Mrs Kioski

I’ve been doing some thinking about growing up in my family. It seems that Intervarsity has not been the only messed up Christian organization that I have been a part of. My family is a member of the People of Praise (POP) as well as the Catholic church. I thought you all might like to know a bit about POP as it had a very influential role in my life. I believe that i have the right to criticize it because I was forced to be a part of it for 16 years.

I have never liked POP, although there have been several things that i have enjoyed about it. There are simply too many creepy characteristics pertaining to this organization for me to think of it as a good thing.

I almost dont know where to begin when it comes to listing the negative things about POP. There are just so many of them. I suppose i could just give a better idea of what POP is first. They are a non-denominational group composed of mainly large, catholic families. they meet every sunday for a couple hours to worship, either in large groups or small groups. i was forced to go to every single one of these meetings until i was 16, when i refused to go anymore. the meetings are extremely boring as they are geared towards older adults. i always felt left out and uncared for there. also, POP is more of a charismatic group and if someone would not enthusiastically join in the worship, they were looked down on. i was one of those persons who was uncomfortable worshipping with them and often felt shunned by my parents friends because of this.

Another important factor of this “community” as they like to call themselves is there tendency to do everything the same. Everyone buys the same kind of car, wears the same type of clothes, sends their children to the same schools (Trinity), and lives in the same neighborhood. This last part is what creeps me out the most. Everyone in POP used to live in St. Paul, but once some people starting moving into Burnsville, everyone followed them. I cant go anywhere in Burnsville without running into someone i know from POP.

POP has a set of rules that its members pledge to obey. im not exactly sure what these are because i never wanted to join this “community”. but i do have a general idea. i know for sure that you must remain celibate and not date for the first 2 years. it doesnt matter if you have a fiance or a boyfriend, you must give them up if you want to join. it is really hard to leave POP because you have to have a your reason ‘approved’. the people that i know that have left it have been shunned. you pledge your finances and time to this organization along with your normal church. you promise to go to every meeting except for very important reasons. besides these rules, there is an entire sub-culture that must be obeyed for social reasons. ill just give one example of this: no dating until your child has graduated. this doesnt make any sense to me, but whatever, if you want your teenager to date behind your back, then go ahead and enforce that rule.

i dont know what else to say, but that is a pretty good glimpse at what my life was like growing up in POP. i feel like POP was forced upon me and this cant be right.

I came across an old letter from IHOP (The International House of Prayer) today that was addressed to me. A few years ago I came across this organization through a church i visited a couple of times. For some reason i gave them my address for additional info and my email address (big mistake). You see, no matter how many emails you block and letters you throw away they find new ways to get their junk mail to you. It’s really annoying.
All positive interest in this group left me once i heard about their end times theories. They are convinced that Christ is coming back to earth in the next 50 years. Aaaaalrighty. Personally, i dont think that we need to be trying to figure out when Jesus is coming back. IHOP is also very obsessed with the abortion issue. I am highly pro-life, but i think that they take it a bit too far. They pop up in the news every once in a while and other such things.
The letter I found today kind of freaked me out. I havent read very much of the junk that they sent me, but i decided to see what they had to say in this. They made it sound like they were trying to gather hundreds of youth to join forces with them to help their cause. I couldnt help but getting a frightening image of walking around the Twin Cities and seeing reps from IHOP all over the place. IHOP commercials on TV, IHOP billboards, IHOP tv shows. They made it sound like that is their dream. To be a community that the world cannot ignore.
To top this off, it reminds me of the organization that my parents belong to. These people have great motives behind their movements, but they are going about it all the wrong way. They are so persistant it is scary. There is a point between being devoted and overly obsessed.
I look at what Caedmons or Jars are doing and i get inspired. They are changing the world in a dramatic way that doesnt force people to think a certain way. IHOP’s message ends up being one of panic and fear (the world is coming to an end!) and force (we will be heard!). Personally, I enjoy living in a country where I am allowed to make my own decision on what i think about abortion and the Bible and other issues.