Quote:
Originally Posted by Boxjobox
I am one that got out of the LC in he mid-80’s. For the sake of general understanding, what exactly is the FTTA? Who runs it? Where is it held? What is the cost of attending? What materials are used? What is the expectation of outcome? What is the observed outcome from those who have attended-short term and long term.? What is the attachment of FTTA to the local assembly? What is a scriptural basis for having it? How is it sold to the LC assembly and the individual? And any other observations, insights, enlightenment that can be provided.
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The FTTA was started by Witness Lee and is run, to my understanding, by LSM. LSM is the copyright holder at the bottom of the FTTA website (
www.ftta.org), so I believe that is correct.
What is it? Two years of being taught in class after class what Witness Lee thought the Bible said. Two years of having to be in your seat, or at a meeting, or in bed, or woken up, or at a meal before the designated time you have to be there or you get punished.
The punishment? To read and summarize a Life-Study message.
Trainees are punished for not being places on time, or for not wearing the right colors by having to read the ministry! It's just too rich.
Some trainees break enough rules that they graduate the training with a backlog of punishment messages they have to read.
There is a rule that says something like "no hysterical laughter".
They learn to be nice little submissive Lee-filled members of the Lord's recovery, essentially.
Some graduate from the training and look back on the two years as "the best years of their life." Well, when you consider that their meals and other needs are taken care of, and they don't have to do anything but what they are told, and they spend all their time with their peers, and are taken care of by the saints in their locality like royalty......it's understandable why it would be looked upon fondly.
Trainees are required to wear uniforms which I hear people in Anaheim who are nearby the training call "nun uniforms". The FTTA trainees stick out when they are walking along the streets, to say the least. The schedule and living requirements (just barely enough sleep, your whole day is strictly scheduled, your living quarters are constantly inspected for wrinkles in your sheets, an errant hair in the bathroom, a little dust on a shelf) drive many trainees to exhaustion, sickness, or straight up panic attack. It is intentionally designed to force them to "live by Christ".
A well known phrase that comes out of many trainees' mouths who graduate from the training and are released back into the real world is "I don't know how to be anymore." For reals.
Cost of attending for the two years is about $17,000 for lodging and most meals. Add health insurance on top of that. (I'm just reading from the ftta.org website for that info).
Materials are exclusively Nee and Lee and the Bible (again, on the website).
It's run by LSM, with some of the teachers being co-workers or blended brothers.
Outcome varies wildly. Some graduate and spend several years recovering from their lost health. Some graduate and leave the church. Some graduate and go on to serve in a locality. Some graduate and go to work. Some graduate and get married immediately because it is a known "meat market" where trainees spend two years eyeing everyone and yet are forbidden to strike up relationships. Some trainees graduate utterly deflated that no one of the opposite gender contacted them at the end to initiate a relationship.
The FTTA will assign trainees to nearby localities in southern California, either to be on the college campus, or serve with the YP, or serve with the children.
The "About" page of their site says this:
"The Full-time Training in Anaheim, also known as The Living Stream Bible Truth and Church Service Training, was established in 1989 by Brother Witness Lee. This two-year program aims to help seeking Christians grow in the divine life, be constituted with the truths of the Bible, develop their spiritual capacities, and cultivate proper character. Trainees are college graduates of all nationalities and backgrounds. Over the course of four semesters, trainees take classes, participate in gospel work, and carry out practical services. The Full-time Training is neither a theological seminary nor a divinity school but a place where young Christians come to pursue Christ and learn to live Him in a normal, daily way."
In another place on the site they say: "Although the benefit one can gain from being trained is inimitable and unlimited, the Full-time Training is not for everybody. Having said that, we are still strongly persuaded that there is no better place for a seeking brother or sister in the Lord's recovery than the Full-time Training."
I'm not sure how it is sold specifically, but as far as scriptural basis, I believe I have heard saints point to whatever place in the Bible talks about some kind of school of training or education....I don't know where it is.
Teacher qualifications? Lee-parroting ability.