However, it’s indeed discouraging to hear that Filipino UBF looks like you have said. I remember after the Homecoming of SL I read the “World Mission Report” and was quite moved by his story of faithfulness and genuine-ness.

If what you say is true, it’s quite different than what we see in Paul’s missionary work . . . and this from a “Bible-centered” ministry . . .

“The Silence was founded by Tasha Lem, Mother Superious of the Papal Mainframe, when she changed the core tenets of the Papal Mainframe to dedicate it to ensuring that “silence would fall” in response to the First Question, sent by the Time Lords to find the correct universe into which they could return. It was believed that the Time War would begin anew if the Time Lords returned, and so the Church of the Silence was created to prevent the Doctor from answering the First Question and telling the Time Lords that it was safe for them to return.”

I’m not sure whether or not they have sheep. But the sad fact is that none of the missionaries are joining, learning from, or supporting WA or the three church plants (Antipolo, Calaocan and University belt) that are thriving.

The sad story of some (many?) of our UBF missionaries is that they leave Korea with a spirit of conquest and triumphalism, rather than with a spirit of humility and servitude. Their attitude is like that of a lord, a king or a top-down leader, rather than of a humble servant of the indigenous people.

As a result, it would feel humiliating or shameful for the missionaries to accept WA as the Filipino UBF director, nor learn from him and from the fruitful Filipino UBF leaders, several of whom have served Bible students and raised many leaders for up to two decades.

You make them sound like some kind of monster from a Dungeons and dragons monster manual. It is probably unfair. Illithids have feelings too.

I once thought that ubf was a Christian missionary training and sending organization. I even had specific hopes to become a Christian missionary to Russia.

What I discovered is that ubf “sends” loyalists out to various lands as squatters. The ubf missionaries just sit there, claiming they are the authoritative servants of God, waiting for some college student who happens to be at a low point in their life to come to 1:1 and submit to their authority. When they find such a student, they siphon off any energy the Holy Spirit might actual produce through genuine conversion, sapping the student of all life and joy and autonomy. Then they proclaim “glory to God” and report back to ubf HQ that the KOPHN fantasy is advancing so gloriously. And all the while people like WA in Philippines continues to expand an amazing, wonderful and impactful Christian ministry.

This is not Christian ministry and has nothing to do with Jesus’ command to go into all the world. ubf is a cloning organization bent on establishing loyalists from among our youth.

This “absolute” requirement or expectation was supposedly mentioned at the last staff conf. last year. Perhaps this year, since the freedom of Galatians is the theme, the word “absolute” might be removed and changed to “optional.” :-)

In a sane world, that’s what would happen. A draft of the guidelines would be circulated to collect feedback from staff, and then your comments and concerns would be addressed. But that’s not what is happening. The chapter guidelines document is being finalized now, as we speak, with no input from you. The wise leaders and elders will simply present it to you next month, and you are to respond, “Thank you, oh, thank you soooo much.” Months ago, I saw where the process was going and I opted out, because in my opinion it was a waste of time. I can virtually guarantee that there will be nothing in the guidelines that will address any problems or correct any of the abusive practices of the past and present. Nothing in it will limit the power of elder Korean missionaries who will continue to do as they see fit. I predict that the document will be unsurprising, generic and bland, and it will have virtually no impact on how ubf chapters operate.

Similarly, the big crack in Galatians 2 is the part where Paul opposes Cephas. It is a great example where Paul shows how the truth of the gospel is more important than etiquette, politeness, keeping face, honoring elders etc. Of course, UBF leaders deliberately chose to de-emphasize this part. Why not have Gal 2:11 as key verse: “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face?”

As you see, the selection and emphasis of key verses is a big matter. Of course, the UBF leaders care about these things for you, so you don’t need to think any more. Just like the care about selecting the GD for you so you don’t need to worry.

UBF members should really start to open their eyes to these details of how UBF does things and start questioning them instead of continuing these traditions because “we always did it like that”. These small peculiarities of UBF might seem harmless, and superficially they may even look good and Biblical. But if you look in detail, they are much more dangerous than they look, particularly, if all these practices are combined, because they reinforce and potentiate each other.

Right now, secret back-room negotiations are going on to select the next General Director. That decision will be made within the next couple of months. Once again, the staff who attend this event and who will be expected to follow the next GD and continue to send in their tithes and offerings are NOT BEING CONSULTED about who the next GD ought to be. Even worse, they are NOT EVEN BEING TOLD that this process is going on. As if they don’t need to know. As if they don’t deserve to know. If I were still invested in the organization, I would be hopping mad about this. But of course, we all know that it is “unspiritual” to be upset at such things. The only “spiritual” course of action is to keep quiet and obey and give thanks for the privilege of propping up such wonderful leaders who deeply care about you, so much that they are taking care of all the business details (such as choosing the next GD) so that you don’t have to think about anything or worry about anything at all, because everything is under control.

What everyone wants though is the “b” point on the Sunday plenary session. People likely want to know about 1) Chapter guidelines and 2) Staff education.

But looks like the program already admits there won’t likely be time for the Staff education report (ah too bad, we can’t talk about that). Not that there would be any talking or honest discussion anyway. Why not make these two topics the discussion points of day 1 and day 2? Ah but we must “study” the bible and get re-charged with ubf ideology!

The conference is setup for spiritual abuse, which I define as “over prescribing the bible as the sole answer to life’s problems or as the best way to enjoy life, as in drug or alcohol abuse”.

But when you are trained and conditioned as a world-class chair sitter, you tend to go numb and just focus on self-preservation.

This conference is also very expensive. I am SO GLAD I no longer feel coerced and guilt-ridden about attending such 3 day events. Note that this costs you 2 DAYS of vacation (Thursday and Friday), an entire Saturday, travel expenses and registration fee, and probably your own credit card/deposit for the hotel.

I do not suppose that such a created position could be created with ‘veto’ power unless without war, and division, etc. What I mean is that there could be a person who attends staff conferences and acts as a bridge between older hard liners and the newer generation. I believe this was called by David w, the “lost” generation. For example there is a daily bread writers meets this weekend and there is a staff conference. Someone might act as a representative. Most if not all ubf leaders refuse to look at this site, even when they are quoted. If they won’t come to us then we should go to them.

Ben, in terms of dialogue, I am open to such dialogue. It won’t happen here publicly on a website, and I’m not interested in private, closed doors meetings. But face to face meeting is required I think.

If someone has some bright ideas I’m more than willing to “represent”.

I am thinking about how to articulate a “representative position.” Then I also immediately start thinking of the likely responses (or reactions) from traditional UBFers, especially the hard-liners.

In my simplistic mind, what is always needed (if we can ever get to it) is what I have termed an ongoing equitable dialogue. My favorite quote, which I have shared before, is by Pope Francis:

“…we succumb to attitudes that do not permit us to dialogue: domination, not knowing how to listen, annoyance in our speech (or on UBFriends!), preconceived judgments and so many others. Dialogue is born from a respectful attitude toward the other person, from a conviction that the other person has something good to say. It supposes that we can make room in our heart for their point of view, their opinion and their proposals. Dialogue entails a warm reception and not a preemptive condemnation. To dialogue, one must know how to lower the defenses, to open the doors of one’s home, and to offer warmth.”

“Some changes may happen at some small local chapter. But I don’t see this happening corporately anytime soon.”

I completely disagree. How long does it take a fire to start? When the Spirit is ready, everything will be made new. The answer is not slow changes, but many submitting to and obeying our Lord all at once. Listen to whatever it is God is saying to each of us, and do it, however strange it may seem.

We already have the work of the “Wilberforce“, so now is the time for the many to come together.

You have to believe something if you want to see it. I believe it is possible for any and all ubf Koreans and non-Koreans to be irresistibly overcome by the Spirit of Jesus and usher in corporate repentance.

As you point out, this will never happen by one person. A change in GD won’t do it. No program adjustment will accomplish it. Men and women and children who surrender to grace, learn to listen to the voice of the Spirit and begin acting in obedience to whatever it is Jesus it telling them to do now is the answer.

This may happen in one of countless dozens of Bible study groups at the conf. This happens on a very small scale. Some changes may happen at some small local chapter. But I don’t see this happening corporately anytime soon. Sorry for my ongoing GHE pessimism!

It is also very likely that most who will (spend the time and money to) attend the staff conf. have already been indoctrinated to regard UBFriends material as bad, negative, discouraging and the work of the devil to plant doubt and discourage mission.

Yet, Charles, do use your freedom to speak up, and I can’t wait to hear your report after the conf., which will likely be more objective than the official report.

For anything of that kind to happen, like-minded people must first meet with each other, talk with and encourage each other, see that they are not alone, see that others think the same. It will not happen spontaneously at a conference. UBFriends is a good place for this kind of talk, but there must also be meetings and discussion in real life.

My chapter leader said about the refomers “they are political”. Everybody who criticized the party line and obey Samuel Lee was considered to be “politically motivated”.

But I agree with Brian: It’s an escalator problem. However, we were all struggling with our real and imaginated “sin problems,” our minds were only busy with ourselves, “incurvatus per se” as you say, we did not even imagine we had the right or obligation to see or talk about the big picture.

I have found the staff conference bible studies good opportunity for discussions because the very members to discuss issues with are there, gathered at that table, and most probably will not get up and leave early. Then I can hear what they say they’re doing in their chapters and ask questions face to face.

This past weekend I heard a similar situation. A fellowship leader wanted to gather some people to discuss something about prayer. He was told “You are being divisive.”

This is a trick ubfers like to use. It is called “turning the tables”.

The people who would pay a major fraction of $1,000 to attend the staff conf. (travel expenses + conf. fee) will unlikely do the above. I keep repeating my pessimism and realism hoping to be proven totally and completely wrong!

I am in full agreement that healthy change will only occur corporately. I just don’t see that happening at the staff conf., for all the reasons stated above. But I hope I’m wrong.

http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/02/26/bible-study-is-more-always-better/

Healthy change will only begin when people wake up and realize the escalator stopped and all they have to do is walk up or walk down the steps. In that sense, leaving or staying isn’t the issue; but getting off the “escalator” is.

Corporate change is too much for 1 person. Joe and Sharon should not have had to bear that burden alone. Community change that is lasting will be most healthy when the entire community is involved, or at least a majority. If anyone isn’t onboard, let the chips fall where they may!

If people want to talk they can. The best part is this… hint #2: Koreans want to save face right? Well that means they will never ever make a scene! You can literally skip bible study with a group of people and discuss what needs happen in your ministry.

“(2) it is never easy to be “one” against the majority, who are likely older than you, who would prefer that you don’t address problematic messy issues. – See more at: http://www.ubfriends.org/2014/05/01/galatians-set-me-free-from-legalism/#comment-13890

What ubf needs is many to just start talking to each other. We found this out in Toledo ubf when we leaders started talking to each other: We’re not alone! I’m not the only one who sees the problems.

We actually were very united in Toledo ubf, the main disconnect and disunity was with the Korean director.

What we have here is a classic escalator problem.

At the next staff conference, don’t ask permission. Just do it. ubf will only change when the enablers stop enabling.

Just get off the escalator. You non-Koreans in ubf are just going to have to start talking to each other and pull the Koreans along. The alternative is to just keep submitting and suffering in silence.

If we would shepherd others according to this principle of ethnography (which is clearly biblical, humble and incarnational), tons of problems could be resolved and prevented.

(1) the general atmosphere will not be one that encourages uncomfortable topics of discussion, but will likely be one of “humble yourself and learn from your leaders, who know more than you.”

(2) it is never easy to be “one” against the majority, who are likely older than you, who would prefer that you don’t address problematic messy issues.

(3) even if you did ask, it would very likely not lead to a satisfactory response, and even less likely for it to become an ongoing discussion and dialogue.

(4) the group Bible study teachers/leaders are not going to be the most senior people, but junior leaders who have been taught and trained to lead the Galatians Bible study. I’m quite sure that most of the “trained” group Bible study leaders do not have the freedom to read UBFriends or the freedom to address and discuss “problematic issues.”

“But it would require that UBF virtually does the exact opposite of what we have been doing for 50 years. We need to sit down and listen to each other painstakingly, instead of continually pressing to prepare for the next Bible conference and reaching the next target for our mission.” – See more at: http://www.ubfriends.org/2014/05/01/galatians-set-me-free-from-legalism/#comment-13883

If enough people decided that this had to take place, it would happen, regardless of what the leaders wanted. For example, at next month’s staff conference, people who cared could bring up these issues again and again during the Galatians group Bible study, until those present have no choice but to talk about it. It’s not disruptive to put aside superficial small talk and bring up the issues that truly matter.

I remember how easy it was for me to induce guilt in my Bible students and fellowship members if they missed worship services, or fellowship meetings, or failed to write a testimony, or to feed sheep. With guilt-tripping I was able to make others “improve their behavior outwardly” to act more in line with what I expected of them.

But rarely was I able to seriously listen to others and take to heart when they had some complaints or grievances toward me. I would try to listen to it, but would want to quickly get over it, and just move on!

Sharon, ethnography would certainly be the way to go to promote and improve relationships and understanding with one another, especially between missionaries and their “sheep” (indigenous friends). But it would require that UBF virtually does the exact opposite of what we have been doing for 50 years. We need to sit down and listen to each other painstakingly, instead of continually pressing to prepare for the next Bible conference and reaching the next target for our mission.

The latter is “so much easier” to do, because it would seem that we are advancing and moving forward, while the former would mean that we have to hear each other share things that we would rather not hear, and become intimate with each others wounds, brokenness and messes. Yet, that seems to exactly be what Jesus did on the cross.

My only explanation is that it has something to do with the different personality types of leaders and members in UBF, as explained in the book In Sheep’s Clothing:

“Aggressive personalities of all types use guilt-tripping so frequently and effectively as a manipulative tactic, that I believe it illustrates how fundamentally different in character they are compared to other (especially neurotic) personalities. All a manipulator has to do is suggest to the conscientious person that they don’t care enough, are too selfish, etc., and that person immediately starts to feel bad. On the contrary, a conscientious person might try until they’re blue in the face to get a manipulator (or any other aggressive personality to feel badly about a hurtful behavior, acknowledge responsibility, or admit wrongdoing, to absolutely no avail.”

The conclusion would be: Leaders must learn to feel guilty (guilt is good for them), sheep must unlearn to feel guilty (guilt is bad for them). Or maybe the sheep should start feeling guilty for other things, e.g. tolerating abuse and injustice, being too cowardly to speak up, or neglecting their families for the sake of mission.

Interestingly, in German language you can’t even say “I am wrong” (“ich bin falsch”) or “you are wrong” (“du bist falsch”). You can only say “Ich habe Unrecht” or something like that. Of course I was often treated with “du bist falsch” by the UBF Koreans anyway.

I’m preparing a series of articles about reconciliation, especially the Catholic sacrament of reconciliation. There is much to learn in this regard am I am more convinced than ever that the ministry of reconciliation is our mission, the work Jesus left us to do. If the cross means anything, I am convicted that we must believe reconciliation is possible and work for it.

I am searching for books and articles, like the article you wrote already: Is there glory and honor in reconciliation?

Any and all thoughts on what reconciliation is/is not, what reconciliation looks like or how to go about this critical ministry we Christ-followers have been entrusted with, I’m all ears!

Donald Sterling, the owner of the Clippers, is getting thrown under the bus by everyone, perhaps because he articulated what many/some older priviledged white people feel, but which society today condemns outright, and rightly so. Probably this is an over-simplification.

Sovereign Grace Ministries having to own up for prior abuses and cover-ups, but the leaders obviously have great difficulty doing so honestly, openly and transparently.

In UBF it should be pretty obvious that the privileged class of people are the older missionaries and chapter directors. But now with the explosion of cyberspace they really cannot “hide” anymore. In my opinion, they have two choices:

(1) Continue to ignore, deny or minimize prior (and ongoing) authoritarian abuses, legalistic practices, “saving face” measures, excusing themselves, playing innocent, remaining silent (except for lambasting UBFriends as evil in their inner circles, and guilt-tripping anyone who actively supports or participates on this website).

(2) Face all those who are speaking up, sharing and expressing what they have experienced in UBF.

The right choice is obvious. But often if not always it will be more painful, and it WILL involve dying to oneself, especially to one’s ego and (groundless) pride.

A failure to chose #2 will NOT lead to reconciliation (healing, peace, being trinitarian), which is an ultimate expression of love and the cross of Christ.

I love this quote:

“To be clear, shame is not from God and should never be used in reconciliation contexts. We’re all created in the image of God, and we’re all embodied souls who were planted in physical bodies by God. No one should feel shame for being born privileged, white, male, attractive, wealthy, etc.

But guilt? I can get behind guilt. Among other things, guilt is a wake-up call. Even God uses guilt to point out how much we needed Jesus to carry out the most costly rescue mission in history in order to save our guilty behinds. But God also distinguishes guilt from shame, pointing out that Jesus didn’t come to condemn us but rather to give us life.”

We need to be careful I think. The job of convicting using guilt belongs to our Lord primarily, as in John 16:7-9 and Jude 1:14-16. So I do not apologize for talking “too much” about various ubf issues nor do I mind causing us all guilt. But I need to temper this with not usurping the Spirit’s role of “convicter”.

http://www.christenacleveland.com/2014/05/guilt-is-good/

“Asians come from a culture with a higher group, family identity. Yet love often times comes conditionally to this culture. …love in an Asian context shows itself to be conditional. That is, love is withheld as a function of performance. It’s no wonder that legalism is one of Satan’s largest ploys against the Asian-cultured church.”

http://kingdomrice.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/the-four-spiritual-laws-if-it-were-written-from-an-eastern-perspective-law-1/

“In evangelism it is important to be Jesus before trying to evangelize. This means that our lives should reflect the beauty and grace of Jesus’ message long before we try to bring someone to Christ. And when we finally do speak with others about Jesus, we should do it in a non-confrontational way. In Acts Paul shows us that finding how God is already working in the group is a lot better than pointing out the things that group of people does wrong. The most effective way to announce that the Kingdom of God is near is not through words but actions.”

To learn to live out the above paradigm, I probably had to unlearn what I did the first quarter of a century of my Christian life.

“In 2001 such a split took place in which Campus Missions International (www.campusmi.org) was formed. While the story is complex, one element is that those who formed CMI made a conscious decision to see themselves as a church rather than just a campus ministry. The subsequent lack of growth of CMI resulted in leaving UBF members leery about broadening their vision beyond being a campus ministry dedicated to world mission. This continues to play a role in how UBF frames its thinking about its values and vision as an organization.”

(Source: http://ubf.org/journal/UBF_Article_for_EMS_Publication.pdf)

Perhaps your thoughts have changed somewhat since you wrote or co-wrote the above 5 years ago.

The invitation to the conference explains that you don’t understand what freedom means, young padawan. It says: “Many young people have a wrong concept of freedom believing it means to do or not to do what you want. … How can we fight and overcome the wrong idea of freedom in the hearts of young people?”

So the purpose of the conference was to twist and redefine the meaning of the word “freedom” in the hearts of young people to mean “no freedom”. This new concept is then called “freedom in Christ”, so that it sounds like a Christian concept.

The logic is this: Freedom in Christ is freedom from sin. Sin is not wanting to do what UBF wants you to do. So freedom in Christ is the same as bondage to do the things UBF wants you to do.

In my time in UBF that’s something they would never allow to happen. It was important that you kept your connection with UBF continually, every week. Under no circumstance you were allowed to miss your BS or SWS, since this would “break the chain”. They would start to phone you, visit you, beseech you, threaten you, do everything so that you would not take a breath, get some time and distance to reflect what’s happening to you and what they are doing to you.

But I think it’s the best advice you can give to a UBFer: Please take a sabattical, have some time alone for yourself or within another community to reflect about your experience in UBF from a distance.

My chapter director told us that Christians are like glowing pieces of coal in an oven. If you separate one of them from the heap of coal (the church), then it would immediately cool down and stop glowing. With this picture he planted fear into us that as soon as we stopped attending UBF for a week, we would lose our faith. Most of the members really believed such ideas.

Honor and shame are central questions in the past and the present. To be human is to be care about one’s face. Even God cares about saving his face. That in part is why I named my book Saving God’s Face. God wants to manifest his glory so that he would be honored as Father and King in all the cosmos. As creatures made in his image, we are most fully human when we reflect his honor in the world. To the degree that we disregard the Creator’s worth, we are shameful. To use more familiar language, we fall short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23).

Therefore, it’s a little too simple just to say that we should not seek face because that is “sin.” Likewise, we also can’t reduce the desire for honor/glory to sheer “pride.” With respect to God seeking honor, Piper has explained why God is not a “megalomaniac.” (http://jacksonwu.org/2013/06/06/honor-and-shame-in-any-context/)

Based on this description, UBFriends would be regarded by UBF as the worst and most horrible and terrible website, because UBFriends completely disrupts and questions UBF’s social standing and credibility; the “face” of UBF is dishonored and shamed. Thus, UBF seems unable to view constructive critiques as anything but disparaging, humiliating and shameful criticisms.

In preaching the gospel, it is imperative we recognize that many professions of faith are nothing more than expression of face. How many people participate in church activities for no other reason than it gives them a social network? How many “conversions” have been listed on missionary reports because some national wanted to give the missionary face by not refusing his invitation to “accept Christ,” even though they actually have no faith at all.

We are aware that money is a strong incentive for people to “profess faith.” However, how aware are we to the fact that face in certain circumstances can function in a similar way? In reality, as soon as the social group changes, those people who made professions will be silent just like Jesus’ brothers.

We could go on with other questions. What are our motives in ministry? Do some missionaries and pastors make sacrifices because of their faith or merely because they want face? What are the reasons we don’t listen to the ideas of others? We need to search our hearts in order to discern whether we have faith or simply want face.

Many “professions of faith” are nothing more than attempts to save face. If this is so, what are the implications for ministry in honor-shame cultures? (http://jacksonwu.org/2013/06/04/the-fine-line-between-faith-and-face-john-71-24/)

(I apologize in advance…)

Face is neither inherently good nor bad. It just is. To some degree, everyone is “inclined to pursue face and avoid shame” (趋荣避褥, qūróng bìrǔ). If you say that you don’t want face (不要脸, búyào liǎn), this conveys the idea that you have “no sense of shame.” So, “caring about face” (关心面子, guānxīn miànzi) is critical for being a moral person (http://jacksonwu.org/2013/11/12/talking-about-face-in-chinese/)

To me, this gets at the fact that we, as humans made in God’s image, have an inherent desire to be honored and respected or at least acknowledged as valid entities. So, while some aspects of face come from the concept of the image of God, the cultural concept as a whole is perhaps more tied to our ego or pride.

Messenger: “WE MUST ACCEPT TRUE FREEDOM IN CHRIST!”
Audience: “AMEN!”

When our joy and delight, our identity and value, is not centered and rooted in the gospel/Christ, it HAS to find it elsewhere.

In the U.S. perhaps we might default to individualism and hedonism.

In Asian cultures, the default is back to saving face, enhancing our own honor, and an avoidance of shame, resulting in an inability to acknowledge wrongdoing.

Is this overly simplistic an explanation?

ubfism – “True Freedom in Christ” means “you are free to obey ubf leaders and demonstrate your loyalty to the ubf system”

ubfism – “Identity in Christ” means “you must wear the Shepherd X mask and pretend to be a campus shepherd”

ubfism – “all accepted” means “no one complained or spoke their mind and no criticism from exubfers was addressed”

btw, how can I get this “true freedom in Christ”? How does PC know that “all attendants” accepted such freedom? What has been set free? Are people now free to leave UBF without trauma? Are their minds free of ubf heritage entanglements?

So many questions… :)

Bonn UBF Easter Bible Conference Report
Bonn UBF, Germany May 13, 2014

The conference title was “True Freedom in Christ.” It was held at Mueke with 95 attendants. The 2012 EC title was “New Life in Christ” and 2013 EC title was “Identity in Christ.” God raised eight messengers among shepherds and second gens. There were 18 testimony sharers and six life testimony sharers. John Park Jr. from New Jersey delivered a powerful message from John’s Gospel chapter 19. The Holy Spirit worked so mightily at this conference that all attendants accepted true freedom in Christ from the power of sin and death. We are praying for one to one Bible study and discipleship ministry this spring and summer! (Bold mine.)

Peter Chang

I’m not sure if the eastern “face” is close to what the Bible means when it speaks of the image of God. There are at least three different ways to explain what image of God is.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2014/05/08/interpreting-the-imago-dei-rjs/

“All the leaders have to do is just openly admit what everyone already knows, that the organization has a long history of problematic behavior…”

Jackson Wu says that the eastern concept of “face” has to do with one’s identity; it is closely analogous to the expression, “the image of God”. If one brings dishonor upon themselves or is shamed in any way, it is seen as an act of denigrating this image or identity.

At the heart of the gospel is this idea that the image of God within us has been marred by sin, therefore we need Christ’s work to restore this image. The early members of UBF, who are now the leaders that we’re speaking of, seemed to have accepted this aspect of Christianity, that they were indeed sinners and needed salvation. But somewhere along the way, they reverted back to the idea that face should not be dishonored for that would bring shame upon them all over again. Could it be that there is a fundamental flaw in how they process the gospel?

In a sense, Christ restores our dignity and worth as human beings. For instance, Christ’s merciful work on the cross takes away the penalty of our sin and its associated guilt; the cross is also an expression of his divine love for us. Not only this, but through the work of the Son, God the Father adopts us as his very own children. In a way, he restores our “face”. But this process is never complete this side of heaven; God is seeking to renew us on a daily basis (2 Cor 4:16) so that we can progressively grow into the image of Christ. Thus repentance and transparency are continually needed. So the process of seeking God’s definition of face will inevitably reveal that many of our heart motives and actions are dishonorable and shameful, even until our dying days on this earth; so there is this continual denigration of face. But this constant revelation isn’t a negative thing at all for it drives us more toward the One who can remedy these issues. Furthermore, when we realize that God wants to commune with wretches like us, it magnifies his grace even more. Perhaps this idea of shame by way of the gospel is so at odds with the eastern idea of preserving face that it’s extremely difficult for an easterner to grapple with this on a continual basis.

Shameless plug:

Andrew and Brian’s recovery books

Countless leaders in all spheres have virtually said the same thing: The starting point of change, reform and improvement is to acknowledge the current reality, whatever it is (usually something that is not optimal or good or right), which as you said “everyone already knows.” Barring this we’ll just be spinning our wheels.

This may be sobering for Americans to hear, but this is regarded as one of the best TV speeches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPHSXUS0_1c “The first step in solving any problem is recognizing that there is one.” (I hope that when foreigners watch or hear this they do not gloat!)

“Is it even possible to truly be set free from our need to save face and to promote our own honor and glory through UBF?” – See more at: http://www.ubfriends.org/2014/05/01/galatians-set-me-free-from-legalism/#comment-13813

“But how does a strong honor/shame/saving face ministry not think of ourselves so highly and genuinely consider others better than ourselves?” – See more at: http://www.ubfriends.org/2014/05/01/galatians-set-me-free-from-legalism/#comment-13813

It seems that you are asking:
* Is it possible for us to change without changing?
* How can we give up the thing that we value most, without actually giving it up?

All the leaders have to do is just openly admit what everyone already knows, that the organization has a long history of problematic behavior, and begin the process of recovery and reform by listening to knowledgeable people from the outside. If they are not willing to do it because it’s too hard, then just admit that this is the case. But don’t keep asking if there’s an easier way, because there isn’t.