A resource for those questioning or leaving
If you're questioning the University Bible Fellowship, feeling controlled, confused, or grieving relationships — this space is for you. Here you will find honest information, survivor voices, and pathways to recovery.
This site has no affiliation with UBF. All content is published under Creative Commons CC0. Your visit is private.
Recognizing the Pattern
Most people who join UBF don't realize they've entered a high-control environment until years later. These are the recognized characteristics — see how many feel familiar.
Special insider vocabulary — "sheep," "shepherd," "fishing," "house church," "Bible center" — creates an in-group identity that separates members from outsiders.
Mandatory weekly testimony writing, often 6–10 pages, that must confess sins and affirm the group's worldview. Meetings routinely run past midnight.
Shepherds direct who members may date or marry. Accepting a leader-chosen partner is framed as the ultimate test of spiritual faith and obedience.
The chapter director's authority is treated as spiritually ordained. Criticism of leaders is equated with disobeying God. Dissenters are ostracized.
Families are separated for mission work. Leaving children behind to serve as missionaries is publicly celebrated as faithfulness in official testimonies.
Leaving the group results in severed relationships, shunning, and psychological pressure. Former members often describe it as a "Hotel California" — easy to enter, nearly impossible to leave.
Tithing is expected "absolutely" even for those with low incomes. Members are pressured to give scholarships, bonuses, and special gifts to the organization.
"Fishing" on campuses deliberately targets lonely, first-year students who are away from home for the first time and most vulnerable to intensive social bonding.
Some chapters now ask members to sign written membership covenants — legal documents that formalize submission to the group's authority and may provide legal protection for the organization.
Documented Since 1961
UBF leaders regularly tell new recruits that problems are "in the past." In reality, these three practices have been documented continuously — from the group's founding in Korea through petitions in 1976, 2004, 2016, and 2024.
From the group's inception, one-to-one Bible study is used to slowly reshape a student's identity and create total dependence on a shepherd figure. Shepherds become self-appointed lifetime spiritual parents who intrude into every aspect of members' lives. The relationship is framed as sacred obedience — to question your shepherd is to question God.
A recent escalation: some chapters now require members to sign written "membership covenants" ensuring ongoing submission.
Called "marriage by faith" or "forming house churches," this practice pressures members to accept a shepherd-chosen spouse rather than following their own discernment or desires. Accepting the assigned partner is treated as the supreme test of faith. Those who resist are often transferred to a different city or country.
The end goal is creating "mission families" bound to the group — a closed social system that makes leaving psychologically devastating.
UBF leaders have devised informal, undocumented "training programs" covering job choice, finances, diet, exercise, grooming, and daily schedule. Because the training is unofficial, there is no accountability. Historical accounts include leaders checking members' underwear, ordering women to obtain abortions, and confining members until they "repented."
While the most extreme physical abuses appear to have ended, psychological control through training continues, and many former leaders responsible for documented abuses remain in leadership today.
Primary Source Analysis
The following patterns were drawn directly from sermons, testimonies, and endorsements published on ubf.org — not from critics, but from the group's own public materials.
UBF sermons on their own site characterize members using the sheep metaphor in deeply disempowering ways — calling people "weak and stupid," unable to find direction, entirely dependent on a shepherd to survive. This identity-diminishment language is a recognized feature of high-control groups.
Sheep have no defense, no claws, no speed, no hiding skill — they could not find their way home even with a GPS. Sheep cannot survive without a shepherd.
UBF teaching materials repeatedly frame total obedience as the only legitimate spiritual response. Questioning or reluctance is treated as spiritual failure, not normal human discernment.
We must teach the words of God to people until they obey them. People don't like the word "obey" — but we must teach to obey everything.
Published missionary testimonies on ubf.org describe leaving infants and toddlers behind in Korea while parents departed for mission work — and frame this as faithful obedience to God. This sacrifice of family bonds for organizational demands is a recognized high-control group marker.
We left following Genesis 12:2, leaving our children at our parents' home in Korea, in order to fully serve mission work. Sae Han was two and a half, and John was 8 months old.
Teaching materials on ubf.org explicitly state that shepherds are responsible for guiding members away from "flesh desires" in choosing a marriage partner — confirming that marriage direction is a formal, expected function of the shepherd role, not an informal cultural artifact.
Official mission reports describe members writing 7–10 page testimonies "absolutely," with fellowship meetings regularly lasting until 1:30 or 2:30 in the morning. Mandatory, exhausting self-disclosure is a widely recognized behavior-control mechanism.
Remarkably, an endorsement published directly on ubf.org concedes that the group's hierarchical structure is widely seen as cultish — then attempts to explain it away as a cultural misunderstanding.
To Americans... the Korean-styled leadership structure that characterizes UBF seems overly hierarchical. Some have decided that it is cultish.
Published reports on ubf.org describe leaders pledging tithes "absolutely despite their low income," and members offering entire yearly bonuses and scholarships as offerings. Financial exploitation is documented as a standard expectation, not an exception.
The site simultaneously presents UBF as a church, a parachurch, a network of house churches, and an international ministry — with no consistent answer. This deliberate ambiguity makes it difficult for prospective members to understand what they are actually joining, or to find it in directories of recognized religious institutions.
A Pattern Across Decades
UBF leaders consistently claim problems are "in the past." This timeline — drawn from their own reform movements — shows the same issues have surfaced repeatedly since 1976.
Seven senior UBF leaders in Korea write the first documented call for reform, addressing authoritarian leadership and controlling practices. They are ostracized. Read the letter →
A second wave of reform-minded members produce an open letter citing the same structural problems. Read the letter →
A large-scale departure of members produces the 2000 Declaration and a 2001 report. Hundreds leave over shepherding abuses. 2000 Declaration →
Former members petition the NAE to revoke UBF's membership, citing documented abuses. The petition is ultimately unsuccessful. Read the petition →
A series of open letters document ongoing abuses and call for the same three reforms: ending shepherding control, arranged marriages, and coercive training. 2015 letter →
A public Change.org petition calls on UBF leadership to stop three specific harmful practices. Over 100 people sign. View petition →
"In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal" exposes cult practices in Korea. UBF alumna and comedian Esther Ku speaks publicly about growing up in UBF and the group's recruitment tactics targeting lonely first-year students.
A mother's open letter to UBF leadership, calling for reform and relationship restoration, gathers over 500 signatures in two weeks — confirming the problems are not historical, but ongoing. View petition →
Primary Documents
A library of primary source documents from former members, reform movements, and external observers — spanning nearly five decades.
500+ signers in two weeks. Stop controlling the lives of other people's children.
100+ signers calling to end shepherding control, arranged marriages, and coercive training.
Formal petition to the National Association of Evangelicals with documented evidence of abuse.
Mass departure declaration documenting systematic abuses.
The earliest documented reform movement, written by senior Korean UBF leaders.
External Coverage
UBF has been documented by journalists, cult-watch organizations, and researchers over many decades. This is not a fringe concern — it is a well-documented pattern.
Exposes the ecosystem of high-control Korean religious groups. UBF alumna Esther Ku speaks about growing up in the group and its recruitment tactics.
A compiled archive of television news reports covering UBF practices across multiple countries and decades.
Print and digital media coverage including interviews with former members and expert observers.
Independent cult-awareness organizations that have documented and published warnings about UBF practices.
An in-depth interview with a former UBF member detailing the mechanisms of indoctrination and how they operated in practice.
A crowd-sourced reference document compiling facts, history, terminology, and structure of UBF from former members.
Healing Is Possible
Leaving a high-demand group is rarely a single event — it's a process. Many former UBF members have walked this road and found genuine healing. You don't have to navigate it alone.
Stop attending. Create distance. This is harder than it sounds when the group has become your social world — but it is the necessary first step.
Learn about undue influence, high-demand groups, and thought reform. Understanding what happened to you is not a betrayal — it's necessary for healing.
Work through grief, identity loss, anger, and trauma with qualified support. Many feelings — including missing the community — are completely normal.
Post-traumatic growth is real. Former members often emerge with extraordinary resilience, empathy, and clarity of values that serve them well in life beyond UBF.
Leading expert on undue influence and cult recovery. Author of the BITE Model framework.
Residential support for individuals and couples recovering from high-demand groups.
Therapist specializing in cult recovery and undue influence with extensive experience helping former members.
Specialist counselling for those recovering from cultic or high-control group experiences.
For those wanting to maintain Christian faith while recovering from religious abuse.
Directory to help you find a qualified therapist near you who understands trauma and religious harm.
Accessible online therapy if in-person options are not available or you prefer anonymity.
Written by a UBF survivor. Documents the identity loss process and how to reclaim yourself.
Survivor Voices
These are real messages received by the ubfriends community — shared with permission — from people whose lives were touched by UBF.
Thank you so much for the work you have been doing in regards to exposing UBF. I've been following you for many years and currently am reading your book Identity Snatchers. You are truly a courageous man willing to stand up for the truth. I am thankful to God for you.
I was so surprised to have found you when doing research on UBF. I cut off from that church as soon as I left home but I came across your YouTube interview with Steve Hassan and purchased your book recently and now it explains a lot.
I have officially left UBF and since then I have had a great weight come off me. Thank you for trying to reform the UBF ministry. I am looking forward to what the future holds.
I am a concerned parent whose children have been members of UBF for the past couple years. I see the extremism of this church and the control that it has over their lives and it leaves me heartbroken and terrified. I am looking for help, resources, anything that might help.
Your book has been really helpful in helping me understand why my parents joined. I had no idea what had happened to them until I started reading.
These college kids are away from home for the first time. They target people who are alone or lonely. These kids are probably thinking, "Man, I thought I would have friends by now," and during that time, the only people who would approach them would be these religious people.
Inclusive Support
Groups like UBF operate within a strictly conservative theological framework that is rarely welcoming — and often actively harmful — for LGBTQ+ individuals, their families, and their allies.
If you or someone you love is LGBTQ+ and navigating life in or after UBF, know that you deserve affirming community, honest faith, and full belonging. The resources here are specifically chosen for this intersection.
The ubfriends admin Brian Karcher is fully affirming and available for conversation by submitting a Contact request.
About This Site
LeavingUBF.org is a consolidation of the ubfriends.org network of websites, created and maintained by Brian Karcher, a former UBF member who spent years in the group and has dedicated significant time to supporting survivors and documenting the group's practices.
This site consolidates content from: ubfriends.org, four.ubfriends.org (ubfriends 5.0 blog), wiki.ubfriends.org (WikiShepherd), priestlynation.com, and restunleashed.org.
This website has no official connection to University Bible Fellowship and makes no guarantee in regard to the legitimacy of any material presented here. Comments, content, or articles submitted that identify contact information, location, or copyrighted material will be removed.
All content is published under Creative Commons CC0.
For contact: Contact Request