The Wartburg Watch » Church conflict

Another Mars Hill “Testimony”: One More Reason to Beware of Covenants

dee — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:17:30 +0000

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. -Martin Luther King, Jr. Mars: Hubble I apologize that we have not gotten to the topic of spiritual abuse resources. We will get to them next week. (Promises, promises). The last two days we have focused on legal ways to leave your church. especially if you have signed a membership covenant. We said that the threat of legal action might need to be employed and this raises the question of the biblical injunction against lawsuits. Kind of sad, isn't it? 1 Corinthian 6:1-6 (ESV) When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Fri, Feb 03 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Acts 29, Calvinism/Calvinista, Church conflict, Church contracts, Covenants/Contracts, Ken Sande, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, New Reformed Theology, Peacemakers/CCEF, Spiritual abuse

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Tomczak Sets the Record Straight

deb — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 04:55:58 +0000

"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20 (NKJV) Larry Tomczak The departure of Larry Tomczak from PDI (renamed Sovereign Grace Ministries) has always been somewhat of a mystery until now… For those not familiar with him, Larry Tomczak took a young C.J. Mahaney under his wing back during the Jesus Movement (1970s) and together they founded a Bible study in the Washington, D.C. area called "Take and Give". They attracted a large following which numbered into the thousands and eventually started a church in Gaithersburg, Maryland that is now called Covenant Life Church. Mahaney became the pastor of the church. They also established an outreach ministry called People of Destiny, which focused on church planting, and Tomczak led this effort. He also served as pastor of Fairfax Covenant Church before relocating to Atlanta. (SGMers, if I don't have the history correct, please let me know.) Next year Tomczak will be marking his 40th year of full-time ministry. This milestone must be extremely important to him because he has finally decided to "tell the story of Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Fri, Dec 02 2011.

Categories: Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Church conflict, Church discipline, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Spiritual Abuse: Why Are Pastors Silent About the Real Reason People Are Leaving the Church?

dee — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:37:58 +0000

"For from the least of them to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain, and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. And they have healed the brokenness of my people superficially saying, “Peace. peace,” but there is no peace." Jeremiah 6:13-14 This morning it dawned on me, I have heard sermons on just about every subject imaginable ranging from social issues, church history, doctrine, creation, gossip, anger, but I have never heard one sermon on spiritual abuse. Not even in some of the good churches. Why? The answer is relatively obvious. Pastors rarely preach on the subject because, by and large, pastors and other church leaders (including parachurch ministries) are the perpetrators of such exploitation. It is far easier to do a sermon about shared sin, like anger and immorality. It is even easier to do a sermon about how the church membership is not doing their part to build up said leader. It is much harder to talk about an issue that is primarily one-sided. Some of us have a faulty view of Christian leadership which can hinder recovery from spiritual abuse. Once again, we look to Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Tue, Feb 08 2011.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Church conflict, Ed Young Jr., Spiritual abuse

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Pastoral Abuse: One Man’s Difficult Journey and Advice

dee — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:20:46 +0000

"We are born helpless. As soon as we are fully conscious we discover loneliness…" CS Lewis –Transposition and Other addresses Artist rendition of Kepler 11 if the Constellation Cygnus-NASA “It was very therapeutic to write about this “ So began this gentleman’s email to TWW. Coincidentally or rather, providentially, this communication arrived just as we were beginning our series on the book, Spiritual Abuse Recovery. We immediately saw a correlation to the post on the importance of blogging in recovery. We decided to post the story at this juncture and will continue the review of the book tomorrow. The word, “therapeutic,” jumped out at us. You see, this man went through a painful process at his church. The very act of writing it down helped him to process the events that occurred, analyze his reactions and thoughts and outline the steps he made towards removing himself from the situation. He is now sharing his journey with our blogging community with the hope that his insights might help others better understand how to react to, as well as avoid, struggles in church. Although he did not use the word "abuse," we believe in the old adage, "if Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Mon, Feb 07 2011.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Answers in Creation, Calvinism/Calvinista, Church conflict, Creationism, Guest Posting, SBC pastors, Southern Baptist Convention

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Serious Questions for Evangelicals: Why Two Missionaries Became Catholic (Part 2)

dee — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:41:50 +0000

We are all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty. -G.K. Chesterton Communion courtesy of freefoto.com Part 2 Yesterday, we left our missionary couple entering Guatemala in 1992. Here is what Kristine had to say. “Shortly after we arrived in Guatemala, my tidy paradigm of “true Christianity” began to disintegrate.” The Americanization of Christianity They hoped to find a church with a distinct Latin American flavor. Instead they found transplanted, American-Christian styled churches, the only difference being that Spanish was spoken. The music, the curriculum, the governing style were clones of the American church. She said it was like "watching the Dukes of Hazard dubbed into Spanish." Evangelicalism has been present in Guatemala for over 100 years. Supposedly there are Latin American, national pastors. However, she claims that American missionaries are the bosses, holding the real power in the churches. Years ago, I worked for the Navajo Tribe as a home health coordinator (or should I say hogan health coordinator?). Under the Indian Self-Determination Act, the Tribe was, over time, to assume the functions and duties of various aspects of government Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Thu, Jan 06 2011.

Categories: Biblical evidence, Biblical literalism, Christian apologists, Apologetics/Debates, Church conflict, Culture and the faith, Doctrine, Ed Young Jr., Evangelism, Legalism, Wealth/ church/pastors/leaders

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The Wartburg Watch-Unveiled

dee — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 22:40:59 +0000

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Authoritarian leadership, Baptist Mafia, Blogging and the church, Calvinism/Calvinista, Church conflict, Church discipline, New Reformed Theology, Southern Baptist Convention

Coming out of the closet regarding our identity.

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Harvard Business Review Reports Gossip Is Good

deb — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:19:14 +0000

Categories: Blogging and the church, Church conflict

The Harvard Business Review found that gossip is actually good for organizations.

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Update on Davey (Watchdog) and Goliath (FBC Jax)

deb — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:07:49 +0000

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Authoritarian leadership, Balance in churches, Baptist Mafia, Blogging and the church, Church conflict, FBC Jacksonville, Mac Brunson

Update on the FBC Jax Watchdog lawsuit

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Role Playing in a Toxic Faith System

deb — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 03:46:34 +0000

"Toxic faith exists when one or more dysfunctional systems provide false concepts of God, faith, and the individual." Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton Ever wonder what is the "glue" that holds toxic faith systems together so strongly? It's actually quite simple. According to Arterburn and Felton, "In a dysfunctional system, whether it be a family or a religious organization, roles evolve to support the system. Each person must be willing to play the roles that become more keenly defined as addiction intensifies." (p. 161) In toxic faith systems, each person becomes addicted to the system, along with its distinctive beliefs and behaviors. In these dysfunctional organizations, God and faith are essentially removed and replaced by a set of rules and dictates. As the book Toxic Faith explains: "Any deviation from the respective role is taken as a sign of rebellion and is dealt with quickly through shaming and rejection." There are FIVE ROLES in a toxic faith system: (1) Persecutor (2) Co-Conspirator (3) Enabler (4) Victim (5) Outcast In order to understand the dynamics of a toxic faith system, it's important to look at the roles various members play. First, let's examine what I consider to be the most fascinating role — the persecutor. THE Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Aug 05 2010.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Authoritarian leadership, Church conflict, Theological arrogance, Toxic Faith

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Ten Toxic-Faith Characteristics

deb — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:28:27 +0000

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Authoritarian leadership, Church conflict, Cognitive Dissonance, Shepherding movement, Spiritual abuse, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, Toxic Faith

Ten Characteristics of a Toxic-Faith System.

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