I ' m all Churched Out
Spiritual
abuse
I recently became alarmed at the frequency at which I run into people experiencing a frustration with Church in some cases resulting in a withdrawal from communal worship. We all know that there is no such thing as the perfect Church because it is made up of imperfect people, but what I am about to discuss is a genuine phenomena called, Spiritual Abuse.
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, by David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen: provides many case studies. The data has been methodically collated over twenty years of research by these two respected and established Christian psychologists. Resultantly, many people have borrowed the definition of the term Spiritual Abuse. Having read this book, I did wider reading only to realise that the problem is deepening and widening. Subsequently, there are now help groups that specialise in restoring and healing people who have exited Church due to Spiritual Abuse.
The Research is showing that this phenomena called Spiritual Abuse, is leaving many Christians with emotional scars and some with mental breakdown. Their documented mental agony are a testament against this false regime called the contemporary Church of Jesus Christ, that is not built on the Biblical model laid down by the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles. With a view to understanding this problem firstly, let’ s look at how some authors define, Spiritual Abuse.
Definitions for Spiritual Abuse According to‘ The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse’, by David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen:
“ Spiritual abuse is the mistreatment of a person who is in need of help, support or greater spiritual empowerment, with the result of weakening, undermining or decreasing that person’ s spiritual empowerment.”
These two authors go on to refine this definition:“ Spiritual abuse can occur when a leader uses his or her spiritual position to control or dominate another person. It often involves overriding the feelings and opinions of another, without regard to what will result in the other person’ s state of living, emotions or well-being. In this application, power is used to bolster the position or needs of a leader over and above one who comes to them in need.”
Examples of Spiritual Abuse Ronald Enroth defines spiritual and pastoral abuse this way:“ Spiritual abuse takes place when leaders to whom people look for guidance and spiritual nurture use their positions of authority to manipulate, control, and dominate.”
In the book‘ Healing Spiritual Abuse’, Ken Blue compares other types of abuse with spiritual abuse:“ Abuse of any type occurs when someone has power over another and uses that power to hurt. Physical abuse means that someone exercise physical power over another, causing physical wounds. Sexual abuse means that someone exercises sexual power over another, resulting in sexual wounds. And spiritual abuse happens when a leader with spiritual authority uses that authority to coerce, control or exploit
I ' m all Churched Out
14 | SHARE | MAGAZINE January- March 2017