To "The Precious Saints Who Are No Longer Meeting With Us"

[Recovering]

You may (or may not) be interested in visiting the Memorial Meeting website put up to honor Benson Phillips [link here]. The main feature of the website is a 4hr 23min video of the event.

I visited the site because a friend of mine pointed me to Ben Phillips (Benson’s son) “concluding word”, which contains an appeal to those who left. People I know and love were at the memorial, and I wanted to hear what they'd heard. [It starts at 3:48:20 if you want to see for yourself]. He talks about having a burden to say something to four categories of people: (1) the 1st generation (of the Lord’s Recovery in the US; those who “came in” in the 60s and 70s and knew Brother Lee personally - I'm not sure about those of that generation who didn't actually know him), (2) the 2nd generation (their kids), (3) the 3rd generation (the current young adults), and (4) “the precious saints who are no longer meeting with us”.

To the 1st generation, his word was essentially - thank you, we owe you everything. To the 2nd generation (of which he is a member), he said it’s time to rise up and take the baton, but interestingly he acknowledged (1) that a successful handoff would be pretty much unprecedented in church history (2) his generation has been kind of confused about whether they're supposed to keep ambition in check or rise up to take the lead. He exhorted the 3rd generation to somehow get themselves to the Full Time Training, where everything would come together and they would “see the church.”

His word “to the precious saints who are no longer meeting with us” starts at (4:02:25 - 4:04:43). What follows is not an exact transcription, but it’s close:

I don’t know why you left. There are a million reasons to leave, good reasons perhaps. I don’t know what you’ve been doing. But one thing I do know, and I believe deep down in your heart you also know, and that this is the church; this is God’s family, and you belong here. You’re our brothers and sisters. Figuratively speaking, the Father is standing on the front porch and he’s looking down a long country road and he’s waiting for your silhouette to pop up on the horizon with the sun behind you. And when he sees you, that you’re heading home, he’s going to run to you, and he’s going to hug you and kiss you. Don’t say things have gotten too complicated. Don’t tell me you’ve gotten involved in too many bad things. We need you. The Lord needs you. The church needs you. The Lord is coming back. Why don’t you come back? Just come back! Let’s all say “Just come back!” [leads the audience in a chant “Just come back!”, again, stronger, etc] Just come back… You’ve got everything you need - you’ve got the blood and you’ve got the cross. I don’t care what you’ve done, what you’ve been involved in; just come back. We love you, just come back.

There’s a lot to unpack from such a short exhortation. I have had a few personal interactions with Ben, and they were all positive. I have no doubt he is sincere in his love for the Lord and for the church and church life that he knows. I am sure he is genuinely sad that so many have left and thinks that he is being loving with such a word. So I’m also sure he has no idea that his exhortation was a microcosm of what has caused so many to leave. My goal here is not to mock, expose, or dishonor him, but such an appeal deserves a response.

To start with, why don’t you know why we’ve left? If there are good reasons, why haven’t you listened to or read them? It’s not hard to find where many have laid out their reasons clearly and in good faith. Are you afraid of being “poisoned”? (For what it’s worth, Ben's not unusual. No one from TLR has asked me or my wife why we left. We told some people by way of explanation while we were leaving, but no one has asked.) I guess all that is “on the wrong tree”.

Similarly, he said he doesn’t know what we’ve been up to, and the context of his statements indicates he doesn’t really care. Enough said.

It was clearly an emotional time for him because he just lost his father; thus the image of the loving Father on the porch with the country road is not too surprising, but it is a little shocking in its assumptions.

The "Just come back" chants can’t possibly have actually been directed at those of us who have left. "Just" implies we’re supposed to put aside all the reasons we left, never mind if they’re good or not. It implies nothing has changed, but we need to change, we need the blood (for repentance) and the cross (to eliminate our natural selves). Maybe those chants were meant to soften the hearts of those in the room toward those who left, which is noble. But it was Weird. It didn't make me want to just go back.

"We love you" - Well, thank you. But what does that mean, practically? Loving means desiring the good of another. For many people, that means listening and apologizing where appropriate, valuing who they are and what they have to say regardless where they meet. Is that what you mean?

"We need you" - Yes, probably you could benefit from the experience and knowledge of genuine believers outside the bubble. But are you willing to listen and receive it? History, and my personal experience say "not so much." Your consistent conflation of "leave the church" with "no longer meet in the LSM-affiliated local church" suggests the same.

Finally, I guess I found it more than a little odd that he would conclude his father's memorial with such a tone-deaf appeal. Maybe he was hoping that would honor his father's memory. I suppose I was hoping he would post his email on the blue chalkboard and say "Let’s talk". Wouldn't that have been refreshing?