Comments on: Example of Repentance

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:37:16 +0000

Another good example were the “Fort Lauderdale Five”. Bob Mumford, Derek Prince, Charles Simpson, Don Basham and Ern Baxter. They were leaders in the same “Discipleship Movement” in the 1970s and early 1980s. Bob Mumford and Derek Prince later publicly apoloigiced and wrote formal repentance statements (not sure about the others).

It’s worthwile for any UBFer to study the history of the Discipleship movement (also known as Shepherding movement) and how they failed, because UBF obviously originated from the same Christian Zeitgeist.

Yet another example is the DCSV – the Evangelical student mission in Germany that existed from 1898 to 1938 when it was forbidden by the Nazis. They had a charismatic leader, Eduard Graf Pückler. When after several years he was accused of being too authoritarian, he humbly apologized and stepped back as the director.

By: BrianK

BrianK — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:54:10 +0000

J.I., yes it is rather interesting to read about Keith's ministry. The Wikipedia article discusses some of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Keith_Green. It is clear that some change was going on in 1981 in Keith and his ministry. It's not quite so clear what all the facts were surrounding that change. Of interest to me is that 1981 was the year mentioned on the Keith Green homepage as the year they were engaged in church construction for a new ministry building. One of the people in the Wikipedia "edit war" on Keith's article mentioned this: "Keith Green underwent a radical transformation to his ministrial approach in 1981. It would be a disservice to Keith Green's memory to leave anyone with the impression that he did not realize his error, having come to terms with his lack of grace, and changed."

By: J. I. Kim

J. I. Kim — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:03:29 +0000

Wow, I didn’t know this about Keith Green. Seems like Shepherding was somehow in vogue among radical-minded Christians back then. I don’t doubt that most of these leaders, like Keith Green, were sincere, committed, saved Christians who wanted to do something radically different for the Lord. But they ended up doing some god-awful, monstrous things to vulnerable followers. It’s sad and sobering, but history shows us that our faith doesn’t make us immune to perpetrating such inhumanities.