(source: http://www.priestlynation.com/archives/689)
Praise God, Ignore Division
Things that disturb me about UBF: a tendency to rewrite history to be only positive; a tendency to focus on individual and communal praise of God while ignoring the reality of painful divisions and disunity.
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)
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HKU missionary also praised HK shepherds publicly, “Even though HK is a small city rather than a country, but HK Centre’s offering to US HQ ranks no. 3 among all countries. The amount is even more than the sum of the all chapters in one country.” She was so proud of HK shepherds’ offerings. However, they ignored the reality that the shepherds are struggling to offer a lot of money to the church and they must live in poor on the earth. Some PhD. shepherds even proud of absolutely attending the Perdue University SBC by borrowing a lot of money from their parents to buy the air-tickets. Many shepherds need to borrow money from the bank in order to give marriage offerings to UBF (One month salary and offering to Director, shepherds, ……) While they praised the offerings of HK shepherds publicly, they ignore the reality that the current net worth of UBF is USD $12,896,882. While the missionaries teach the shepherds not store up their treasures on earth and not allowing them to buy their own flats, they store up a lot of net worth on earth for the missionaries and built magnificent Centres in Korea.