UBIS…Celebrating 10 Years of Dedicated Service to the Urantia Book Community

   

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by Georges Michelson-Dupont, Vice President of Urantia Foundation, Recloses, France

With the following words of congratulations, The Expanded Board of Urantia Foundation would like to express its profound and sincere gratitude to Dorothy Elder, Director of UBIS, and to her dedicated team for their service to the Revelation.  Under Dorothy’s wise leadership, UBIS is celebrating its 10th anniversary.  What an accomplishment!

Besides the study group, UBIS is the first organized means for educating and training teachers and readers in the history of the Revelation.  I believe that this is part of the plan for a wise and benign dissemination of the teachings that the revelators want to see developing worldwide.

By clicking on the following link, the reader will familiarize him/herself with the goals, purposes and pedagogies of the school:  http://www.urantia.org/en/education/urantia-book-internet-school-ubis#Introduction

UBIS provides readers worldwide access to a friendly-to-use, free of charge service that delivers courses and training in four languages.

The great number of acknowledgment letters received is the best recognition of the quality and usefulness of this service.  All it takes is an internet connection and the course or training are at hand regardless of your location on the planet, what time it is in your country or how much time you have. The flexibility of the format is the key. This is particularly true for isolated individuals who can discover new readers, enjoy friendly discussions and benefit from sharing ideas and experiences with others.

UBIS is also a perfect place to train efficient and experienced teachers and leaders.  Becoming a teacher/facilitator for UBIS will give firsthand experience for developing teaching skills, preparing creative courses, introducing thought-provoking questions, studying topics, managing classes, inspiring interest and fostering spiritual dynamics.

“The experience of dynamic religious living transforms the mediocre individual into a personality of idealistic power. Religion ministers to the progress of all through fostering the progress of each individual, and the progress of each is augmented through the achievement of all. Spiritual growth is mutually stimulated by intimate association with other religionists.” (Paper 100)

A loving, efficient teacher is not one who gives a ready-made answer to all questions. When a man is searching forappropriate answer to his spiritual needs, his relationship with God is the path. The teacher can help dig the bed of the spiritual river, but the river must flow from God to man.  This experience is personal and individual, and it constitutes real religion.

Education is everything in this world and future ones. Up to Paradise the progress of our entire career is based on progressive education and good-will. The last is personal and depends only upon the living spiritual relationship with our Thought Adjuster, but progressive education is a loving and intelligent service rendered by an experienced brother to one less so. On Urantia, devastated by egoism and poverty, it is crucial to expose the teachings of The Urantia Book to the different nations and cultures of the world in order to expand cosmic consciousness, enhance spiritual perception and present a broader perspective for the lives of individuals.

Therefore, in 1998, Urantia Foundation launched the idea of UBIS.  Since then, more than 1100 individuals have benefited from its service, and UBIS has offered 81 English courses. Courses in Finnish are also presented;in French and Spanish too, as teachers are available. Thanks to the format, the success of UBIS is expanding around the world.  The need for volunteer teachers and funds is also growing. In order to gently and efficiently accommodate this foreseeable expansion, UBIS is making improvements to the website and exploring new curriculum.

We encourage the reader to link to http://www.urantia.org/en/education/course-schedule-and-registration-information and see the program of UBIS for the next semester.

Should you have any questions or interest, please feel free to contact Dorothy Elder delder03@sprynet.com