Account of a Recruiting Effort in a Youth Group in the Eastern Ore Mountains (1998)

Friday, February 3, 1995, 7:00 PM; the youth group in a town called P.; the evening’s topic: the biography of Rocky, the Iroquois.

Approximately twenty minutes after we got started, two girls dressed like students arrived and seemed friendly. They sat down in our group and listened attentively. When we were almost at the end of Rocky’s life story, one of them asserted that Rocky had never become a proper Christian (despite his personal witness on the audio cassette). She began to use Christian vocabulary to discuss [the topic], but in a very inconsistent way, as I evaluated it. Aside from that, the two girls didn’t really want to talk about the biography any more, but rather to talk with us about the Bible, and they started to take over the conversation. Curious about their way of talking and acting, I asked them in a friendly way about their names, where they were from, and their Christian community. Their first answer was that information about themselves wasn’t really relevant to the topic. As a second [answer], one of them said that they were in our town P. on a visit. I asked the youth group if anybody knew them. Astonishingly, no one did. Then the other girl said that they were simply traveling and wanted to stop by. They also said that they both belonged to the same Christian community, and that they met daily for Bible reading and prayer. They deliberately didn’t introduce themselves, and justified this [by saying] that guests don’t need to do that, and they felt that they’d been pumped for information. Then there was a discussion in the youth group about whether or not they should introduce themselves.

A suspicion grew in me regarding some information which I’d heard at a youth worker convention. I now wanted to know if they belonged to the Holic Group, so I went on the “offensive.” I asked them again about which Christian community [they might belong to] – [they gave] no answer. Then I suggested, that now we sing and pray together. They said that they would not sing with us (and although I can’t prove it) they would not pray with us, either.

That confirmed my suspicion, and I said to them: (literally) “Excuse me if I offend you, but I am now convinced that you belong to the Holic Group which meets in the area of Rochlitz!” Then they stood up without a word, said nothing to justify themselves, and left the room. I also told them that I would inform all the youth groups [in the area].

At a youth worker convention, reference was made to this group:

• They always arrive (deliberately) too late
• They speak very piously and legalistically
• They don’t introduce themselves
• They won’t sing and pray with others (this has to do with their doctrine)
• They exclusively target young Christians

The author of this text is a Protestant youth worker, whose address is known to the author of this website.