Even though I stopped associating with the Kip McCain church of christ cult, there is a couple that still reaches out to me once and a while. This couple has 2 young daughters and this family has been weighing heavy on my heart. I want to invite the wife alone without her cult members with her to a bible study of my own gently pointing out the false doctrine she's been following since her 20's. I found a website that lists one scripture at a time explaining what they claim versus the truth of God's word. The thing is, I don't want to do this alone I feel I'm not equipped. Any advice/ experience in this matter?

The book "Cults Inside Out" explains how to cope with cult members and how an intervention is done.

See [cultsinsideout.com]

Dana,

Some advice / experience I could offer is not to make your talk with your friend only about the doctrine of the Church of Christ. One of the books I read when I was still in a cult - and I wish I remembered what the title of it was now - said that most people don't join cults because of doctrine and most people don't leave cults because of doctrine.

The authors of the book said that these were the three main reasons why people leave a cult:
1. The difference between the lifestyle of the leader(s) and the way the followers are told to live. (There is often a huge difference. Leaders amass a lot of wealth and followers live lives of poverty and obedience.)
2. Cult members become worn out from the demanding life of a cult and can't keep up anymore.
3. Cults tamper with relationships, especially marriage and dating, by restricting, controlling or forbidding these relationships and negative influence in this area causes members to want to leave.

They also probably didn't join a cult because of doctrine. They joined because they met a lot of new and interesting friends or they were idealistic and wanted to change the world for the better. I know for the COC, they did a lot of friendship and social activities and this is what gets people involved.

For sure, doctrine is important too, but just going through a list of false doctrines might not get to the heart of the issue, unless your friend is primarily a dedicated Bible scholar and this is highly-significant to her.

I hope you might consider these things. It might go a long way in removing the feeling that you are not equipped. (I'm assuming that you don't feel equipped to handle all the doctrinal issues?) Also, your friend might not have the patience to sit with you and go over one doctrine after another.

It might take some time to convince your friend. Do you think she would meet with you often and just spend time with you and talk?