UrantiaUniversity, Inc. - 2021 The Progress Project Course

The Progress Project

Special Online Orientation Session:

Sunday, February 7, 2021

8:00 pm-9:30 pm EST (UTC-4)

Participants who are interested in taking the 12-week online course must attend the Orientation session (or watch a recording of it) prior to being admitted to the course.

Class Dates: Sunday, Feb 21, 2021 ~ Sunday, May 9, 2021

Note: The class WILL meet on Easter Sunday, April 4 and Mother's Day, May 9

Class Time: 8:00 pm-9:30 pm EST / 5:00 pm PST / 6:00 pm MST / 7:00 pm CST

Note: The US and Canada will switch to Daylight Savings time on Sunday, March 14, impacting the course time for participants in other countries.

Registration is for the Orientation Session ONLY.

After the orientation you will receive instructions

to enroll in the course.

Invitation to join

the Progress Project Course

You are invited to join with others for a season of spiritual growth.

The purpose of the Progress Project course is to deepen our personal relationships with God, share our inner lives with each other, and support each other in spiritual goals through intentional relationship. We take our name from an initiative that was developed by Urantia Book readers as a network of small groups focused on personal spiritual growth. This is the second time we are offering this course on the UUI platform.

Over 12 weeks, we will meet for 90 minutes a week in class, focusing on the arc of spiritual growth from inner connection to outer expression. Each class period will include time for worshipful communion, instruction from Angie and Aprilhelen, and breakout groups for Urantia Book study and personal reflection on the week’s theme.

In addition, all students will be expected to join a triad: a group of three that meets outside of class to support and accompany each other in your desire for personal spiritual progress. These meetings are an additional 90 minutes a week and include worshipful communion, sharing of your inner life, and a time for study.

Lastly, all students will be asked to develop a personal, everyday practice of communion with God. We’ll invite you to journal about your experience as you go.

The Progress Project course is a deep-dive! You’re making a real commitment – to yourself, to your triad, and to God. As a result, we won’t have auditors for this course. Before registering, we invite you to reflect on whether the time is right for you to make such a commitment. We hope you’ll say yes!

Orientation Session

and Commitment

We will hold an orientation session on Sunday, Feb 7 from 8:00 to 9:30 pm, and will also make a recording available to all who register.

If you are considering the Progress Project course, be sure to attend this session or watch the recording.

At the orientation, we will provide key information that you will need as a student in the Progress Project course and give you a chance to ask questions. This will help you decide if the course is right for you.

Afterwards, if you decide to join the course, we’ll ask you to complete a short online survey and make a commitment to undertake the entire 12 weeks.

Your commitment not only supports you in your personal progress, but the whole group in theirs. We’re all in this together!

This course has initiated a new dimension of spiritual growth for me! - Ann, USA

The UUI Progress Project is an enlightening adventure which inspires personal growth and connects us with other UB readers around the world. - Jane, Canada

Being in a triad group was an impactful and valuable personal experience and I was impressed at how far along my Urantian peers are on their personal development. - Bob, USA

Such a great place to grow and serve and exchange with God-loving brothers and sisters!! - Manuela, Germany
This is a course in deepening one's relationship with our Paradise Father and it delivers in spades...I have used some of their techniques to inwardly and upwardly reach, daily...so soul-satisfying!! - Monica, Canada

Weekly Outline of the Course

Week 0: Orientation

An intro to the course with key info, Q&A, and a call to commitment.

Week 1: Trinitized Spiritual Growth

An overview of the Progress Project, the role of triads, and the universe pattern of the Trinity. Meet your triad for the first time!

Week 2: Sharing the Inner Life

On the importance of sharing your inner life with God, your triad, and the class.

Week 3: Connection with God

Explore techniques of inner spirit connection while being reminded of our many spirit helpers.

Week 4: Communion with God

Learn from others about their practices of communion and develop and deepen your own.

Week 5: The Practice

On patience, adaptation, and the power of free will as we continue our journey of spiritual discipline.

Week 6: Self-Awareness

Discover techniques and resources for cultivating self-awareness.

Week 7: Living on Purpose

On the art of spiritual living: cultivating daily habits and a rhythm of life.

Week 8: Gifts of God

On the gift of personality, the consecration of choice, and transforming through difficulties.

Week 9: Personality Progress

Begin to recognize your growing capacity to bear the fruits of the spirit.

Week 10: Serving God

On loving service and discovering your true voice and spiritual purpose.

Week 11: Transformation

On the growth of meanings and the realization of values in your life.

Week 12: Moving Forward

Celebrate our personal and collective progress and our visions for the future!

Registration is for the Orientation Session ONLY.

After the orientation you will receive instructions

to enroll in the course.

Please note:

Participants must be able and willing to use the Zoom online video-conferencing application (rather than phone call-in) to participate in this online learning experience.

First-time Zoom users will need to download an applet from the Zoom.us.com website in order to join the online meeting.

Watch the video above to hear more about the

Progress Project from Angie Thurston and Aprilhelen,

the course developers and instructors.

Course Format

Time frame: 12 weeks (including class on Easter and Mother's Day)

Format: Weekly online meetings using Zoom video conferencing. Participants are expected to attend all the weekly meetings.

Technology: We will review the tech components of the class at Orientation and be there to help you along the way! In addition to Zoom, we will also use:

TalentLMS educational platform for all course materials
WhatsApp and email to communicate within our triads and as a class
Google Drive and Google Docs to house all documents for your triad such as your covenant, journal, and list of spiritual goals

Class time: The entire class meets 90 minutes per week online on Sundays, plus 90 minutes per week in a triad group (to be scheduled by the three people in the triad at a time convenient for all of you).

Additional Effort: You are expected to engage in daily spiritual practice and journal about your experience.

Level: There are no prerequisites for the course.

Size: Class is limited to 24 participants.

Language: English

Instructors

Angie Thurston

I'm Angie Thurston, and I'll be one of your faculty members for this course. I was raised with the Urantia Book, and the part that always compelled me most was this idea of spiritual growth. I would read about "spiritual goals" and "growing closer to God" and I wanted to know how to do it! I also knew that I couldn't -- and didn't want to -- do it alone. Luckily, I wasn't the only one. The Progress Project was born from a small group of Urantia Book readers who all wanted to support and accompany each other in our spiritual growth. It has been a Godsend for me and I'm excited to share it with you.

My work in the world is all about the future of spiritual community. I am a Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and the co-founder of Sacred Design Lab, a soul-centered research and development lab. With my mother, Claire Thurston, I lead a program called Inner Sourcing for young adults to connect with their souls.

I'll be joining you from Alexandria, VA, where I live with my husband Vipin and our cat Pepper.

Aprilhelen

Aloha! Aprilhelen here, hailing from the Northwest Arkansas Ozarks, as we are all ’Together in Spiritual Growth!’ Being a second generation student of the Revelation, one of my passions has been the practice of integrating the techniques of the art of living prescribed by the revelators and by witnessing how Christ Michael lived.

Through the past twenty-five years of sharing, with all ages, the eight-fold path of the art of therapeutic yoga and personal transformation, catering and nutrition education, horticulture and animal husbandry, I have been able to effectively expose these tools for others, so we may all up-step our addition of value to the Supreme.

Currently, I am conceptualizing, writing, and illustrating secondary works of The Urantia Book for younger readers, with the dream of someday being part of an educational center like the ones modeled for us in The Urantia Book.

Alongside my duties as on-boarder for the Progress Project, I am an active member of the Fellowship’s Family Life Committee, a friend of the Urantia Book Network, a poet, an artist, a creative think-tank participant, an aspiring public speaker, an advocate of interfaith work, a seed planter, and a daily visionary of what is possible, just to name a few. I would love to be involved in producing a blockbuster-movie series revealing the Revelation as a truth-underlying, science fiction!

My spiritual sister, Angie, and I have worked together for the Revelation for nearly a decade. Our shared experience on the playground of the UB Fellowship’s Youth and Young Adult Committee has provided us many valuable leadership and service opportunities that laid the foundation from which the Progress Project has now emerged. This will be our second time hosting this course on the Urantia University Institute platform. Our vision is to help the Progress Project pollinate across the Urantia movement and beyond!

FAQ

After I enroll, what happens next?

After registering for the Orientation Session, you will receive a confirmation email, with subsequent email reminders of the Orientation session on Feb 7.

A few days before the Orientation session, you will receive an email with login information for the online Zoom meeting.
Following the Orientation session, if you choose to enroll in the course, you will receive reminders for the Week 1 course start date on Feb 21.
A reminder email with the login information will be sent to participants the morning of the start date of the class.

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