Quote:
Originally Posted by HoldFast
When I attended a college training a few years ago, I remember someone saying, "once you get a freshman into the homes, your work is finished." At the time, I completely accepted that and thought it was a brilliant idea. Now looking back, I realize that there are so many ways God could use me, and so much "shepherding" I could do anywhere, but I instead thought that using the homes was a crucial factor in bringing people to the Lord. Recently, I listened to an audio from this year's training about the functions of the homes and was greatly disturbed. One student gave a testimony, saying that he should have "inoculated" a new one before he got "poisoned" (apparently he read an old news article about the local church being a cult).  But anyways, the student said the new one still did not completely go away because he already had contact with the home/community.  So, there is an "urgency" within the LC to "inoculate" students through bringing them into the community before they are able to do research on the group. Interesting relationship here...yet another one of the LC's tactics with hidden implications.
Also, as you said, it does seem that LCers are taking advantage of the vulnerability of freshmen, instead of really being sympathetic to their needs. "Gaining" the freshmen and getting them into the homes is such a specific objective they have in order to expand their group. Although other Christian groups (including one I have joined) do focus a lot of their attention on freshmen, they definitely do not use any sort of manipulation strategies. There is no discussion amongst ourselves on how to ensure all the freshmen are recruited to our group. Instead, we genuinely want to provide a loving and supportive christian community for freshmen where they can grow their faith. |
I think the Christians on Campus groups are fairly unique in regards to bringing campus contacts into homes and the larger community of the LC. They are, after all, a campus recruiting arm. Other clubs are there fir purposes like you said, to present a supportive Christian community for students on campus. For LCers, that's not enough. They can't outright state their intentions, however, because that would set off all kinds of alarms. I'm not even sure that a church is allowed to implant members as leaders of a student club in order that it could recruit members.
Anyways, the whole idea of people getting "poisoned" and needing to be "inoculated" is all a bit bizarre when you really think about it. If someone hears negative remarks about a campus club, shouldn't that push them to do a little research at the very least? But for LC campus clubs, that is exactly what they
don't want anyone doing. They will state that if people do their research, they will be "poisoned". Apparently the way to "inoculate" someone is to tell them to not listen to anything they hear or read anything they see on the internet. Is that even reasonable? People should be encouraged to read everything, and then make a decision based on that information.