One of Bertha's favorite strategies [to gain access to potential converts for the millenarian sect of which she was a member] was to patronize coffee shops and snack bars and to feign the appearance of the single girl lingering long over her coffee. By unabashedly making eye contact and acknowledging smiles, she invited men to initiate access to her. She recognized the sexual assumptions of these contacts and consciously sought to exploit them [for her religious group]. She would explain the male's conduct to him in veiled religious terms, noting that many people were seeking for something today. The play between her and her erstwhile partner typically culminated in an invitation to dinner.

XREF: Connects to research on recruitment manipulation tactics in high-control religious groups and the modern 'flirty fishing' practice of the Children of God sect.

QUESTION: How common was this recruiting tactic in millenarian sects, and was Bertha's method documented elsewhere?

Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order a…, loc. 986