© 2016 Chris Wood, Alexander H, Raimo Ala-Hynnila, Paul Tsekar, David Linthicum, Gaétan G. Charland, Rick Lyon, Line St-Pierre
© 2016 International Urantia Association (IUA)
¶ In This Issue
- President’s Message March 2016 – Chris Wood
- Urantia Association’s Social Media – Social Media Committee
- German-speaking Urantia Book Readers’ Meeting – Alexander H
- Winter Conference in Finland – Raimo Ala-Hynnila
- Cameroon Study Group – Paul Tsekar
- ANZURA Conference Tasmania 2016
- Seeding The Urantia Book – David Linthicum
- Study Group Committee in the Making – Gaétan G. Charland
- Farewell Brain Mtambo, Malawi – Rick Lyon
- Farewell Herrol Dallaire, Quebec – Gaetan Charland and Line St-Pierre
- Urantia University Institute
- International Service Board at Work – 4th Quarter 2015
- Upcoming Events
¶ President’s Message March 2016
Chris Wood
I am a conference fanatic. One of my first experiences with the Urantia community was piling into a car with four other young Urantia Book students and driving from Chicago to Vancouver, Canada for a conference. Over the years, these UBYouth Tours took us from Colorado to New York to Silver Springs to Kansas City to Philadelphia and Seattle and back again to Chicago over and over. We pleaded with the social organizations to schedule more conferences closer together so we could string them together for a summer. Along the way I met great friends, my future wife, hundreds of Urantia Book students, saw nearly every corner of North America.
¶ Urantia Association’s Social Media
Social Media Committee
The Social Media Committee of Urantia Association International is pleased to announce the launching of the Association’s first Public Facebook Group. This differs from the existing Facebook Page of the Association in that it provides a platform for discussions and online study between Urantia Book students and anyone interested from the public at large. Posts can be viewed by the public, but if anyone wishes to join the discussions they will need to click on the “Join” tab and their request is vetted before they are accepted as a member of the group.
The Mission Statement for this Public Group states: As Urantia Association International’s mission is to foster the study of The Urantia Book and to disseminate its teachings, our purpose as faith sons of our Heavenly Father is to keep The Urantia Book on the top shelf of human thought by engaging in discussion on the uplifting truths contained in the book. The aim of this site is for participants to be exposed to the truths contained in The Urantia Book by providing an arena for the free expression of philosophic ideas concerning the Fifth Epochal Revelation to our planet. Discussions here are to be true to the spirit of Jesus as we share our highest truths in an effort to uplift and encourage one another in our study of the book.
¶ German-speaking Urantia Book Readers’ Meeting
Alexander H
Dear Urantia Community,
I want to report to you about the meeting of the German-speaking Urantia Book readers in Frankfurt, Germany last November 6-8. It was held, as usual, at Hotel Monopol, right in the city’s center. We had a great conference. It turned out to be a very effective study session over those three days.
The main topic was: “What happens after death?” according to The Urantia Book of course. We studied Papers 47, 49.6, 55.2, 110.6-7, 112.3-7 and 113.6-7. We read together and discussed things in detail. I think I speak for everyone who attended when I say we are all smarter and wiser now – because we learn best when studying with one another. It felt good to see how well we interacted. Big thanks to organizer Christian Ruch for his diligence and hard work.
¶ Winter Conference in Finland
Raimo Ala-Hynnila
Our winter conference was held 22-24 of January 2016 in the central part of Finland on the shores of Lake Paijanne. There were about 35 Finnish participants and one foreign visitor; Antonio Schefer, from the Netherlands. Two Urantia-Book readers from Cameroon wanted to participate as well, but they did not get the visa in time. The theme was The Journey of Mortals on Urantia, the Mansion worlds and Through Spheres Toward the Isle of Paradise.
Luckily the weather was much better during the weekend compared to the earlier three weeks when the temperature was minus 25-30 degrees Celsius.
¶ Cameroon Study Group
Paul Tsekar
Greetings from all of us here in Cameroon! I am proud to present to you our new Study Group The Cameroon Urantia Book Study Group Yaounde. We were unable to come together as a group since 2010 but now we thank Jesus that our prayers have been answered and our problems have been solved.
Thanks also goes to Rick Lyon who personally sent us some copies of The Urantia Book and those of you brothers and sisters who together sent 10 copies of The Urantia Book to us.
If we are able to come together as many as you can see in our group photograph, it is thanks to your efforts. I placed some of those books in a local church here in Yaounde and the Pastor of the Church was very interested. He introduced the book to his deacons and elders and now a room and a regular day has been set apart for the study of The Urantia Book on the church premises, thereby solving our chronic problem of finding a place to hold our studies.
I shall send you more details of our new group from time to time.
Peace and Love,
Paul Tsekar
Cameroon Group Leader
¶ ANZURA Conference Tasmania 2016
¶ Equipped to be Teachers of the Religion of Jesus – Are You Willing? Are You Ready?
16-19 September, 2016
Maryknoll Retreat and Conference Centre15 Home Ave
Blackmans Bay, Tasmania
Australia
Urantia is poised to experience a spiritual revolution, the likes of which has never been witnessed before on this planet:
Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment. [UB 195:9.2]
It has now been more than seventy five years since a Midwayer Commission declared that message to our troubled world! Where and how do we, as readers and students of The Urantia Book, fit into this planetary scenario of social, moral, and spiritual reformation? Consider the following:
The religion of Jesus is the most powerful unifying influence the world has ever known. [UB 194:3.17]
Could it be that this religion of Jesus is the fuse that ignites and the driving force behind this global renaissance? And if so, just how does this take place….who are the key players….and just what is the divine plan for this unprecedented spiritual renewal?
These intriguing questions and many more are to be considered and answered at ANZURA’s forthcoming national conference, to be held in Hobart, Tasmania from the 16th to the 19th September 2016. It was almost six years ago that Hobart hosted its inaugural national conference and once again you are warmly invited to gather with us at the Maryknoll Retreat Centre overlooking the picturesque Blackmans Bay, just fifteen minutes south of the city centre.
¶ Seeding The Urantia Book
David Linthicum
I’m sure we all recall our first experience with attempts to share the book with family and friends. If your experience was anything like mine, you might have been left with a feeling of profound disappointment and perhaps even surprise that not everyone was as enthusiastic about the book as you were. Why wouldn’t they see the light and embrace this marvellous book? Why am I unable to convince people that this is the best book ever written?
The Publication Mandate advises us that the Revelation is intended for a future generation when the hearts and minds of mankind will be ripe for the book and its wonderful message; that the book was given to us in advance of this age to prepare teachers and leaders.
When I was elected as Urantia Association International’s Dissemination Committee Chairman last year one of the first things I did was review our Charter and Bylaws for guidance on the role of this committee. Basically, it is the function of the committee to “…coordinate the UAI international efforts to disseminate the teachings of The Urantia Book and to provide information about The Urantia Book and UAI to people who are not familiar therewith.”
With the Publication Mandate in mind and the Association’s governing documents as a guide it seems to me that one way to prepare for the age to come is to make the book available to as many people as possible, to ensure the book is distributed to every continent on the planet. The next question was, “OK, how does one go about it?”
¶ Study Group Committee in the Making
Gaétan G. Charland
During the last two months, calls were made to many different Urantia Associations across the world to recruit volunteers to join the Urantia International Study group Committee. We had good results; four members of different Associations have come forth and offered their help to further the mission of this committee. Presently the committee can start addressing its task by first revising its strategic plan.
Of those volunteers, two are from New Zealand, one from Australia, one from Colombia, one from the United States, and me from Canada. The role of this committee in the coming years will be to coordinate certain activities among the various Urantia Associations around the world in fostering the creation of more study groups, while making available to them study aids, documents and guides to help them improve the quality of the teaching and learning experience within them.
¶ Farewell Brain Mtambo, Malawi
Rick Lyon
We have received word from Grevet Moyo that one of our leaders of the Urantia revelation, Brian Mtambo of Mwanza, Malawi, has graduated. He died on the night of 4th February 2016 after spending two weeks in hospital.
Brian was the Vice President of the Urantia Association of Malawi and has been a student of The Urantia Book since 2006. Our friend was a teacher, organizer, and had strong personal relationship skills.
Brian was one of the hard working members of our Association in Malawi. He helped the group there by establishing study groups and in 2012 he attended Urantia Association International’s Study Group Symposium in Chicago, USA. During this event he visited Urantia Foundation. Last year, Brian, Grevet, and others, distributed The Urantia Book in various parts of Malawi.
We will miss him and his services. May God be with him and our spiritual friends welcome him to the mansion worlds.
Rick Lyon
¶ Farewell Herrol Dallaire, Quebec
Gaetan Charland and Line St-Pierre
The passing of a dedicated servant…
A few years ago, as part of an outreach initiative to meet Urantia Book readers in the far regions of the province of Quebec where I live, a group of board members of our local association, while visiting one of those regions, met this reader, Herrol Dallaire whom on our first meeting offered his help as a translator.
My wife Line, who was doing a lot of translation work for our association, was delighted by this offer. A new friendship started to grow and the more we worked with Herrol, the more we discovered how generous and forthcoming he was with his time. He even did a lot more than we asked him to do. For example, one day after he read the book “Heaven is Not the Last Stop” written by Sheila Keene-Lund, he offered to translate it into French, and soon enough the translation was done.
¶ Urantia University Institute
A_ctualizing personal potentials of mind, matter and spirit through enlightened study, service and experience._
Urantia University is a global center of study and service dedicated to training teachers and farseeing leaders and fostering a spiritual community with cosmic ideals based on truths in _The Urantia B_ook.
Part of a long-range plan to develop a university grounded in cosmic wisdom, ideals and aspiration, Urantia University Institute (UUI) was set up to provide diverse learning paths for students in an online educational environment in which to explore, discern, and actualize the truths and knowledge found in The Urantia Book.
¶ International Service Board at Work – 4th Quarter 2015
¶ Study Group Committee – Gaetan Charland, Chair
The Study group Committee began the development of a strategic plan and the search for committee members continues with invitations sent to different leaders throughout the Association. An email message was sent out to all of the readers in the Association’s database inviting them to register their study group in the Study Group Directory. As a result, 20 new groups were registered. Two articles were written for Tidings to promote study groups. Gaetan attended the new online study group created by Antonio Schefer and facilitated by Jeffrey Wattles to gather information in order to promote study group as a way to train leaders and teachers. Gaetan offered to do a presentation or workshop to promote study groups at this year’s conferences in the United States and Budapest.
¶ Dissemination Committee – David Linthicum, Chair
A new member from Malawi was added to the committee. The focus continues on building book distribution channels in Malawi, Ukraine, Zambia and Philippines. David participated in planning for the Parliament of the World’s Religions and attended the event. He is also on the planning committee for this year’s joint conference in the United States.
¶ Upcoming Events
Check out Urantia Association International’s Events Calendar at http://urantia-association.org/events-list. Upcoming events can be viewed in a List or Calendar view.
Urantia Book reader events provide opportunities for students to gain a deeper understanding of the ideas and concepts presented in The Urantia Book and help to facilitate a personal commitment to the ideals of spiritual living. We hope you can make it to some of these events and experience the joys of meeting and studying with fellow readers.
If you’re planning a Urantia Book reader event in your region and would like help in promoting it, please send us your information and we’ll consider it for our Events Calendar.