Should a missionary share his culture with the natives and change natives to be like him?

No. The problem is that perhaps most missionaries DO NOT REALIZE they are sharing their culture with indigenous peoples. So, can they be “faulted” when they do not know?

Or should the missionary adapt and contextualize the gospel in the land they are living in?

Obviously. But since UBF has generally been “weak” or “non-existent” in contextualization over the last 50 years, I don’t believe we will be even clear as to how to begin to educate ourselves in this very very important area.

What is the role of a Christian missionary in a foreign land?

Acts 14:21-23.

And I feel that the most significant questions facing UBF missionaries are these: Should a missionary share his culture with the natives and change natives to be like him? Or should the missionary adapt and contextualize the gospel in the land they are living in? What is the role of a Christian missionary in a foreign land?

See if you agree with Paul’s key theological motif: Gentiles are saved by faith and do not have to adopt the Jewish way of life in order to become authentic Christians?

Thus, does it follow that native leaders DO NOT have to adopt the missionaries’ way of life in order to become a genuine Christian, saved by faith and not by works?

http://www.priestlynation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2011ubfBlueBook-LastLecture.pdf

I am concerned about being sued for copyright infringement, so I can’t share any more. You’ll have to buy one for $10 from ubf press.

“Certainly there are biblical essentials that every new Christian needs to know, such as prayer, worship, witness, fellowship and ministry. These practices, however, should fit the local culture under the leadership of the Holy Spirit rather than the practices of the host culture of the missionary. Syncretism occurs when the evangelizers impose their cultural values on the new Christians and fail to separate the evangelizers’ own culture adequately from the biblical message.”

I can’t speak for others. But for myself, I and others began to increasingly vocalize problems and issues about 6 years ago. It is all expressed on UBFriends explicitly without parables, as well as in private conversations, and by email with anyone who wishes to dialogue. Some will not dialogue either in person, or in groups or by email. I cannot do anything about that.

What have I learned if anything?

1) Most importantly, I am a sinner. Only by God’s grace I may love those who do not wish to dialogue, and may never want to, just as God has loved me.

2) Next, by perseverance and persistence and by God’s grace, there are gradual changes, which may not be complete or even satisfactory in our lifetime.

3) God is fulfilling His own plan and purpose which very often seems to be the very opposite of my own expectation or preference.

4) God is good and God is love, even toward those who have hurt and wounded others. God is good to Paul, even though he was the church’s public enemy No. 1.

5) I am having the time of my life, which is nothing but the unmerited and undeserved grace of Jesus.

I’m sure others have their own intimate experiences with the Holy Spirit which may be even more exhilarating.

Fortunately for me, I began an 8 year detox from UBF in 2003. The past 1 year has been a recovery period after I quite “cold-turkey” in 2011. Since the diagnosis of the UBF problem is akin to drug detox, I think our voices here are part of an intervention program (dare I say orchestrated by God Himself?)

Yes, in regard to my 4 points above, I expect zero response now. But as I said on my blog, I blog for the future. I do expect some day in about 5 years or so, when I and others have moved on, someone will read this blog and have material to fall back on.

If dialogue were possible, I think my suggestions are not so off-base. However here is the reality (please correct me if I get this wrong or incomplete).

In regard to dialogue between UBF and ex-UBF:

No meaningful dialogue was generated in 1976
No meaningful dialogue was generated in 1989
No meaningful dialogue was generated in 2001
No meaningful dialogue was generated in 2011

No meaningful dialogue was generated by ex-UBF Koreans.
No meaningful dialogue was generated by BenT for over 8 years (until now?)
No meaningful dialogue was generated by JoeS for over 10 years
No meaningful dialogue was generated by BrianK for over 1 year

So we have 50 years of silence and zero meaningful dialogues from Korean director with ex-UBF people.

Slowly trying to change hasn’t worked. Secret change hasn’t worked. Bold actions haven’t worked. Polite actions haven’t worked.

What can be done?

You and I and anyone who reads this knows that your 4 proposals would not be welcomed or responded to. Why?

In my opinion it is because of the strong honor culture that is so prevalent in our UBF tradition and culture, which was also prevalent when western missionaries went to 3rd world countries to evangelize over the past century.

To do what you propose would be like asking a heroin addict to stop cold turkey after being an addict for many decades, or to ask one addicted to porn for decades to never ever watch porn again.

For our leaders who grew up in an honor culture, some would rather commit suicide than to publicly admit wrongdoing. In their mind and feeling, it brings too much shame to them, to their families, and to UBF for them to do so.

A new article I may write is “Why a Strong Honor Culture Denies the Gospel of Grace.”

I would vote for your report on Roland Allen’s book to be the most “historical” document ever published by a UBF member.

For example, this part of the quote is exceedingly helpful, true, insightful and most of all: exactly what I and over 100 people experienced the last 25 years in Toledo UBF: “If the first converts are taught to depend on the missionary, if all work, evangelistic, educational, social is concentrated in his hands, the infant community learns to rest passively on the man from whom they receive their first insight into the Gospel. Their faith having no sphere for its growth and development lies dormant.”

People simply need room to breathe, pray, live, fail, succeed, try and work on their own. If not, the ministry implodes.

You asked, “What can we now begin to do as a global ministry for the next 50 years?” Here is a suggested start (all of which you have already done, Ben :)

1) Publicly reject the parts of the 50th anniversary blue book teachings/mission statement that are non-Christian.

2) Publicly apologize to all ex-UBF members from 1958 to 2012, admitting that the well-intentioned UBF shepherding methods have too often wrongly degraded into lording-it-over dictatorship.

3) Create and publicly publish a chapter/regional/committee plan to move away from the Moses-style leadership dominated by Koreans and move toward a plurality of elders style leadership dominated by new national leaders.

4) Encourage every Korean director and senior UBF staff to engage in the dialogues here on ubfriends for at least 1 year.

My public promise to senior UBF leaders is this: Do items 1 to 3 above and have at least 10 Korean directors commit to 1 year of regular ubfriends blogging/articles and I will stop my vocal criticism of UBF.

To some of our missionaries, their innermost core value is honor rather than humility. That’s why a major problem of our missionaries is their difficulty in being corrected, or shown that they said or did something unbiblical. Their strong sense of honor is being violated and challenged, and they do not respond well or humbly, in my opinion.

Again, I will say that this does not apply to all missionaries.