Why Don’t Churches Stop Spiritually Abusive Pastors?
For the last couple of months I’ve been making my way through a blog series on spiritual abuse which I am calling “Bully Pulpit”. You can see the prior installments here , here, here, and here.
Part of the goal of this series has been to lead up to my session on spiritual abuse at the TGC National Conference. I will be leading a panel discussion on this topic with my friends Dan Doriani and John Yates, at 11AM on April 12th. Please join us if you will be attending TGC, or you can tune-in online.
With the conference right around the corner, this will … Continue reading...
Key Signs of an Abusive Pastor #3: Overly Critical and Harsh with Others
I’m continuing my blog series on spiritual abuse in the church which I am calling “Bully Pulpit”. You can see the prior installments here , here, and here. Since spiritual abuse is not as easy to spot as other forms of abuse, I am working my way through a number of key signs that churches should be on the watch for.
We come now to a third sign of a spiritually abusive pastor, namely that they are known for being overly critical and harsh with those under them. As Chuck DeGroat observes in his book, When Narcissism Comes to Church, abusive pastors are known for … Continue reading...
Key Signs of An Abusive Pastor #2: Hyper Defensive About Their Own Authority
“All who gain power are afraid to lose it.”
So said Darth Sidious (aka, Chancellor Palpatine) in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. And despite being from the dark side, he was correct. The biggest motivator for those in power is often their fear of losing it.
Sadly, that is also the case with abusive pastors. Wade Mullen in his book, Something’s Not Right, makes a very similar observation: “The chief desire of abusive individuals and organizations is to attain or retain power” (15).
If Mullen is correct—and I think he is—then we come to another key sign of an abusive leader, namely that they are often hyper-defensive about … Continue reading...
5 Leadership Lessons I Learned from Ted Lasso
If you watched the Golden Globes the other night, you saw that Jason Sudeikis won best actor for his role as the lovable Ted Lasso in AppleTV’s new hit TV show. That win spurred a number of new articles about why America loved, and needed, this show so much.
So, I thought it would be fitting to repost my earlier article on this charming show and how it teaches us (ironically) about what good Christian leadership looks like:
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Looking back on 2020, it seemed like all news was bad news. We moved from impeachment to the coronavirus to the killing of George Floyd to the presidential election to multiple … Continue reading...
Key Signs of an Abusive Pastor #1: A Long Track Record of Broken Relationships
I’ve been making my way through a new blog series on spiritual abuse in the church which I am calling “Bully Pulpit”. In the prior installment, I offered a definition of spiritual abuse:
Spiritual abuse, then, is when a spiritual leader—such as a pastor, elder, or head of a Christian organization—wields his position of spiritual authority in such a way that he manipulates, domineers, bullies, and intimidates those under him, as a means of accomplishing what he takes to be biblical and/or spiritual goals.
But just having a definition doesn’t answer all our questions. After all, there’s a level of subjectivity in applying this definition. Some may think … Continue reading...