Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry
As I quote Nigel in this article, In the 1980s the Recovery’s “one trumpet” promoted the New Way, emphasizing numbers and rapid growth. However, as the Recovery entered the 1990s, Bro. W. Lee’s tune changed dramatically. He now emphasized the Recovery was a “narrow way” which couldn’t expect rapid increase! In 1992, only 6 years after launching the “New Way,” he declared,32 “We have to realize that the way we take in following the Lord cannot have a high rate of increase. The way we are taking is really a narrow way.”
Freedom, maybe the brothers missed when Witness Lee changed his tune regarding the new way and the emphasis on numbers and rapid growth?
|
This is where a big contradiction in the LC lies. Ironically, WL was correct when he said that they can't expect a big increase. He was also correct in saying that the way they are taking is narrow (exclusive). Obvious, from a leadership standpoint, increase is necessary for survival of any group. Any time a group doesn't have increase, it should be of concern. When Lee talked about not being able to expect a big increase, I take that to be his excuse for the failure of the "great leap forward".
Before the new way started, I think Lee was correct in identifying that there wasn't a good increase. His problem is that he didn't take into consideration the real reasons the LC was lacking in increase. Thus the new way was something developed in the absence of reason and meaningful feedback. The result was something that might have sounded good on paper, but didn't work as promised.
I think the reason brothers still try to implement the new way is because they realize the increase is lacking. So they go read things that Lee said and get all excited about his projections. The reason they never see past Lee's projections is because the failures are blamed on LC members rather than flaws in Lee's teachings. Multiple times I have heard the old "if everyone brings one person to the Lord within the next year, the church will double in a year". It sounds reasonable, but in actuality it is simply not feasible. Even Christian groups with the best rates of increase don't double every year.
I used to think that people were just waiting to be introduced to the LC, that it would be exactly what they needed. This is indeed the view that LC leaders push, that we have exactly what everyone else needs. Imagine how surprised I was when I first read the words of Sherman Robertson to Steve Isitt: "Not everyone belongs in the Lord's Recovery." That is a completely different view of what "the Recovery" really is. On the one hand you have LC leaders who talk about "conquering the whole earth", and on the other hand, you have those who talk about the LC being "narrow" and not for everyone. Well, you can't have it both ways. That's what it really comes down to. If the LC is really something for everyone, then there shouldn't be any exclusivity or sectarian attitudes. Those attitudes just prove there will never be any significant increase within the LC.