How to Use urbana.org
A website to shrink the universe and ply the watersby the editors
Urbana's goal is to call students to mission - which is to say, we are calling people from being spectators, to being full participants in God's Kingdom. We want to help you succeed, both in anchoring the life decisions you're making, and in equipping you to take strategic next steps. Urbana.org has both breadth and depth.
A Shrinking Universe
As you browse through urbana.org, you may see too many articles, and too much content to be useful. You already hear too many good ideas, on campus, and are confronted with too many compelling causes, and cannot get involved in all of them. In other words, in college you are already facing a universe of possible courses for your life, and Urbana just inflated that universe.
Urbana.org has several different interactive tools and programs for you to take your passions and direct them into something real. For instance, if you're a jazz piano/Italian major, interested simultaneously in justice, modern dance, and African theology, there is a definite place for you in missions - it'll just be a little harder to find than if you were a two-legged stapler out looking for a filing job. MSearch is for you! It's our Missions Search engine, and it contains profiles, job postings and mission trips from the Urbana 03 exhibitors.
Place a resumé in MSearch (it is secure and can only be accessed by Urbana 03 exhibitors), and search for opportunities by categories of interest. You may be surprised what comes up!
Urbana.org is a website, not a community. It is very valuable as a tool for personal discipline. You should also use urbana.org, then, for developing your mind, heart and faith by individual study, and by networking with the right people for where God is calling you. Start working your way through Send Me!, a workbook for finding your place in missions. The authors of this excellent resource have graciously offered the entire book free of charge, though urbana.org. Topics range from "Building Blocks for Lifetime Service" to finding internships. Send Me! is a great way to increase your depth, while our interactive tools help you manage your breadth.
Keep track of your thoughts, contacts, observations, URLs and other relevant details with MyJournal, a tool integrated with MSearch. It will help you focus your thoughts when you return, and know which are distractions, and which are here to stay.
A deep pool
In addition to interactive tools, urbana.org has a wealth of articles, book reviews, bible studies and talks from Urbanas past, on all range of topics related to missions and the convention program. All of the platform talks from recent conventions are online, along with those of several others dating back to 1946. This includes some of the Church's best teaching on war and peace, missions and poverty, revolution and apologetics, all with a global worldview and surprisingly contemporary perspective.
Our articles database includes hundreds of pieces written by experts - thinkers, leaders, activists, and teachers. Have your eyes been newly opened to issues of developing-world poverty, or God's call to evangelism? We've got written resources to help you learn more. Were you convicted about stewardship? There's lots about money and faith here. Don't let that seed sprout into shallow soil - read and learn more.
There are many Bible Studies here, most of which written by campus ministers. For instance, check out "Ses'Khona", a Bible Study guide on AIDS, written by African IFES workers. They gave urbana.org publication rights - it's excellent.
Students on the Global Urban Trek, a series of summer-time mission projects in developing-world mega-cities, post journals during their projects. Their honest pleas and insights will move you and increase your understanding of God's heart for the poor and the lost. See 2003's trek.
On the urbana staff team, we are praying for you as you proceed in trying to live under God's reign in your life. May the Lord bless you with wisdom and understanding as you continue on the race!
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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