Hi Rod,

You replied to my e-mail address, but I would rather more people are
"in on it" than fewer and I trust you would too. I'll copy this to
UB-SGC@yahoogroups.com , too, and get more readers in on it. (With two
e-mail groups in the addresses, note that if you reply to a group you
aren't subscribed to, you'll probably get a bounce message. Subscribe
to UB-SGC@yahoogroups.com is below.)

Hi All:

Here's a recap on the lengthy sets of quotes below: This converstion
started from the Fellowship announcing some changes to its central
hierarchy. There were some comments that the whole thing was perhaps
"overorganized" and yet basic functions aren't working.

That's where it came to my attention. I wrote a long tome (as usual)
about how we would be better off being less formally organized and
that the splintered organizations we have are dysfunctional and unable
to attract and hold active members and are, well, dying.

(I'll add, as I have just re-read it, it seems the revelators wanted
us to have "that organization which is the least, yet capable of
preventing competing organizations from forming" (around the Urantia
Book). Does that look anything like what we have now? Why do e have
more than one?)

Rod replied and mentioned a web page he created, envisioning a much
simpler organization, the "Community of Readers"... and here we are
now...

===

Very nice web page Rod! ( http://www.ubcor.org/   (Urantia Book
Community Of Readers) )

It is exciting to think we seem to be on pretty much "on the same
page" in other ways as well.

I like the word "community" in the name. Beats "society",
"association" etc IMHO. I have a feeling it'll get shortened to
something like "Urantia Community" or "reader community", whatever it
officially is.

The "Study Group Council" I started could as easily be "Urantia
Community Council". The important thing is for readers everywhere to
be in communication in some semi-structured way, as you say more than
Facebook, and without allowing particular individuals to waste
everyones' time with irrelevent, offensive or simply excessively
numerous postings.

Of course I agree, once we have an organization capable of hosting it,
the web site and communication platform should be "owned" by the
group, not by one person.

[Does anybody have comments, eg, on name(s)?]

===

Before I continue, UB-SGC is the only "non-aligned" reader
communication platfom at the moment. No doubt we'll want to change the
venue at some point, but for now everyone reading this is welcome to
subscribe to it. Send any message to:

  UB-SGC-subscribe@yhoogroups.com  -  and then follow the directions to confirm.

Your whereabouts would be nice to have, and if you're in a study
group, we'd love to know!

===

It looks like you agree there's no need to "compete" with present
orgnizations. The future things I wrote of are "predictions", trends.
These trends have been running a long time, apparently with no one
having a will to change them being able to make any headway. What I
see from that is that the "Community of Readers", if it is basically
organized so as to be functional, may eventually be what's left
standing to inherit the pieces.

I'm thinking that to join, one goes to the UBCOR web page and fills
out a short application form:

Name ____ ____ ____
Phone number ___ ___ ____ (If your e-mails bounce, we will call before
de-listing you.)
 and or e-mail address _______@_______.___ (No e-mail __)

Location:

__________________
__________________ (Street/Postal Address Optional)

City ______________ and or County/Area ____________

State/Province ____________
Country ___________
Zip/Postal Code ________ N/A __

And a check box to qualify the applicant for membership:

 I have read The Urantia Book __

 Years reading it ____ (optional)

(Alternative qualifying statement:
 I have read and completely understand the entire Urantia Book __.

 Unfortunately the membership would then consist of arrogant liars
 and people who don't read very carefully, what they're checking off.
)

Should we have a box on the page saying how many members there are?

[Do we have anywhere or someone with the epertise for creating this
web page, with the requisite database behind it?]

[Anyone have expertise to set up a communication list, perhaps
something like the Fellowship's board that was used for discussing
reunification?]

Regards,
Craig

=====

On 2/18/18, Rod <rodhol@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Re: http://www.ubcor.org/   (Urantia Book Community Of Readers)
>
> I created this site several years ago, anticipating that a worldwide UB
> readers network would be of interest to those who prefer less formal
> organization but more organization than a Facebook group, for example.
> UBCOR would not be a replacement for existing organizations but a social
> networking/coordination group for various UB dissemination interests.
> Organization should be minimal (at least relative to the group's
> purpose) with increasing formality only as necessary. When active, the
> site should probably be owned and managed by a small group rather than
> individual.
>
> Rod
>
>
> On 2/18/2018 2:52 PM, Craig Carmichael wrote:
>> Hi Tony, et al,
>>
>> Thank you for posting that conversation to
>> societyofficers@urantiabook.simplelists.com . (Somehow I never got
>> subscribed to socadmin.)
>>
>> It is, I presume, well known that the revelators were quite
>> disappointed by the organizational structure proposed for the Urantia
>> readership, the Foundation and Brotherhood... "Well, if that's the
>> best you can do. It carries within itself the seeds of its own
>> emmendation." (as best I remember it from Gordon Bellamy from ~1983,
>> who got it from Christie when he visited 533 Diversey Parkway in
>> Chicago some time before that. But I think I've seen it in writing
>> somewhere, too.) At least it was well known in the beginning. It has
>> been to me mind boggling to see the tenacity with which this
>> elaborate, autocratic (and may I say transparently dysfunctional) and
>> fundamentally dual instead of a unified structure has been held onto,
>> fundamentally unchanged, by whoever has come to head it - them - in
>> the full knowledge that its whole form has been "frowned upon" by the
>> very
>> beings who gave us the UB. Membership in the Fellowship has little
>> meaning, and the elaborate requirements to join have locked most
>> readers out. One doesn't "join" the Foundation at all. (I haven't
>> looked into the IUA. I have the impression it isn't in any fundamental
>> way better.) What is there then for the average UB reader to "join"
>> and be a meaningful part of?
>>
>> This latest news still offers nothing of substance to the readership
>> or to Fellowship members. We still don't get to elect or otherwise
>> choose those who are supposed to be leading the movement.
>>
>> I long ago (1998) asked that study groups be represented as such in
>> the Fellowship. I pointed out that they are the real organized
>> families of the readership, and that "keeping them independent and
>> apolitical" in reality meant locking them out of the decision making
>> process. (I still have a paper copy of this plan, recently unearthed.)
>> That's what the French Revolution was about - most of the populous
>> having no say, which led to leadership and its directions being out of
>> touch with the nation's needs and self serving.
>>
>> I e-mailed about it back then with Paula Thompson - a number of
>> exchanges. She much later had no recollection of it, which shows how
>> little impact the idea had. Admittedly communication wasn't as good
>> back then, and I don't suppose the plan ever made it through to any
>> agenda. And when Bud Kagan's motions for change including electing the
>> Fellowship president by a vote of all members werre carried by the TDA
>> (1999 IIRC) but utterly ignored by the "leadership" I became convinced
>> that no useful action of reorganization would ever be forthcoming. The
>> Fellowship executive were too busy with their own pet projects (eg,
>> having the copyright revoked) to be interested in what concerned
>> readers or their members with ideas had to say. "Membership" seemed to
>> be just a lip service concept which was really pretty much irrelevent
>> to those at the center except as a justification for their assumptions
>> of authority.
>>
>> In 2003 I played with ideas for organizing the study groups by and for
>> themselves using the new medium of the internet and e-mail discussion
>> lists. After a false start or two, near the end of 2004 I created an
>> e-mail discussion list, the "Study Group Council",
>> UB-SGC@yahoogroups.com . With the last printed paper study group
>> directory of some years previous, I phoned and invited contacts from
>> about 50 groups to subscribe. (This was somewhat weighted towards PNW
>> region groups.) I thought it would spread from there to include every
>> study
>> group that wanted to participate. But to date no one from any
>> organization has done the UB study groups or readers the courtesy of
>> even mentioning, anywhere or any time, that this exciting new
>> communication vehicle between study groups exists. With no publicity
>> membership has been pretty much static. Admittedly I didn't press the
>> issue. The idea was and is to unite, not to divide by pushing things
>> on the unwilling.
>>
>> Also "YahooGroups" and e-mail lists in general have fallen out of
>> favor as communications vehicles and now no one wants to join because
>> of that. (And originally, if someone said "yes", I just added their
>> e-mail to the subscriptions. Later that was changed by YahooGroups. I
>> can only "invite" and they now have to go off and subscribe
>> themselves. Then after they say "yes, sounds good", people would
>> forget about it or otherwise didn't like Yahoo's subscription
>> procedure or something and didn't subscribe.) I liked the Fellowship's
>> discussion forum used in discussing the prospect of uniting the three
>> organizations. That could be a great replacement!
>>
>> In 2005 I tested the "SGC" as an organizing vehicle by using it to
>> organize a "Urantia Readers' Campout" on Vancouver Island. This event
>> was small but successful. People volunteered to do workshops and
>> readers, some of whom I had never met, came from BC, WA, OR, and even
>> MB. It was so easy to do when everyone was in communication! So the
>> concept has been proven to work as an organizational form. Gatherings
>> and conferences can be organized by readers even without a central
>> body somewhere. Since then it hasn't been a busy list but there have
>> been interesting posts and conversations. And Debbie Bartman has kept
>> the "Vancouver Island Urantia Friends Campouts" going every 2nd year
>> since!
>>
>> Tom Choquette told me in 1995 that the Foundation and
>> Brotherhood/Fellowship were in default of their mandates. I knew there
>> was dissatisfaction but at the time that seemed to me like an extreme
>> view. Apparently it was so. So now we have come to the point of the
>> failure to even, at the very least, unify the organizations even with
>> a given deadline, August 21st 2017, as impetus. It was predicted long
>> in advance that reunification efforts would fail, but there has been
>> every chance for decades and this one last chance. Some time after
>> that date Machiventa said that celestial support and sanction for
>> these organizations had been withdrawn. While there is still much good
>> and good work being done by people within them, no one will be moved
>> by their angels to participate in the support, upkeep and growth of
>> these organizations as such.
>>
>> So we now have the Urantia Movement and the whole revelation with
>> three dead-end organizations.  A great and simple answer, already
>> proven to work, is right in front of us: a simple and effective Study
>> Group Society with everyone in communication together via the
>> internet.
>>
>> What is its "legislative branch"? It is free discussion and consensus
>> or voting by everyone.
>>
>> Who are its executives? Whoever we, all together, directly elect. And
>> they are accountable to report everything of interest to everyone
>> directly via the 'list' (or whatever group communication method is
>> chosen).
>>
>> Who publishes the book and other materials? OUR one publishing
>> department, with an elected head or one appointed by those we elect*.
>>
>> This will be unifying. Every reader can be a member and play a part
>> unless they are disinterested or spiteful (we all sometimes resent
>> change, even when the new is better than the old). If we have a
>> living, breathing, growing, unified and inclusive reader organization
>> with at least hundreds if not thousands of real live UB reader
>> members, and the present organizations are seen to be decaying, "going
>> nowhere", I don't think we should assume members of the Foundation
>> won't transition it to being the UB readership's publishing
>> department, or that Fellowship and IUA people won't migrate various
>> functions and projects to prevent creating transitional gaps and loss
>> of resources to the readership and for the revelation, and that
>> present executives wouldn't stand for election or otherwise continue
>> to serve within the new framework.
>>
>> =====
>>
>> Some Notes:
>>
>> *We shouldn't make a detailed constitution or overorganize in advance.
>> Many things should be determined by experience and need. One can
>> foresee for example that someday there will probably be too many study
>> groups/members to have all together on one list. But studying and
>> planning for that development would be premature and counterproductive
>> at this time. Preplanning and setting constitutions in stone for
>> today's conditions, or for a potential future that may not develop as
>> expected, has been one of the problems with many organizations - and
>> civilizations. Flexibility to adapt to circumstances is vital to
>> social sustainability.
>>
>> I'll post the SGC's guidelines later. This post is long enough
>> already! One needed change: In my original plan of permitting only
>> contact people for active study groups on the list, individual readers
>> where there is no study group around couldn't be accommodated. I'm
>> sure I turned way some good talent. Now I am in that position myself
>> since I moved to Haida Gwaii. So I would let individuals join and
>> represent a geographic area where there is no study group.
>>
>> Someone suggested using the AA organization as a guide or template. AA
>> too is composed of autonomous local groups and certainly has a simple,
>> humble, spiritually guided organizational setup -- it puts our present
>> UB organizations to shame!
>>
>> Craig Carmichael
>> 250 532 8574 (cell)
>> February 18th 2018
>> Haida Gwaii (AKA Queen Charlotte Islands), BC, Canada ("The edge of the
>> world")
>>
>>
>> On 2/15/18, Anthony Finstad <finstad.anthony@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hi Rod,
>>>
>>> I don’t believe it is required.
>>>
>>> Tony
>>>
>>>> On Feb 15, 2018, at 12:20 PM, Rod <rodhol@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Long past 1955, it's bewildering to think that such organizational
>>>> formality, complexity, and busyness
>>>> is required to promote a revelation given freely to 606, with English
>>>> text now in the public domain!
>>>>
>>>> Rod
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 2/15/2018 8:27 AM, Cece Forrester wrote:
>>>>> Dear Tony and others:
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't wish to be confrontational, but I think this is the time to be
>>>>> frank about how this news strikes me as a local Society officer and
>>>>> the concerns it relates to.
>>>>>
>>>>> What I'm wondering is: Why is this apparently the first time the
>>>>> Societies have been informed that this was happening? Come to think of
>>>>> it, I don't recall seeing any reports to the membership from the
>>>>> General
>>>>> Council or Executive Committee, following Council meetings, in a very
>>>>> long time. Also, didn't we used to get copies of the roster of General
>>>>> Council members and the permanent committees at least once a year via
>>>>> SocAdmin? Or if we didn't, we should.
>>>>>
>>>>> If this change results in the General Council keeping Societies more
>>>>> in
>>>>> the loop about their organization's business, if there will be regular
>>>>> communication between the Societies and the Council, and not just at
>>>>> TDA
>>>>> time, I might conclude it's a good thing. Will there be a Service Team
>>>>> responsible for that? (Merely observing the outworkings of whatever
>>>>> the
>>>>> Council decides, as individuals receiving newsletters and whatever,
>>>>> doesn't really constitute keeping Societies in the loop about
>>>>> business,
>>>>> and there's no avenue for dialogue there.) But if the disconnect
>>>>> widens,
>>>>> I will be as concerned for the future of the organization and doubtful
>>>>> of
>>>>> my ability to support it, as I was around 2000 when the Societies were
>>>>> being shut out and treated as irrelevant, largely because they
>>>>> differed
>>>>> from the national leadership in their attitude toward the split and
>>>>> reconciliation. (But eventually we were listened to.) Now the issue
>>>>> is:
>>>>> Will the forthcoming ambitious programs have any connection to the
>>>>> Societies as the grass roots of the organization, or will the
>>>>> local/regional level be bypassed when it should be nurtured and
>>>>> invited
>>>>> to give input and be involved in activities? Maybe the Council is
>>>>> thinking about us, but if so, it would be good to hear from the
>>>>> Council about that.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cece Forrester
>>>>> Secretary
>>>>> First Society
>>>>> Chicago
>>>>>
>>>>> P.S. The e-mail address link given on this Fellowship web page
>>>>> http://www.urantiabook.org/fellowship-public/regional-societies.htm
>>>>> <http://www.urantiabook.org/fellowship-public/regional-societies.htm>
>>>>> to contact First Society is still wrong. I bet it's been at least 3 years
>>>>> since I requested it be fixed. (Also we now have a website.) Who are
>>>>> we
>>>>> supposed to tell about stuff like that to get it added? If someone
>>>>> comes
>>>>> up with a good answer and a new protocol for the future, that will be
>>>>> a
>>>>> key piece in addressing the issues I cited. And if the links on the
>>>>> page
>>>>> would all be verified with the Societies and updated, that would be
>>>>> even
>>>>> better. I know it isn't the Council that runs the website directly, but
>>>>> someone should be overseeing this function and making sure it serves
>>>>> the
>>>>> organization's needs. It's pretty basic that someone coming to the
>>>>> website and looking for their nearest Society should be able to
>>>>> contact it.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/14/2018 4:34 PM, Anthony Finstad wrote:
>>>>>> Friends,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I wanted to check our Society Officers list to make sure I’m still
>>>>>> live!
>>>>>>   We’re certain to be more active with communications as this summer
>>>>>> approaches.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In doing this personal test I’ll attach the letter just sent out today
>>>>>> to all Fellowship members (so you should have received this already)
>>>>>> that addresses recent organizational changes that go into effect this
>>>>>> summer and will have TDA implications.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Several of us officers are also GC members, so we can talk about it
>>>>>> here if you have any questions.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Tony Finstad
>>>>>> VP : Northern Light Society of Alaska
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ~~~~~~~~~
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> February 14, 2018
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Announcing A Recent Organizational Change in the General Council of
>>>>>> The Urantia Book Fellowship
>>>>>>
>>>>>> At its summer 2017 meeting in Denver, the General Council passed an
>>>>>> amendment to the Constitution of The Urantia Book Fellowship which
>>>>>> adds a new role to the General Council and modifies the composition of
>>>>>> the Executive Committee. At the January 2018 General Council meeting,
>>>>>> a few
>>>>>> additional adjustments were made. All of these changes go into effect
>>>>>> at the Triennial General Council meeting in July 2018.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Before the Change - A Short Organizational Review
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you are familiar with the organization of the Fellowship General
>>>>>> Council, you can skip to the next section.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The General Council consists of thirty-six (36) Councilors elected to
>>>>>> nine (9) year terms, with twelve (12) being elected each three (3)
>>>>>> years
>>>>>> at the Triennial Delegate Assembly (TDA). The General Council is
>>>>>> required to meet once a year, but has for some years met twice a
>>>>>> year.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The General Council elects, from among its members, the five
>>>>>> officers,
>>>>>> President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Secretary
>>>>>> General.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There are nine permanent committees referred to in our Constitution
>>>>>> as
>>>>>> Departmental Committees. These are Judicial, Membership, Interfaith,
>>>>>> Outreach, International Fellowship, Education, Publications, Finance,
>>>>>> and Youth and Young Adult. The chairs of these committees are elected
>>>>>> by the General Council from among its membership.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The fourteen (14) member Executive Committee (EC) consists of the
>>>>>> five
>>>>>> officers and the chairs of the nine Departmental Committees. The EC
>>>>>> is
>>>>>> required to meet four times a year. It does meet face-to-face four
>>>>>> times
>>>>>> a year, but for the last six years or so has also had conference or
>>>>>> video-conference calls every two to four weeks. As stated in the
>>>>>> Constitution:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Executive Committee shall be vested with the power to actively
>>>>>> manage all the affairs of THE URANTIA BOOK FELLOWSHIP in accordance
>>>>>> with
>>>>>> this Constitution and pursuant to the By-laws of THE URANTIA BOOK
>>>>>> FELLOWSHIP.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Changes
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The nine permanent and some of the other committees of the General
>>>>>> Council will be grouped into three Service Teams.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Worldwide Service Team: Outreach, International, Interfaith,
>>>>>> Youth and Young Adult
>>>>>> The Fellowship Service Team: Membership, Education, Finance, Judicial
>>>>>> The Media and Communication Service Team: Publications, IT, Website
>>>>>> The chairs of the Service Teams will be elected by the General
>>>>>> Council,
>>>>>> from among its members. They serve staggered three-year terms, and
>>>>>> will
>>>>>> be members of the Executive Committee. Candidates for Service Team
>>>>>> chairs must have served at least two years as an officer of the
>>>>>> Fellowship or chair of a Departmental Committee. The Chairs of the
>>>>>> nine
>>>>>> permanent committees will no longer be members of the Executive
>>>>>> Committee. The five officers and three Service Team chairs will
>>>>>> comprise an eight-member Executive Committee.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Motivation
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A friend recently said “Things work better when they work together on
>>>>>> purpose.” We want to do a better job at ‘working together on purpose’
>>>>>> specifically with respect to organization-wide programs. The
>>>>>> motivation
>>>>>> is to enable the design and management of programs that are more
>>>>>> ambitious and have interdependent activities that span Fellowship
>>>>>> committees and other working groups. Expressed another way, it is to
>>>>>> enable the Fellowship to develop and execute organization-wide
>>>>>> strategic initiatives.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Reasoning
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A smaller Executive Committee, and one whose members are not also
>>>>>> leading permanent Departmental Committees, will be able to focus on
>>>>>> overall Fellowship strategy, defining and administering programs that
>>>>>> have wider scope than any one of the standing committees.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Service Team chairs will participate in defining Fellowship-wide
>>>>>> programs on the EC, and will be responsible for ensuring that the
>>>>>> committees on their Service Team plan and complete the parts of a
>>>>>> strategic program that are within their charters.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A Call to Service
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We invite you, as members of The Urantia Book Fellowship, to consider
>>>>>> bringing your talents and good judgment to the General Council. These
>>>>>> changes free up the chairs of the nine Departmental Committees from
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> time and expense of mandatory quarterly Executive Committee meetings,
>>>>>> not to mention the twenty or so video meetings every year. If you’re
>>>>>> passionate about serving this great revelation, perhaps as a
>>>>>> committee
>>>>>> chair, as part of a team that is streamlining its structure to be of
>>>>>> better service to our members and our planet, please consider running
>>>>>> for the Council at this summer’s TDA.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you have questions, please email them to ubf.judicial@gmail.com
>>>>>>

>>>>> ________________________________________________________