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Date Posted: 11:22:01 01/09/02 Wed
Author: Maverick
Subject: What is a fellowship leader?
In reply to: rsqarchive 's message, "January 2001" on 10:32:30 01/09/02 Wed

Author: Maverick
Subject: What is a fellowship leader??

I have been going to UBF for some time now and have been recently "nominated" as leader of my fellowship. Despite my undesire for this position, i took it on anyway, thinking that i was gloryfying God in some way. Needless to say, i now realize that this is not necessarily the case.
Even though i am the fellowship leader, i am "not permitted" to attend the leaders meeting on Monday night. Once, i was in a position where i might of attended the leaders meeting due to the person who usually attented and represented the fellowship (a female Missionary), not being there. Therefore, i asked this female Missionary who would attend the meeting and represent our fellowship? She answered, "Good question!" and i was sitting right in front of her. To cut a long story short, she told me that it would NOT be me, since i still needed to show them "proof". PROOF???????
Furthermore, i feel as though i am left in the dark and that i am in the position i am in, just for the sake of having someone there.
At one time, a new sister joined our fellowship from another one. I found out through another brother. When i asked about this matter - i asked the same woman Missionary mentioned above - i was asked how did i found out? and why was a fellow brother telling me? and how did he know? In conclusion, as the fellowship leader, i was given no explanation.
My fellowship is unique, in that it is all female aside from myself. For some reason, this prompted the two Missionaries in the fellowship to form a group Bible study with the sisters, but seemingly "forgot" to include me!!
All in all, i do not mind UBF all that much. I like studying the Bible and coming closer to God. I love all my fellow brothers and sisters. However, i strongly dislike the inherent politics of UBF, which most people either do not realize and/or do not wish to talk about. It is for this reason that i will be relinquishing my position of Fellowship leader in the near future, which will most likely lead me to leave UBF all
together.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. God bless you all who have your eyes fixed on Jesus!!

Author: Tony
Subject: Re: What is a fellowship leader??

Maverick,

I will try to answer your question and share some insight I gained over several years of UBF experience. For the average American, (such as my self) the Asian influenced UBF political system can be a very daunting beast to fully understand. Because I was not a politically minded person, I didn't pay much attention for a long time, and basically trusted them that what they were doing was honest.

The first thing to understand about the UBF system is that it is a hierarchical pyramid scheme (much like Confucianism or a company structure) so that everyone is on a certain level with someone else above them which leads to the top, Samuel Lee. Another thing to understand is that the person on a lower level is basically supposed to tell the person above them everything, so a fellowship leader has to tell the head of the chapter everything about the sheep including past/current sins, aptitudes etc. This information will eventually flow to the top to Samuel Lee. This is one thing I will give
Samuel credit for, he is almost a genius at keeping track of everyone, and many things about them, trust me he knows a lot!

I'll be honest with you, it sounds like you have been appointed fellowship leader as a figure head with no real influence. UBF loves to put certain people in highly visible places so that they can be a good example to the rest, and to bolster their pride as well. I've seen it over and over again. If you don't really know what's going on with each sheep, you are probably not the fellowship director in reality.

Another thing I have noticed is that UBF people often times do not like to talk about things which are embarrassing, and like to save the image of UBF. Most likely this girl came to your fellowship for some reason they think is embarrassing, so they don't want to tell you. Maybe she didn't like her old Bible teacher, or her old Bible teacher was married of to some other city, who knows but it is embarrassing. In UBF it is never considered proper for a student to
switch Bible teachers by their own choice. If they do, I've heard shepherds accuse other shepherds of "stealing my sheep" and since sheep are a highly valued commodity, and can mean the difference between being disciplined or not, thats a bad thing.

The reason students are not allowed at the Monday leaders meetings is because their is a lot of gossip told there. This is a time when the shepherds report on the chapters and anything interesting about the sheep.If a shepherd did not tell these things, and they were later found out they would be accused of being rebellious and dishonest. Remember- "All secrets go up and never down in the UBF pyramid."

In conclusion, I myself was in a very similar position as you at one point. I really liked the UBF people, and the fellowshipping was great, but eventually the politics got me. Trust me, UBF is very political and if you want to really get up the pyramid you have to do the work as well. Make your face present at every event, obey your superiors
dutifully, and have no doubts about UBF and soon you will move up. But if you aren't willing to do that, and I wasn't, don't waste your time there. Find a church that has a healthy environment and small cell groups, and you will find some really nice people out there.

Okay, I hope that helped, and I just hope you don't have to learn the hard way like I did. Keep the faith! Remember Jesus is the true shepherd and he wants to have/maintain a personal relationship with all of us!

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  • Offering... -- Maverick, 11:23:07 01/09/02 Wed
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