Date Posted:12:44:04 12/03/04 Fri Author: PECAS Subject: Re: The Doctrine of Testimony Sharing In reply to:
Chris
's message, "Re: The Doctrine of Testimony Sharing" on 10:29:19 12/02/04 Thu
>Of course, they wouldn't speak about their REAL
>struggles anyway. I remember one Korean missionary who
>suddenly, out of the blue, left UBF together with his
>wife. There was no indication of problems whatsoever
>in his sogams before.
UBF testimonies are not intended to discuss real issues. One young missionary in my chapter would share testimonies about how she struggled to have a good relationship with the director's wife. The young missionary never spoke badly about the director's wife and always found some scripture to help her overcome any disagreements. The director's wife reacted by harshly rebuking the young missionary for even mentioning that she had any disagreements. The director's wife wanted testimony sharing to paint this false picture that everyone of the UBF members had beautiful, loving, healthy relationships with each other. The opposite was true. The young missionary was observed to be sad or crying a lot because of the harsh rebukes of the director's wife.
The testimony sharing often has the role of advertising UBF to the new recruits as a great ministry where everyone is filled with Christ's love for each other. The plan is that the new sheep will be inspired to become more involved in UBF. UBF will appear to be better than other churches where people have many disagreements and conflicts. What new sheep do not realize is that there are many unhealthy relationships among UBF members because these internal conflicts are not resolved, only swept under the rug with the direction to be good coworkers and follow spiritual order (obey your shepherds absolutely).
