High school
Story One: "yelled at me like I was a bad dog."
I was in Xenos from my freshman to my junior year, I knew something wasn’t right by the first meeting. My mom got a divorce and I was alone home all the time so I turned to someone that invited me out to a meeting. I was raised not extremely religious but very spiritual with my parents being non denominational. The first meeting they all crowded me and asked me if I had given myself to god and asked him to be my savior and I told them “I had always felt that he was there.” They told me that it Doesn’t “work that way” I got scared after a few months, I would go through phases where I felt unworthy to go by something that I might’ve done or felt. If I missed one meeting they all surrounded me and asked me questions
And then after a few months I’d come back, but the people that I went to it with wouldn’t talk to me. There was always new people, more people to convert and when you were the new one they treated you like a new puppy. That’s why they always went after younger kids, they targeted the loners and weird Kids at my school, they wanted us to feel the attention, you know you want to be apart of something even if it means having to learn about a being you didn’t believe in in the first place.
After 6 months I came again. I wasn’t going because I started dating a guy I liked and I had not reached out but every single week they were messaging me trying to get me to come again, I felt like a kid who had to go to a family event I didn’t want,to but my gut would tell me I should. When I got in the car my old leader asked me about the guy I was dating. The first thing she said was “does he believe in god”. When I said no she yelled at me like I was a bad dog. She yelled at me at told me it was my responsibility to make sure he went or it would be my fault he would burn in Hell. I said of course and went into the bathroom and cried, I sat in service and left. I haven’t been back since.
Story Two: "I was pressured and made to feel like my life was absolutely meaningless if I chose a different path."
Basically I was involved with Xenos and now about a year removed from leaving I can more clearly reflect on how the manipulative tactics of the group really ate away at my life, my friends lives, and my core identity.
I was involved in a high school group for quite some time and was even considering moving into a ministry house. I was pressured and made to feel like my life was absolutely meaningless if I chose a different path.
My dream school was out of state and I worked damn well to go there. I had a pretty good shot at being accepted too, for months I would have conversations and was made to feel guilty because I wanted something else for my life. At one point we even had a parent night for our group and the whole meeting was about trying to convince parents that living in the ministry house was what was best for their children. They used financial incentives of it being more cost effective, safety reasons-
( no crazy partying etc).
I was furious. For so long I was told I would have options, I would be able to chose my future plans, but then I felt trapped.
I couldn’t leave because I would be made to feel like a sinner and an outsider. I would loose my friends, and I already didn’t have many friends outside the group because all my time went to meetings. Eventually I did leave and I haven’t looked back since. Nobody really has tried to contact me or see since. That hurts. To think that’s all that I meant to them. Another body to feel a seat in the teachings.
Sorry for the typos, I was trying to fast I guess
Story Three: "it took me an entire year of therapy to start telling my therapist about xenos and the effect the organization and its members had on me"
I was not religious and was going through a really tough mental spell when they reached out to me and invited me to a meeting
being in high school I ignorantly agreed and was a victim of the infamous love bombing. I remember I was made fun of at school for being a part of a cult and I stood up for xenos saying there was no way it was a cult. I was in it for two years and during my third year I was coming and going.
during this third year I got a boyfriend who I loved very much, but was outside of the church. I knew he was religious so I didn’t mind. but my disciple/discipler did (idk which is which but she was my mentor essentially) she told me that I should either bring him out or break up with him because he was “an outsider.”
I knew something was fishy because normal churches just don’t say that.
later that year a friend of mine committed suicide and I was so heartbroken. I was torn up and never left
the house, including going to group. when I did go back, everyone had turned the back on me for having a falling out with god. I tried to explain everything and about how I myself was feeling suicidal, and I was ridiculed and told that suicide was the ultimate sin and that I was going to hell for even thinking about it. so I stopped going. then xenos people started showing up in the city I lived in , 20 minutes away from them. randomly at the restaurants and coffee shops. once I saw one of them
and they cried begging me to come back. but I was no longer ignorant to that fact that it’s a FUCKING CULT. so I refused.
I have some other super fucked up stories as well
it took me an entire year of therapy to start telling my therapist about xenos and the effect the organization and its members had on me
Story Four: "She told me I loved sinful temptations more than I loved god"
I was in one of the high school groups for a year or so. I struggled with some personal problems, and I was open about them with one of my home church leaders. I had missed a few meetings sometimes because It didn’t feel genuine to me being at the home church. The following time I had gone to home church, I was pulled off to talk privately with one of my leaders. She told me if I wasn’t going to be consistent in coming, to stop coming in all.
She told me I loved sinful temptations more than I loved god when I didn’t come to home church, so I stopped coming then and there. I still speak to one member occasionally, only when she’s inviting me to come to a CT meeting. I don’t understand why they keep inviting me when they know what state I left the church in.
I have also heard one of my leaders stating transgender people think they need to change their identity, but they just need to find god instead. Which I thought was very narrow minded. Again, please keep my anonymous. I am sharing because it is so good to see people finally expose Xenos.
Forgot to add, the ministry leaders at one of the houses are buying alcohol and giving alcohol to their underage roommates that are 18-19 years old.
Story Five: "Pyro meetings were madhouses of peer pressure and judgement"
Hey, I’m willing to go public. My story isn’t harrowing. I went to Pyro a few times in middle school, because my friends were going. But I’m not a believer, and it started to get tiring after awhile, constantly being told I had to change my mind. My friends never told me that I had to believe in God to be their friend. But that’s what happened, because, in the space of six months, their entire social lives changed. They stopped hanging out with anyone but Xenos.
They would only agree to hang out if it was at Pyro or with Home Church people. And then, when it was time to go to college, they all went to OSU. I doubt they even considered other schools, they were determined to live together. I visited one old friends house once- more people were living in it than was agreed to on the lease. She said they planned to split into smaller groups soon, but I didn’t realize overcrowding was a common practice until finding your page
I never had a really terrible experience with XENOS, but I never had a good feeling about them, either. Pyro meetings were madhouses of peer pressure and judgement. I’ve heard too many bad stories from others to ignore your page. Nothing that isolates it’s members the way xenos does is healthy. If you use my name, please use the whole message
Important correction, it all happened freshman year, not middle school. It feels like it was a long time ago, a lot has changed.
- Meg E.
Story Six: "lost four friends so far to the cult."
Hi, very supportive of everything you're doing
Was in xenos for about a year in highschool, lost four friends so far to the cult.
Story Seven:
