In a period of discernment

[Loveneverfails]

Hello brothers and sisters,

I am a college-aged sister living in Alaska. I'm currently in a period of research, prayer, and discernment regarding the LC in my city. I have been fellowshipping with the college-aged group here for nearly two years now, and I have been greatly blessed by the fellowship, but I admit that I have always felt at least a mild discomfort with the teachings.

To give some background, I became a Christian as a child and I currently attend a non-denominational church with my family on Sundays. The only reason I was brought into the LC college-group was because of my then-boyfriend (now fiance). When I was first introduced to it, I was greatly disturbed and entered into a 2-month period of research and prayer. I met with my parents, my pastor, and finally the elders of the LC here in town. My pastor did the best he could with the little time I gave him to research and he cited the CRI article "we were wrong", and looked through a book given to me by the LC entitled something along the lines of "Basic Elements of Christianity". His conclusion was that though the LC may have some differing beliefs on secondary issues, they are orthodox when it comes to the core beliefs of Christianity. When I met with LC elders, most of my concerns were 'explained away' and I decided to continue fellowshipping with the college-group. I did, however, maintain a sense of respectful skepticism, and prayerfully considered all that was being taught in the meetings.

For the most part, I had to admit that most of the disturbing things I'd read on LSM's website weren't too prominent in the locality here. I suppose this could possibly be due to our physical isolation from Anaheim. Out of the 30-something adult saints in the congregation (college-students included), only one truly strikes me as being an semi-extreme "Lee follower". For this reason, I concluded that I might be alright with joining this group after my fiance and I marry.

However, several weeks ago the college students and I went to a college conference in Seattle. The topic was "the vision of the church", and I was extremely blessed.. by about 90% of the messages. When the topic got to 'oneness' and 'one-city-one-church', all of my previous "comfort" with the LC flew out the window. Suddenly, all of the arrogance that leaped off of pages of LSM publications were being played out in front of me. I had disturbing conversations with saints there who seemed to be completely unaware of how elitist they were. One brother in his mid-20's asked me how long I'd been in the church life. Though I suspected that he meant "how long have you been in the local church", I answered with "well, I was raised in the Church, but I came to know Christ personally as my Savior when I was 8", to which he dismissively responded "yeah yeah but when did you enter the church life? I could continue to list examples, but I'm sure they'd all sound familiar to you.

Anyway, that jarring experience spurred me to go on a second round of researching LSM. Even my fiance (born in Taiwan and raised in the LC) had to admit that the things I was finding were disturbing. We are now in a season of research, fellowship, prayer, and discernment as we try to determine what the Lord may want us to do. I have been lurking around this site for the past few weeks, and I am so thankful to have a place to read so many testimonies from past LC members. Reading about your experiences really helps me get a more broad perspective of the situation I'm facing. Thank you.