Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Welcome to the forum!
There are several former LC's which have split off, and I would consider them quite healthy. Besides them, the Lord has seekers every where.
But the bigger issue is your expectations. You were in the LC long enough to learn how to judge all other Christians, placing false standards on them. Inevitably any church you visit will cause those old criticisms to rise up in your heart. That happens to all of us. I am still a recovering "judgaholic" having left 15 years ago. WL and the Blendeds have trained us wrongly into thinking there is some ideal "recovered" church, and all others were "pitiful and degraded." Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing is perfect but Jesus our Lord. Actually their Laodicean pride has made them more degraded than most. This forum can be quite helpful to "purge out that old leaven" of errant LC teachings, and work thru many issues that may surface.
Assuming your GF was a Christian, where did she go to church? How about your family? Christian friends? It's usually easier to visit new churches when you know someone there.
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I second that welcome, Peter2020! Brothers
Ohio and
UntoHim have both relayed some very good thoughts to you here.
For the past 20+ years, I have been meeting with a group that left the LC/LSM circle way back in the late 1980s. The open and participatory gathering style has remained, and is most rewarding to hear fresh things of Christ from each member. The legalism is gone too, and this is very refreshing - I have to "pinch" myself from time to time regarding this, as the freedom in Christ here is remarkable to me. We are also free to read or bring up any author that we think we have gained something of the Lord from. Very occasionally, this means someone might even bring up something from Witness Lee, or more frequently, Watchman Nee. But we all have the freedom to share as we are touched.
So, as
Ohio said, there are groups out there who still have some of the basic practices - or as we like to say, have "not thrown the baby out with the dirty bathwater." I am aware of maybe a half dozen of these groups in the USA, with a few in the west and a few in the east - at least that I know of. People here (like
Ohio) may be able to tell you of others near you.
Beyond that, I believe the Lord is faithful to honor the exhortation in Hebrews 10:25 to "not forsake the assembling of yourselves together.' That is, the life of Christ in us is a gathering life, and wants to be with other members of the body - this is both healthy and helpful. I have certainly been blessed with great fellowship with visiting other christian groups. It may surprise you how much of a touch with the living, indwelling Christ that some groups have! You might have to really seek and ask the Lord where they are, but according to my experience He is faithful to lead you where you need to be!
(now I also have had the judgmental experience in meeting with other groups . . . it's a natural function of the flesh to look for things not in-line with our "good" concepts. The Lord "learned" me that this judging was the fastest thing to cut off the blessing and fellowship with others. It can be an exercise, but eventually I was able to put this judgment off (like the "old man") and enjoy other believers, regardless of what they were practicing that was not according to some method. That is an experience of Christ to be treasured!)