God blessed us!

If you do a search on ubf.org for the word “weather”, you can read many cases of how ubf people look for signs from the weather. Here are a few examples:

“God blessed us with cool weather during the conference, even though it has been really hot…”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/asia/japan-united-summer-bible-conference-2014

“God gave us a beautiful and nice weather.”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/europe/switzerland-fall-bible-conference-2013

” thank God for giving us wonderful 3 weeks with perfect weather”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/europe/german-second-gens-sent-report-thanksgiving

“We also thank God, for he has given us beautiful weather during the conference providing us with a wonderful and safe environment to enjoy all the outdoor programs.”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/korea/korea-ubf-national-student-conference-2014

It is one thing to thank God for good weather. But reading all those reports by ubf people left me feeling they’ve gone too far, and are bordering on some sort of sign-seeking nonsense.

If God blesses, does God also curse?

Let’s just assume all those mentions about the weather are normal. They just want to thank God for good weather. Well what about bad weather? If good weather is God’s blessing, wouldn’t bad weather be God’s curse? The ubf mind is flabergasted when God doesn’t appear to bless one of their ceremonies. Take a look at this latest Samuel Lee worship report:

“On October 4, we held late Dr. Samuel Lee’s memorial service at a chapel in the cemetery. 130 leaders in the Chicago area, including 15 outside guests attended. On the day before our memorial service, we learned that the weather would be cold and that it would rain. But our God is always good. The cemetery manager allowed us to hold our service indoors. We praise God for this.”
http://www.ubf.org/world-mission-news/north-america/late-dr-samuel-lee%E2%80%99s-memorial-service

Note the comments I highlighted. The weather was bad. Yet the ubf mind cannot accept that this means God is cursing them. So they just say “But our God is always good”. The weather is clearly bad, and this reporter feels the shame.

On another note, notice how they moved indoors this time, instead of holding a tent worship next to Samuel Lee’s actual grave like last year.

Bigger Questions

Will ubf one day stop this Samuel Lee worship stuff? The man died in 2002 in a fire in Chicago. It was a strange event. He was reportedly trapped in a room, but someone told me the door wasn’t locked. Why didn’t he just leave the burning building?

Anyway maybe ubf people really should follow Lee’s teaching and “go back to the bible”. Maybe they should read Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount again. The sunny days and rainy days are NOT signs of God’s blessing or curse. It is just sun and rain. There is nothing specially good about a sunny day at your conferences. There is nothing specially bad about cold rainy weather at your Lee worship service. The more important question to ponder is about what Jesus says here: How will you learn to love those of us who are now your “enemies”, we who have left your ministry with matters of conscience that you have ignored for decades?

“43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers,[i] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48 ESV

Mark 7:5-16 ESV also comes to mind.

They want a memorial forever?

“On November 25, the opening ceremony of UBF history museum was held at Kwangju UBF center. All Korean staff shepherds attended. The opening ceremony began with the prayers of Dr. James Suh, Dr. Paul Hong and S. Joshua Lee (Daejun UBF). Dr. John Jun delivered a main message with the title, “A memorial forever” on Joshua 3:14-4:24.”

They are acting out the Old Testament

“It was a miracle that Israel people crossed the Jordan River as on dry land. God wanted his people to remember God’s history.”

Who is compromising with Gentile culture?

“However, when Israel people entered the promised land flowing with milk and honey, they forgot God and compromised with the Gentile culture. Therefore, God built up 12 stones as a memorial forever so that they may remember God’s history and teach it to his descendants.”

They are no longer able to distinguish between God and ubf

It was followed by a special song by S. Kim Woojin, “The Lord’s prayer.” Then Mother Barry delivered a blessed message with the title, “Bible Korea, World Mission, Enlarge the Place of your Tent!” on Isaiah 54:2. In summary, Mother Barry explained that we can carry out Bible Korea and World mission through deep Bible study and prayer. It was followed by P. Abraham Kim’s welcoming address.”

They only have one mission: pass on their legacy to their Korean children

“Announcements and prayer topics were given by S. David Kim, Korean UBF director. First of all, we praised God who opened the UBF History Museum by remodeling the original building located at 176-1 Daein-dong, Kwangju, Korea. S. David emphasized the importance of history education. He asked us to pray that God may use this history museum to teach God’s history in UBF and pass on UBF ministry to our descendants. After our ceremony, we visited the UBF History Museum to pray together.”

What did Jesus say?

John 8:54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.”

I reported the annual display of religious power last year. The ancestor worship continues and some seek the baton of Samuel Lee who died in 2002 in a fire in Chicago.

Here is a photo and excerpts from the gravesite hagiography which was based on Ezra 7:10.

“We praise God who blessed 1^st memorial service, remembering late Dr. Samuel Lee’s last legacy, “Back to the Bible.” On October 5, 1^st memorial service was held at the cemetery with the theme, “Back to the Bible.” 100 chairs were set up, but 132 co-workers including 23 outside guests attended.”

“The main lecture was delivered by M. Daniel Rhee from South Africa, with the theme, “Ezra’s devotion to Bible study” based on Ezra 7:10.  In short, Ezra’s devotion to Bible study was a source of a national revival. M. Daniel Rhee’s lecture could be summarized in 4 ways. First, the conventional ways of UBF Bible study was introduced such as “The author’s perspective,” “Inductive Bible study method.” Second, in adversities, Dr. Lee did not fight a human battle, but fought a spiritual battle through intensive Bible study until God turned it into fruitful victory. Through 20 years’ Bible study, Dr. Lee found God’s hope for North America. It was a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Third, Dr. Lee struggled with the Sunday passage throughout the week until one word of God came to him like the morning star arising in his heart. As a result, he could plant one word in the hearts of Sunday attendants through his announcements.  Fourth, succeeding of UBF ministry does not come from changing people one day from Korean missionaries to native leaders. True succeeding comes from imitating the UBF bible messages. For this M. Daniel proposed producing the standard message of UBF based on reviewing Dr. Lee’s Bible messages.

After the main lecture, a beautiful poem was delivered by M. Hannah Ryu from Mainz UBF, translated by Grace Koh , entitled “Go back to the Bible.” It was really heart moving.

Dr. Sam A. Lee from U of I delivered a joyful personal testimony regarding what his father prayed for him. Dr. Sam’s major was chemistry. So his father prayed for him, “You may study the Bible diligently until you grasp the basic chemistry of the Bible.” Because of his father’s prayer, Dr. Sam learned how to delight in the word of God and mediate on it day and night. We prayed for him to be one of blessed men (Ps 1:2,3), imitating his father’s example.

Two prayer topics were given by a presider, Shepherd Rich Ryzewski. First, pray for Ezra’s devotion to Bible study as the clear direction of our ministry. Second, as Dr. Lee gave a prayer topic, may America raise up 10,000 Bible teachers and send them out so that America may be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Our service ended with Mother Barry’s closing prayer.”

Facts from 2008 to 2012

Over the past 4 years:

• 27% decline in cash donations (offering)
• 59% increase in administrative costs
• 105% drop in net assets
• $42K deficit in 2012
• 17% drop in ISBC attendants *
• 50% exodus of longtime leaders in Toledo UBF

Abandoning the Heritage

UBF loves numbers. Will anyone pay attention to these numbers? UBF is indeed at a crossroads. Everyone knows why. The 12 point heritage system in UBF is being abandoned more and more. Students don’t buy into their teachings. No one these days wants to be controlled by a personal, lifelong shepherd who approves every life decision and who monitors their morality on a weekly basis. Many are no longer satisfied with shallow theology that just tells you “Feed sheep” and distorts the gospel of Jesus. Leaders are no longer tolerating excuses, half-truths and lies. People long for real friendship. They crave the grace of God. They are no longer allowing the Korean culture to suffocate their own culture. People are realizing the Confucian teachings in UBF that have kept them from connecting with the vast, rich Christian history.

Financial Decline

UBF is required to report actual numbers to the ECFA, since joining in 2007. I’ve been tracking these numbers in my own spreadsheet. [Note: The ECFA website presents the numbers in reverse years, showing the most recent year on the left. I find it more natural to show the most recent year on the right.] In any case, below is a spreadsheet capturing the 2008 to 2013 numbers. The 2014 numbers should be reported to the ECFA by June 2015.

UBF-FinancialNumbers2013

Some more thoughts:

UBF Statistics 11/2014
UBF Numbers Update 11/2012
UBF Numbers Game 7/2012
UBF 12 Million Dollars 9/2011

When will the leaders acknowledge this and address the obvious issues that are causing the decline?

Sources:
ECFA reported numbers for UBF
2008 Purdue UBF ISBC Report
2013 Pennsylvania UBF ISBC Report

* Multiple numbers were reported for the 2008 ISBC and the 2013 ISBC, so no one seems to know the exact numbers. However, all reported numbers show a decline between 15% and 20% in people who attended the UBF ISBC conferences.

* Links fixed and updated 2/8/2015

The link for downloading an invitation to the ISBC is here:

http://www.solovedconference.org/information.htm#Media

Here is the invitation card text, with my notes in italics…

“The world we live in is full of hatred, conflict and strife.
–Yea..but the world is not so bad. This is meant to depress you a little so you’ll be more amazed when ubf becomes your savior.

What we all need is love, forgiveness and peace.
–really? You know what I need? I need justice and grace and truth.

“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
–obligatory bible text insert

John chapters 13-17 are Jesus’ last discourse with his disciples.
–yes but you won’t hear about the critical culmination of this discourse, John 17 because it is being skipped!

He shared with them the foremost desire of his heart: It was love.
–Yea and Jesus also said some words about God getting all glory and authority..oh wait ubf is skipping that part…

Jesus loved his disciples and commanded them to love one another and to create a love community in the world (Jn 13:34). So he sent them into the world with his message of love (Jn 20:21). Since then, Jesus has been transforming the world with God’s love.
–…through ubf right?

Jesus invites you to have a love relationship with God, to be a part of his love community, and to serve the world with God’s love.
–Sure, but this is about ubf inviting you to be part of the ubf community for the rest of your life.

Please join the 2013 International Bible Conference with brothers and sisters from over 90 nations in the worldwide community of love.
–uh..make that just the ubf community because outsiders are not welcome!

Let’s receive God’s love newly and renew Jesus’ vision to transform the world.
–this is code word for “Let’s re-commit to ubf ministry and work harder than lazy wicked Christians!

Let’s learn how to serve the world together with God’s love and vision.
–more code words for “let’s all be ubf missionaries”…but hey guess what? No one needs to attend the conference because you just learned everything that will be taught at the conference. There literally won’t be any new revelation. You just heard the summation of the 4 days.

Here is the ubf business mission report from France.

Quotes about France UBF

On April 14, Paris UBF had a special worship service to celebrate the 10th anniversary of LIKE (an accessories company), established and headed by M. Rebecca Choi.

Dr. Marc challenged us to come to the cross of Jesus in order to receive healing. He also pointed out that as disciples of Jesus we have so many spiritual riches to gain and also some human riches, like brothers and sisters in Christ; we are definitely not losers!

After making a good profit in the first year, Dr. Marc Choi used all this money to buy the present center in the heart of Paris. Still God continued to bless them. God has used this company also to grant proper jobs for missionaries. Not least of all, being a businesswoman also earns M. Rebecca respect among tough French students. Although the present economic situation doesn’t seem inspiring, Dr. Marc and Rebecca Choi have a vision that God may use LIKE to support 100 missionaries to Africa.

Two ubf networks

Some ubfers may not understand what I’m talking about. To such people I would suggest doing some asking and researching. You should be able to find out that there are two UBFs. 1) a business mission, corporate UBF and 2) a Christian-like bible study UBF.

I explained some before about ubf business mission. France ubf is being held up as so exemplary because they actually succeeded in making a profit. Most ubf attempts at business mission end in failure.

This business mission is rampant in Europe but not so much in America.

I gave this presentation at a ubf national staff conference, even though I was added to the interest group (panel) presenters without my knowledge. Surprisingly this presentation started to generate some good discussion. Many people raised their hands with questions. But the moderator cut off the presentation after 5 minutes, quickly moving on, ignoring the many people who wanted to discuss this.

ubfriends PowerPoint presentation at a ubf staff conference in America

I admit my blog has been hard-hitting numerous times this year. Still, the statistics from Google Analytics demonstrate significant interest in my articles.  For example, from 1/1/2012 to 12/22/2012, approximately 2,900 visitors viewed approximately 3 pages each visit, spending about 5 minutes per visit on this blog. About 50% of these were repeat visitors from 2011, which means 50% were new visitors.

My purpose here is varied. But my purpose in writing articles here have never been to get anyone to agree with me. Nor is my purpose to convince anyone to leave or stay in UBF ministry. My purpose is to spark conversation about topics that have traditionally been taboo in UBF circles and to be a resource for any former member or outside party who has questions about UBF. Primarily however, my purpose is for myself– to document my story of recovery from UBF without losing my faith.

Here is a list of cities having at least 10 unique visitors this year, along with how many pages on average and how many minutes on average the people spent here.

Thank you to everyone who has read or commented here in 2012. Here’s to a new year in 2013!

*** Note, this table represents only the search engine traffic. For example someone searching for “ubf” and then finding my website. The total numbers are much higher. I am not a Google Analytics expert by any means. But it is safe to say that many people are interested in reading the content here. Even if we divide all the numbers in half, there is a significant interest.

December 19th, 2012

Abraham Kim, General Director & All UBF Directors and members
University Bible Fellowship
Worldwide

Dear UBF Directors,

We are now in the 2012 Advent season, just before Christmas. As I ponder the amazing life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I am moved to share this public letter. Why do I write publicly? The reason is clear: over the past 50 years, many members of UBF and former members of UBF have raised questions, issues, concerns and allegations about the ministry you now oversee. Many attempts have been made to follow Jesus’ direction on handling matters of concern in private. The result has been overwhelming silence, minor changes now and then and an increase in the effort of those who remain in UBF leadership to deny and dismiss the concerns.

So today I write openly, after resigning my position of Director of Detroit UBF in the summer of 2011. I write today in hopes of realizing what my friend James Kim wrote in his open letter in 1994: “I wanted to build a better UBF.”

I’d like to begin by drawing your attention to the meaning of Advent, some prior open letters sent to UBF leadership, and to share with you some numbers.

Advent Season

In the spirit of Advent, I write to you today. There are two heart postures of Advent: holy dissatisfaction and hopeful anticipation. These heart attitudes also have two corresponding practices: repentance and meditation. I write to you today both with holy discontent and hopeful anticipation, and after my own repentance and meditation.

Advent’s Holy Discontent – Repentance of:
Apathy
Indifference
Distance
Sin

Advent’s Hopeful Anticipation – Meditation on:
Jesus’ Second Coming
Jesus’ birth
Jesus in our lives

Prior Open Letters

There have been many open letters to UBF directors. Here are a few.

In 1976, some senior Korean leaders in UBF wrote their open letter:
http://rsqubf.info/documents/reform/1976-open-letter/

In 2007, a former Korean leader in UBF wrote an open letter:
http://rsqubf.livejournal.com/123416.html?thread=625432

In 2011, a current American UBF leader in UBF wrote an open letter:
http://www.ubfriends.org/2011/02/02/questions-for-the-next-general-director/

Numbers

First of all I would like to point out 3 positive events that have occurred in the past 2 years since I left UBF. “The Well” ministry has made significant improvements to the traditional UBF ministry. I fully support this initiative. “Westloop Church” has become what I call “redeemed UBF”. I have worshiped with them and visited three times recently. “The Ethics Committee” work with John Armstrong has been an extraordinary step in the right direction. Listening to Mr. Armstrong and connecting with the larger body of Christ is essential for any ministry to be healthy.

Even though UBF ministry has taken those three steps forward, I want to point out the huge load of burden that UBF carries. In total, there are at least 11,153 reasons for concern. I would like for you to notice the following:

159 – There are 159 testimonies of pain, sorrow, agony and abuse written by former UBF members and published on this blog: http://exubf.blogspot.com/ These testimonies have been published already for many years. They form the primary public record of UBF.

13 – Since I left UBF, there have been 13 UBF leaders (fellowship leaders or director level) who have reached out to me to share their concerns and issues with UBF ministry.

103 – I counted up all the people who had left Toledo UBF (my prior UBF chapter where I spent 16 years as a member and fellowship leader). If you count men, women and children, 103 people left Toledo UBF with a problematic departure over the course of 21 years, from 1990 to 2011. I know all of them. Many are still friends with me. None of them left on good terms, though some have since reconciled at least partially. Some won’t discuss UBF any longer. Others have written UBF ministry out of their life story because of the pain.

5,269 – According to Google Analytics, there have been 5,269 “unique visitors” on my priestlynation.com blog over the past 1 and half years. This means 5,269 unique computing devices viewed at least one page on my blog. It is safe to say that several thousand people from around the world are interested in reading my criticism of UBF minsitry. The top 10 countries of people reading my blog are from the countries with the largest UBF chapters, such as the USA, Germany, Canada and South Korea.

220 – So far, I have published over 200 articles on this blog, priestlynation.com. I have shared my personal journey as I left UBF, my thoughts on what could be changed, and various thoughts that came to mind as I struggled to make sense of my 24 years in UBF ministry.

503 – Not only are a lot of people interested in reading my articles, the content generated over 500 comments. Several people are very interested in discussing the issues and topics I raise here.

206 – My blog is not the only public discussion website. The ubfriends.org website published over 200 articles as well. That website is far more friendly to UBF and presents more robust articles than mine.

4,680 – The 206 articles on ubfriends.org invoked over 4,000 comments. Many of those commenting are current UBF members and leaders. This is evidence that the topics covered on that website are highly important to UBF members, many of whom are willing to openly discuss the topics.

Two Demands

In light of my own struggle with leaving UBF ministry and the mountain of evidence above, I submit the two demands below to you for UBF ministry. I have given much thought and prayer to this. I have read all of the evidence above for myself. For many years now, I have been discussing UBF matters with dozens of former and current UBF members from places such as the USA, Germany, Russia, China and Ukraine. I have had well over 3,000 email conversations regarding problems, abuses, issues and changes. I have had in-person meetings and discussions with John Armstrong. I have read several heartbreaking emails from former UBF members who continue to reach out to me– people who are struggling with things like depression, anxiety and the burden of guilt left over from their time in UBF. Several former members are seeking psychological counselling or have considered such counselling. And most importantly, I have discussed these things with my wife.

I have attempted to express my feelings through several songs:
http://www.priestlynation.com/category/lyrics/

If you listen to these songs, or at least read the lyrics from my point of view, you may begin to understand the range of emotions behind this open letter.

I have become convinced the following two issues are at the core of the present “crisis” facing UBF– the crisis of members leaving. I use the word “crisis” because that is what your 50th Anniversary Book describes in the last lecture.

In order to build a better UBF, I submit the following two demands for your consideration as a starting point for the new year.

Demand #1 – Admit abuse.

Publicly and internally end the denial and admit the reality, facing the fact that UBF shepherding has created an environment that has led to many instances of abuse, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, spiritual abuse and emotional abuse.

Demand #2 – Release the bonds.

Publicly and internally announce that all UBF shepherd/sheep relationships are now dissolved– any remaining study relationships are now voluntary, not required of every member, no longer binding for life, secondary to the Holy Spirit’s work, and at the discretion and choice of the “sheep”.

Questions

Can you be healthy spiritually, emotionally and psychologically by ignoring these two demands?
Is the work of God primarily about denial and authority?
Can UBF ministry continue without facing the facts?
Will UBF ministry be effective by continuing to enforce permanent shepherd/sheep relationships?
Might the work of God be done through friendship?

If you are willing to consider these thoughts, I would be happy to meet in public or in private or virtually to discuss my further thoughts on how UBF might find a way to become a healthy Christian ministry. I would welcome your public or private response to this letter.

Sincerely with hope,

Brian Karcher
Former Director of Detroit UBF
UBF member from 1987 to 2011
12/19/2012
http://www.priestlynation.com
http://www.ubfriends.org
http://www.lambheartedlion.org
http://www.justbeingthere.org

December 13th, 2012

Abraham Kim, General Director
University Bible Fellowship
Chicago, IL USA

Dear Abraham,

We are now in the 2012 Advent season, just before Christmas. As I ponder the amazing life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I am moved to share this public letter. Why do I write publicly? The reason is clear: over the past 50 years, many members of UBF and former members of UBF have raised questions, issues, concerns and allegations about the ministry you now oversee. Many attempts have been made to follow Jesus’ direction on handling matters of concern in private. The result has been overwhelming silence, minor changes now and then and an increase in the effort of those who remain in UBF leadership to deny and dismiss the concerns.

So today I write openly, after resigning my position of Director of Detroit UBF in the summer of 2011. I write today in hopes of realizing what my friend James Kim wrote in his open letter in 1994: “I wanted to build a better UBF.”

I’d like to begin by drawing your attention to some prior open letters sent to UBF leadership, and to share with you some numbers.

Prior Open Letters

In 1976, some senior Korean leaders in UBF wrote their open letter:

http://rsqubf.info/documents/reform/1976-open-letter/

In 2007, a former Korean leader in UBF wrote an open letter:

http://rsqubf.livejournal.com/123416.html?thread=625432

In 2011, a current American UBF leader in UBF wrote an open letter:

http://www.ubfriends.org/2011/02/02/questions-for-the-next-general-director/

Numbers:  11,153 vs 3

First of all I would like to point out 3 positive events that have occurred in the past 2 years since I left UBF. “The Well” ministry has made significant improvements to the traditional UBF ministry. I fully support this initiative. “Westloop Church” has become what I call “redeemed UBF”. I have worshiped with them and visited three times recently. “The Ethics Committee” work with John Armstrong has been an extraordinary step in the right direction. Listening to Mr. Armstrong and connecting with the larger body of Christ is essential for any ministry to be healthy.

Even though UBF ministry has taken those three steps forward, I want to point out the huge load of burden that UBF carries. In total, there are at least 11,153 reasons for concern. I would like for you to notice the following:

159 – There are 159 testimonies of pain, sorrow, agony and abuse written by former UBF members and published on this blog: http://exubf.blogspot.com/  These testimonies have been published already for many years. They form the primary public record of UBF.

13 – Since I left UBF, there have been 13 UBF leaders (fellowship leaders or director level) who have reached out to me to share their concerns and issues with UBF ministry.

103 – I counted up all the people who had left Toledo UBF (my prior UBF chapter where I spent 16 years as a member and fellowship leader). If you count men, women and children, 103 people left Toledo UBF with a problematic departure over the course of 21 years, from 1990 to 2011. I know all of them. Many are still friends with me. None of them left on good terms, though some have since reconciled at least partially. Some won’t discuss UBF any longer. Others have written UBF ministry out of their life story because of the pain.

5,269 – According to Google Analytics, there have been 5,269 “unique visitors” on my priestlynation.com blog over the past 1 and half years. This means 5,269 unique computing devices viewed at least one page on my blog. It is safe to say that several thousand people from around the world are interested in reading my criticism of UBF minsitry. The top 10 countries of people reading my blog are from the countries with the largest UBF chapters, such as the USA, Germany, Canada and South Korea.

220 – So far, I have published over 200 articles on this blog, priestlynation.com. I have shared my personal journey as I left UBF, my thoughts on what could be changed, and various thoughts that came to mind as I struggled to make sense of my 24 years in UBF ministry.

503 – Not only are a lot of people interested in reading my articles, the content generated over 500 comments. Several people are very interested in discussing the issues and topics I raise here.

206 – My blog is not the only public discussion website. The ubfriends.org website published over 200 articles as well. That website is far more friendly to UBF and presents more robust articles than mine.

4,680 – The 206 articles on ubfriends.org invoked over 4,000 comments. Many of those commenting are current UBF members and leaders. This is evidence that the topics covered on that website are highly important to UBF members, many of whom are willing to openly discuss the topics.

Two Demands

In light of my own struggle with leaving UBF ministry and the mountain of evidence above, I submit the two demands below to you for UBF ministry. I have given much thought and prayer to this. I have read all of the evidence above for myself. For many years now, I have been discussing UBF matters with dozens of former and current UBF members from places such as the USA, Germany, Russia, China and Ukraine. I have had well over 3,000 email conversations regarding problems, abuses, issues and changes. I have had in-person meetings and discussions with John Armstrong. I have read several heartbreaking emails from former UBF members who continue to reach out to me– people who are struggling with things like depression, anxiety and the burden of guilt left over from their time in UBF. Several former members are seeking psychological counselling or have considered such counselling. And most importantly, I have discussed these things with my wife.

I have attempted to express my feelings through several songs. If you listen to these songs, or at least read the lyrics from my point of view, you may begin to understand the range of emotions behind this open letter.

I have become convinced the following two issues are at the core of the present “crisis” facing UBF– the crisis of members leaving. I use the word “crisis” because that is what your 50th Anniversary Book describes in the last lecture.

Demand #1 – Admit abuse.

Publicly and internally end the denial and admit the reality, facing the fact that UBF shepherding has created an environment that has led to many instances of abuse, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, spiritual abuse and emotional abuse.

Demand #2 – Release the bonds.

Publicly and internally announce that all UBF shepherd/sheep relationships are now dissolved– any remaining study relationships are now voluntary, not required of every member, no longer binding for life, secondary to the Holy Spirit’s work, and at the discretion and choice of the “sheep”.

Is the work of God primarily about denial and authority? Can UBF ministry continue without facing the facts? Will UBF ministry be effective by continuing to enforce permanent shepherd/sheep relationships? Might the work of God be done through friendship?

If you are willing to consider these thoughts, I would be happy to meet in public or in private to discuss my further thoughts on how UBF might find a way to become a healthy Christian ministry. I would welcome your public or private response to this letter.

Sincerely with hope,

Brian Karcher
12/13/12
http://www.lambheartedlion.org
http://www.justbeingthere.org

The event in 2001 happened in Bonn, Germany. Here is a summary of the newspaper articles. I share this summary in order to raise awareness of what has happened in UBF and in hopes that UBF will someday learn to address events like this without sweeping them under the rug. I also share in hopes that one day UBF will release the bonds of their shepherd/sheep relationships, which are currently permanent relationships.

An Investigation into Child Abuse

Andrew Shepherd, the Cult Commissioner of the Evangelical Church in Rhineland, led an investigation after neighbors of Bonn UBF complained.

The office is investigating the director of the Bonn “University Bible Fellowship” – teachers, neighbors and members report on neglected or battered children

(source)

Unproven Allegations

The allegations had many testimonies, but they were not able to be proven.

Even kindergarten teachers confirm this, you have found that up to one or two years of UBF children ran around for a whole week in soiled clothing. As a child had once been very ill in the nursery, the teachers had tried in vain to inform the parents.

Neighbors of the UBF members also noticed: “The children are frightened, disturbed in their development.” Even the neighbors saw that children in the garden “to 20 minutes would stand at attention while “Grandpa” was watering the lawn” have. A girl had once told them tearfully, “Grandpa” had beaten with a stick on her hands.

(source)

No Comment

The prosecution would not comment on the investigation when asked by the German newspaper, “General Anzeiger”, because of “tactical reasons”. A lawyer representing the UBF director also said, “I give no explanation.” And none of the UBF Koreans would speak to the German newspaper.

(source)

Investigation Closed

In 2003, the investigation was closed.

No suspicion against UBF director.  Bonn public prosecutor has closed an investigation – conjectures and limitation periods

(source)

The Public Image Problem

In the eyes of the public, UBF is a very small, fringe Korean-based religious group labelled as a cult by at least eight organizations around the world.

Hundreds of testimonies of former UBF members are posted all over the internet. My blog is highlighting events and ideas that reveal problem after problem. The ubfriends blog is raising question after question, providing a safe place UBF people from around the world to begin discussing issues and Christian doctrine openly. At best, UBF is labeled as a “mixed bag” or “highly-authoritarian” repeatedly in books and in online material.

Because of the UBF 50th Anniversary celebrations and the desire to pass on UBF heritage to their children, UBF has started to publish some of their own internal teaching material, which has allowed UBF members to see what UBF leaders really believe and teach.

UBF’s Public Image Strategy

1. Dismiss the cult label by mitigating the value of cult-watching groups
Many UBF leaders actually see the cult label as a “badge of honor”. They like to say “See, we must be doing something right if we are persecuted so much!”

2. Wait for the old reformers to die off
For example, I am one of the few people alive who can recall the events of 1990.

3. Downplay, cover-up and deny anything seen as a problem
UBF leaders will almost never initiate a discussion about their own problems. They will simply react to whatever you bring up or point out your problems, focusing you on your own failings.

4. Appease current members with internal changes
UBF leaders are making many changes these days internally, as they always did after each of the three other reform movements. This fourth movement may be gaining more traction than ever before.

5. Impress a few Korean Christian agencies, especially with numbers
UBF leaders like to point out numbers. They like to say, “See, look how many missionaries we have sent! We have accomplished so much in only 50 years!”

6. Protect and promote leaders who fail
The doctrines of “covering theology” coupled with “covenant theology” provide a robust authority system in UBF that allows fallen leaders to gain more power, honor, authority and influence.

7. Accuse critics of UBF as being self-righteous sinners
“Take the plank out of your own eye!” is one of the typical Bible verses thrown at UBF critics. UBF leaders like to say “We are all sinners. We all sin.”

8. Hide behind American “stamps of approval”
For example, in the USA, around 2007, UBF did just enough to win the approval of the ECFA, avoid a large IRS fine and be re-admitted to the NAE.

Sweeping Problems Under the Rug

This week I will be blogging about a major incident that took place a while ago in UBF. The incident involved lawyers, television, newspapers and much drama. But I knew nothing of the event at the time, even though I was a leader in UBF.  When former UBF members tried to tell me about this event (and many more) I dismissed it at the time.

I will no longer dismiss such events. Since I publicly dismissed this event, as my public repentance, I will be sharing what I now know publicly.

This event has already been public knowledge, but since I didn’t know about it fully until after leaving UBF, my readers may not have seen the material.

The Unity Committee

UBF used to have a “Public Relations Committee”. I have their reports. But now the same guy who led the PR Committee is heading a new committee…wait for it… the Unity Committee! And how is he leading this committee? Isaiah 45:21 is his direction. Just “declare what is to be”. Just coerce people into unity. Be united! Just command it, and it will be so…that’s what the 2012 UBF Newsletter says, in essence, on page 35 (see screenshot above). The goal of this Unity Committee is the same as the old Public Relations committee, which was also led by Jacob Lee. The goal is to create a good public face for UBF.

God quieted all critical people

Unity, in UBF terms can be described as “shouting slogans all together”. Ready… “Praise God for declaring what is to be in 2011. God quieted all critical people to UBF so that UBF may be used as God’s instrument for the world mission.” (2012 UBF Newsletter, page 35).

Apparently, God cannot work if there are critical people. Apparently God won’t bless people who think for themselves or ask questions or try to reform or improve things. Apparently God’s arm really is too short…

I will not be silent!

So according to the Director of Unity in UBF, God quieted all critical people in 2011? Really… so I guess Jacob Lee didn’t read my emails. I guess he didn’t read all the ubfriends articles or my priestlynation articles, and the world-wide discussions that ensued in the USA, Russia and China? I guess he didn’t read the recent Wikipedia entry or the Freedom of Mind entry? I guess the inclusion of UBF on 8 cult-watching groups world-wide doesn’t count as criticism?

Criticism of UBF in 2010, 2011 and 2012

In case you missed it…

Undocumented beliefs in UBF

UBF Spiritual Heritage

UBF Business Mission

UBF Official Teaching Material

Mission/Legalism/Tradition Hinders Spiritual Growth

Racism in the Church

Rethinking Genesis: Man Equals Mission

Shepherds or Sheep: Who Sacrifices More?

Sexual Sin and Church Leadership

Spiritual Abuse: Shape Up or Ship Out

An Explanation of the Excessive Control in UBF

The Myth of Multiplication, Part 1   Part 2   Part 3

An Honorable Mention

On page 22 of the UBF Newsletter, the closing of chapters is mentioned. Detroit UBF is listed as closed because of my resignation. However, why mention me? What about the other house churches who closed? What about mentioning the mass exodus of leaders from around the world? Those things won’t be mentioned of course. I am thankful that at least some facts are making their way into UBF history. However, there is a long way to go toward being truthful about reality. The latest newsletter is proof to me that UBF leaders continue to live in a “kingdom of priests and holy nation” fantasy land of perceived glory while ignoring reconciliation with real people.

A Time of Transition

On page 22 of the UBF newsletter, 2011 is identified as a year of “growth and changes”, a “time of transition”. Really… I thought 2011 was a year of exodus of leaders around the world, mass confusion as various chapters imploded and exploded, such as Toledo, Hong Kong and India. 2011 was the year of the 4th reform attempt. 2011 was (2012 continues to be) a year of public repentance by myself and by others. I thought 2011 was a year of “terrible times” where people like myself became poison to “knock down the faith of others”…

Growth…barely

Much is touted in the UBF newsletter about growth. But the growth is “just barely”. The growth in numbers in North America is so small that it could just be a statistical anomaly. UBF ministry in 2011 in all of North America was 2,141 (again on page 22 of the UBF Newsletter). The article reports that this number is an increase of 60 from 2010 (33 from USA and 27 from Canada). Surprisingly the fact that the number of chapters decreased from 109 to 106 is included. I would not be too impressed with the 100+ number of chapters. Most of these are merely a husband and wife and a few friends; more of a cell group than an actual “church chapter”.

But there are other reasons why I didn’t become a priest in the RCC, and reasons why I would not consider it even today. Mainly those reasons have to do with the ceremony and rituals the priests perform. I think a priest should be praying, serving, helping, etc. But standing around in a robe and performing ceremonies? I don’t want any part of that. I’m not against such things being done by priests; its just not for me.

Just before I resigned as Director of Detroit UBF, I found out about a UBF plan to convert all UBF directors into UBF pastors, complete with a robing ceremony. This contributed to my resignation.

Early on, UBF was a para-church for laypeople. There were no robes, no ceremonies, and I loved it! But over time UBF has become its own denomination (and I hesitate to say it is a church; it is more of a cult-like para-church on steroids held together by bonds of human loyalty and ambition).

But the trappings of a church are now being displayed publicly. UBF is moving away from being a layperson ministry and attempting to put on a good face of church-like activity such as baptisms. Since my family now worships at a Baptist church, I am highly offended by the recent baptisms in UBF. And I am highly offended by the attempt to convert UBF directors into UBF pastors just because of their length of service and without proper ordination policies.

http://www.ubf.org/content/baptism-testimony-diana-guzman-chicago

In fact, you would think there are no problems whatsoever in the “great lakes region” UBF…It’s all so wonderful and happy!

The “great lakes” UBF ignores the pain and division that has happened and simply prepares yet another Bible conference.

The prayer topic? “Establish me forever!” With a loose understanding of the Old Testament idea of graciousness, the directors put themselves back in the center of power and authority, claiming “God’s grace through David”, from 2 Kings study.

The report says “This precious time promoted personal dialogue and steps toward greater relational connections among the committee members.” Really… such great relational connections… perhaps we could get a diagram of that :)

Last year, I shared some news about the exodus of leaders in Hong Kong UBF. Then recently I asked for prayer for our brothers and sisters in Hong Kong UBF who are struggling. Unfortunately, the situation in Hong Kong UBF mirrors what has happened in several other UBF chapters. The UBF leadership simply lets the situation deteriorate until the “trouble-makers” are gone, which allows the leadership to start all over in establishing a new UBF chapter.

Here is the latest feedback (I made some minor English modifications)

[ Traslated from tkllll’s post here ]

brother_2008 wrote:

I am a former UBF brother who left UBF a few years ago. When I left, my feelings was almost the same as that of the previous shepherd’s leaving testimony a few months ago. The difference is that at that moment, I was like being isolated and failed to find the right person to share with.

In fact, all exodus of former UBF – Hong Kong members would probably experience this sort of mental experience. From “suspecting” to “struggling”, from “being brainwashed” until “coming back to senses”, then he would experience some incidents to trigger him off. At last, he made a decision to leave. Although this process caused him to experience the painful feeling of being discredited, isolated, or demoted, when he leaves UBF, he would have freedom in Christ and could drink the pure spiritual milk. So he will recover very soon and live a new life filling with freedom and joy.

The incident that triggered one entire fellowship to leave Hong Kong UBF is in the Q&A session of the CUHK’s “Kimchi Talk”. During the Q&A session, several UBF core shepherds were suspected of telling lies, untrue and misleading words publicly. Their behaviour caused some young people to question the integrity of the UBF shepherds. When the young people saw the lack of integrity and truthfulness in the UBF shepherds at the “Kimchi Talk”, the young people began to believe that UBF is an abusive church and made a decision to leave.

The following are several important cases in CUHK’s KimChi Talk on April 11th, 2012:

Case 1

UBF-Hong Kong’s messenger Shep Tang XX claimed: I am just an ordinary shepherd, I hope that I could promote to a senior shepherd in the future.

During the Q&A session of CUHK’s KimChi Talk, one director class shepherd stood up. Dr. ChengTeng asked him to introduce which shepherd’s class he belongs to. He kept on smiling and denied that he is a senior shepherd. He claimed that he is just an ordinary shepherd. And he even said that he hopes to be promoted to a senior shepherd in the future. However, what is the actual position and the real identity of this shepherd? The following content is quoted from UBF’s official web site:

“Shepherd Hayes Tang reported on Hong Kong Mission,and shared his life testimony. He became a born again Christian through one to one Bible study during his school days, and then he became an ancestor of faith in Hong Kong UBF …”
(source: http://www.ubf.org/content/america-visit-report-moody-park)

According to UBF’s official web site, Hayes is an ancestor of faith in Hong Kong UBF (also called “ancestor of faith – Abraham”). In UBF, every university has only one ancestor of faith, normally. The status of “ancestor of faith” in UBF is very high and is highly-honoured by missionaries. Shep. Hayes is not only the ancestor of faith of one university, he is even considered the ancestor of faith in Hong Kong UBF which is a chapter serving smaller UBF fellowships at several universities. However, he claimed himself to be an ordinary shepherd. Obviously, he is suspected of telling lies publicly and displaying false humility. Furthermore, he also said that he would like to be promoted to a senior shepherd. Does he think that being the ancestor of faith in Hong Kong UBF is not enough? Does he even have a greater ambition to pursue further promotion?

Summary: As the ancestor of faith of Hong Kong UBF, he was actually giving false speech, leading to the questioning about his integrity. As a faith ancestor and messenger of UBF, he did not set a good example of speaking honestly. Will he bring bad influence of releasing false speech publicly to UBF’s shepherds, brothers and sisters?

Case 2

Shep. “Wanna Buy House”, sheep of Shep. Tang XX, claimed, “I have freedom to travel and my life in UBF-Hong Kong is very free.”

(Remarks: Shepherd “Wanna Buy House” once wanted to buy a house but his ideas was rejected and discredited by missionary.)

During the KimChi Talk, Shep. “Wanna Buy House” claimed that his life was very free in UBF. He could even go traveling and buy T-shirt, etc. However, his statement was misleading. Since according to the message of Shep. TangXX, “Traveling” is worldly (or an example of the easy-going life). Let’s see below the UBF-HK’s faith ancestor TangXX’s teaching (Message of Chapter III in UBF-HK). In his message, he pointed out “traveling” is a “wide gate”, that leads to destruction:

“But for the wide doors, it is no need to invite others or to send invitation card. Everyday there are people forming teams to enter. They might form teams like “Tour group”, “Food group”, “Shopping group”… to rush into the wide gate. Therefore, although behind the wide gate are “Comfort Station”, “Pleasure Station”, “Vanity station”, “Crime Station”, but …the terminus is “Perish”…So what is the actual difference between “narrow gate” and “wide gate”? “Wide gate” means “having a free (easy-going) life”. People do not need hard-working or struggling spiritually but they can still enter the wide gate. Behind the wide gate, people can enjoy comfort and lust. Therefore, choosing “wide gate” is a natural practice. On the way of wide road, people can meet many friends and they would not feel lonely.” (source: message of Chapter III, 21/9/2008, Mat 7:13-29)

Indeed, Shep. “Wanna Buy House” shared a sogam on this message at the 2011 Hong Kong UBF Summer Bible Conference. He mentioned that his coworker could not pass the “language benchmark test” for three years, so she was told to repent and fish sheep.

“…but I work with computer everyday, so I don’t know how to love the others. Last year, my coworker (wife) could neither find any sheep nor any job. She also failed to pass the “language benchmark test” in the past three years. She was not only discouraged, but also looked down on by others. Those who did not understand her, just asked her to repent, but did not realize that she was one who also need to be shepherding. I felt her frustration. I encouraged her that God can easily give you a job.” (14/8/2011, message of HK SBC, John 21:1-17)

From the above message and sogam, we can see that shep. Tang XX’s sheep, “Shep. Wanna Buy House”, cannot live freely in the real world as he said. His wife was requested to repent and told she had a lack of “shepherd’s heart”. If he follows the teaching of TangXX, it is impossible for him to travel. Therefore, his speech was misleading or untrue. It is presumptuous for him to speak such misleading or untrue speech. Is it inherited from TangXX?

Case 3

A CUHK Shepherdess, Shep. G, claimed, “I did not have an arranged marriage in UBF”

During KimChi Talk, Dr Cheung Teng asked if UBF arranges marriage partners and asked the UBF shepherds whether they were arranged marriage in UBF or not, asking them to answer one by one. At that time, all the HK UBF shepherds kept silent, including the faith ancestor shep. TangXX. Nobody answered. However, Shep. G stood up suddenly and took herself as an example. She told that she had a boyfriend before, and later they got married in UBF, instead of being “arranged marriage”. Although she was telling something true, she hided the fact that 90% of the shepherds are arranged married in UBF – Hong Kong. Her marriage is just a rare example in UBF. Although she did not tell lie, such speech is misleading people to think that brothers and sister have freedom to date with someone and choose to marry in UBF-Hong Kong.

Summary: Shepherdess G took herself as an example, so that people think that not all shepherds are arranged to marry in UBF. However, she did not honestly point out the fact that 90% of the marriage of shepherds are “arranged marriages”. This practice was misleading, confusing the public and resulted of losing her integrity.

The aftermath of the KimChi Talk

Recently, a former UBF member shared with me honestly the follows:

Since his shepherd often told him that the speech on web are false, it is difficult for him to distinguish whether they are true or false, as a result, he hesitated and stayed in UBF for a period. However, “KimChi Talk” helped trigger his decision to leave UBF because he personally saw that UBF shepherds was lying, hiding the facts, misleading aand confusing the public. The missionaries (as leaders) were hiding behind in the Q&A session of KimChi Talk. These triggered him to question the integrity of the UBF missionaries and shepherds. Finally, he realized that the speech on web are mostly with evident to support. He had reflections after “KimChi Talk” and he finally made decision to leave UBF-Hong Kong. He left UBF because he heard the voice of UBF shepherds (especailly those with ancestor class), and that helped trigger his decision to leave UBF.

I believe those shepherds, including Shep. Tang XX, Shep. G and Shep. “Wanna buy house”, are victims indeed. They are kind-hearted. They thought that they could stand out as the shields for the missionaries which caused this exposion of their speech suspected of lying and misleading.

I hope those missionaries, as leaders, do not use the poor local shepherds to become their shields. So that they could be leaders who walk in front of the sheep bravely to face and address the issue of UBF’s manipulation, dictatorship and lies, etc.

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

This key verse is often used by UBF shepherds for teaching the sheep.

I hope that each time when they teach the sheep this key verse, they could also reflect on it.

1 Corinthians 12:26-27 “26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

On 12.05.2012 00:37, Exodus Ubf wrote:

Dear Brain,
Thank you for your support and encouragement on your blog. I am glad
to be your friend too.

We just heard a news that one house church (Shep Paul Liu & Shep
Rebekah) and their fellowship members have all left HK UBF last week.
Rebekah is the greatest disciple of Msn Angela Kim (other than Shep
Maria and her coworker Shep Hayes Tang) and Her fellowship once was
the biggest family (around 10-20 members) in HKUBF. Actually Shep.
Paul Liu once was the ancestor of faith in Hong Kong UBF and he is one
of the messengers of SWS (Chapter II) in HKUBF. However, Msn Angela Kim
suddenly raised up Shep Hayes Tang as the Abraham of Faith to replace his
position. Here is his testimony:

“Shepherd Hayes Tang reported on Hong Kong Mission,and shared his
life testimony. He became a born again Christian through one to one
Bible study during his school days, and then he became an ancestor of
faith in Hong Kong UBF …”
(source: http://www.ubf.org/content/america-visit-report-moody-park)

Last week, Shep Rebekah leave UBF together with her fellowship
members. We don’t know the details for the cause of their leaving,
exactly numbers of exodus and their future plans. However, one brother
told us that she might be blamed by Msn Angela Kim. Actually, we know
that Shep Rebekah has long been discredited by Msn Angela Kim because
she had her own thinking, did not listen to her words and obey her absolutely.

Indeed, it is because Shep Rebekah loves the sheep so much, and she doesn’t
want to use the UBF method of dictatorship and manipulation to serve God’s
sheep.

We tell her that some pastors who are familiar with the operation of UBF are
very willing to have Bible study or counselling supports to them if
they need. And we will remember them in our prayer.

Thank you for your continous concern about UBF – Hong Kong. May
God bless you and you family.

In Christ,

HK Exodus

 

On February 9th, 2012, there was a public commission meeting in a Chicago suburb regarding the DuPage UBF use of a residential house in the Village of Glen Ellyn. The public attendance was rather large. This was a continuation of earlier meetings, and the end result of a year-long process.

The quotes from the public neighbors of DuPage UBF are a snapshot of how UBF has operated in America since 1977 when the first UBF Korean missionaries came to America.

Here are some facts:

• 13 neighbors of the UBF center raised issues at the hearing
• 35 neighbors of the UBF center were in attendance
• All 9 commissioners voted against granting the special-use permit

Here are some quotes from neighbors at the meeting:

Authorities had been notified in 1998

“Ms. Abaravich stated that when the subject church first moved into her neighborhood, she called the Village of Glen Ellyn to ask how a house can become a church. She stated she was told to call the police, and the police told her that the church can do whatever it wants to do. She added that she disagreed with the statement that no one had previously mentioned that a church was in the neighborhood.”

Sidewalks covered with cars

“Ms. Traynor stated that she supports people gathering in their home to study the Bible. She added, however, that she has some safety concerns regarding parking at the subject site and that the sidewalk has been covered by cars on recent Sundays.”

Documented concerns had already been sent

“[Ms. Micklo] read a letter dated January 3, 2012 for the public record that had been sent from Nancy Barbeau of 571 Dawes to the Glen Ellyn Plan Commission. Ms. Micklo stated that Ms. Barbeau has lived on Dawes since 1960. Ms. Micklo stated that the letter contained Ms. Barbeau’s objections to the subject house becoming a church as parking and traffic problems will occur and the tax base will be affected.”

How could they not know?

“Mr. Yurcus stated his family was totally devastated to learn a church was operating in the neighborhood. Mr. Yurcus stated he is an ordained minister and permanent deacon at St. Petronille Church in Glen Ellyn, a teacher and music director at St. James Church and the founder and member of the Glen Ellyn Ministerial Group. Mr. Yurcus stated he finds it hard to believe that UBF was unaware of zoning regulations.”

Shocked

“Mr. Yurcus stated he was shocked that the Village was unaware that a church located at the subject site had not paid taxes in 12 years and he also expressed concern regarding precedence. He also suggested that UBF rent space in another church or a storefront in town and added that UBF is not the right fit for this neighborhood.”

Why does the pastor not speak?

“Mr. Yurkus asked why the paid pastor of the church is not speaking on behalf of the petition and why Mr. Hajek has the authority to speak. Mr. Hajek responded that he has been an understudy/assistant of the pastor for 10 years and was asked to speak at the Plan Commission meetings because he speaks publicly in his career and lived in the subject house for several years.”

Parking/safety concerns for children

“Ms. Robinson felt that the depth of the subject driveway is not sufficient to support the four cars parked there by the petitioner and is a safety concern for children. She also expressed concern regarding cars parking on Parkside as that street is narrow and parking is allowed on both sides of the street. Ms. Robinson also expressed a concern regarding strangers in the neighborhood who attend the subject church as there are many children in the neighborhood.”

Disregard for parking regulations

“Mr. Adamczyk stated that his biggest concern is traffic and that the neighborhood is impacted by the petitioners 2-3 times per week and 52 weeks per year with 7 to 10 cars at the site. Mr. Adamczyk stated that the intersection is uncontrolled and cars parked on both sides of Parkside create a one-way street. He also stated that bottlenecks and blind spots are created in that area. Mr. Adamczyk displayed two photographs of the subject site with four cars in the driveway blocking the sidewalk. He stated that photographs on the church’s website show 30 people on the subject property and information stating that a 4-day Bible conference will be held at the site in August.”

Claim of ignorance

“[Ms. Johnson] began by stating that she has nothing against the church or its members. She responded to issues from the previous meeting that the church was ignorant of the Village’s zoning laws and that the church typically goes into neighborhoods and buys single family residences/condos which they use to operate as churches. Ms. Johnson stated she found it difficult to believe that this is the first time the subject issue has come up for the church. She stated that when purchasing a home, documents are present, one of which states who will be living in the property as a permanent resident, which the church is not doing at the subject property. She also stated that a member of the church was living in the home and not paying taxes because the church owned the property.”

Safety concerns for children

“[Ms.Bauerle] lives kitty-corner from the subject church. She stated that she has a child with special needs and had searched for a home within a good school district in a family focused community. Ms. Bauerle stated she saw 13 cars at the subject home last weekend and stated she believes the church will grow. She stated she does not let her 12-year-old son go outdoors on Sunday because of the amount of traffic at the subject site. Ms. Bauerle stated that the community cannot support the needs for a church that will grow because there is not adequate parking and it is not fair to the residents who pay taxes. She also expressed concern regarding several years of taxes that have not been paid by the petitioner for a residential home.”

No effort since last hearing

“[Ms. Nachman] stated that since the previous meeting, the church has made no efforts regarding parking issues at the subject site. Ms. Nachman stated that cars at the subject house continue to be parked across the sidewalk which is one of the biggest concerns of the neighbors. She added that the church representatives could have taken care of some issues regarding the subject site since the previous meeting.”

Contradiction of information

“[Mr. Krebs] spoke at the previous meeting and stated at this meeting that there have been more people, more cars and more occasions at the subject house. Mr. Krebs added that the answers that were provided directly contradict information in the special use application, narrative and application for variation. He added that the current use of the property is not consistent with residential usage and leads to traffic interference on the streets, alters the essential character of the neighborhood, could be detrimental to public welfare, and could be a hazard or disturbing to future use.”

The fifth and final allegation from the Korean staff shepherds in Korea in 1976 is that the UBF ministry depended entirely on one man, Lee.

The claims were:

• Paralyzed function of UBF committees
• Dictatorship style leader’s meetings

What follows these claims in the 1976 letter is a rather long and severe rebuke, recounting Lee’s teaching methods and actions. I will leave my readers to read this for their own if they choose.

I will simply conclude this series of reviewing the 1976 UBF reform letter with the Korean shepherds’ own words:

We have wrongfully thought you are the spiritual father of UBF. You take advantage of your authority as the spiritual father, teacher and leader of UBF. However, God, our lord, is the only father, teacher and master. We are all brothers (Matthew 23:8-11). We understand that you should be respected as a spiritual father to establish spiritual order. Saint Paul also called Timothy son. The equality in UBF is, however, broken. Under the broken equality, calling you a spiritual father leaves UBF members in the relation of master and servant. You are nothing but a cult leader because you tried to become God. As a result, Satan works in UBF in several areas. We cannot but conclude that your words and deeds are tied up to the evil spirit of lying, killing, and fear (Roman 8:15).

Shepherd Lee! You might think that we lead a rebellion against you for political reasons or we are Satan led by one shepherd. We, including you, should repent together before God. You know well that UBF becomes a problem as a cult in our society. You made an excuse saying that UBF is strict. You also criticize the religious leaders. Why, then, do you flatter them by spending money inviting them? We cannot but think that you flatter them because you fear the disclosure of UBF’s wrongdoing.

We will not keep silent about all the evil in the name of God’s glory. We will not allow the evil ministry that idolizes you and manipulates our sheep. We pray that you repent and resign from UBF. This is the only way to restore the ministry of UBF for the glory of God. We are going to wholeheartedly pray for  you. Please pray for us that we might continue to serve the ministry of God. We sincerely pray that the Lord of Lords, the righteous God, may win the victory.

April 15, 1976

Samuel H. Lee
Barnabas Chang
Peter Suh
Nathaniel Ahn
Matthew Sohn
Joseph Lee
Jonah Kim

News:

Utopia in Kimchi Tank – Exploring the hazards of the Korea manipulative sect which recommands the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

Description:

In recent years, we saw many zealous Korean religious sects preaching in the universities campus. They usually attract students’ participation by special cultural activities. Then, through systematic Bible study class, they instill their ideas gradually. However, many of such sects are in the name of Christianity, claiming themselves to be a godly and full of love’s Kingdom of Heaven that rarely found on earth. In fact, their claiming is unreal and they are the blind-believers abusive organisations. They bring to believers lots of poison and ideological manipulation. In order to explore these phenomena, we expecially held a lecture. We invited someone who has been caught in such denominations and some senior religious people. They will explain how to distinguish between authentic and problemed denominations. Let’s discuss how such campus mission movement influenced the students.

Speakers:

  Dr. Kai-Yum Cheung Teng (Alliance Bible Seminary, Associate Professor of Cross-culturalResearch Department)

  Pastor Wu Chi Wai (Hong Kong Church Renewal Movement, General Director)

  Former University Bible Fellowship UBF (South Korea manipulative sect) Division Leader

Date:

2012/04/11 (Wednesday)

Location:

T.Y. Wong Hall (TYW_LT), 5th/F, Ho Sin Hang Engineering Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Time:

19:00 – 21:00pm (7:00 pm to 9:00 pm)

Object:

University professors and students, people who have concerns about new religious movements from South Korea.

Organizer:

Concern Group on Newly Emerged Religions CGNER/

Hong Kong Church Renewal Movement HKCRM

Enquiry Hotline:

8132-2841

Web site:

http://www.cgner.org
http://www.facebook.com/events/378534852179368/

No registration. Free admission

]]> 863 http://www.priestlynation.com/what-happened-in-winnepeg/ Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:54:43 +0000 http://www.priestlynation.com/?p=829 Continue reading What happened in Winnepeg?→]]> Here’s an acid test question to ask a UBF leader: what happened in Winnepeg? Personally, I found that no one wants to talk about Winnepeg. Here’s why.

The newspaper article from 1990 is here:
“The Winnipeg Sun” Vol. 10, No.90 Tuesday, April 17, 1990

http://rsqubf.info/documents/external/winnipegsun/

It was the last straw for a then 22 year old Bible study student, who realized the missionary position could take on a new meaning.

She blushes even yet as she recalls how the man she looked to as her spiritual leader abused her trust. She had agreed to go with him to recruit University of Manitoba students to join their Bible study group, but they ended up together on his bed. She never questioned him- she went willingly.

In a lengthy interview with two city police officers, she told them about the ministry and how control over her own life had been taken away – how she was led to believe in the ultimate authority of a man who betrayed it.

“The police wanted to know everything from the beginning to the end. Their main concern was …I never resisted. From a legal point of view, it’s hard to fight.”

A police spokesman says no charges have been laid nor are any contemplated at this time. But for her that’s immaterial. She’s achieved her goal. “if someone else comes forward (with a complaint), it won’t be the first.”

Theresa discovered the truth too late, but she wanted to warn others. It was then the threats began. Word leaked out hse’d spoken to the media. They convinced her to fly to Chicago, headquarters for the fellowship, led by Korean missionary Samuel Lee and American Sarah Berry.

“Won’t accept no”

There, she was told they’d take legal action against her if she dared speak out. It was enough to instill the fear of God.

But last fall, the second year student at Red River Community College knew she could no longer keep her silence after she spotted three Korean missionaries on campus. It could happen all over again – and there could be more victims.

That summer, she moved in with two Korean missionaries and another woman involved with the Winnipeg group of about 20 missionaires and 15 students.

“They said where I was living was not the best environment -that my friends were a bad influence because they were questioning and challenging me. My friends were saying be careful. When I first moved in, I had been dating a guy for two years. They said I had to end it.” All marraiges are arranged.

“They kept making insinuations about my marraige. I didn’t trust (them) to choose my marraige partner.” At first, everyone was “all lovey”, but then they started casting aspersions on her, she says. She became confused.

“You’re always exposing yourself…all your secrets…even your worst thoughts you’d never thought you’d share. Instead of being helped, you’re judged. I was made to feel the problem was with me, yet I couldn’t fully believe that.”

In March, 2012, someone using the name “Inesuh1012” attempted to completely blank out the critical section of the Wikipedia article entry for UBF. I know UBF leaders sometimes do this because I did this same thing to the original Wikipedia article when I was defending UBF! When I mangled the Wikipedia article about UBF, it was officially sanctioned by a few top leaders in UBF, who sometimes fed me material to post.

The reasons given for their actions, by “Inesuh1012”, are telling. Such actions speak louder than any “good words” or “blessings” UBF people speak about.

Here is the article history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_Bible_Fellowship&action=history

The “Inesuh1012” login has since been deleted. The IP geolocation of this person’s location shows them to be from St.Louis, Missouri.

Here is the ludicrous reason given by “Inesuh1012” for his/her actions:

“made it more unbiased”

So…by completely removing all critical content… removing many facts about an organization (such as being listed on 6 cult-watching groups) and only showing positive elements of something… that is what makes the article less biased?  This kind of action, in a nutshell, is a prime example of the UBF teachings at work.

Thankfully, two Wikipedians (who have nothing to do with UBF and only try to enforce the Wiki rules) have stepped in and locked the article to prevent such “edit warring”.

Up to now, by every liberal estimate, UBF has sent 3,000 missionaries in the past 51 years. That leaves 29 years to send out 97,000 more UBF missionaries. Perhaps this is a reachable goal. But what if this all-pervasive goal of 100,000 UBF missionaries is not met? Who will be blamed? What will happen? UBF leaders would do well to learn from recent history and work to avoid the mistakes of other empire-building ministries. I write today’s blog post, not for now, but for future generations. I write this for the year 2041, and I hope I am wrong.

UBF has been described by more than one critic of UBF as a “Moony-lite” organization. This means that UBF displays numerous behaviors that the Unification Church has displayed (such as mass arranged marriages), but on a smaller scale and perhaps in a less harmful way.  Certainly I can testify that UBF has displayed Moony-like behaviors in subtle and not-so-subtle ways over the past decades. One major way that UBF is similar to the Moony organization is its “business mission”, which is called “self-supporting business mission” in UBF. If this teaching becomes full-blown and is pursued by UBF leaders as a valid means of mission, this may be what UBF looks like in the future:

http://freedomofmind.com/Media/blog.php?id=20&title=67_Page_list_of_Entities_Closely_Associated_with_Sun_Myung_Moon

Historically, UBF has planted the seeds of shunning ex members, and even getting lawyers involved with critical websites. One former director told me at breakfast once that UBF would use any means possible to remove anti-UBF material from the internet. If such seeds continue to grow, UBF may look like the Scientology group in the future, with regard to dealing with the ex-members:

http://www.suppressiveperson.org/sp/archives/2274

Can UBF leaders avoid such a future? I think 2012 will be telling. The seeds of lawsuits and mental, spiritual, physical, emotional and sexual abuse have already been planted. These seeds were planted in the midst of a truly Christian organization. UBF missionaries do indeed seek to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But far too many UBF leaders, who have the authority to prevent such abuse, have allowed actions such as these to also grow in the ministry:

– Sometime in 2007, a UBF director succeeded in removing a website that was critical of UBF teachings, by legal means.
– Sometime in 2011, the UBF internet committee instructed leaders via email to dislike an article that was critical of UBF.
– Sometime in 2012, a sexual abuse scandal leaked out of the protective covering of UBF leadership.

Such recent actions do not bode well, but thankfully our God is a God of miracles.

In the months leading up to this conference and report, my spiritual life had become stagnant. I had been alone with my family in Detroit for about 7 years. We had survived financial hell, our son’s epilepsy, several job changes, distressing PhD politics, and far too many house moves. My wife and I were at a loss as to how to help our four children to learn faith in Jesus. My soul was tired and weary as I continued to “keep face” with UBF, inventing glorious words to report what “work of God” had been occurring in our UBF house church. I tried desperately to uphold the UBF ideals and secretly covered over my broken relationships with some UBF leaders.

Then came the 2011 Easter Conference with Toledo UBF. Through this conference, my spirit suddenly came alive. My love for Jesus revived and my purpose from God became clear. I was filled with a great desire to see justice done. Alarm bells rang through my mind as I recalled some horrific events in the past; events I had once called “acts of faith”. Suddenly my soul was flooded with peace, joy, power, purpose and longing for Jesus. But there was a problem–a big problem. What I experienced did not fit in with Toledo UBF.

I wrote an honest conference report, perhaps for the first time in 24 years. I knew what kind of reaction it would invoke. I knew it would spell the end of my UBF life. But strangely, I was filled with more peace and power than ever before as I wrote it and sent it on.

So here it is, the report that started it all, the report that sparked me to write My Confession, to discuss issues in over 800 email conversations, to write more than 80 articles on this blog and eventually to resign as Detroit UBF director, leave UBF entirely and seek out a new, healthy Christian church.

Below are a few observations I had from this conference and also some issues I am dealing with here in Detroit.

For the first time in the past 24 years, I didn’t find a word of God to take with me from the messages at the conference. My daughters said they enjoyed the car ride to the conference more than the conference. I was in fact disturbed by part of [the main] message, where [the messenger] asked everyone to replace Jesus with their own name, to ask God to glorify us. The Lord’s Prayer is indeed a model, but I think Jesus’ high priestly prayer has much more to teach us than a framework. I also did not prepare the question sheets for the Bible study this time. I found the questions confusing and limited to the answers I’ve already learned over the years.

Over the past 7 years since coming to Detroit, I’ve noticed that it is increasingly difficult to adopt the Toledo UBF messages. In the recent months, the schedule of passages has been confusing and difficult to discern the reasons for studying the passages in the order they are presented. For our spiritual good, I am not able to follow the Toledo UBF messages closely, as I have done in prior years. So in Detroit we began studying Genesis. We are praying for a new direction in what book to study.

During my visits to Toledo UBF the past 7 years at various times, I’ve sensed a growing deadness in the ministry. I cannot explain this nor do I know why I’ve sensed this. Visiting Toledo UBF has begun to remind me of my days in the Catholic church, where there was a lot of religious practice, but little or no life or spirit of God.

From this conference, however, I did find John 16:7 from [a PowerPoint] presentation: “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” Working with [fellow coworkers] and listening to this presentation was inspiring to me and expanded my thinking and view of God. It was the freshest presentation I’ve heard since coming to Detroit. I learned that to know God I must get to know all three Persons of God. Otherwise, my view is largely incomplete. I was renewed and refreshed to understand that the Holy Spirit is a Person of God; someone I can go to for guidance and counsel. Scripture clearly does not present the Spirit as merely energy or power. Jesus in fact promised to send the Spirit intentionally to believers who ask. It is especially enlightening to know that as a believer I can seek out the Holy Spirit as a Person who is a counselor, advocate, intercessor, transformer and teacher.

A recent report on the history of Asia pioneering is a clear example of what I’m talking about. Here is an excerpt for the positive-only UBF report:

“She offered her five loaves and two fish for HK pioneering mission. As a result, HK UBF has grown rapidly by raising 6 native Sunday messengers and more than 115 Sunday worshipers. Now 5 chapters are having worship service independently and 6 Korean missionaries are co-working together. We thank and praise God for using M. Angela so preciously as a mother of prayer for HK campus souls.” (source)

However, in spite of the rosy picture painted by the UBF report, the reality is very different from their perception. Clearly there has been an ongoing exodus of leaders in Hong Kong UBF. The report also includes glorious-sounding words about India UBF, completely glossing over the exodus of leaders that happened there recently.

The UBF reporter and those who posted the report and those who approved the report all know about the painful reality going on for more than a decade in Hong Kong. Yet the UBF report focuses on the sacrificial life of one missionary and ignores the division completely, just as the majority of UBF leaders continue to ignore any differing opinions regarding their ministry methods and beliefs. I pray that UBF leaders will face the facts and begin to report honestly and factually.

Praise God and ignore division? Serve God and forget about your neighbor? Sacrifice your life and mitigate the mercy of God? I don’t think so. Abraham repented of doing such things, and was blessed for it. We dare not talk about faith and serving God and obeying Christ if we cannot face the facts of our reality. How can I claim to know God if I do not attempt reconciliation, love my neighbor and fall at the mercy of God? We are in danger of becoming mystical fools if we do not face the facts of our situation.

“Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead–since he was about a hundred years old–and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.” Romans 4:19 (NIV84)

The article was about the student ministry called University Bible Fellowship. The newspaper was the “Diamond Back Online”, the newspaper of the University of Maryland.

The reporter made the following statement about University Bible Fellowship. At the time, it puzzled me. Today, it makes a lot of sense:

“Although many student members have sung the praises of UBF, others have expressed concerns about the methods by which the church recruits its members and exerts control over their lives.” (source)

UBF puts a lot of effort into a Christian-sounding, public face. Each time an exodus of leaders occurs, the remaining leaders focus on praising God and gain a few more Christian buzz-words, usually by inviting someone to speak about such words.

UBF spends much time and effort and money to be attractive for students (much good food, much high praise, etc). But people like myself who have experienced things like messenger training, see the other side of UBF. It is the side that causes some to have grave concerns. It is this dark side, the side that has bordered on the illegal at times, that sparks the anger of former UBF members. After the initial “love”, a Bible student in UBF will be challenged to commit their entire life and all life choices to UBF, one by one. This twist is one issue that prompted me to leave this year and continue to blog about it, even though such blogging comes with risk of retaliation.

A while back, UBF showed signs of retaliating against the “anti-UBF” material. They succeeded in removing a small, negative article about them. But apparently they missed a lot of other articles. Below is a brief listing of material by former UBF members and some outside agencies. I hesitate to post such a list because it gives UBF lawyers an easy target. However, the stories of hundreds of former UBF members cry out to be heard. Since UBF leaders remain silent, refusing to even admit such stories exist, I will list them here. The stories are from around the world, including Russia, Germany, Mexico, India and America. I list them here because some people have asked me from time to time where this information is on the internet.

One interesting note is that Canada UBF seems to be moving in the right direction (God’s direction) and listening to the Holy Spirit. Canada UBF began with some of the most horrific stories of abuse, yet somehow, some Canadian UBF chapters have found their way back to God and the Bible.

Fellowship or foe? You can decide for yourself.

http://exubfjc.wordpress.com/
http://rsqubf.info/
http://exubf.blogspot.com/
http://hkubf.blogspot.com/
http://rsqubf.livejournal.com/
http://ubfhistoryx.livejournal.com/
http://www.voy.com/60734/
http://exubf-ru.blogspot.com/
http://www.ubfriends.org/2011/03/to-stay-or-not-to-stay/
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/u08.html
http://www.refocus.org/former-member-contacts.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70492020564
http://www.ccel.us/churches.ch5.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/petitions/ubfnae03/signatures?page=2

I must admit my own failure to care for fellow Christians. I did not even realize there was a rather large UBF chapter in Hong Kong! But it is clear they have experienced the same spiritual abuse issues over the past decade that many have experienced. Here is their blog:

http://hkubf.blogspot.com/ (Chinese)

http://hkubf.blogspot.com/ (Google-translated into English)

This is yet another example of evidence that the problems facing UBF are not because of Korean culture. The problems are systemic in nature, woven into the very fabric of UBF’s existence. Our Hong Kong brothers and sisters demonstrate yet again that the world-wide problems in UBF are rooted in lack of accountability for leaders, an unchecked desire for power by UBF directors and an unhealthy focus on “praising God” and personal piety while forgetting to love your neighbor.

First, a small book published in 1991 called “Churches That Abuse” by Dr. Ronald Enroth features UBF as a case study in chapter 5.

Public link:
Churches That Abuse (PDF)

Local link:
Churches_that_Abuse

Second, a presentation prepared in 2008 by Professor Scott Moreau (of Wheaton College) entitled “A Personal Case Study in Partnership: My relationship with University Bible Fellowship”.

Public link:
Partnership Case Study about UBF

Local link:
Partnership_Case_Study-Moreau_&_UBF

Professor Moreau’s final slide is very appropriate to my situation. As of 2011, I can safely say that UBF still need’s major work on these areas mentioned by Professor Moreau:

1. UBF has to develop a concrete ecclesiology.

2. UBF Christians should make it a rule constantly to examine themselves and publicly discuss their administrative problems.

3. It is imperative that UBF respect each person’s individuality and conscience and help them develop true freedom in Christ.

I am posting this online because this information might not filter down to those attending. I am also posting this because it is a clear example of leaders giving strange reasons for changing things without further explanation, as well as the top down communication from a coordinator to the chapter directors. Hopefully by now an email went out to the actual registered participants.

http://chicagoubf.org/discipleship/

From: —————–
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2011 5:59 PM
To: ———-
Subject: Leadership Development Workshop update

Dear Coworkers,

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. This is an update concerning the Leadership Development Workshop to be held October 27-30. Due to the large number of interested candidates we have had thus far during the registration period, the venue for this workshop has been changed from the Salvation Army Camp Wonderland in Camp Lake, Wisconsin to the Chicago Center. Accordingly the cost of attending the workshop has also been changed from $175 to $120.

The registration deadline for this conference will be 9/30/2011, so please get all candidate applications and recommendations in ASAP.

May the Lord bless our young leaders abundantly through this workshop.

In Christ, ———-

The article was posted on the internet sometime in 2008, so I don’t know why the email was just sent with such urgency this month, 2011. The article is gone the last time I checked. But it is interesting to see how fearful and defensive UBF leaders are of negative words. Here is the email, with the email addresses and names dashed out.

It is also interesting to see this leader sending out “mass emails”. I was rebuked for sending out “mass emails” as I left UBF.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: ——@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 5:29 AM
Subject: removing anti-UBF articles from the Internet
To: ———

Greetings, servants of God,

Generally I don’t like to create mass emails, but in this case I would really like your help urgently.

It has recently come to my attention that there is a popular website among young people called “Urban Dictionary.” According to a Wikipedia article, the site gets about 15 million unique visitors per month, and 80% of the users under the age of 25. It is a very important website that many American college students are accessing every day.

This “Urban Dictionary” contains lots of “street slang” terms that young people currently use. Much of it has dirty language, but it is nonetheless very popular. There is an article in it on “UBF” and on “University Bible Fellowship.” These articles are extremely negative. They would definitely drive curious young people away from our ministry if they use this resource to try to find out about us. I think it is a very important issue right at the start of our new school year college student outreach ministry.

The only way to remove these articles is if enough people mark them as “Dislike” by clicking on the “thumbs down” icon on the upper right hand corner of the article. This can be done only once on each computer. Once an article is very unpopular with a strong majority of “Dislike” votes, the editors remove it from the “Urban Dictionary” website.

Would you please go to these articles “UBF” and “University Bible Fellowship” and mark them as “Dislike”? It will help us to remove their poisonous attacks on our ministry.

Also, please use discernment in circulating this email. (In my opinion it is not good for many of our young people to be exposed to the negative attacks of these “Urban Dictionary” articles about our ministry.)

Perhaps if many of our UBF co-workers in Korea were to also go to this “Urban Dictionary” website and vote “Dislike,” it would make the articles even more unpopular.

Thank you for your help.

In Christ,
—————-

“Call it a clan, a tribe, a family, a community… but you need one. Thank you for being part of our community!”

These are quotes I heard at the opening address of the 20th anniversary celebration of a software company. In twenty years they went from 1 customer to over 10,000. Many of the first customers are still customers.

Why is it some people of the world understand community and humility and leadership and personal growth so well? This company has even learned from their mistakes.

But much can be learned from the messages posted publicly.

“During the past several months, we have had chance to critically examine ourselves with questions, “What is going on in this ministry? What is wrong with us? Is there any hope for Toledo UBF? Should we keep being a part of this ministry?” While our leaders asking these questions, several student leaders took a specific action for reaching out fellow students. Last Friday, these student leaders organized Praise and Worship. The previous week, these students helped CBF Bible School. They were all united for this. This united effort our students is very inspiring for all of us.”

“This Friday I met with Pastor Abraham Kim, a new UBF General Director who will serve his four year term. We discussed several things. In this meeting I said, “Four years go very fast. Thus, please do not try to do too many and too soon. Pray very carefully and focus on one or two big things.” I apply this advice to myself as well. As Toledo Leadership Council is now organized. All six leaders (Mark Gamber, Russell Kille, Jim Paul, Greg Lewis, Mark Ohashi and Bruce Kwiatkowski) are very wonderful. They are humble and sincere. They will discharge many of the responsibilities in this ministry. As pastor I can now focus on one or two main things. What would that be? God’s message is clear. Focus on God. Therefore, pray. Be united in prayer. By God’s grace we will all learn from this persistent widow, humble tax collector and little children. In view of this passage, Toledo UBF will again have many praying people who are persistent, humble and trusting.”

Apparently…according to the quotes above from a recent message in Toledo UBF:

The leaders in Toledo UBF are not doing God’s work and just wasting time questioning issues about the ministry.

Only the young students are doing God’s work and are the only ones demonstrating unity and inspiration.

We should just forget about the more than 30 people who just left, and hope for persitent, humble and trusting people to be raised again.

What about truthful people who question things and have a different viewpoint? I guess we are all supposed to just forget everything that happened the past 5 months and move on.

Original public link:
http://www.utchristians.com/message_detail.php?id=244

A PDF screencapture in case the link above disappears:
Toledo UBF message 2011-08-21

But among senior staff, the “r” does not mean reform. It means “rebels”. As a staff member, I heard the term “rebel” associated numerous times with people who left the ministry. Those who left are considered to have become rebellious toward God’s servants and toward God. Even those who left with a pact to “agree-to-disagree” are spoken of in terms of being rebellious in some way.

I have exchanged emails with many of the “r-group” people during my defense of UBF ministry. I did not admit it at the time, but I did not find them rebellious at all. Some were bitter and angry, indeed, and for good reason from what I could tell. But when I saw through the emotions, I could see facts.

Here is one of my favorite songs from the late ’80s by the Altar Boys, dedicated to all the “rebels” of the world. Our actions shout louder than any words. Yet sometimes we need the guts to speak.

Rebels, attention, can you hear me?
Man, we’ve got to take this message out in the streets
In this wilderness our voices must be heard
With everything we’ve got to be a light in this world

Rebels, attention, do you hear me?
It’s not easy I know, but you’ve got to stand with me
I’ve seen too many people fallen to the lies
The truth has to come from you and I

Chorus:
We’ve got to shout louder! louder!
Louder than the world!
Shout it straight from your hearts
Give it to them all you’ve got, shout it!

Hey rebels, attention! you can hear me
All the fired out brains and kids without names get to me.
I see them lying there in the city morgue
Mom and Dad’s wondering what went wrong?!

Hey rebels, I’m pleading did you hear me!
The way we live the way we love is everything
So what if I memorized every verse
We shout louder than the world by the way we serve!

Shout it! Make actions scream
Shout it! What this world needs
Shout it! Stick to our guns
Cause from our hearts (then) from our lungs.

This week I made contact with an old friend. He shared with me that he had received a threatening cease-and-desist letter from a UBF lawyer. He had published some articles and documents that revealed a lot of the negative side of UBF’s history.

If anyone else has had to deal with a UBF lawyer recently or in the past, please contact me.

Today I make this post as a public request to UBF leaders and lawyers. Please don’t escalate things into the legal realm! Those of us who have left UBF are actually very reasonable. Some have become very bitter and angry at times. I myself have made mistakes and have not done everything perfectly. However, we have acted out of love for God and love for our neighbor; that is our heart. We want facts and answers, not silence and legal battles.

If you in UBF do want a legal battle, however, you will need to keep in mind that you will be dealing with me. I am not a lawyer in any sense. But I have had quite a bit of experience with the courts. I have experience with handling cease-and-desist letters, evictions and legal arbitration. Once I stood in court listening to a Prosecuting Attorney scream at me. I am poor compared to UBF, but I do have access to lawyers through my business. And the lawyers in Detroit are quite good.

So let’s heed the warnings Apostle Paul gave us and not escalate things into lawsuits:

“1 If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother goes to law against another–and this in front of unbelievers! 7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?” 1 Corinthians 6:1-7 (NIV)

UBF Mission Statement for the Next 50 Years
Our Mission Statement for the Next 50 Years

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“All scriptures is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

1) At this ‘UBF shepherd and missionary seminar’ at our 50th anniversary, we shared the ‘spirit, ministry and vision’- the spiritual heritage that God has handed down to us.

2) This spirit is: ‘The spirit of discipleship,’ ‘the spirit of world mission and self-support’, ‘the spirit of community,’ life –giving spirit,’ ‘manger spirit-to live a sacrificial and simple life,’ and ‘pioneering and independent spirit.’

3) Our ministry is : ‘discipleship and house church ministry,’ ‘one-to-one Bible study,’ ‘daily bread,’ ‘testimony writing’, ‘raising and sending professional, self-supporting missionaries,’ ‘social responsibility in action,’ and ‘prayer for the ends of earth: North Korea and beyond.’

4) We confirmed that this spirit and ministry came out of the Bible

5) The key point of this spiritual heritage is ‘who we are and what we do.’

6) This is our identity.

7) We thought about how this heritage contributed to our community, to churches in Korea and throughout around the world, and to universities and societies.

8) At the same time, we also shared our future direction.

9) We give our thanks, praise and glory to god who has accomplished his amazing work in campuses in Korea and around the world for the last 50 years.

10) Nevertheless, we repent that we have not lived up to this beautiful spiritual heritage well, and developed it well.

11) We have a historical mission to keep this spiritual heritage well and pass it on to our descendants.

12) Therefore, looking forward to the next 50 years, we pledge as follows;

1. We pledge to devote ourselves to live up to the spirit, ministry and vision that God has passed down to us, and to develop it further

2. We pledge to dedicate ourselves to the ministry in our native country and to the task of sending out 100,000 missionaries to 233 nations, including 140 unreached nations, by 2041.

3. We pledge to give a good influence to the society and churches in our native country and around the world by being salt and light in each of our respective mission fields.

June 1, 2011

Pledged by all the attendants of the UBF shepherd and missionary seminar.

UBF Mission Statement for the Next 50 Years

Although I will do my best not to endlessly criticize UBF, I will not be silent. Over the past 6 months I have had numerous opportunities to negotiate a “cease-fire” or pact of silence. I could have an “agree to disagree” attitude, but I have refused. Today I share an example of someone who did sign a pact of silence with UBF.

Sometime before 1989, James Kim began speaking up about reform needs of UBF. In 2011, I see most of the same reform still needs to happen. Here is how his wife, Rebecca B. Kim, described his pact of silence. I have paraphrased some of this to remove the harsh words used (their full letters are preserved verbatim below).

The only [weapon] of M. James K. was the letter. He made many copies and mailed them out. He also gave it to Toledo shepherds. Once we were cut off, it was not easy to see them. But no one would be able to stop M. James K.

Through a mediator, M. Samuel Lee and M. James K. agreed to have a cease-fire. Before he went to Chicago UBF center to make a contract, he said to me, “…I will have the contract in writing signed by witnesses before God.” M. Samuel Lee’s request was for M. James K. to leave Toledo immediately and not to circulate the letter anymore. M. James K.’s request was to be sent to Houston as a director of Houston UBF, to have five American shepherds sent to Houston as pioneer coworkers, to receive financial support of $1,000 a month for two years.

The contract was typed on letter-sized paper, starting with words of praising God, signed by UBF board members before God as witnesses. He came home with the contract letter.

I was one of the American shepherds James Kim asked to go with him to Houston. Although I knew in my heart James Kim had been betrayed and was trustworthy, I refused because I was dealing with my father’s death at the time.

Here are the original open letters James and Rebecca Kim wrote later, around 2001. They are a total of 48 pages and filled with much passion. Yet they are also filled with many facts and brutal honesty before God. I preserve the letters here so that the voice of the late James Kim may continue to speak.

JamesKim2001

RebeccaBKim2001

1) No ministry members attended. Why is that? Perhaps they feel their voice wouldn’t be heard?

2) The council began the meeting by discussing 1 Timothy 1. Really? Why would they feel the need to discuss that passage in light of people leaving the ministry (like me)?

Timothy Charged to Oppose False Teachers

1 Timothy 1:3-7 (NIV) “3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.”

Leadership Council Minutes 8-17-11

Why didn’t I tell anyone? I didn’t reveal this at the time because I wasn’t strong enough at the time. Leaving a structured ministry like UBF is not easy. In fact, leaving is often very traumatic and full of political drama tantamount to the Godfather! At the time I had a stone of bitterness and malice in my heart. I was alone in Detroit, Michigan with no job, three young children and a financial situation near bankruptcy. I nearly shipwrecked my faith.

At a critical moment in 2003, a good friend of mine told me how he could see the stone of bitterness in me. His prayer for me moved me to overcome this stone. In fact, God melted it. I then made a new decision: to build a life for me and my family apart from UBF. For 8 years now, I have done just that. I have remained connected to UBF by attending 3 or 4 conferences or meetings per year. But I was attending those conferences, not as a member, but as an observer. I had decided to remain connected to UBF, obeying in every way in order to appear as a member. This turned out to be rather easy. UBF leaders value obedience so highly that I just needed to obey. I wasn’t held accountable for anything else. So I was free to build a new life.

In 2003 I also began ferociously defending UBF ministry on the internet. Why? I was looking for a reason to stay. I was also looking for justification for the 16 years I had spent committed to UBF. I had seen problems and issues, but why had I stayed so faithful? I desperately looked for an answer.

After a few years, I found that I could no longer defend UBF as an organization. Why should I need to defend it anyway? If what has been built is built by and for God, it will remain and be used by God. In 2009 I decided to read two open letters to UBF from two good friends and spiritual mentors I had known in the late 80’s. They recounted an event that I had particpated in. I realized I had sinned and hurt their family terribly by helping to pack their belongings into a truck to “help” them (My Confession).

As I built my life without UBF programs and practices, without the UBF heritage, my eyes began to see. I began to see the pattern of families leaving with wounds and sores. During college years, UBF was so good, so helpful and so wonderful. But some chapters of UBF seemed to be built as wounding machines, chewing up good Christian men and women after graduating from college, and spitting them out like fodder. I saw this happen to at least 13 families the past 21 years. I couldn’t let this happen again when I heard of the same patterns occurring yet again in 2011.

Some have asked me if I am leaving UBF. My answer is: No, I am not. I left in 2003.

John Stott died today [July 27th, 2011] at 3:15 London time (about 9:15 a.m. CST), according to John Stott Ministries President Benjamin Homan. Homan said that Stott’s death came after complications related to old age and that he has been in discomfort for the last several weeks. Family and close friends gathered with Stott today as they listened to Handel’s Messiah. Homan said that John Stott Ministries has been preparing for his death for the past 15 years. “I think he set an impeccable example for leaders of ministries of handing things over to other leaders,” Homan said. “He imparted to many a love for the global church and imparted a passion for biblical fidelity and a love for the Savior.” Billy Graham’s spokesperson released the following statement from the evangelist: “The evangelical world has lost one of its greatest spokesmen, and I have lost one of my close personal friends and advisors. I look forward to seeing him again when I go to Heaven.”

Stott was every inch an evangelical, but a reforming evangelical. He recognized that evangelicalism could and sometimes did sink down into mere piety, whereas the Bible spoke of a robust transformation of the world brought about by God’s people engaged in mission. As a London pastor, Stott increasingly recognized the need for evangelicalism to reclaim its heritage of engagement with the social issues of the day.

His greatest impact in the area of social concern came somewhat inadvertently. In 1974, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association convened an International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. About 2,500 members attended (in addition to 1,300 other participants). About half of the delegates and speakers came from Majority World countries. The gathering’s wide representation resembled meetings of the World Council of Churches, but the excited atmosphere of unified mission was unprecedented. Many participants grasped for the first time the global dimensions of the evangelical church….

…Stott had been asked to give the opening address on the nature of biblical evangelism. He began with characteristic humility, calling for “a note of evangelical repentance.” And he spoke head-on—with a lucid exposition of Scripture—to the issue on people’s minds. “Here then are two instructions, ‘love your neighbor’ and ‘go and make disciples.’ What is the relation between the two? Some of us behave as if we thought them identical, so that if we have shared the gospel with somebody, we consider we have completed our responsibility to love him. But no. The Great Commission neither explains, nor exhausts, nor supersedes the Great Commandment. What it does is to add to the command of neighbor-love and neighbor-service a new and urgent Christian dimension. If we truly love our neighbor, we shall without doubt tell him the Good News of Jesus. But equally, if we truly love our neighbor, we shall not stop there.”

Theologian David Wells, who was converted through a 1959 John Stott mission in South Africa, later shared a household with him for five years in the early 1960s. “His leadership was effective,” Wells says, “because of his personal integrity and his Christian life. People who knew him always came back to these points. He was known all over the world, but when you met him he was a most devout, humble Christian man. His private life was no different from his public life. It was the same person. That’s another way to say that he had integrity. There was no posing.”
One would like to say that such is the nature of plain, ordinary Christians. Not all live up to it. John Stott did.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/julyweb-only/john-stott-obit.html

What? People are taking pilgrimages to the right-hand man of Adolph Hitler? In 2011? The local church there had ruled to honor the wishes of Hess in his will. So they buried Hess in a grave in a Bavarian town, where his family had a holiday home. The church valued honor and acted according to respect of a dead man.

“The local Lutheran church which supervises the cemetery gave its permission for the burial at the time, ruling that the wishes of the deceased could not be ignored, the Suddeutsche Zeitung reports.

But they and local people have since become concerned by the number of far-right groups visiting the grave. Each year on the anniversary of his death, neo-Nazis have attempted to staged a march to the cemetery, saluting the grave, with its epitaph “I dared” and laying floral wreaths.”

We in America would think it so blessedly obvious that a Nazi grave is not something to be saluted, not something worthy of any kind of honor. Yet year after year, Nazi supporters still staged marches to this man’s grave and honored him with wreaths! So in the end, the church there decided to exhume Hess’ body and destroy it.

Sometimes the obvious church action (honor, respect) is not the obvious course of action (destroy the grave) that is in line with truth.