Spiritual Living Support Groups
A Spiritual Living Support Group helps you apply the book's spiritual teachings in your everyday life. Urantia University Institute will be offering courses and orientation sessions for prospective facilitators and participants, starting in 2027.
A Spiritual Living Support Group (SLSG) is a small gathering of Urantia Book readers and possibly other spiritually motivated individuals (three to eight participants). Such groups meet regularly to support, encourage and inspire each other in growing their loving relationships with God and with others—the adventure of living the spiritual life in this material world.
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While using The Urantia Book as their primary written source of guidance and inspiration, SLSGs complement Study Groups rather than supplant them.
Sign up for the orientation session
to be held in December 2026
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For more information send an email to:
Marvin Gawyrn - mgawryn@gmail.com
or
Kaye Cooper - kaye.sisters@gmail.comā
When Will the Courses Start?
The first Spiritual Living Support Group Facilitator Course will start in January 2027. One or two sessions for participants will follow in the Spring.
How Long Will a Course Run?
The Facilitator Course will span about two months, each weekly session lasting two-and-a-half hours. The two initial sessions will introduce the core concepts of an SLSG. The following sessions will give participants the experience of facilitating and taking part in one.
Am I Qualified to Attend?
The Facilitator Course is intended for students of The Urantia Book who are familiar with its core spiritual concepts.
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Conversational English is required.
How an SLSG works
A Spiritual Living Support Groupā:
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is designed, through sharing, to support the spiritual progress of its members
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explores how to apply spiritual values to actual events in its members' lives
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provides a safe space for members to share their experiences, insights, and wisdom
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becomes a mutually supportive spiritual family
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decides how to run itself, with members agreeing on schedules, methods and goals.
The Goals of an SLSG
The primary objective of the group is for members to support each other in living their spiritual lives. āā
Participants are also invited to: ā
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ā Develop their commitment to understanding and living the will of God.
ā Cultivate truth, beauty, goodness, and love as guiding values in the group.
ā Develop their own spiritual practice, or set of spiritual habits, that will enhance their relationship with God and their loving service to others.
ā Experience God as an active presence in the group, participating with each member in the midst of the group’s interactions.
Group Leadership
The commitment of attendees will soon fade if meetings are allowed to wander for lack of planning and facilitation.
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Ideally, at least one person in each newly forming group will be educated in an SLSG training program. It is a good idea to have at least two or three people trained to serve as facilitators, to allow for leadership rotation in planning and conducting meetings.
Materials and Lessons
The SLSG Leadership Team, as part of its training programs on the UUI platform, offers guidelines, suggested materials, and topics/themes for use in group meetings. SLSGs may choose any other available materials to work with, based on their consensus preferences.
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For a support group to function effectively, members need time to share their experiences of living, raise questions, and explore answers together. The focus is on practical matters of everyday life, such as learning to love God and others, exploring values that develop character, coping with adversity, reaching out to help others as you pass by, and trying to understand how to bring spiritual beliefs and solutions into daily life.
Why Are Spiritual Living Support Groups Needed
The socialization of personal spiritual experience is essential to the success of any epochal revelation. If The Urantia Book is to fulfill its mission, effective socialization must take place. The quality of such socialization will depend on capable and dedicated leadership, as well as sincere and persistent prayer—seeking spiritual guidance and inspiration.
Spiritual Living Support Groups are offered as a potentially foundational element in our efforts to socialize our spiritual aspirations. They are appropriately ambitious for our time and situation. They represent a promising new way to encourage and support people in their efforts to progressively live the spiritual teachings of the Urantia revelation—to become effective living proponents of the transformative “religion of the Spirit.”
