Re: The ministry of numbers -- RSQUBF discussion forum

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Date Posted: 18:12:21 11/09/04 Tue
Author: Joe
Subject: Re: The ministry of numbers
In reply to: PECAS 's message, "The Numbers Doctrine" on 08:13:43 11/05/04 Fri

Great observations by PECAS. Much UBF abuse stems from this ministry of numbers. Some of my observations which apply to my length of membership (up to August, 2001) and probably still apply:

* Charts were everywhere. I don't know how prevalent the use of charts was in other chapters and how prevalent the use is now, but in Chicago the charts got more numerous and larger and larger over the years, especially the registration charts for conferences and the X-Mas spectacles. I have an idea of how the obsession with numbers and charts originated.

Philip Yancey in a book called "What's So Amazing About Grace," talks about elements of grace and "ungrace." Look at those UBF charts, clear and prevalent signs of ungrace in UBF.

* Pride, prestige and punishments for failure were the motivators. A large number of something was always equated with something to be proud of and associated with prestige. People with many 1:1's always had praise heaped upon them at meetings. Conversely, the lack of numbers meant shame and loss of prestige. In such an environment it was unavoidable for pride, the desire for prestige/praise and the desire to avoid shame to become the prime motivators for anything.

In Chicago, the fear of punishment for failing to achieve numbers was also a huge motivating factor, especially so for fellowship leaders. If it was not the infamous "Skokie training," it was verbal abuse by Sam Lee or public humiliation such as having the names of "promise breakers" written on the center chalk board. So, for most members, who generally were not going to ever belong to the 12 1:1 club, UBF was a shame and fear-based ministry. Think about how toxic and ungraceful an atmosphere exists in UBF thanks to this obsession with numbers.

For those who don't know what it was like for Chicago UBF fellowship leaders, I again recommend that they watch the opening scene of the movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, a movie about real estate salesmen, ironically.

* Favors done for "sheep" in return for attendance. A dirty secret about the UBF numbers battle is that there was a lot of quid pro quo going on with sheep to drag them to meetings and conferences. My father would write doctor's notes so that his chronically alcoholic sheep wouldn't get fired from jobs; this was done in exchange for this sheep's agreement to come to the Chicago UBF Sunday meeting. The fact is that all these nice and "sacrificial" things that UBF shepherds seem to do for sheep have an alterior motive behind them; that motive is to win (or more accurately, not lose) the numbers battle for one more week.

* UBF is not alone in its numbers madness.

* The numbers obsession encourages dishonesty and exaggeration. I have some memories of that here. Any veteran of Chicago UBF know about "kamikaze" 1:1s: reading a verse to a student in the course of trying to "fish" him/her is counted as a 1:1, calling a sheep up and talking to him is considered a 1:1.

* The numbers obsession is essentially self-defeating and the source of much unspoken long-term discouragement for UBF members. That's the other dirty secret about the UBF numbers obsession: Everybody hates it. But nobody has the guts to stop it.

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Replies:

Re: The ministry of numbers -- Brother in Christ, 09:05:29 11/10/04 Wed
Re: The ministry of numbers -- Joe, 09:27:28 11/10/04 Wed