Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
But you know what I noticed? No young adults. They were all either "in the world" or they were "serving the ministry". Seems that you either got vacuumed up by Anaheim and put in service at some ministry outpost, or you just couldn't make it, spiritually. Actually, there's nearly nothing local at all about the local churches of Witness Lee. They're merely feeders for the ministry.
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The majority of LC young adults who actively meet are being sucked in to the FTTA. I'm inclined to believe that this is mostly happening through coercion. With some of those I know, this was indeed the case. I think those like me who chose not to go ended up feeling second tier. Most either dropped out of the LC completely or withdrew gradually. I find it really sad what the LC has become. It's not that there is an absence of young adults, if you go to certain LC's you might see a lot of young adults, but the reality of it is they are mostly FTTA graduates who know how to "play church". At least in the old days, the LC atmosphere was something that could be created without sending people off to Anaheim for two years.
It just goes to show the fundamental problem at the heart of the LC. It is a system of hierarchy that necessitates individuals who express full allegiance to the ministry (LSM) and the ministry only. It starts with planting leaders in churches that are LSM loyal. LC history has proven that isn't quite enough. Some leaders become defectors. The LC also need members who can also stay loyal to the ministry in case a leader is to be ousted. This is accomplished through things like the FTTA.
The whole LC environment is about creating loyalty and allegiance towards the ministry. That's why they love to make statements like: "other Christians don't..." or "we are so thankful for the ministry of the age". It's all a matter of increasing dependence on the ministry. This is what really turned me off about the LC. In my interactions with LC members, I began to notice more and more that there was always a hidden agenda at play. If someone wanted to have lunch we me, they didn't just want to have lunch, there was usually something specific that they wanted to discuss or ask. Same thing with conversations. Conversations always seemed to go towards things like "are you going to the summer training?" or "what did you enjoy from the HWFMR?". There was hardly ever any opportunities to discuss normal things without having a conversation go in a direction to where there was an attempt to analyze how much I was getting into the ministry. That is how I might summarize the majority of my LC interactions, people trying to determine whether or not I was fully engulfed in the ministry.