The First "Virtual" Society

By Michael Painter, President

The Orvonton Urantia Society is named after the seventh superuniverse of Orvonton. Our founding date is January 24, 1961.

Our Society adds members by recruiting readers who attend one of various study groups hosted by members of our Society. There are now more than 30 members in our Society.

One of the unique features of Orvonton is that while it started in Chicago, it has not limited membership to the Chicago area. Over its history, Orvonton Society has had satellite study groups and members in a variety of areas including North Carolina, Louisiana, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and even Oaxaca, Mexico. In a sense, Orvonton has been the first “virtual” Society by connecting people in various geographical areas. 

In addition to sponsoring study groups, one of our main outreach activities is to take our turn in sponsoring Midwest regional conferences. These smaller regional conferences are great ways to connect with local readers and to offer opportunities for people to introduce new readers to our Urantia family. 

In fact, we are sponsoring a Midwest conference in Cincinnati, OH this month, on October 17-19, called “We Aim to Fuse.” (Click on the link to register)

We also do one day get-togethers and have participated in setting up booths at book fairs and “Mind, Body, Spirit” type events.

In addition to being able to participate in the governance of The Urantia Book Fellowship, being organized as a Society gives us a network of readers to more easily engage in service-oriented activities. We have officers to lead, a treasury to help fund projects, and a central hub of communications to coordinate various projects our members want to do. 

Our group meets every Wednesday at 7pm Eastern time. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about Orvonton or are interested in membership. Send your inquiries to The Urantia Book Fellowship office at fellowship@urantiabook.org, and they will forward them to our officers.