[JJ]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

Unregistered Guest,

Unfortunately your questions are not so easy! Nevertheless, I think you will receive some good responses in the near future!
You may want to keep in mind that you will probably receive as many different answers as their are people who reply.

I will try to just cover one or two of your questions. I "came into" the Local Church in the mid 1970s in Orange County California, which as you probably know, was/is the hotbed of the movement and home of Witness Lee, the church in Anaheim and the Living Stream Ministry. So my personal experience and views regarding these matters comes from someone who was right there and immersed in the LC movement in Southern California.

I kind of chuckled a little with your question "What was the LC like before Lee ministry took over completely". Not that this is a funny matter, only that I don't believe that there ever was a time in the Local Church life when Witness Lee and his ministry did not completely dominate every aspect. We only read the Bible with Lee footnotes. We only fellowshipped about Lee messages and teachings. Most of the songs and hymns were filled with Lee teachings and Local Church slogans. We spent all of our time, including all holidays and vacations listening to and fellowhipping the teachings and practices established by Witness Lee.

The Lord's Day meetings throughout the year were simply a weekly "digestion" of the various training and conference messages of Witness Lee. There would be the Winter Training (Christmas week through New Years) and we would spend the next six months going over and over and over all the 30 messages. Then there was the Summer Training (4th of July week) and we spend the next six months going over and over the 30 messages of that training. Of course there was the various US holiday conferences and there might be a few weeks break to go over those messages. I think you get the picture.

Others from different parts of North America will probably give a slightly different story, especially those from the Great Lakes / Midwest area.
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Great description of what the LC was like for me too, starting from 1978 when I was recruited in Fresno, CA. There never was a time that Lee and his ministry wasn’t dominant. My theory is because the whole thing was like a Ponzi scheme from the beginning, even back before Nee inherited the stinking system from others, became top dog, and Lee took it to even greater lengths.