery of our animal drives and urges and the reality of spiritual transformation.

10. The Congregation believes that most of its spiritual practices and symbolism should be so designed that it can be participated in by the individual, the family, and the entire congregation.

1l. The Congregation recognizes that as ceremonies, rituals, and spiritual symbolism evolve, they should be relatively simple, filled with beauty and meaning. We seek to create a structure in which this symbolism and its related ceremonies may evolve.

12. The Congregation recommends that each congregation, whenever possible, provide in their local program opportunities for religious education, personal counseling, spiritual guidance, and group worship. These religious ministrations should dramatize spiritual loyalties, magnify the lures of truth, beauty, and goodness, glorify the potentials of family life, stimulate unselfish service and warm friendship, conserve enlightened morality, support human welfare, and promote a wise outreach ministry to the world.

ARTICLE I: NAME

1. The name of this Congregation shall be the SPIRITUAL CONGREGATION. (Hereinafter referred to as the Congregation)

ARTICLE II: STRUCTURE

l. The Congregation is composed of local Congregations, Associations, Conferences, and the General Conference.

2. These bodies are interassociated in a free and voluntary relationship which is traditionally known as a congregational polity.

ARTICLE III: OFFICERS

1. Officers of the Congregation shall be a President, a Vice-president, a Secretary, A Treasure and such other officers as the General Conference may from time to time determine. They shall be responsible to the General Conference.

ARTICLE IV: LOCAL CONGREGATIONS

1. The basic unit of the life and organization of the Congregation is the local Congregation. The term for group reference may be Congregation, church, congregation, synagogue, assembly or any other name for the religious group which is germane to the local culture. The term for reference to the house of worship may be House of Worship, Congregation Hall, Church, Temple, Synagogue, Mosque, or any other term for the place of worship used by the local culture. The local Congregation name may be The Community Spiritual Congregation, Evergreen Spiritual Congregation, Shalom Spiritual Congregation, or any other name which is meaningful to the local culture.

2. The local Congregation is composed of persons who believe in the Fatherhood of God and the kinship of all people as interpreted by the teachings of Jesus, and depending on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are organized for worship, the furtherance of Congregation, and for the ongoing work of witness and service.

3. Persons become members of the local Congregation by (a) profession of a commitment to the ideals of the Fatherhood of God and the kinship of all people as interpreted by the teachings of Jesus; (b) letter of transfer or certification from other churches or Congregations; or (c) by means specified in the local Congregation constitution which shall be harmonious with this Congregation constitution.

4. All persons who are or shall become members of a local congregation of the Congregation are thereby members of the Spiritual Congregation.

5. Any organized religious group which makes application and votes to join the Congregation, and whose constitution is not inconsistent with this Constitution and the Bylaws of the Congregation, becomes a part of a local Association of the Congregation under the direction and guidance of the local Association.

6. Local congregations in the Congregation are represented in the Association, Conference, and General Conference by elected delegates. The number and description of local congregation delegates is determined by the Bylaws of this Constitution.

7. The autonomy of the local Congregation is inherent and modifiable only by its own action. Nothing in this Constitution and the Bylaws of the Congregation shall destroy or limit the right of each local Congregation to continue to operate according to its own decisions; nor shall it be construed as giving to the General Conference, or to the Conference or Association now, or at any future time, the power to abridge or impair the autonomy of any local Congregation in the management of its own affairs.

8. Actions by, or decisions or advice emanating from the General Conference, a Conference or an Association, should be held in highest regard by every local Congregation.

ARTICLE V: THE MINISTRY

1. The Congregation recognizes that God calls every member to participate in and extend the ministry of the Gospel in life and society. The Congregation seeks to undergird the ministry of its members by nurturing faith, calling forth gifts, and equipping members for service.

2. The Congregation recognizes that God calls certain of its members to various forms of ministry in and on behalf of the Congregation for which formal authorization is granted. This authorization is conferred by an Association through the rites of ordination, commissioning, and other acts of authorization.

3. Ordination and commissioning are rites whereby the Congregation through an Association, in cooperation with the person and a local Congregation, recognizes and authorizes a member to assume the role of minister to the Congregation, and consecrates that person by prayer and the laying on of hands. Ordained and commissioned ministerial standing in the Congregation is granted by and held in an Association and confers voting membership in the Association.

4. An Ordained Minister of the Congregation is one of its members who has been selected to teach the gospel on the basis of professional training in some related field, to administer the sacrament and rites of the Congregation, and to exercise pastoral care and leadership.

5.A Commissioned Minister of the Congregation is one of its members who has been appointed by the Congregation as a layperson to minister and teach the gospel, to administer the sacrament and rites of the Congregation, and to exercise pastoral care and leadership.

6. The Call of an Ordained Minister or a Commissioned Minister to a local Congregation establishes a covenantal relationship among the Ordained Minister or Commissioned Minister, the local Congregation, and the Congregation as represented by an Association. The Call of an Ordained Minister or a Commissioned Minister to other forms of ministry recognized by an Association of the Congregation establishes a covenantal relationship among the Ordained Minister or Commissioned Minister, the calling body, the Congregation as represented by an Association, and the local Congregation where the Ordained Minister or Commissioned Minister is a member.

7. A Student in Care of an Association is a member of the Congregation who has chosen to prepare for the ministry under the care of the member's Association, is preparing for the ordained or commissioned ministry in the Congregation.

ARTICLE VI: ASSOCIATIONS

1. An Association is a body organized on a territorial basis to perform functions in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and Bylaws of the Congregation.

2. An Association is that body within a Conference of the Congregation which is composed of all local Congregations in a geographical area and all Ordained or Commissioned Ministers holding standing therein.

3. Subsequent to the initial organization of Associations in the Congregation, the boundaries of any new Association, or any adjustment of boundaries between Associations, shall be determined by the Associations concerned with the approval of the Conference or Conferences involved. The standing of an Association as a body of the Congregation is determined by the Conference in which it is located.

4. An Association is that body which determines, confers, and certifies to the standing of the local Congregations of the Congregation within its area.

5. An Association is that body which grants, certifies to, transfers and terminates ordained or commissioned ministerial standing in the Congregation.

6. An Association may retain or secure its own charter, and adopt its own constitution, bylaws and other rules which it deems essential to its own welfare and not inconsistent with this Constitution and Bylaws of the Congregation.

7. When an Association meets, its voting membership includes the lay delegates selected by and representing the local Congregations of that Association and all Ordained and Commissioned Ministers of that Association. Meetings are held annually and at such other times as may be necessary for the discharge of its responsibilities.

ARTICLE VII: CONFERENCES

1. A Conference is that body of the Congregation which is composed of all local Congregations in a geographical area and all Ordained and Commissioned Ministers holding standing in its Associations.

2. Subsequent to the initial organization of Conferences in the Congregation, and the boundaries of any new Conference, or any adjustment of boundaries between Conferences, shall be determined by the Conferences concerned with the approval of the General Conference. The standing of a Conference as a body of the Congregation is determined by the General Conference.

3. A Conference may retain or secure its own charter, and adopt its own constitution, bylaws and other rules which it deems essential to is own welfare and not inconsistent with this Constitution and Bylaws of the Congregation.

4. When a Conference meets, its voting membership includes lay delegates selected by and representing local Congregations of that Conference and all Ordained and Commissioned Ministers holding standing in its Associations. Meetings of the Conference are held annually and at such other times as may be necessary for the discharge of its responsibilities.

ARTICLE VIII: GENERAL CONFERENCE

1. The General Conference is the representative body of the Congregation and is composed of delegates chosen by local Congregations and all Ordained and Commissioned Ministers holding standing in its Associations.

2. The General Conference has the following powers, provided, however, that no power vested in the General Conference shall invade the autonomy of Conferences, Associations, and local Congregations, or impair their right to acquire, own, manage, and dispose of property and funds:

a. To carry on, directly and through its Executive Council, Instrumentalities, and other bodies, the work of the Congregation, and to provide for the financial support of this work;

b. To organize as required for the transaction of business;

c. To nominate and elect Officers of the Congregation who shall be chosen from the membership of the Congregation and who with the Moderators shall serve as Officers of the General Conference;

d. To nominate and elect those members of Instrumentalities whose election is vested in the General Conference;

e. To determine by appropriate Bylaws the composition of an Executive Council to act for the General Council ad interim, and to nominate and elect its members;

f. To establish and maintain a headquarters for the Congregation;

g. To establish a Central Treasury, which shall receive funds contributed to the General Conference for the support of the Congregation and its Instrumentalities;

h. To determine the relationships of the Congregation with ecumenical organizations, world religious bodies, and other interreligious agencies;

i. To encourage conversations with other religious groups and when appropriate to authorize and guide negotiations with them looking toward spiritual and religious unity;

j. To amend this Constitution as hereinafter provided;

k. To adopt bylaws for the Congregation, and as hereinafter provided, to amend them.

ARTICLE IX: INSTRUMENTALITIES

1. The Congregation recognizes responsibilities at home and abroad for missions, aid and service, ecumenical relations, interCongregation relations and spiritual unity, education, communication and publication, leadership and ministry' ministerial pensions, evangelism, stewardship, health and welfare, and any other appropriate area of need and concern.

2. The General Conference shall determine the conditions under which it will create or recognize an existing agency to serve as an Instrumentality of the Congregation. Each Instrumentality so created or recognized shall administer its own program and financial affairs, and establish its own bylaws and rules of procedure which are not inconsistent with this Constitution and Bylaws of the Congregation.

3. The General Conference and its Executive Council shall consider the programs of all Instrumentalities with a view of correlating their work, publicity and promotion, preventing duplication and effecting economies of administration, so as to secure maximum effectiveness and efficiency through careful stewardship of personnel and financial resources. Due protection shall be given to all trust funds, including pension funds.

4. Each Instrumentality of the Congregation shall report its program and finances annually to the Executive Council and to each regular meeting of the General Conference, and shall submit to the Budget Committee of the General Conference a detailed request for support of its work through funds allocated from the budget to be recommended to the General Conference.

ARTICLE X: AMENDMENTS

1. Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed by a Conference, General Conference, or the Executive Council. Such proposed amendments shall be submitted in writing to the Secretary of the Congregation at least three months prior to a meeting of the General Conference to which they are to be presented. At least two months prior to the meeting of the General Conference, the Secretary shall transmit such proposed amendments to the delegates, to the Conferences, and to the local Congregations.

Adoption of an amendment to the Constitution shall require a two-thirds affirmative vote of those present and voting in the General Conference and, before the next regular meeting of the General Conference, an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Conferences. If so approved, the General Conference, if in session, or the Executive Council, shall declare the amendment adopted in force.

2. Amendments to the Bylaws of the Congregation may be proposed by an Association, a Conference, the General Conference, or the Executive Council. Such proposed amendments shall be submitted in writing to the Secretary of the Congregation at least three months prior to the meeting of the General Conference to which they are to be presented. At least two months prior to the meeting of the General Conference, the Secretary shall transmit such proposed amendments to the delegates, to the Conferences, and to the local Congregations. Adoption of an amendment to the Bylaws shall require a two-thirds affirmative vote of those present and voting in the General Conference.

FOUNDING BYLAWS OF THE SPIRITUAL CONGREGATION PREAMBLE

The foregoing Constitution of the Spiritual Congregation (hereinafter referred to as the Congregation) is presented by the Founders as they envision the polity of the Congregation. During the early years, the Congregation will be governed and directed by a Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees will strive to make decisions and initiate actions which are harmonious with the principles and spirit of the foregoing Congregation Constitution. The current Bylaws of the Constitution are formulated to direct the activities of the Board of Trustees. When the Congregation grows to include twenty-five congregations in its constituency the Board of Trustees shall call a "Constitution Actualization Meeting." At this meeting two representatives elected by each local Congregation and all Ordained and Commissioned Ministers shall adopt or revise the Congregation Constitution and create Bylaws which are appropriate to the then existing Congregation. After such Congregation Constitution and Bylaws are adopted, the Congregation shall function and be governed by them.

ARTICLE I: BOARD OF TRUSTEES

1. Ruling Body. Until the Congregation has twenty-five congregations, the ruling body of the Congregation shall be as Board of Trustees composed of twelve members. The term of a trustee shall be three years. Trustees should be initially elected so that terms will be on a rotational sequence, with four terms expiring and four trustees elected each year.

The Board of Trustees shall be in charge of all functions and responsibilities of the Congregation.

2. Officers. The officers of the Congregation shall be a President, a vice-president, a Secretary, and a Treasure. Such other officers as may be needed may be established by action of the Board of Trustees.

3. Election. The trustees shall be elected by the Board of Trustees. The officers shall be elected by the Board of Trustees for a term of three years or until their successors assume office.

4. President. The President shall preside at meetings of the Board of Trustees and Congregation. The President shall have the power to carry into effect all directives or decisions of the Board of Trustees.

5. Vice-president. The Vice-president shall assume the duties of the President in the case of the absence or incapacity of the President.

6. Secretary. The Secretary shall take minutes at the Board of Trustee meetings, is custodian of the records of the Board of Trustees and the Congregation, and shall perform such other duties as usually pertain to the office of secretary.

7. Treasure. The treasurer is the financial officer of the Board of Trustees and Congregation. This officer shall keep financial records, execute financial transactions under the direction of the Board of Trustees, and perform such other duties as usually pertain to the office of treasurer.

8. Vacancies. When a vacancy occurs in any of the offices of the Congregation or the Board of Trustees, such vacancies may be filled at any meeting of the Board of Trustees.

9. Dismissal. Any member of the Board of Trustees may be dismissed by a 2/3 vote of the Board of Trustees.

10. Meetings. The President may call meetings of the Board of Trustees. The majority of the members of the Board of Trustees may direct that a meeting be called. The Board of Trustees shall meet at least once a year. All members of the Board of Trustees shall be notified at least one week in advance concerning the time and place of all meetings.

11. Quorum. A quorum at any meeting of the Board of Trustees shall be two-thirds of its membership.

12. Procedures. The procedures in Robert's Rules of Order shall govern the business of the Board of Trustees in all cases in which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with the Constitution or special rules of this Congregation.

ARTICLE II: COMMITTEES AND AMENDMENTS

I. Committees. The Board of Trustees may appoint committees to carry out its purposes.

2. Amendments. These Bylaws may be amended by a majority vote of the members of the Board of Trustees.