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Originally Posted by ACuriousFellow
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As for their deceptive practice of declaring that they are not affiliated with any denomination, I can testify to this being blatantly false. During my sophomore year or so, I was invited to a particular regional gathering of the Local Churches where they discussed the “business” side of things. All of the campus groups affiliated with the Local Churches would come together to discuss things such as club membership numbers, effective tactics and strategies used by other campus groups, and particularly how many of the college students that they were able to bring into their affiliated churches. They had lists of “college-aged saints” that were passed around so that the full-timers from each locality could confirm the numbers and report to the higher ups. Interestingly enough, I discovered that these specific numbers were less than what I saw on campus, and this was because they only counted college students as “college-aged saints” in their city if they were attending the Sunday morning service at their affiliated church. I myself, despite going to all the college-related events and bible studies and serving faithfully, was not counted as a “college-aged saint.” This concerned me deeply, and when I expressed my concern, a sister who had grown up in the Local Churches, whose name was on the list, turned to me and said “what’s the big deal?” When I turned to my mentor to ask why I was not on the list despite my service to the club, I was told that it was because I was attending another church that was not affiliated with the Local Churches. This pained me deeply, and I subsequently decided to stop going to that other church so that I could be fully accepted by my locality. This was one of the red flags I regrettably ignored.
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There were red flags I regrettably ignored as well. Mid-1990's I was a "college-age saint". I did not participate with the campus work, but I did attend the Friday night college age meetings.
I think there's wordsmithing going on when they say there is no affiliation with any denomination when they believe the Local Churches are not a denomination. A severe lack of transparency which church/churches the club fully aligns with. When you declare yourselves to be God's Move On the Earth, why would you not want to be anything but transparent about it?
A key red flag I did not heed is the talk over who is ready and who is not ready to be invited to a Local Church Lord's table meeting.
Why wouldn't you want to invite them? Isn't that what Lord's Day meeting is for. I thought the Lord's Day meeting was anyone and everyone?
There are churches all over the cities Sunday morning coming together in worship and fellowship.