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Date Posted: 08:13:43 11/05/04 Fri
Author: PECAS
Subject: The Numbers Doctrine
In reply to: Nick T. 's message, "New thread on doctrine" on 10:27:55 10/22/04 Fri

The following post is my observation or the Numbers Doctrine in UBF and its impact on Bible study and the treatment of sheep. I will argue that the numbers goal format in UBF ultimately leads to decreasing the purity of Bible study and fosters an environment in which UBF Bible teachers (shepherds) become more concerned with bringing a sheep to increase the number, rather than the actual needs and struggles of the sheep they are supposed to be serving.

UBF members are always encouraged to pray for numbers regarding the Sunday worship service, 1:1 Bible studies, and conference attendants. What is the purpose of having a numbers goal? The purpose is to make sure that church coworkers are filled with a sense of urgency to meet the goal. I have found that the UBF numbers goals are similar to the goals required of salespersons. Companies give their salespersons goals to meet each week, month, quarter, and year. They will always have the number in their head and the motivation to reach their goal. Even if the salesperson meets their goals, they are still not content. Once the salesperson establishes that they can meet one goal, their employer often requires a more difficult goal to be met. Thus, the salesperson can never relax because they have met their goal. The new, more difficult goal maintains the same sense of urgency to meet the goal as before.

UBF typically makes a numbers goal that is very difficult if not almost impossible to reach. If the goal is met, then an even more difficult goal replaces the previous goal. This maintains a sense of urgency among the church members. Thus, the church members have prayer meetings and daily bread sharing meetings to pray that they may reach the goals of SWS, 1:1, and conference attendance. Conference attendance is especially numbers oriented. This includes Summer Bible Conferences, Easter Bible Conferences, and Fall Bible Conferences. For about two months (the time frame varies amongst chapters) prior to the conference, there is a registration goal prayed for constantly. The goal is mentioned at every meeting. Every sheep and even family members of the native shepherds are prayed for that they may attend the conference. The numbers goal is engrained into every UBF member. Every UBF member is directed to pray for this number at every prayer meeting, testimony sharing meeting, and worship service.

What are the impacts of the numbers goal? One of the main impacts is that coworkers always feel pressure to invite their sheep to the conference. If sheep are reluctant to attend, the shepherd exerts pressure on the sheep to attend the conference. The shepherd has the numbers goal in his head and the fact that the goal has not been reached. Thus, the shepherd wants to convince the sheep to attend in order that they may go one step closer to the numbers goal. Without the numbers goal, the shepherd would still invite their sheep to the conference. However, if the sheep is reluctant to come, the shepherd will not have any thought of exerting pressure. The reason is that they do not have a numbers goal in their head. Thus, if none of their sheep want to go to the conference, the shepherd will not be overly concerned about it. But, the numbers goals succeeds in fostering an environment in which shepherds must constantly think about how they can convince their sheep to come to the conference.

Because shepherds are constantly focused on finding a way to bring sheep to the conference, the numbers goals impacts the Bible study. Without a numbers goals, the shepherd can purely teach the Bible without the burden of needing to bring a certain number of sheep to the conference. The shepherd and sheep can study the Bible without the necessity to discuss the sheep attending the conference. With a numbers goal, the Bible studies before the conference are hindered by the shepherd's thought that they must bring their sheep to the conference. The shepherd cannot purely teach the Bible. The shepherd may forget about what the point of the passage really is and attempt to use a verse or two in the study to subtly tell the sheep that they should go to the conference. If the passage has any point that can be twisted by the shepherd to indicate that the sheep should attend the conference, it will be done. If the scripture is about Peter leaving his fishing business to follow Jesus, the shepherd will tell the sheep that Peter had faith to follow Jesus anywhere. Thus, you (the sheep) should have faith to go to the conference. If the passage is when Jesus said to deny oneself, take up your cross, and follow me, the shepherd will tell the sheep that they should deny themselves and take up the cross by attending the conference. In addition, the shepherd will supplement the Bible study time by discussing how great the conference will be. The shepherd will tell the sheep about the heart-moving life-testimonies, powerful, inspirational messages, and the fellowship with other chapters. All of this in hopes that the sheep will register for the conference. The conference attendance will be the focus of the Bible study rather than simply studying God's word. Thus, the Bible study will not purely be a study of God's word where the Holy Spirit is leading. Instead, the Bible study will have a hidden agenda to encourage the sheep to attend the conference. The shepherd will likely pray that God may move the sheep's heart to make a decision of faith to attend the conference through the Bible study. The Bible study is corrupted. The Bible study is not purely focused on God, but on the attendance to a conference.

In reality, the same can be said of all UBF Bible studies, even when the conference is not eminent. The shepherd’s goal is to bring the sheep to the Sunday worship service or testimony sharing. Just as conference numbers goals are engrained into every UBF member, 1:1 Bible study numbers goals and Sunday worship service attendance goals are engrained into every UBF member. If the sheep is not coming to any UBF activity besides the 1:1 Bible study, the shepherd always has the motivation to bring the sheep to some UBF activity because the shepherd wants to the sheep to bring the ministry one step closer to its numbers goal. The numbers goal becomes the priority. The priority of Bible study should be to receive God’s word. However, the numbers goal can often place receiving God’s word in second place behind attending a UBF activity.
Most UBFs also require each shepherd to have an individual numbers goal concerning how many 1:1 sheep they will study with each week. The individual numbers goal puts even more burden on the shepherd to achieve this number. Every week that they achieve their number goal, they praise and thank God in their Friday testimony. Every week that they do not meet their numbers goal, he or she must repent in their testimony because they failed to meet the goal. Meeting the goal often takes on more emphasis than building true Christian relationships with others. Bible studies may be very good for the sheep. Some of the sheep may want to spend extra time in prayer or discussing God’s word. This extra time may be productive. However, the sheep is attending another church as has no interest in coming to UBF activities. Because of the numbers goal, shepherds may be blind to see God’s work through the Bible study. Instead, they will only see that the sheep is not coming to the worship service or other activities. This happened to me. I had a good Bible study with one person for almost two years. However, he never came to any UBF activities. He was happy with his church and its mission and wanted our Bible study to be a supplement to his weekly spiritual life. However, I always thought that he needed to attend the Sunday worship service or come to a conference. I felt as though I was wasting my time because the sheep would not attend UBF activities. I have heard other UBF shepherds discuss the fact that they feel that they are wasting their time when they study with a sheep who does not come to UBF activities. The shepherds think that they are wasting their time because they have the numbers goal in their head. Thus, sheep that so not show any desire to bring the ministry closer to its numbers goal seems to be a waste of time.
When we preach based on a numbers goal, we cannot purely preach the gospel. Instead, we have this number hanging over our heads. The numbers goal often becomes more important than the actual people that make up that number. The early church did not grow because they prayed for a number. The book of Acts does not mention that the early church leaders prayed for a specific number of new converts. They grew because of God's power that transformed people's lives through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. God used his disciples to preach the gospel many people, beginning in Jerusalem and going throughout the Roman Empire. The number did not matter.

To reiterate, when we focus on a number, generally the number becomes the more important than the work we actually do. In work environment, a case can be made that numbers goals are necessary so that workers can focus on a goal they must meet and work hard to meet that goal. However, transferring a workplace numbers goal environment into a spiritual environment does not have the same impact. Preaching the gospel of salvation through Christ cannot be goal-oriented as a making a sale can. Having a work goal of making twelve sales is not the same as a goal of teaching the Bible to twelve people per week. One cannot claim that a Bible teacher failed because they did not have twelve Bible studies in a week in the same manner that one can claim that a salesperson can failed because they did not make twelve sales in a week.

Further, a numbers goal fosters an environment where the value and needs of each person are secondary to the goal. Salespeople will sell to anyone in order to meet their goal. The salesperson does not care if the person needs the item or not, as long as the check clears. The fact that a buyer is wasting their money is of no concern to the salesperson. This may very well be immoral business practice. It is definitely immoral church practice. Often, UBF shepherds do not care if the sheep really needs their Bible study or not, as long as they show up. The sheep may already have a good Bible study and would be better to use the time with a UBF shepherd, preaching the gospel or in personal prayer. The sheep may have a good church with which they are involved and be better served to spend more time serving in their present church's activities. The shepherd does not care. As long as the sheep shows up to Bible study and brings the shepherd one step closer to his personal or the church's number's goal, that's what matters.

Frequently, shepherds will show utter disregard for the personal prayers, issues, and desires of sheep if they preclude them from attending UBF activities. I remember one world mission letter in which the missionary writing the letter was encouraged because his sheep attended the conference and gave a message rather than attend the wake of his father. The shepherd is not concerned about his sheep who may be grieving for his father and the family that needs the sheep to attend to the funeral, wake, and other activities surrounding the funeral. Instead, the shepherd’s priority was that the sheep attend the conference and deliver the message. The shepherd’s priority was having one more conference attendant and being able to raise up one more messenger, rather than the sheep’s personal problems. I remember one shepherd who had planned to go on a short-term mission trip that was afiliated with the church in which he grew up. The trip was to improve the housing of poor rural families. The chapter director discouraged the shepherd from going. The director said that the shepherd should stay at his chapter and build spiritual houses through 1:1 Bible study. The chapter director's main concern was that the shepherd would miss the Friday meeting and Sunday worship service. The chapter director did not care about the shepherd's desire to serve poor persons or that God calls us to care for the poor. Instead, the chapter director only wanted this shepherd to attend the meetings.

In conclusion, the UBF numbers goal has fostered an environment in which attaining the number is much more important than the individuals that comprise that number.

In Christ,

PECAS

As a side note, the examples in the previous paragraph are also a part of the systematic obedience training that UBF imposes, which I discuss at http://voy.com/60734/8594.html. The chapter director wants the shepherd to obey him and go to UBF meetings. The shepherd wants the sheep to obey him/her and attend UBF conferences, regardless of personal issues.

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