The Marriage and Family Adventure! An Online Symposium

By Joanne Strobel, Georgia, United States

Editor’s Note: Urantia Foundation’s Education Committee sponsored this symposium on marriage and family life on Friday and Saturday, June 14–15, 2024. It was hosted on Zoom Sessions, and all of the presentations are now available on YouTube. Thank you to everyone involved who made this event such a success!

The planning began in July of 2023. The goal was a multifaceted symposium that would appeal to readers of all ages. We wanted to delve deeply into the inspirational teachings of The Urantia Book to offer a fresh perspective on relationships, unions, and family dynamics.

The first decision was whom to invite as emcees. In keeping with the theme, the obvious choice was a married couple who had raised children, endured life’s challenges and blessings, was active in the Urantia community, and would know whereof they speak. Bill and Share Beasley said yes without hesitation.

They treated their role like a sacred trust. Bill and Share took time from their busy lives to commence a thorough review of the book to identify and categorize important teachings regarding the foundations and evolution of family life, perspectives on divine partnerships and cosmic relationships, parenthood and child rearing, gender equality, and challenges and family conflicts. And let’s not forget Jesus! Readers were then invited to submit a proposed topic based on these categories.

We are grateful to Bill and Share Beasley for their tireless enthusiasm. And we appreciate the work of our many presenters—Olga López; Dave and Joyce Anderson; Brad Garner and his wife, Ruthie Wenger; Angie Thurston and her father, Chuck; Alice Wood and her mother, Vicki Arkens; Stevie Shaefer; Gard Jameson; Marvin Gawryn; and Chris Wood and his band of brothers—who prepared for months and showed up for this special event.

If you missed the symposium, be sure to watch the recordings on YouTube. Each session is 30 minutes long and followed by an interactive panel discussion.

Click here to watch the presentations.

Our presenters agreed that this was an important series for readers seeking to navigate the complexities of human relationships. In her introduction to the event, Tamara Strumfeld spoke for many of the presenters and onlookers when she said, “I’m grateful to be experiencing the adventure of marriage and family with these teachings. We are all so blessed!”

It is our hope that the enduring values of love, loyalty, and lasting bonds will continue to fortify family relationships in the face of societal and cultural challenges. We hope the symposium will be valuable for future readers, too.

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