This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1986, Volume 3, Number 2, pages 204-233. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

My Experience in YWAM:  A Personal Account and Critique of Cultic Manipulation

Laurie Jacobson

The following account of the author's experience with a missionary group is presented as part of our continuing followup to the special CSJ issue (Volume 2, Number 2), "Cults, Evangelicals, and the Ethics of Social Influence." The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Cultic Studies Journal or the American Family Foundation. As always, the CSJ will consider articles, comments, and letters expressing other points of view.

Abstract

While recounting her own experience, the author compares training in Youth With a Mission (YWAM), a Christian missionary group, to what she has heard and read about involvement in religious cults. She finds that her YWAM training, and the philosophy which undergirds it, are similar to that described for cultic groups. Features common to YWAM and controversial religious cults include manipulation of fear. and guilt, authoritarianism, the denigration of critical thinking, social exclusiveness, and suppression of individuality. The YWAM Discipleship Training School, which the author attended in Hawaii, also relied on the leadership's special interpretation of biblical verses and precepts to inculcate attitudes and obtain conformity to the group's ways. The author concludes that while YWAM hopes to create a perfect community, the result is a loss of freedom.
 

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