The University Campus Urantia Book Club How to Establish a Urantia Book Club at a University

As you may have already read in the University of Colorado history link the main requirements for establishing a successful campus Urantia Book Club are patience, persistence, and dedication.    The physical requirements for the Urantia Book Club booth are modest and can be provided by contacting Don Green through the contacts link.    The university/college bureaucratic requirements are also relatively simple once one knows who to contact and has gone through the process before. Don Green can also provide the contacts for authorization for an on-campus organization.    Once authorization has been given it's necessary for someone(s) to be responsible to go to the university, set up the booth, remain with the booth for the established amount of time, and take down the booth when finished. Setting up the booth should be a one or two times per week event. Time goes by faster and more pleasantly if more than one person handles the booth — with a friend booth time is good visiting time. The amount of time that the booth is on display should be from 2 to 3 hours, usually through lunch time.    By becoming an established campus club it is possible to have an on-campus office where booth materials may be stored between set up days, saving the person responsible from carting the materials back and forth between the university and home.     One of the most important issues anyone considering doing campus outreach is what's the real motive for wanting to do something like this? Most of the people who come to the university to help— with a few exceptions— do it a few times and then decide they just don’t have the time or the inclination to just sit there. And believe me, most of the time that’s just what you’re doing— sitting and watching the kids pass.  It may appear they don't even glance in your direction, and they don't ask as much as a single question. You know, I think most of us— when we start doing outreach like this— tend to think of it as a numbers thing. “How many people have I had a meaningful dialogue with or at least connected with today?” If the answer is, “None,” then the natural tendency is to think I must be doing something wrong— or perhaps they just don’t like my looks— or I need to be more aggressive. Wrong! What's needed is to look very hard at just what's being attempted. After many years of experimenting with all kinds of methods, there's one clear conclusion: It’s not about us, whether we feel we’re being accepted, or whether we’re doing a good enough job. It’s about those students who are passing by.     Keep in mind, every time someone walks by the booth, whether it appears so or not, that person has given the display a brief glance, and they may have even stared at it. In any event, from that point on, they will remember, on some level, that there is such a thing as The Urantia Book. In other words, The Urantia Book is no longer something they’ve never laid eyes on. Now the Adjusters and the angels can do their work to underline the revelation; now the person of their supervision can recognize it. It may not have church endorsement, but they’ve seen it somewhere, and that gives it a degree of authority and familiarity. That in my mind makes all the hours I’ve spent sitting at the university worthwhile. If you’re looking for, “Oh, thank you, sir, for turning me on to this revelation,” you may have a long wait.     Believe me, we’ve learned that the passive approach is the best. Now I don’t even sit at the booth, but at another table near by. Students are more likely to stop and look it over when there is no one sitting behind the table ready to leap. If I see that someone is looking it over with interest then I might approach with, “Feel free to take some of the literature.” The approach is very relaxed. “Any questions just ask.” And sometimes they do.     There are always those encounters that make your heart leap: When some kid really wants to talk and asks all kinds of questions. The more you become a recognized fixture on campus, you’ll find that more and more kids will stop and pick up a brochure or one of the magazines we give out. I think it’s important that when you do set up a booth or table, you try to make it at the same time and day. That gives the impression of stability and safety. And you are easy to find another day.     On the CU campus if you have what’s called an On-Campus-Club status, you are entitled to use almost any of the university buildings and services at no charge. So there's a lot of room for new approaches to disseminating the teachings of The Urantia Book. This would include interfacing with many of the other religious clubs, utilizing the campus radio station by producing programs and ads, hosting study groups with guest speakers, staging events, and potentially lots of other activities. We've posted short quotes from The Urantia Book on bulletin boards around campus with our name The Urantia Book Club in small print down in the corner. Like many of the clubs on campus, The Urantia Book Club has its own website for students to browse which can be linked to from the university website. The internet will also make it possible to dialogue with anyone who wants more information on how to set up their own Urantia Book Club at colleges and universities across the country.     Over the years, The Urantia Book Club has evolved to where it is today, and we believe the best is yet to come. We’ve had a lot of help along the way and learned how to operate and maintain an on-campus organization. It’s time to take it to other colleges and universities. We know the educated young people— not only of this country but of the world— are the future of this fabulous revelation. Breakdown of prices for Book Club materials...