This has changed as more are realizing that they need to take care of students in a more holistic manner, but in my opinion, we’ve only begun to acknowledge the tip of the iceberg. I think that it stems from a deficient view of the gospel, which is good news for every single aspect of our lives, not just for the part which encompasses church or evangelistic activity. You can see this clearly in David Kim’s lecture and much of UBF’s preaching. While this kind of deficient view can and often does open the door for abusive practices, I don’t believe that it was my shepherds’ or pastor’s explicit intention to carry out such abuse. That does not excuse them, but this reasoning helps me to look at them with more empathy and confront them less emotionally and more honestly. I’ve still got a ways to go in this regard though.

Consistent with how God often deals with me in order to lovingly mold my character, I’ve been placed in a situation where leaving is not a clear cut option. So now, I’m in the process of speaking with others in the Chicago UBF area who are intimately familiar with the things that we’ve been voicing here. I’m trying to map out a strategy where if I remain in UBF, I will conduct myself in a manner which helps me to seek God to the fullest, lovingly care for my family, love those in the UBF body, reach out to and embrace Christians outside of UBF and seek the lost. Thanks again, guys.

“So to be loyal to UBF is to be loyal to Jesus.”

This reminds me of this article, which mentions University Bible Fellowship, from the Kansas City area:

“Commitment to God = Commitment to Group. In abusive groups a subtle switch is made that causes commitment to the activities and beliefs of the group to equal commitment to God. This may be extremely difficult to spot at first because most of us express our commitment to God through faithfulness and ministry in our local church. The difference is one of degree. Imagine a student in college. Abusive groups may ask the student to lead small-group studies on multiple nights of the week. Other nights may be consumed with gatherings of the entire group and leadership training. On weekends the group has evangelistic outreach activities and of course there are regular special emphasis weeks. The student may find that their class work or family life is suffering under the burden. However, if he questions the amount the group is requiring he will be told he needs to stop loving the world and go wholeheartedly after God. Never is the thought allowed that God may actually want him to study or spend time with his family.

Marks of Abusive Religious Groups

Despite what many people have said, I have not left the ubf organization in any formal way. But I am no longer going to participate in ubf activities merely for the sake of showing that I support the organization, or merely to prop up the leaders so that they can continue on a destructive trajectory. I need to redefine the relationship so that it’s not all about them, about their goals, their agenda, their plans. I’m not going to allow them to use me anymore. I don’t know if they can engage in such an honest, two-way relationship. Honestly, I don’t think they know how. I’ve seen little evidence for it.

And despite what many people have said, I have not counseled or encouraged anyone to leave ubf. I do not have the wisdom to know if it is better for any given person to stay or to go. People need to make their own choices on the basis of where they believe God is leading them. God is drawing us to himself. For some people in some circumstances, the trajectory toward God will lead them toward ubf; in other cases, it will lead them away.

I hope you know that you are not alone. It is your decision. And perhaps the best thing you can do is to talk with fellow ubf people around you (not the leaders above you).

I guarantee that you will find a vast majority of ubf people who share you exact concerns. And they have their own concerns which have gone unaddressed for decades.

Please talk to them. When we did this in Toledo ubf, suddenly the disunity disappeared. Suddenly many of us realized we were indeed united! We were just not united under the ubf heritage slogans.

There are numerous ubf people who have privately told us (me, Ben, Joe) they are so glad for what we’ve done here on ubfriends. Most don’t like my tone or approach but are glad that someone is facilitating dialogue.

I am certain that if you start connecting openly and honestly with those around you, you will find God’s purpose for you, whatever decision you make about ubf. This by the way is how I continued my healing and recovery– I have stayed in the conversation with ubf. Most won’t admit to it publicly, but many ubf people are reading these things, and are just waiting for someone to talk to them.

“Keep in mind that many had powerful conversion experiences around the time of the inception of UBF in SK. So to be loyal to UBF is to be loyal to Jesus. Hence, everyone whom they feel as though God has led to UBF.”

Exactly the problem. Yes whenever we experience something wonderful, as almost all of us did in ubf, we really really want others to experience that! So we expect them to do the same things we did and act like we did, creating a specific formula expecting the exact same joy and outcome as we experienced.

But the gospel is not a formula. The gospel is not a process. The gospel is an announcement, a declaration the doesn’t change over time (but will certainly become deeper and more grand from our viewpoint). But the impact and expression of gospel is as varied as there are human beings!

God loves the authentic self! God says throw away the masks. Be you. Discover you. And your journey of life will be so much richer and then and only then will God be oh so real. The joy of realizing that the same gospel will effervesce into a billion lives in a billion different ways is just far more breathtakingly joyful than anything I ever experienced.

On the other hand, you need to preserve your own sanity, integrity, spiritual health and family. If you think you can stay without compromizing in these regards, then fine. Ben trys to do that, but Ben is obviously a very special person and he’s running his own UBF chapter. And the question is still whether it’s worth all the struggle if UBF will not change anyway and you just waste precious time of your life and all your nerves for nothing.

Anyway, you need to make your own decision based on your own conscience. Learning to make such tough decisions is a good thing in itself and an important step in becoming a mature person after living in a state of “self-incurred immaturity” for so long in a group like UBF.

David, when I read this I had to respond. This is exactly what I experienced. I had great hope for change and being an instrument of change. But the truth is that it was just too much mental energy and I was being emptied way too much. Was this what God was expecting from me? My wife and I prayed and finally, we experienced an amazing peace and agreement, it was time to leave. I am thankful that God did use my time in UBF to come to know Christ as my Savior and to participate in many ministry activities but I am also very thankful for the opportunity to now pursue God and enjoy my walk with Him within a different church setting.

The best question that helped me navigate the disconnects you are experiencing is this: What is the gospel?

I started asking that question to various ubf people around 2003, just before being sent out as the director of Detroit ubf. Most people did not want to discuss that question. Most just said, “That’s easy. Jesus died for your sins.” Some explained further more correctly about the resurrection.

I also started asking other questions. To this day, my questions remain unanswered.

Even though I didn’t get any sensible answers and mostly got silence, the process of asking all kinds of questions to various people led me to see the reality that was going on around me. I could easily come to the conclusion that the top 30 or so leaders who rank highest in ubf care nothing about the gospel or preaching the gospel or understanding the gospel. All their words were double-speak for one thing: loyalty.

Even last year I visited Chicago ubf and had dinner with ATK and others. I heard one high-ranking ubf leader say clearly that loyalty is more important than the bible. And again I witnessed firsthand that even in 2013, even among American leaders, ubf people don’t want to talk about such things. The 50th anniversary mission statement that doesn’t mention Jesus at all and the other 50th stuff confirms all this as well.

ubf leaders preach a “gospel” of self-glory and loyalty. They seek to form a community based on uniformity centered on the Shepherd X identity. And they will keep trying to repeat their Shepherding experiement over and over and over again until they find someone who will conform and submit.

In my case, leaders have made it clear that they are willing to tolerate my participation in the organization insofar as I serve their agenda, on their terms. They want to grant me the “privilege” of serving by providing input only on the narrow range of items that they deem fit. In other words, they want me to participate as Shepherd Joe, and they want the Real Joe to disappear from sight. Basically, they don’t want to treat me as a person, but as an object, a means to accomplish their predetermined ends.

So the question I must ask is: Is it loving for me to continue to enable them to act as they do? At what point does my participation do harm to their souls? When do asymmetrical, dysfunctional, objectifying and emotionally abusive relationships become less holy than no relationship at all? That’s an honest question.

I remember after one meeting when ATK, the current GD of UBF, was giving PTA (sheesh with the acronyms), he proceeded to give a long-winded speech about the importance of each member writing their bible testimony. A lot of people felt as though it was too long, came off as very forceful, and long, and unempathetic toward some who had not matured to espouse this activity. And did I mention that it was really long? I spoke with an assistant pastor afterward and he lamented that ATK had communicated testimony writing in that way. I wish that I would have asked the pastor this question: “Well he is the director of UBF so shouldn’t we take his words seriously? If these are the eternal truths of God then we should have accepted his rebuke and be all on our knees in repentance.” It’s just so confusing because on the one hand, you have certain leaders who feel strongly about emphasizing particular practices but on the other there are those who don’t feel as though these things should be forced, but yet they will not come out and publicly voice their disagreement. Are we to obey these “God-given” practices or not? In my own understanding I’ve concluded that UBF is probably misguided in saying that these practices are from God’s eternal truth. But it just baffles me that the leadership as a whole will allow certain influential members to make these grandiose claims about UBF activities, even though some may internally disagree with such a stance.

“As a lay member who is not “in the know”, in regard to the detailed inner workings of UBF, I am confused as to what to make of my present inner conflict.”

That’s something you should ask your organizational leaders about. If you ask me, I’ll give you my thoughts as to what to make of this, but for now I’ll refrain from giving you my “poisonous Satanic advice” :)

Correct. ubf leaders a. hold no official doctrine position and b. take no responsibility for their teachings and c. refuse to put in place any kind of accountability checks-and-balances.

And that my friends is how cult leaders operate. Christ-followers do the opposite. Real leaders, even pagan leaders if you’ll suffer that term, do the opposite. Real leaders go out of the way to make sure you know their teaching, take responsibility for their teaching and allow critical feedback/checks-and-balances.

In the private version (first part of the long paragraph on page 10) we read this:

“If the spirit that worked in the UBF ministry for the past 50 years came from human efforts or ideas, we don’t need to continue in them. Those that come from human thoughts and ideas are limited and will change or disappear someday in the future. However, the spirit that worked in the UBF ministry for the past 50 years didn’t come from the ideas of Dr. Samuel Lee or Mother Barry. It was not a typical UBF spirit, but the eternal truth of God’s words.”

This is a new teaching. When I came to UBF in 1987, everyone was clear: UBF spirit came from Sarah Barry and Samuel Lee. This I can understand and accept: UBF was built on ideas from Lee and Barry, from the Bible.

But now we find that UBF spirit came from God? UBF is the “best ways” and the “truth of God’s words”? UBF is God’s truth? UBF is not a human idea, but God’s idea? This was always an unspoken rule that I thought ubf people didn’t really believe.

Good point about humans having some sort of role in “convicting of sin”. I would say we need to discuss that more.

I would say David K’s lecture is an example of how not to play that role.

And what’s worse, that link is not the actual lecture David Kim published in the 50th Anniversary blue book. The actual lecture is much much worse in terms of replacing the role of the Holy Spirit with human effort.

David Kim is consistent. If you define the ideal disciple of Jesus as someone who does 1:1 Bible study, daily bread, testimony writing, etc. ad nauseum — then there is no better way to train disciples than to make them do those very things over and over and over.

And I’m sure that he’s vying to be the next GD.

“I believe that this is also what God says to us. We are living in the world which changes rapidly. The circumstances where we live are totally different from those in 1960’s when UBF was founded and in 1970’s , 80’s when the campus ministry flourished. We encounter difficulties and limits in serving the new generation who follow the popular trend of life infected with sins and go down the main stream of sins. For this reason we began to doubt if we should look for alternatives and changes different from what we had in the past. If there are better ways and alternatives to serve this generation, we should try to find them. From 1990’s we have made every efforts to find better ways and alternatives to serve the rapidly changing generation. New programs were sought out. Some chapters tried to implement the spiritual movement giving up raising disciples through one-to-one bible study because it was so difficult. Other chapters tried to live a religious life without the burdens of sharing daily bread and writing a testimony. There were also some chapters that tried to attract attention of the young through singspiration rather than to focus on profound bible studying or testimony training. However, they failed without bearing good fruits. We have not found other ways or alternatives better than one-to-one bible study, daily bread, writing testimony, a life giving spirit with five loaves and two fishes, pioneering spirit, community spirit, self-supporting spirit that we have had from the beginning of UBF history.

We learned and became convinced of the fact that the spirit and ministry that worked among us for the past 50 years was not a typical UBF spirit or ideas, but it was from the eternal truth of God’s words. Therefore we should continue in the truth that we learned and stand firmly on it. We should repent of becoming weak in the spirit and ministry. And we should stand firm on the truth all the more.” (source: http://ubf.org/content/50th-ubf-anniversary-seminar-closing-message-sh-david-kim)

One of the main ways that we encounter God is through the work of the Holy Spirit in other believers. The Holy Spirit is a gift to the whole church, not merely to individuals in the church. When the Spirit is genuinely speaking through the prophetic witness of someone in the church, people will listen. But when church members manufacture a message that they think will make people repent, it tends to fall flat.

22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

I don’t want to use this to justify the specific activity of UBF which you spoke of. But Paul does seem to strongly indicate that there is a definite role for humans to play in the process of conviction of sin. Perhaps if UBF sought to understand Paul’s words here, we would have less aberrant behavior in the 1:1 setting.

What is the role of an evangelist? In light of the recent embezzlement charges against David Yonggi Cho, who founded the world’s largest church, I think we should all consider our roles more seriously.

Is the role of a church leader/pastor/evangelist/etc. to gain recruits who are loyal to the cause? How do we avoid creating an exclusive religious club? When will we realize that all leaders are already fallen before they fall publicly?

I see now that my “discipling” methods were usurping the role of the Holy Spirit. I was attempting to play God’s role. And I see John 16:8-11 so very clearly now. It is God’s role to convict.

The house of rope

When you walk in the front door and fall into a pit, of course you’ll see the need to buy some rope.

The same is true of ubf. When you walk in the door of ubf you fall into a pit, thinking you are a sheep. So of course you then feel the need for a personal, lifelong human shepherd. Most of us then stay yoked for life.

So I’m glad we have discussed the shepherding issue in much detail here.

“We propose a pragmatic romanticism unhindered by ideological anchorage. Thus, metamodernism shall be defined as the mercurial condition between and beyond irony and sincerity, naivety and knowingness, relativism and truth, optimism and doubt, in pursuit of a plurality of disparate and elusive horizons.”

http://www.metamodernism.org

I for one love the possibilities of what Christ may be doing and how the magnificence of the gospel shines brightly in this line of thought!

When he uses “conservative” and “liberal” in that quote above, I think he is referring to personality types who say “don’t change anything” or “we need wholesale change.” Not conservative or liberal theology.

For example, I would use Francis Chan as an example of someone whose personality says “we need wholesale change” even though he is theologically conservative.

* conservative churches (which incline toward legalism and work-righteousness) simply enjoy bashing the liberals of “cheap grace”?

* On the other hand, liberal churches (which champion love, freedom and inclusivity) enjoy bashing the condescending self-righteousness of conservative legalistic churches?

What comes to my mind is self-righteous, legalistic Pharisee type people who claim to be Christian and yet can only hide themselves in their self-made castles of theological systems and claim the culture around them is “decadent.”

Decadent means “characterized by or reflecting a state of moral or cultural decline.”

The world is actually becoming a safer, more humane place in several places (not everyplace but more places). What is declining is the number of people who are willing to live in whitewashed houses of thinking.

We are in a time of epic transition and flux, between the past 500 year age and a new age, between modernity and whatever comes after post-modernism. Might we be moving from modernity through poser-modernism and into “post-post-modernism” or the new “theism” or the “ancient futurism” age?

I have simply stated what is plainly obvious to many, which is that our numbers, our offering and our morale is clearly on the decline, even if some people think that saying it is a sin against God, because it discourages people.