Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1 1988 Page 108
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Two Letters from Floyd McClung, Jr.
Executive Director, International Operations
Youth With A Mission
12 January 1988
A copy of the Cultic Studies Journal, volume 3, number 2, 1986, was sent to me with an article
entitled, ―My Experience in YWAM — A Personal Encounter and a Critique of Cultic Manipulation,‖ by
Laurie Jacobson. I read this article with great interest since I have been involved in the organization,
Youth With A Mission, for twenty-two years and am at present its Executive Director. Enclosed you
will find two books written by myself, one by the founder of our organization, and a pictorial
journal about our organization. Also enclosed is our Statement of Purpose and the Lausanne
Covenant, which is an international statement of faith and mission purpose put out by a widely
recognized evangelical body called the ―Lausanne Committee‖. We are co-signers of the Lausanne
Covenant. I have enclosed these documents to give you some idea of what I believe personally, and
what our organization believes.
I was quite concerned about the article as I believe it was unfair to us as an organization. I felt like
we were tried in absentia and found guilty — without an opportunity to respond. I would have
appreciated it if you would have contacted us first, before the article was printed, and allowed us to
respond. I think that would have been a fair way to handle this situation.
I have looked into the background of this situation with Miss Jacobson, and have found that some
of the accusations she made against our organization in her particular situation were true however,
she did not give the full context as to what happened. In other words, I am not denying that there
were problems in our relationship with Miss Jacobson, but I am saying that the article was extremely
biased.
It is slanderous and manipulative to be accused, tried, found guilty, and publicly condemned without
an opportunity to hear, examine, and respond to the accusations brought against us. This is not
consistent with the way we as Americans treat one another we believe a person is innocent until
proven guilty. It is certainly not consistent with the Judeo-Christian principles we, and I presume
you also, seek to live by.
There have been leaders in our organization who have been overzealous to help people, and because
of that, there have been some excesses in their leadership styles. But this problem is being
corrected. I assure you that there is no desire on our part to tolerate the abuse of people's
conscience or their need to grow in their own decision-making abilities. We seek to encourage
independent thinking and change, not to discourage it. In fact, whenever we have found problems
of theological imbalance or overbearing authority, we have tried to deal with that forthrightly and
lovingly.
Enclosed you will find an article that I have written, that has been widely circulated, on the use
and abuse of authority. This is one example of how we have responded to these problems in and
outside of YWAM.
In no way is this letter an attempt to present our organization as perfect or blameless, nor is it an
attempt to respond in detail, point by point, to Miss Jacobson's article. It is simply to say that I
felt the way you handled it was unfair. It did not present our organization with all of its good
points, and it put our mistakes in a prejudiced and slanderous context. I would appreciate a
retraction of the article or a public apology. Dealing with cults and the abusive way they treat
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Two Letters from Floyd McClung, Jr.
Executive Director, International Operations
Youth With A Mission
12 January 1988
A copy of the Cultic Studies Journal, volume 3, number 2, 1986, was sent to me with an article
entitled, ―My Experience in YWAM — A Personal Encounter and a Critique of Cultic Manipulation,‖ by
Laurie Jacobson. I read this article with great interest since I have been involved in the organization,
Youth With A Mission, for twenty-two years and am at present its Executive Director. Enclosed you
will find two books written by myself, one by the founder of our organization, and a pictorial
journal about our organization. Also enclosed is our Statement of Purpose and the Lausanne
Covenant, which is an international statement of faith and mission purpose put out by a widely
recognized evangelical body called the ―Lausanne Committee‖. We are co-signers of the Lausanne
Covenant. I have enclosed these documents to give you some idea of what I believe personally, and
what our organization believes.
I was quite concerned about the article as I believe it was unfair to us as an organization. I felt like
we were tried in absentia and found guilty — without an opportunity to respond. I would have
appreciated it if you would have contacted us first, before the article was printed, and allowed us to
respond. I think that would have been a fair way to handle this situation.
I have looked into the background of this situation with Miss Jacobson, and have found that some
of the accusations she made against our organization in her particular situation were true however,
she did not give the full context as to what happened. In other words, I am not denying that there
were problems in our relationship with Miss Jacobson, but I am saying that the article was extremely
biased.
It is slanderous and manipulative to be accused, tried, found guilty, and publicly condemned without
an opportunity to hear, examine, and respond to the accusations brought against us. This is not
consistent with the way we as Americans treat one another we believe a person is innocent until
proven guilty. It is certainly not consistent with the Judeo-Christian principles we, and I presume
you also, seek to live by.
There have been leaders in our organization who have been overzealous to help people, and because
of that, there have been some excesses in their leadership styles. But this problem is being
corrected. I assure you that there is no desire on our part to tolerate the abuse of people's
conscience or their need to grow in their own decision-making abilities. We seek to encourage
independent thinking and change, not to discourage it. In fact, whenever we have found problems
of theological imbalance or overbearing authority, we have tried to deal with that forthrightly and
lovingly.
Enclosed you will find an article that I have written, that has been widely circulated, on the use
and abuse of authority. This is one example of how we have responded to these problems in and
outside of YWAM.
In no way is this letter an attempt to present our organization as perfect or blameless, nor is it an
attempt to respond in detail, point by point, to Miss Jacobson's article. It is simply to say that I
felt the way you handled it was unfair. It did not present our organization with all of its good
points, and it put our mistakes in a prejudiced and slanderous context. I would appreciate a
retraction of the article or a public apology. Dealing with cults and the abusive way they treat
