Couldn't exactly find a forum where I thought this would fit, but this trend I've been noticing in our churches in the US has been troubling me and I wanted to vent.
There has been a long list of prominent Evangelical pastors, leaders, and other public figures in the past few years who have been forced to resign from their ministries due to scandals. For reference, I've linked to a recent story about an ongoing issue at Cedarville University by Julie Roys. There are many stories of other examples on her website.
https://julieroys.com/cedarville-pr...-sex-abuser-to-campus-as-more-details-emerge/
Sometimes these scandals are sexual, sometimes not, but they all have a common thread of abusive leadership, bullying, lying, and manipulation tactics. And then a lot of these pastors end up getting "restored" to ministry elsewhere after a short "vacation" and slap on the wrist. My biggest questions about this trend are:
1) Why do we Evangelicals seem to enable so many of these kinds of abusers to get into church leadership? and...
2) Why do we insist on putting them back into leadership after having evidence that they have committed abuse?
So I have a few observations about why we are such easy targets for these people. I hope to generate some awareness and discussion on this issue, since I don't hear many in the church talking about it.
1. We are ignorant of traits of chronic abusers.
Most people aren't aware of the existence of anti-social personality disorders (Narcissistic, Sociopathic, etc.), how destructive they can be, and how difficult it is for these people to actually be repentant and change. I would say church-going Evangelicals are especially unaware.
2. We are generally "nice" people.
If we experience difficulties in interpersonal relationships, our first move is to assume we are doing something wrong or there is a problem with us. When you are dealing with someone with an anti-social personality disorder, there is nothing you can do that will appease them. They are playing by different emotional and social rules than the rest of us.
3. We are Gospel-centered.
Which means we are focused on grace, forgiveness, and restoration. This leads us to be easily fooled when someone tells us with tears in their eyes that they have repented, "seen the light," will do better next time, etc. And we forgive them and give the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, we often just place abusers back in places of authority where they can destroy more lives.
4. Megachurches make accountability hard.
While abusers can and do get into leadership positions in smaller churches, it seems these scandals are much more prevalent in large organizations. In large churches, it is much easier for pastors to avoid a lot of contact with small groups or individuals where their anti-social and abusive traits would be more evident. It is also easier for them to evade accountability, because every staff member or elder assumes someone else is holding the pastor accountable. Often, we also see these abusers have actually started the churches themselves (ie: Bill Hybels), so their word is treated as gospel within the organization and no one dares question their authority.
5. Pastoral hiring process.
The typical hiring process for Evangelical churches also lends itself to abuse. Given two candidates with roughly equal qualifications, search committees will almost always prefer the more "flashy" candidate. (Who wouldn't?) Unfortunately, the probabilities are much higher that the flashy candidates will exhibit an anti-social personality disorder -- especially grandiose narcissism -- than the more unassuming candidates. Narcissists especially tend to make good first impressions: they project confidence, grand visions, and ambitions; they seem like people-persons and others are initially drawn to them; they usually have all the "right" answers for canned interview questions; they can spin great stories and are often great public speakers. But they lack Biblical character and integrity. And the vanilla candidates with impeccable character don't get hired or tend to end up in the smaller churches.
6. Celebrity pastor groupie syndrome.
Evangelicals idolize "successful" megachurch pastors, authors, conference speakers, worship leaders, Christian comedians, etc. Often these people have nothing of Biblical substance to offer the Church. Just pop psychology, silly cliches, and a slick resume or Instagram account. This type of fanatical personality worship only serves to pump up narcissistic egos even further and make leadership positions in our churches even more attractive to abusers.
I will likely post my thoughts about some remedies for these blind spots later on, but would love to hear others' thoughts. Have you noticed or been aware of any of these scandals? Have you personally witnessed examples of abusive leadership in churches? Are there any other factors you can think of that may contribute to our churches being prime targets for abusers?
There has been a long list of prominent Evangelical pastors, leaders, and other public figures in the past few years who have been forced to resign from their ministries due to scandals. For reference, I've linked to a recent story about an ongoing issue at Cedarville University by Julie Roys. There are many stories of other examples on her website.
https://julieroys.com/cedarville-pr...-sex-abuser-to-campus-as-more-details-emerge/
Sometimes these scandals are sexual, sometimes not, but they all have a common thread of abusive leadership, bullying, lying, and manipulation tactics. And then a lot of these pastors end up getting "restored" to ministry elsewhere after a short "vacation" and slap on the wrist. My biggest questions about this trend are:
1) Why do we Evangelicals seem to enable so many of these kinds of abusers to get into church leadership? and...
2) Why do we insist on putting them back into leadership after having evidence that they have committed abuse?
So I have a few observations about why we are such easy targets for these people. I hope to generate some awareness and discussion on this issue, since I don't hear many in the church talking about it.
1. We are ignorant of traits of chronic abusers.
Most people aren't aware of the existence of anti-social personality disorders (Narcissistic, Sociopathic, etc.), how destructive they can be, and how difficult it is for these people to actually be repentant and change. I would say church-going Evangelicals are especially unaware.
2. We are generally "nice" people.
If we experience difficulties in interpersonal relationships, our first move is to assume we are doing something wrong or there is a problem with us. When you are dealing with someone with an anti-social personality disorder, there is nothing you can do that will appease them. They are playing by different emotional and social rules than the rest of us.
3. We are Gospel-centered.
Which means we are focused on grace, forgiveness, and restoration. This leads us to be easily fooled when someone tells us with tears in their eyes that they have repented, "seen the light," will do better next time, etc. And we forgive them and give the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, we often just place abusers back in places of authority where they can destroy more lives.
4. Megachurches make accountability hard.
While abusers can and do get into leadership positions in smaller churches, it seems these scandals are much more prevalent in large organizations. In large churches, it is much easier for pastors to avoid a lot of contact with small groups or individuals where their anti-social and abusive traits would be more evident. It is also easier for them to evade accountability, because every staff member or elder assumes someone else is holding the pastor accountable. Often, we also see these abusers have actually started the churches themselves (ie: Bill Hybels), so their word is treated as gospel within the organization and no one dares question their authority.
5. Pastoral hiring process.
The typical hiring process for Evangelical churches also lends itself to abuse. Given two candidates with roughly equal qualifications, search committees will almost always prefer the more "flashy" candidate. (Who wouldn't?) Unfortunately, the probabilities are much higher that the flashy candidates will exhibit an anti-social personality disorder -- especially grandiose narcissism -- than the more unassuming candidates. Narcissists especially tend to make good first impressions: they project confidence, grand visions, and ambitions; they seem like people-persons and others are initially drawn to them; they usually have all the "right" answers for canned interview questions; they can spin great stories and are often great public speakers. But they lack Biblical character and integrity. And the vanilla candidates with impeccable character don't get hired or tend to end up in the smaller churches.
6. Celebrity pastor groupie syndrome.
Evangelicals idolize "successful" megachurch pastors, authors, conference speakers, worship leaders, Christian comedians, etc. Often these people have nothing of Biblical substance to offer the Church. Just pop psychology, silly cliches, and a slick resume or Instagram account. This type of fanatical personality worship only serves to pump up narcissistic egos even further and make leadership positions in our churches even more attractive to abusers.
I will likely post my thoughts about some remedies for these blind spots later on, but would love to hear others' thoughts. Have you noticed or been aware of any of these scandals? Have you personally witnessed examples of abusive leadership in churches? Are there any other factors you can think of that may contribute to our churches being prime targets for abusers?
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