Quote:
Originally Posted by NeitherFirstnorLast
Good evening all,
What about the Children?
I mentioned in another post that I had heard about LSM's "lost generation" - I'd heard about it when I was a member, from other members. A turmoil that caused a generation of LC kids to leave Lee's church. I heard those members talk about how it caused them to change direction - to invest more in their own children... and I saw that too. In my "locality", many LC kids were homeschooled. Their families only associated with other LC families - you know how the LC is; it's a whole way of life. In some ways, this can look like a beautiful picture of what parenting and shepherding is supposed to be... but is it?
What turmoil lost the generation? When did the "New Way" occur? Could the two be related? What was it really like back in the 'glory days', when there was no Recovery Version, when there were credits in the hymnals for the authors of the hymn, when administration was truly local, when the sharing was from the Bible, and not from footnotes and life studies and HWMRs?
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I think you have several different generations to point to. Ohio brought up one. Then there was the generation I didentify with. Those of the 84-88. Of course how Southern California was affected is much different than Seattle with Bill Freeman when he left Seattle, WA for Scottsdale, AZ. Many young people I knew were from families in Anaheim who were impacted by the Phillip Lee issue. You were either/or situation. If you were for Witness Lee, Phillip was considered a non-issue. If Phillip Lee was an issue to you, you were out.
Keep in mind these ones I knew were not lost to the World, just lost membership to LSM localities. They have gone on with the Lord, but in different places. My personal experience when I have met with local churches from 1993-on there were very few from my generation. Brothers and sisters are either older or a generation younger. When I lived in corporate living, I was in my mid-twenties while most of the other brothers were 6-7 years younger.
As to the question about the New Way, it began in Taipei. Being from Southern California, the practice of the New Way did not hit until early 1986. Part of which involved a door knocking flow.
If you ask if the two are related, I cannot say directly, but indirectly. It wasn;t the New Way itself. For many door knocking was not the problem, but the attitude how door knocking was to be exercised.