Most of Mary DeMuth’s characterizations of Spiritually Abusive church leadership on her list sound QUITE FAMILIAR. You can read her list for yourself to see how many you recognize in your GCx-rooted church via the link below. The following are excerpts from that article. (All bold and red italics for emphasis is mine.)
This topic has been ricocheting in my heart and head many years. I’ve noticed a greater influx of reader email and Facebook conversations about this topic, so much so that I felt it would be wise to address it again. (I wrote this post five ago, and I’ve updated it to give you more resources.)
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Spiritual Abuse is Real (and you are not crazy)
… Often you don’t realize you’re in an abusive situation until your health is damaged, your soul is torn, or your outside relationships suffer. My heart in sharing this is to simply shed light on unhealthy, manipulative, controlling practices. …
Spiritually abusive ministries…
Have a distorted view of respect. They forget the simple adage that respect is earned, not granted. Abusive leaders demand respect without having earned it by good, honest living.
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Create a culture of fear and shame. Often there is no grace for someone who fails to live up to the church’s or ministry’s expectation. And if someone steps outside of the often-unspoken rules, leaders shame them into compliance. Leaders can’t admit failure, but often search out failure in others and uses that knowledge to hold them in fear and captivity. They often quote scriptures about not touching God’s anointed, or bringing accusations against an elder. Yet they often confront sin in others, particularly ones who bring up legitimate biblical issues
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Hiding it or pretending it doesn’t exist simply adds more confusion and anger to those who have walked through the trauma of spiritual abuse.
Link to blog article:
https://www.marydemuth.com/spiritual-abuse-10-ways-to-spot-it/
