Be careful if you happen to attend a ubf meeting. You might be added to the list of presenters without your knowledge. I was. It was my last presentation.
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
Hmm…I don’t remember this presentation. It looks like a good presentation to me.
What the heck? “When did my article with Gerardo R ever get second place for Most Viewed?” No wonder the presentation got cut off. I would have walked out of the room just because of that slide alone.
lol. That was back before you stayed up all night clicking on your own article…
I laughed when I saw how small the font was for the words: “Some of the worst ideas in history have come from people who did not listen to critics and did not examine themselves.” Was that statement hiding in there?
If it was me, I’d make it bold, all-caps, flashing, and a hand would come out the screen and slap everyone on the face to make sure they are all paying attention.
Indeed, I would now… However I was still “in” when I gave this presentation, and I was scrambling having had a limited time to prepare it. I was much nicer to ubf at the time :)
I think it was our friend Andy S. who pointed it out to me that I was presenting. I didn’t even bother to look at the list of presenters because I didn’t feel like attending any of them. I’m glad I was able to pull this off however, even for a 5 minute presentation, because I clearly was being setup for failure. Thank God for Canadians!
Indeed, thank God for Canadians.
There’s an interesting thing happening in Canada over the past few years called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=3). It is investigating the abuses that were perpetrated by the Canadian government in generations past by forcing aboriginal children into residential schools. It is investigating it thoroughly and preparing detailed public reports in order to educate the public and bring reconciliation and healing to generations of abused first nations people. The government of Canada made a public apology and it was read by the Prime Minister of Canada in Parliament (http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=2146).
UBF should learn from this.
Thanks for those links, joshua, and for the spiritual abuse checklist you pointed out earlier. These are all very helpful.
This quote says a lot: “Today, we recognize this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country. The Government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.”
What makes me encouraged by this is that the apology is combined with a renouncement. Not only are they saying “We are sorry” they are saying “We are wrong” and “We won’t tolerate such harmful behavior”.
This sends a clear message to the hardliners who perpetrated the assimilation and also sends a message of opening the door to reconciliation of those who were harmed. Excellent.
Ya, perhaps the UBF leadership may want to plagiarize a little:
“Today, we recognize this policy of life-long shepherding, lording-over authority, and control is wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our ministry. The leadership of UBF sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the wounded people all over the world for failing them so profoundly.”
That would be water to my soul.
Unfortunately what we’ve gotten so far is this:
“Today, we recognize this policy of life-long shepherding, lording-over authority, and control is God’s best way of making disciples, has caused great blessing around the world, and is the sole purpose of our ministry. The leadership of UBF absolutely commits ourselves to this task all the more for the next 50 years and asks the patient understanding of the wounded people all over the world for our attempts to bless them so profoundly.”