An Example of the Anatomy and Physiology of Spiritual Abuse: Mahaney, T4G and the Gospel Coalition

In then next few days, I will feature a post written by a university professor who left Evangelicalism because of how poorly the Church responded to his needs. He references the similar plight of a population of people within the Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) network of churches as an example of his frustration with his own matter of concern. Prior to diving into his contribution here, I wanted to focus back on how spiritual abuse works using the example of recent events  and problems concerning SGM. The misuse and abuse of authority through rigid systems allows a fleeting virtuous end to justify ever more questionable and unethical means. Soon, the individual that the system was meant to aid them finds themselves crushed by it instead, and the system blackmails the individual by claiming to govern their eternal fate. 

For many years, several parents and families endeavored to engage their church leaders to adequately and appropriately attend to the needs of all of those who were ill affected what emerged as a pattern of of both physical and sexual abuse that insulated abusers. When these change agents failed, they filed a class action civil lawsuit against SGM leaders for decades of unreported child physical and sexual abuse, attempts to cover up these cases, and for the pain and shame suffered by those who were manipulated to remain silent.

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Revisiting Shepherding's History and Influence in Light of the Scandal at Sovereign Grace Ministries

CJ Mahaney

Former members of Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM, formerly called “People of Destiny” or PDI) recently filed a class action lawsuit against the church system and individuals within it, seeking justice for the myriad of abuses they suffered as the church tried to cover up many incidences of both physical and sexual abuse.

 As people ask how so many ministers could repeatedly participate in such cruel activities, it seemed to be a good time to revisit the history of the Shepherding Discipleship Movement (henceforth abbreviated here as “Shepherding”), Evangelical Christianity's attempt at ecclesiocentricity (making church activity central to the church member's life so that specific events of their personal life become subject to governance by church leaders).

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Shepherding: Many Variations on a Theme

The previous post reviewed the emphasis on submission that came out of many groups that were born during the time of the Charismatic Renewal. Understanding this aberrant “submission doctrine” and how it developed is essential to understanding the shepherding movement and its many variants that exist today. All of the Shepherding/Discipleship groups observed this focus on submission and the “umbrella of protection” concept to varying degrees and continue to do so, despite the fact that shepherding was theoretically denounced and renounced by most Evangelical leaders and some of the leaders of shepherding themselves. I’ve heard from many people over the past week or so tell me that they knew nothing of the practices of shepherding, but that does not surprise me. I participated very actively in a Shepherding group for four years and never knew that there was such a practice or an well-organized set of doctrines associated with it. I knew nothing of the history, and I had to be told about it by an exit counselor.

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All About Authority: The Popularity of Submission Doctrine

The social unrest and rebellion of the ‘60s combined with the problems of the Vietnam War soon followed as a great number of those in the “Baby Boomer” generation did their best to cast off the perceived perfection of their parents. A whole generation of very idealistic young adults wanted to be unique and expressly different than their parents and their generation. They didn’t want to lead “Leave it to Beaver” lives, and they did not want their homes to look like the idyllic Nelson home or anything like the “Donna Reed Show.”

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Examples of the Posterity of the Shepherding Movement: Geoff Botkin and Surviving Sovereign Grace Ministries

A few years ago, I read a book review of a book on the Shepherding movement that grew out of the Charismatic Renewal movement that started in the 1960s. The reviewer said that it seemed pointless to rehash a movement and a mindset that was old news and past-tense. I remember wondering what planet this person lived on? They certainly had not lived in my corner of the universe.

Shepherding is anything but past tense, and most everything that shepherding did is still alive and as active as it ever was. Though there is not a tremendous focus on the one-on-one (or one-over-one) pastoral care that some of the original groups followed, the other spiritually abusive practices persisted. Some of those include the tremendous focus on piety and an overt focus on submission to and governance by church leadership under the guise of personal concern for parishioners. These groups also spend a great deal of energy maintaining milieu control, urging others to refrain from “sowing discord among the brethren.”

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