Summertime brings longer visits with our girls and longer times when all three of our kids together. Last night as we came back to our house, the 7 month old and I from a week at General Assembly and Sam and the girls from a trip from Asheville, the house slowly began to settle into the sounds …
I remember in seminary, discussing a case study in which someone was asking to become a member of Baptist church. In the case study, the person had been baptized as an infant and did not want to be rebaptized. This was rich fodder for us as future ministers because many of us were serving in …
I was asked recently by a reader whether I thought there was a connection between spiritual abuse victims and the repression of spiritual gifts, which made me think about a connection that has been ruminating in my heart and mind for quite awhile. From the number of people I have heard from who have experienced and …
So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be …
Now that I am a religious leader and a religious authority, I understand how quickly patterns of spiritual abuse can be established, even when you don’t intend to do so. I understand that sermon preparation can change so easily from exegesis to isogesis, from relaying what the biblical text says to what I want the biblical text …
As one who has awakened from spiritual abuse, I feel the great need to share my story in order that others may have the space and the place to voice their experiences and begin to heal. My hope in sharing these signs of spiritual abuse is that we may be able to uncover and recover …
Spiritual abuse is the misuse of power by religious leaders or authorities to manipulate and coerce unquestioned adherence to a particular dogma for that spiritual leader’s own gain. This unquestioned adherence is often obtained through a pattern of conditioning. This conditioning can take the form of repeated dogmatic statements, repeated rituals, but is always used …
BNG posted an article this week recounting the story of CJ Mahaney being asked to preach at a preaching conference called Together for the Gospel. Mahaney’s focus for his Sunday sermon was on how churches should support their pastors and not question them. The reason his sermon was so controversial was because Mahaney has been accused …
I’m a recovering fundamentalist. If you had met me in college or high school, you would not have liked me because I had all the judgmental, black and white thinking that comes with fundamentalism. You know the kind that tried to convert Catholics and Methodist as though they aren’t Christian because they attend the church …
Last night as a part of our Lenten series on discipleship, our congregants engaged in the privilege walk. We looked at each other differently as we each stepped forward or backward: Take one step backward if your race, gender, or sexual orientation has caused you to be looked over for a professional opportunity. Take one …
