I truly believe there is much other churches can learn from UBF. I met Christ through the 1-1 Bible study and received many blessings that I am forever thankful to God. I have no regrets that I spent 29 years in UBF but I see that families and marriages are the biggest problem with UBF. This area must improve if UBF is going to get healthy and abuses will stop. The gospel work must be done in love not force or rules.

House churches are beautiful if they are balanced and they are taking care of their children and loving their spouses first. I think that people should not be praised for neglecting their families and spouses in order to teach 1-1’s. The ministry begins at home.

1-1 Bible study is great for a person to get to know God’s word personally but after disciple is born there should be freedom to read and study other theologians and to expand and grow spiritually and be encouraged and freedom to prepare own messages by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Disciple making is biblical and needed in the church but help disciples to live in love not rules and UBF heritage. Help them to appreciate other churches and not look down on them but see that they to are apart of the body of Christ.

Daily Bread is good. But leave this at the freedom of the UBF person and don’t make it duty to do daily bread but a privilege and a choice. Don’t look down on those who don’t do daily bread.

Testimony writing and sharing is good if Director is participating too or he will only use your sins against you to make himself elevated though he is a sinner too. Give people the freedom to write if they want but no requirement. Trusting and believing in Jesus is our only salvation.

I thank God for being in UBF for 29 years despite all the pain and abuse and only hope for there to be healthy change. I pray for the families and the marriages. It is true that every church does have problems because we are all sinners but abuse that is clearly seen must be dealt with so that others may not follow suit. I pray and hope that what happened to our family may be a great lesson for UBF and God may use it as a wake up call. God has blessed me and he has been with me since I was asked to leave UBF and even led me to my new wife through a video that a UBF chapter made of me sharing my life testimony to students. All you have to do is google Pastor Andrew Martin and you can listen to the video made by Dr. Samuel Lee. My wife fell in love with me after listening to the video in Romania. It is funny how God uses things for His glory even when harm is intended. I needed UBF for the years I was there but now God has embarked me on a new journey with a more family oriented ministry and a great Pastor friend to serve His work in love. I earnestly pray for everyone in UBF and those on this website. God is restoring our family and I believe in the end God will help me to be more compassionate for others.

@David: i respect your feeling to leave, God bless you bro!

@everyone else: all i can say is i’m at conference & despite some good, i admit i felt down (university bereaucracy more worried about getting sued for Sandusky’s sins: dtr senior in HS but needed treat like mbf age to get in; religious system more worried as usual about self/the program going on/etc)
until i figured out internet access & was one of the lucky 1000 commoners per moment able to ever use it & took care of online business, used facebook which i seldom use anyone, & got on friends to read/write sincere comments about God (which sadly r hard to share in midst of live ‘religious’ program)

oh Holy Spirit, come set us free from man’s religious concerns/constraints, into the freedom of your spiritual fruit/ways so that we can truly help one another in God (Show God’s love, more than Tell others how/what to do:)

Hallelujah! God will win in the end! May His Spirit maintain our spirits when man’s ways/ideas weigh heavy on us.

Thanks for sharing, David. I think I understand your sentiment. I have also heard similar comments like yours from various people in Chicago. I do try to take to heart what they say and to be more prayerful and perhaps restrained in my posts and comments.

I am sorry that some articles and comments come across as destructive and not constructive. Personally I apologize that it came across as such to you and to others as well.

Without attempting to justify what we do, I believe that our attempts are genuine and sincere in seeking to address the painful and difficult issues that some/many have experienced, and that by addressing them, corrective changes may happen, by God’s mercy and grace.

House churches have nothing to do with marriages. A single person could just as well use his or her house as a house church. Maybe some of the apostles did this. And the persons living in the house are not the house church, but all the people meeting in that privat house build the house church.

Even if UBFers are unable to see their faults in this description, ordinary people who are lured into UBF understand this simple and clear language very well, and for them it’s very helpful to know what UBF really is. Because in UBF nobody tells them these things like Brian is doing here.

Housechurch. I think that I personally could not live as a house church or as a family. I had no authority and time for “the housechurch” and for the family, at all. I had to sacrifice my family in order to live by ubf standarts. Again, I attended my children concert only after I left ubf (and they were 14 and 11 years old). No chance to do that before.

1:1. I worked as a teacher for 7 years. And I gave personal (1:1) lessons. I found this method to be very effective. I like it actually. But as Dr Ben pointed out it is very important to “let go of those I disciple”. This method is good for evangelizing. After the “sheep”‘s new birth it must be stopped. Let the Holy Spirit take over and let Jesus be the Lord and the Director in the Christian’s life. If the 1:1 is not stopped after the new birth it becomes a complete abuse.

Disciple-making. It is an absolutely heretical and cultish part of ubf. The disciples are not made! They are born, by the Holy Spirit.

Daily Bread. It might be good for beginners. And again after the new birth it is good for a Christian to have many resources for his/her Bible study, devotionals and meditation. Let him/her go out of the ubf’s shallow and poor limits so that they might really become good servants for His church and true Christian leaders for their community and nation. In ubf it is a very manupilative part.

Testimony writing. I find it very good to write personal reflections but I think they should stay personal. There is no need to “share” personal testimonies especially to those who can’t understand what the normal church is and who honour their own authority more than the Lord. In ubf TW has never been QT. Let the Christian close his/her door and write “in secret” and “share” with God and pray and grow in their relationships with God, not with the director. And if he/she wishes let him/her “share” what he/she wants in a natural form of communication with each other, with the church. Surely there should not be meetings (and conferences) which are not suggested and done by the members volantarily, from the heart. In ubf TW is very manipulative and abusive and destructive, unfortunately.

Regarding imitating me or WL is funny to me in that from what I’ve heard through the grapevine (even as recently as last week) is that I am trying to either divide or destroy UBF, depending on who you speak to! Thus, I don’t expect any imitation happening anytime soon. :-)

House churches: The “happiest” aspect of my Christian life is my marriage. This is glory to God, and the fact that God led me to marry a woman I did not know, in his perfect sovereignty and providence. Sometimes, I dread that if God takes her home first, I wonder how I might do. For this, I need to repent.

One to one: This helped me personally to love and treasure the Bible as the very word of God. I believe that I have done the same with those whom I studied the Bible 1:1 with.

Disciple-making: This is good for me…but to a degree. As I myself began to mentor and disciple others, I am learning that I need to learn how to let go of those I disciple, so that God can take over. This is my new “favorite” quote: “God can work wonders if he can get a suitable man. Men can work wonders if they can get God to lead them.” E. M.Bounds

Daily Bread: Personally, I stopped reading our DB booklets some years ago, because they tend to be repetitious and predictable. So, I have began to use other sources, such as: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/loveofgod/

Testimony writing: This fueled my passion for writing. Thus, I can write blogs, comment on blogs, and prepare for my sermons and weekly gatherings with endless reading, listening, watching and writing.

ubf hamster wheel/religious machine teachings

That being said I will make a not so funny joke. Brian you forgot one more behavioral aspect to UBF. When you go to Germany, France, Russia, and America …… for a conference make sure you go out of your way to eat at a Korean restaurant. It makes the experience in that country authentic. (words of a former brother, not me)