Pastors and what to do.

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[OneOfMany]

i have spent a lot of time reading these last few weeks. Cults, psychopathic personalities, narcissism, the pastors and psychopathic personalities. That sort of thing.

1 in 10 people have psychopathic personalities. Most do not kill people. Over 80% of pastors have psychopathic personalities. Why so many pastors that are psychopathic? It appears that the job of pastor feeds the ego and desire for control that psychopathic personalities crave.

With Evergreen we have a history of such personalities appointing themselves as apostles/pastors without any credentials. They created a church culture to feed their craving for power. Not having empathy for other people they can Lord it over others without remorse. This has led to control, shaming, shunning, and a host of sinful actions. "Founding" pastors chose others that share their lack of empathy and craving for power to rise up as co-pastors.

Now we are left with a church still full of psychopathic personalities that call themselves pastors. What then do we do? How does one fix this?

1.) Keep talking, sharing, and do not stop telling the world what is going on at Evergreen. The pressure is on so keep it on. That alone can elicit change as those that run the organization do not have the character to create healthy change.

2.) Encourage Evergreen to dismiss all pastors that have participated in creating the culture of Evergreen and that have helped to cover up Darling's sin.

3.) All pastors must take a leave until they have a Divinity Degree. A degree does not ensure the graduate has a healthy personality profile but it sure does help.

4.) Hire new pastors that have a divinity degree and that agree that they have no authority over other people's lives, outside of share what the bible says.

5.) Offer financial compensation and/or counseling from an accredited organization that helps people work through trauma and/or cults. If this extends only to the women who came forward during the investigation that should be enough.



Honestly this "church" has felt only the beginnings of its shaking up because there is so far to go.

[Rebel in a Good Way]

Some good ideas here.

I will say that a divinity degree (I don't know if you are referring to the Master of Divinity) is a huge investment of time and money and may not be realistic for some people in later seasons of life.  There are other theological degrees that would be beneficial and any sort of continuing education from an outside seminary would phenomenal.  However, I'm not sure how someone with a degree would fit in to the greater paradigm of GCC's faulty theology and training they have in GCLI.  I do agree that they need to have some better professional training but not sure that attaining a degree is a realistic requirement other than for incoming pastors (even that would be a big shift). 

However, one thing that might temper my lesser educational requirements would be

6. Psychological evaluation (not an assessment by a biblical counselor)--and removal of pastors who are found to have conditions contrary to ministry (narcissism, psychopathology, or other problem areas).

There is a psychologist in my area who does psychological evaluations on both police officers coming out of training and students at a seminary (I forgot which denomination).  This seminary has decided that all students need a psychological evaluation as part of their fitness for ministry.  I heartily agree with that and I'm guessing that would vet out many of the most problematic. 

[OneOfMany]

Some good ideas here.


However, one thing that might temper my lesser educational requirements would be

6. Psychological evaluation (not an assessment by a biblical counselor)--and removal of pastors who are found to have conditions contrary to ministry (narcissism, psychopathology, or other problem areas).

There is a psychologist in my area who does psychological evaluations on both police officers coming out of training and students at a seminary (I forgot which denomination).  This seminary has decided that all students need a psychological evaluation as part of their fitness for ministry.  I heartily agree with that and I'm guessing that would vet out many of the most problematic. 

That would be something to write the BOT about.

As for my suggestion that those with a Master of Divinity be hired, yes, it would absolutely change the theology of Evergreen because Evergreen does not teach the gospel. It would be radical change should pastors be brought in that actually understand what the bible says.