Getting Free of Gothard and the Condemnation of his Umbrella of Authority Doctrine

 30Nov11 edit for sinus infection induced grammar issues.  ;)

On this site, I tend to focus on the process of spiritual abuse and how one gets caught up in aberrant or misguided Christianity. Part of my own journey involved the Shepherding/Discipleship Movement.   The church I attended for four years followed Bill Gothard as well as Christian Growth Ministries, and then I had  an experience at an unhealthy Presbyterian church where Doug Phillips of Vision Forum attended for a time. (Phillips teaches an extension of Gothard's core doctrine.) Needless to say, for those looking for specific information about Bill Gothard's teachings, you have to sift through a great deal of material to find it here.

Concerning Bill Gothard, I believe that the most helpful and telling piece I've written to date can be read HERE.

But for some time, the site Recovering Grace has focused on the Gothard-specific issues that one faces when affected by his Bible-distorting teachings. I've graciously been granted permission to repost some of the articles found at Recovering Grace here. One of the most troubling foundational concepts of Gothard's perspective can be found in his doctrine concerning what he calls “the umbrella of authority.”    Midwest Christian Outreach addressed this doctrine in their book and in online articles, however, those works do not focus only upon the umbrella doctrine but include it an overall discussion of problems with all of Gothard's problematic teachings. Though I've written about aspects of this doctrine and others have discussed the concept of spiritual “covering,” there are few single online articles concerning the umbrella doctrine specifically. 

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