The International URANTIA Association will truly be an international organization, for IUA's first national Association is in Finland. The Finnish Association, which currently has about 65 active members, has fine prospects for further growth due to therecent publication of URANTlA-kirja, the Finnish translation of The URANTIA Book.
The Finns have been waiting for the formation of the new international membership organization. At the Annual Meeting of the Finnish URANTIA Society held on June 9, 1990, the Finns declared:
The Annual Meeting of Finnish URANTIA Society resolves that Finnish URANTIA Society associates itself, immediately and without conditions whatsoever, with the URANTIA Foundation founded URANTIA Brotherhood Association (URANTIA-vel jeskunta -yhdistys).
Since the new membership organization, IUA, is legally defined as "the reader membership arm of URANTIA Brotherhood Association," the Finns had only to reaffirm their earlier commitment and to indicate their agreement with the principles of the Charter of IUA. On September 30, 1993, Juhani Leino, President of the Finnish Society, issued a statement on behalf of the Governing Board, which resulted in the Finnish Society becoming the first national Association of IUA. The Finnish President sends this greeting:
The Governing Board of Finnish URANTIA Society wants to bid all readers and students involved in the URANTIA Movement welcome in this new international body, the purpose and objective of which is to foster in-depth study of The URANTIA Book and the dissemination of its teachings on the person-to-person basis on this planet of ours.