The Christian Universalist
Association (CUA) is an
ecumenical
organization
connecting churches, ministries, and individuals who
believe in Christian Universalism.
The CUA is active in outreach to the public,
spreading the Good News of God’s love for all
people. We are especially focused on helping
people find and participate in developing
positive and uplifting communities of faith that
share this belief, where they can get involved
and grow spiritually through worship, fellowship, and service to God and other people. We
hold conferences, publish literature and a periodical, encourage networking and cooperation
among believers, maintain a directory of
churches and meeting groups, work to foster
church planting, and create new resources to
deepen and reform Christianity.
One of the goals of the CUA is to work within
the Christian world to promote a Second
Reformation, shedding church doctrines that
have moved Christianity away from universal
truth and into the realm of fundamentalism.
Another major goal is to share a more accurate
view of Christ, his teachings, and the beliefs
and practices of the early church, with the nonChristian world today that is aching for a fresh
vision of spirituality.
Christian Universalism is a great faith
tradition based on the idea of a benevolent, allloving God who is saving all souls and
transforming us all in the image of Christ.
There is no such thing as eternal hell or
“damnation.” After a spiritual growth process,
everyone will be reconciled with God and with
all other people, all sins will be forgiven, and
all human beings will be perfect like Christ.
“What types of Christians are in the CUA?”
The CUA is interdenominational, meaning that
our members come from a variety of different
denominations – or none at all. Our organization includes Pentecostals, Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox,
independent or non-denominational Christians,
and Unitarian Universalists who follow Jesus
Christ as their primary spiritual teacher. All
types of Christians are welcome to join us!
“Why is the CUA necessary?”
In 1961, the historical Christian denomination
called the Universalist Church of America
merged with the American Unitarian Association to form the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). From then until the founding
of the Christian Universalist Association in
2007, there has been no well-organized, publicly visible, diverse organization of churches
and ministries proclaiming the teachings of a
theological, Christ-centered Universalism. For
this reason, a whole generation of people have
grown up with little or no awareness of this
hope-inspiring message – which was the
mainstream belief of early Christianity – and
do not know it is a credible option for them to
believe in. The CUA considers this a tragedy,
and the founding of our organization was in
large part inspired by our desire to rectify this
terrible situation.
“Is the CUA right for me?”
Millions of people today feel spiritually
homeless. They do not agree with the dogmatic and exclusionary attitudes of many conservative churches, but they are unsatisfied
with the lack of spiritual depth and belief in
many liberal churches. If you feel this way,
you might be struggling to find a community
of faith you can feel comfortable in, or you
might have given up on organized religion
entirely.
The Christian Universalist Association encourages you not to give up. If you, like us,
seek to follow the path of Jesus without a lot
of outdated and restrictive doctrinal baggage,
our organization might serve your spiritual
needs and be a place you can feel at home.
Our overall philosophy is one of inclusiveness
and open-mindedness combined with strong
beliefs and principles. We respect your individual conscience and personal relationship
with God, so we emphasize a continual quest
for spiritual truth, not religious doctrines and
rules. The CUA takes a stand for the basic
beliefs of the original Christian Gospel – especially the faith in a God who is Love, who has
a plan to save and transform all people.
We strive to create a spiritual community that
can help people to reach their true potential –
no matter who you are, where you come from,
what you have believed, what you have done.
In the Christian Universalist Association, you
will be given ample freedom to grow closer to
God in your own way, but will be led in a
positive direction. We invite you to join us in
the journey!
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For more information, please visit us online at:
www.ChristianUniversalist.org
Email: info@christianuniversalist.org
Telephone: 703-879-1792
Postal address:
Christian Universalist Association
P.O. Box 107
Fairfax, VA 22038 (USA)
The CUA: Building a Unique and
Historic Spiritual Movement
The Christian Universalist Association is the
first Christian organization in history that
brings together Pentecostals, Evangelicals,
Mainline Protestants, Unitarian Universalist
Christians, and non-denominational Christians,
under one umbrella to build a cohesive new
spiritual movement.
Something similar has happened two times
before in the history of Christianity. The first
time was in the 2nd through 4th centuries,
when Messianic Jews and Greek philosophers
came together to develop and articulate a new
spiritual vision. The result was Alexandrian
Christianity, a boldly Universalist Gospel that
was taught by early saints and church fathers
such as Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and
Gregory of Nyssa. This view of the Christian
message was in fact the greatest, most widely
accepted and respected form of Christianity in
the ancient world.
The second time Christian Universalism arose
and flourished was in the 18th and 19th
centuries, when the Universalist Church of
America was formed and grew to become the
seventh largest denomination in the United
States at its peak. This new church developed
out of a diverse mixture of Anabaptists, Quakers, Moravians, and other Pietist Christians
who fled religious persecution in Europe –
many of whom believed in the salvation of all
rather than eternal hell. President Abraham
Lincoln was a famous Christian Universalist.
Today, we in the CUA hope that we can succeed in having as much influence and effect on
people’s lives and on society as these two
great spiritual movements of the past, from
which we derive much of our inspiration.
Beliefs Commonly Shared in the CUA:
1. We believe in a God who is Love, the
Creator of the universe, whom we are called to
seek, know, and love; and whose nature was
revealed to the world in Christ. (1 Jn. 4:16,
Rev. 4:11, Mk. 12:30, Jn. 14:10)
2. We believe that the universal commandment is to love one another as each loves oneself. (Mk. 9:35, 12:31, Lk. 6:27-31, Jn. 13:34)
3. We believe in the law of justice by which
actions generate consequences, whether to be
manifested in this life or the life to come. (Gal.
6:7-8, Mat. 19:29, 26:52, Rev. 20:12)
4. We believe in the ultimate triumph of
divine mercy and grace: that no being ever
created will be condemned or allowed to suffer
forever, but all souls will attain salvation,
reconciliation, restoration, and reunion with
the Source of All Being. (Jn. 12:32, 1 Cor
15:22, 2 Cor. 5:19, Rev. 21:3-5)
5. We believe every person is the divine
offspring of God, created in the image of the
Heavenly Parent of all; and that every person
is destined to be raised up from imperfection
to maturity according to the pattern of Christ.
(Gen. 1:26-27, Acts 17:28, Rom. 5:18-19,
8:16-18, 2 Cor. 3:18)
The
Christian
Universalist
Association
6. We believe in the reality of mysterious
spiritual phenomena such as the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. (Jn. 14:11, 1 Cor. 13:12, 15:3-8)
All God’s Children,
No One Left Behind
7. We believe that God’s Holy Spirit has
inspired numerous prophets, saints, philosophers, and mystics throughout history, in a
variety of cultures and traditions; and that by
studying the Bible and other great spiritual
texts, and meditating to connect to the Spirit
within, we may all gain a greater understanding of truth, which should be applied for the
betterment of ourselves and our world. (Rom.
1:20, Prov. 4:5-9, Eph. 4:4-6, Mat. 5:14-16)
Uniting people and churches
around the world with a vision of
God’s all-inclusive love.