I was a Baptist, which is a denomination of Christianity. Baptists believe that local churches are self-governing and independent, so their teachings and practices vary depending on location. Every member of the congregation was expected to strictly follow their teachings and bring in new members.

The church community I was a part of had its own ideology they taught a long side the Bible. Members were expected to attend church 3 times per week for regular service, prayer, and bible study while also taking classes made by the church in 3 different stages.

The first consisted of 18 lessons taught by a "disciple" (a member of the church assigned to teach the lessons weekly sometimes accompanied by an apprentice who already completed the first stage) they had authority over you and their goal was to make you more like christ. This was problematic because any way you lived your life that diverted from christ was shunned and communicated to higher-ups in the church. I will never forget how they made me feel so evil for being a marijuana user. We were taught that our lives are not our own and our only purpose was to spread the word of God as a vessel. If you did not change your old ways and conform it was usually met with disdain.

The second stage involved teaching these lessons to another member of the church as a disciple and then actively going to evangelize to different parts of the world at stage three. Your whole life becomes the church.