How to Prep for Urbana: Raising the Money
A quick swipe—and paid. The clerk punches a few buttons, and global financial machinery sets in motion. That’s power! The store’s computer contacts Visa or MasterCard, which in turn relays the transaction to a computer in Delaware, Switzerland or Bermuda for approval. Credit limits checked, the information reverses course across the world and returns to the retail counter. It only took a few seconds.
Flash the card (or enter its number online), and you have the power to charge $4 for a cup of coffee, or $20 for a bag of groceries—or $US 100 to register for Urbana.
You have the power. But can you afford it? Should you afford it? The registration fee is only the beginning. There’s lodging, lunch and travel to think about as well. Urbana can be a pricey convention for an individual college student, especially when charged to a credit card that might not be paid off at once.
So how will you ever raise the money for Urbana 06?
For many registered attendees, the greatest spiritual benefit to Urbana will come several weeks and thousands of kilometers before you get to St. Louis. The money part has the potential to revolutionize your worldview. So even as you work hard to come up with the money, think about the funding process as the first part of your convention.
Here are three principles, three significant lessons you can learn from raising the money for Urbana:
Community
When it comes to credit, the opposite of debt is not surplus, but community. You’re going to Urbana because you want to open your heart to God and God’s purposes for the world, only a small part of which includes you.
Urbana may seem expensive, but it’s heavily subsidized by donations from the broader Christian community. Otherwise known as “the Church”, Christians of many ages and nations are helping to send you to this convention. Begin to teach yourself to see the world in this manner. You are being sent. You are on a mission—a mission to listen for God’s calling at Urbana 06.
To really experience the communal aspect here, go ahead and get yourself intentionally sent by your community. Ask your church for money. Ask your fellowship for money. Ask your family and friends! Your growth is their joy and you can give them the pleasure of giving to a person who asks.
Long ago, in the 1940s and 50s, when we North Americans weren’t as wealthy as we are today, many campus fellowships and churches could only afford to send one or two students to Urbana. So everyone saved up, gave generously and pitched in to “delegate” someone to go, learn and return with the message.
In fact, we still called attendees “delegates” through the last Urbana convention in 2003. The language has changed, but the principle hasn’t: Urbana will be the most beneficial to those attendees who are sent by a community.
And it’s not just about prayer and blessing. The money is a big deal, too. It won’t help anyone but MasterCard for you to go into debt to pay for a convention about God’s economy. Be bold; be communal: ask for money. It’s humbling and spiritually enriching.
Industriousness
That being said, many of you should pay for the bulk of Urbana out of the work of your hands. Throughout the Bible, God emphasizes the dignity inherent in stewardship and diligence. Even if you come from a family with means, be sure to contribute on your own to get to Urbana. Find work or some means of productivity, and save some money, even if it’s a token amount.
Furthermore, you can probably produce a shocking amount of savings by simply cutting down on waste. If hard work is one form of industriousness, stewardship—taking care of what God has given you—is another.
- Eat out less often, eat lower on the food chain, and prepare more of your food from scratch.
- Take public transportation more often, park in free spots (perhaps several blocks away), or stay in.
- Don’t buy as many luxuries.
- Check movies out from the library, as opposed to renting them. Borrow books instead of buying them.
- Forgo the season ticket this year, and hit the slopes or go to the game only once or twice.
The list goes on. You know what fat you can cut. Start there, and then get courageous. God values the spirit of sacrifice more than the actual dollar amount.
Generosity
Amid all this scrounging for money, get ready to give generously to the needy. A real treat lies ahead of you at Urbana 06: the offering. Have you ever been excited about an offering before? Here’s your chance to learn a deep truth.
Midweek at Urbana we’re going to take an offering for the work of missions around the world. This is a unique offering: not a penny of the proceeds will go to “overhead”. It’s all going to a set of ministries around the world.
Students at previous conventions have given generously, and we can follow in their footsteps. If each of the approximately 25,000 attendees at Urbana gives $40, we can together raise one million dollars. If each of us gives $40 and brings an additional $40 from our sending communities, we can raise two million!
Live sacrificially, and give generously in the weeks before Urbana. And open your eyes to see God’s storehouses open up.
And let us know! We want to celebrate with you!
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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