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Originally Posted by JJ
1) a strange and overblown focus on recruiting young people in and getting them to go to conferences and training in Anaheim versus preaching the gospel to all, feeding, shepherding, and discipling the saved with the Word and Spirit of God in love.
2) An overly large, high, and unstable institutional structure housing struggling people on a high place that is shaking and collapsing.
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Probably the only reason that the LC didn't collapse long ago is because members live in morbid fear that they will either be judged for leaving, or that they will cease to be part of "God's remnant". I think the signs that the LC is dying are ever so clear. The fact that they are so hyper-focused on college students and that age group shows that they are unable to properly meet the needs of other age groups, and thus everyone else becomes neglected and isolated.
I recently heard that in Southern California, there are supposedly a total of 9000 LC members and 6000 actively meeting on Lord's Day. A 66% attendance rate is nothing to brag about. Certain mega-churches located in Southern California each have a weekly attendance surpassing 10,000 members. That's not to say that a church needs that many members, but when a single congregation can have more members than all LC's in the area, that says a lot. LC leaders don't seem to understand the problem at hand.
Recently, I have been seeing Facebook posts about LSM sending FTTA trainees to Germany to contact Syrian refugees. LCers are told that this is the Lord's latest 'move' (and they also claim that the Lord is ready to 'recover' Stuttgart from what happened 30 years ago). I laugh when I read this kind of stuff because it is clear how ridiculous it all is. If the Lord were really doing something through their work, they would be able to tell of more than these detailed LC-style stories involving how they met a person or two who is 'open' to the ministry. People are not flocking to the LC in the masses like they expect.
The reason that I mention this is because much of the propaganda being used to 'prove' that something significant is happening in the LC turns out to be just a mirage. It is hard to see that is the case from in the LC, but the view is clear for everyone else.