“Loyalty to Christ

Himself must

Supersede Loyalty

To Community

Leaders.”

Are You Under

SPIRITUAL

CONTROL?

from Charisma Magazine, July 1992

By David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen

SilceJem·tnmsfonIedier·.s~haS.ith_IMR shariag the~lewsoftotal heaI&

UNDERSPIRITUAL

UWHOEVER WANTS TO BECOME GREATamong you," Jesus said, "must be your servant"(Matt. 20:26, NIV). Spiritual leaders are called byGod to serve His people, to nurture and equipthem. Yet in some Christian groups--churches,organizations and even families-leaders use theirauthority to control and dominate others, to "lordit over them," as Jesus described it (v. 25).Through the subtle use of the right "spiritual"words, members are manipulated or shamed intocertain behaviors that entrap them in legalism,guilt and begrudging service.

This problem might well be called spiritualabuse-<leeply ingrained spiritual codes of writtenand unwritten rules that enslave believers to a sys-tem, a leader or a standard of performance that sapstrue spiritual life. Relationships between people insuch spiritually abusive systems, whether they'refound in churches or other Christian settings, aredictated by at least seven major dynamics. Here's abrief description of each one-and suggestions forwhat to do if you find yourself caught up in a sys-tem that operates this way.

1. Power-Posturing: Power-posturing occurswhen leaders spend a lot of time focused on theirown authority and reminding others of it, as well.This is necessary because their spiritual authorityisn't real-it's an empty claim based on some-thing other than genuine godly character, whichis the real biblical basis for authority.

Those who are in positions of true leader-ship demonstrate authority, spiritual powerand credibility by their lives and message. Ifthey don't, they're not true leaders. Thereason any of us is given spiritual author-ity is that God has led us through real-life experiences, by which He hasreveaJed Himself and His Word to betrue. Thus spiritual authority is seenin those who say: "God and HisWord are true-I've proved themin the fibers of my being. I knowthere is hope in God!"

The apostle Paul said to hisfollowers: "You yourselves are

HERE'S HOW

TO IDENTIFY

IF YOU'RE

THE VICTIM

OF THE SUBTlE

INFLUENCE OF

A SPIRITUALLY

ABUSIVE

SYSTEM.

AREYOU

our letter [of recommendation], written on ourhearts, known and read by everybody ...the resultof our ministry" (2 Cor. 3:2-3).

Being hired or elected to a position of spiritualleadership, talking the loudest or giving the mostdoes not give someone authority. God gives au-thority to leaders so they can build up people, servethem, equip them and set them free to do God'sagenda-which mayor may not coincide with thepersonal a$enda of the people in leadership.

2. Performance Preoccupation: Abusive spir-itual systems are preoccupied with the perfor-mance of their members. Obedience andsubmission are two important words often used.

God teaches that He looks first upon the heart;He's concerned that we not do the right thing forall the wrong reasons. It's true, of course, thatobedience to God is not negotiable. Yet the wayto tell whether people are doing the right thing forthe wrong reason is to see whether they're keep-ing track of it.

If obedience and service are flowing out ofyou as a result of your dependence on God alone,you won't keep track of it with an eye toward re-ward; you'll just do it. But if you're preoccupiedwith whether you've done enough to please God,then you're not looking at Him-you're lookingat your own works and are concerned about whoelse might be looking at you, evaluating you.

Are obedience and submission important?Without question. The Scripture says, "Obeyyour leaders, and submit to their authority"(Heb. 13:17). To bring balance, however,we must add to these verses an equallyimportant passage. Consider the words ofPeter and the other apostles to the reli-gious leaders he was disobeying: "Wemust obey God rather than men"(Acts 5:29).

Out of context, obedience toleaders looks like good theology.Add the larger context, andyou'll see that it is only appro-priate to obey and submitto leadership when their

il

BY DAVID JOHNSON24 JULy 1992, CHARISMA

& JEFF· VANVONDEREN

ILLUSTRATJO\, BY .iAY BEL\10RECHARiSMA JULY 1992 25

allowed to minister in any capacity inthis church." In this case, the unspokenrule is, "Do not disagree with thechurch authorities--especially the pas-tor-e-or your loyalty will be suspect."

Rules like this remain unspoken be-cause examining them in the light ofmature dialogue would instantly revealhow illogical, unhealthy and anti-Christian they are. So silence becomesthe fortress wall of protection, shield-ing the pastor's power position from

scrutiny or challenge.Breaking the rule, on theother hand, leads to oneof two consequences:either neglect (beingignored, overlooked,shunned) or aggressivelegalism (being ques-tioned, openly censured,asked to Ieave=-or in ex-treme cases, even cursed).

Exposing implicitrules provokes such se-vere reactions because themost powerful of all un-spoken regulations in theabusive system is whatwe term the "can't talk"rule. The thinking runsthis way: "The real prob-lem cannot be exposedbecause then it wouldhave to be dealt with andthings would have tochange. So it must be pro-tected behind walls of si-lence (neglect) or byassault (legalistic attack).If you speak about theproblem aloud, you arethe problem. In someway, you must be si-lenced or eliminated."

If all that unites us is apretense of agreement,then we have nothingmore than an illusorypeace and unity, with un-dercurrents of tension andbackbiting. This is farfrom preserving "theunity of the Spirit throughthe bond of peace," thetrue hallmark of healthyChristi an churches (seeEph. 4:3). Continued on page 28

authority is from God and their stanceis consistent with His.

True submission isn't following or-ders to avoid being shamed, to gainsomeones approval, or to keep spiri-tual status or church position intact. It'sonly compliant self-seeking. True obe-dience can't simply be behavior legis-lated from the outside; it must comefrom a heart that loves God.

3. Unspoken Rules: In abusivespiritual systems, people's lives are

controlled from "the outside in" byrules, spoken and unspoken. Unspokenrules are those that govern unhealthychurches, organizations or families butare not said aloud. Because they aren'tmade explicit, you don't find out theyexist until you break them.

For instance, no one at a churchgathering would ever say aloud, "Youknow, we must never disagree with thepastor on his sermons-and if you doyou'll never be trusted and never be

'.~ .~?ft~~~~1~~::!~~:!-:.~~'::?fr?~~:r!~;~~~r~~fr~~,~~~:~~~~·.'ow eo you 'choosebetween ·fight-or flight? !\Sk-yourselfthefollowing questions. Your answers should help clarify which

'course of action would be better in your situation: .' ,i.' ., .

LDoesgrace really have 'a chance here? Because God is in-charge, gracealwayshas a-chance-But ~itua:tions~on'ia1ways·,tUI1?around .. -,";':":">,i?;' .-;~,~;:t·«:',~<;:~i:1')'f~';r?)·:·::·,,'.:,~2:,',lA-re you supporting what ,Y~uh~te1 'Are you Ft?,Iitfib~tiRg"your' time:' money and energy j9;~elp~~linitaini~~rn~~~g 'that,

;"-s;:i:t<i!"':;;-::"S':7'';'~~·.-.:•.' •.;~.!~;:~~~;t~~~~i!!~~~f~~~~~~,uestlon S,..to:'•.'~Jp,,:§O;U;j~e,tetmi,lle,¥w}1gffi~r;·10\:~··'itu· .·6blrs\ie: '....sJe;m:'b{itfY:1f9,;:(~·QqY~¥>~it::;

"+:f.:...,,;:~,·s.:·-';;'i.' :':ez;~£~\:~:;:it~~irl~~~~fr. <;:4~;;:(:an you ;stay, arid stay ,healtby),ourself.,;at,!hesllme',~\time? ,The sYstem isn't W()~'!()sini',the~irin{ii:l~:psy~hol()glca1'~,and.physical·~.ecilth of you' and, yourfaIDily·~~"':'.'~f7-~~~~~:~:~~:'::>~-~~'_;'. ,':'S.:Can you"deCideY~ur. own limits and 'stick ~futh~m:? If 'you stay and fight, you need to determine howm:ucii~of.yourselL

,.you're willing to invest ,y;,ithout .seeing ,healthychan.ges.:Setyourlimits, and 'have someone outside the system bold yo~ ac- -;countable to them. '"6.. Do you genuinely believe God cares more ,about the

. system than you do? If you struggle with feeling responsibleto 'fix every problem, you'll find it hard 'to Ieaveanyplace"where the problems haven't beensolv¢~Poyourecognize thatGOd canfix it without you'? :'.. '::>-i;,f.", '., .;"":,~;,, .. t:: .• :

,. 7. Is it possible the sJ'~te~ ~igh:t'~eed t~ffii? At:ii~es"God writes "Ichabodv--v'theglory of lhe Lord hasdeparted'<-;.on a system ·and leaves~ . ..' ". '·:L·· , ...: . ,.:. .

8. Are you trying to help the system, even though you .areexhausted? If SO, you're no longer resting in God. _ ,.' . ., 9. Are you able toIisten to the voice of sanity? Find thepeople whoieftthesystem but were kind. andgracious .when.they did. Can you receive what'they hav~ 16 say! ~;":,',< ,c-,.·' ,,.to.Do you really-know.whererosowf Jsthe~system·,where

'., ;y()~',re trying to ',:fov?'~e1!Utl1 good :soi(~;- r&;'liy? .},~c:Kl¥~i~',.:,~11.,,ff:youcame today for the 1irst 'thne;,knOwIDg wh~tF()U"

• ·;~ow:.how- "the" c, '.,. ., .,". ~ls'

NOsiGHT

26 JULY 1992. CHARISMA

Continued from page 26

4. lack of Balance: Characteristicof a spiritually abusive system is an un-balanced approach to living out thetruth of the Christian life. This showsitself in two extremes:

Extreme objectivism. The first ex-treme is an empirical approach to life,which elevates objective truth to theexclusion of valid subjective experi-ence. Tnis is seen in religious systemswhere, even though the Holy Spirit'swork might be acknowledged theologi-cally, on a practical level it would besuspect, or even denied.

This approach to spirituality createsa system in which authority is basedupon the level of education and intel-lectual capacity alone, rather than onintimacy with God, obedience andsensitivity to His Spirit. The objectivespiritual system also limits God to actonly in those ways that we canexplain, prove or experience. We areleft with a trinity of God the Father,God the Son and God the HolyBible-as if understanding and memo-rizing Scripture is the only way tohear from God.

Extreme subjectivism. The othermanifestation of lack of balance is seenin an extremely subjective approach tothe Christian life. Truth is evaluated onthe basis of feelings and experiences,giving more weight to them than towhat the Bible declares. In this system,people can't know or understand truths(even if they really do understand orknow them) until the leaders "receivethem by spiritual revelation from theLord" and "impart" them to the people.So it becomes more important to actaccording to the word of a leader whohas "a word" for you than to act ac-cording to what you know to be truefrom Scripture, or simply from yourpersonal experience.

As with the extreme objective ap-proach, Christians who are highly sub-jective also have a narrow view ofeducation-most often, that educationis bad or unnecessary. There is almosta pride in not being educated and a dis-dain for those who are.

S. Paranoia: In -the spiritually abu-sive church or family, there's a sense-spoken or unspoken-that "outsiders"Adapted from The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by DavidJohnson and Jeff VanVonderen. copyright J99J. Published byBethany HOU.H:'. Used with permission.

28 JULY J992, CHARISMA

won't understand what the group is allabout. "Let's not let them know muchabout us," they say, "so they won't beable to ridicule or persecute us." The"insiders" share an assumption thatwhat they say, know or do is a result ofbeing more enlightened than others.

For that reason, they conclude that out-siders will misunderstand and respondnegatively unless they become one ofthe group themselves.

In a place where authority is graspedand legislated, not simply demon-strated, fear of persecution becomes anexcuse for keeping everything withinthe system. This mentality builds astrong wall-bunker around the abusivesystem, isolates the abusers fromscrutiny and accountability, and makesit more difficult for people to leave-because they will then be outsiders,too.

While it's true, of course, thatthere's a world of evil outside the sys-tem, people are misled into thinkingthat the only safety is in the system.Yet ironically, Jesus and Paul bothwarned that one of the worst dangers tothe flock was from wolves in the house(Matt. 10: 16; Acts 20:29-30).

Not only does this spiritualizedparanoia make it hard to leave the sys-tem; it prevents people from getting thehelp they need. How sad, for example,when we hear that a pastor has coveredup child abuse in one of his or herchurch families because of distrustingthe "evil, secular, social service sys-tem." Let's never forget that one of ourmain functions in guiding God's flockis to find spiritual help for hurting

people-even if it means submitting tosomeone who has expertise in an areawhere we have little or no wisdom.

6. Misplaced Loyalty: The nextcharacteristic of spiritually abusive sys-tems is that they foster and even de-mand a misplaced sense of loyalty.We're not talking about loyalty toChrist, but about loyalty to a given or-ganization, church or leader.

Once again, because authority is as-sumed or legislated-and therefore notreal-following must be legislated aswell. This is commonly accomplishedby setting up a system where disloyaltyto or disagreement with the leadershipis equated with disobeying God. Ques-tioning leaders is equal to questioningGod. After all, some people reason, theleader is the authority, and authority isalways right. This causes people tomisplace their loyalty in a leader, achurch or an organization. Once again,this strengthens the wall around thesystem and makes it more difficult toleave.

Three factors here add up to mis-placed loyalty:

"We alone are right." Membersmust remain in the system if they wantto be "safe," or to stay "on good terms"with God, or not to be viewed as wrongor "backslidden."

Scare tactics. We have counseledmany Christians who, after deciding toleave their church, were told horrifyingthings. "God is going to withdraw HisSpirit from you and your family." "Godwill destroy your business." "Withoutour protection, Satan will get your chil-dren." "You and your family will comeunder a curse." This is spiritual black-mail that causes people to stay in abu-sive places.

Humiliation. Unquestionably, ap-propriate church discipline has itsplace. But in the abusive system, per-ceived "disloyalty" rather than ungodlybehavior usually provokes the threat ofbeing exposed, humiliated or removed,thus ensuring allegiance and insulatingthose in authority. People are madepublic examples in order to send a mes-sage to those who remain. Phone cam-paigns may even be launched againstthem to warn their friends and others inthe group about how "dangerous" theyare. Continued on page 30

Contir.ved from page 28

7. Secretiveness: When you see peo-ple in a religious system being secre-tive-walch out, People don't hidewhat's appropriate; they hide what'sinappropriate.

One reason spiritually abusivechurches, organizations and families aresecretive is that they are so image-conscious. People in these systems can'teven live up to their own performancestandards, so they have to hide what isreal. Some believe they must do this inorder to protect God's good name. Sohow things look and what others think.becomes more important than what'sreal. They become God's "public rela-tions agents." But the truth is, He's nothiring anyone for this position.

Another reason for secrecy in achurch is that the leadership has acondescending, negative view of thelr.iry. This results in conspiracies on theleadership level. They tell themselves,"People are not mature enough to han-dle truth." This is patronizing at best.

Conspiracies also develop amongthe laypeopJe. Since it's not good tonotice or tan: about problems, peopleform conspiracies behind closed doorsand over the telephone as they try tosolve things informally. But since theyhave no authority, nothing really getssolved. And all the while, buildingGod's true kingdom is put on hold.

Breaking FreeIf you should find yourself in an

abusive spiritual system, what can youdo to break f1"(:2? First, you have toreach the point where you realizeyou're being spiritually abused and askfor help. Second, you need a renewal ofthe mind because in a real sense,you've been spiritually brainwashed.So you must be immersed in the bibli-cal truth about who God really is andwhat He's done to settle the issue ofyour value and acceptance.

For that to happen, you can take oneof two basic routes: flight or fight.There's no neat checklist to help youdecide which option is best; in the endyou have to pay attention to what's go-ing on in and around you, and listenespecially to what God tells you to do.The questions in the box on page 26may help you clarify what He issaying.

30 JULY 1992. CHARlSMA

If you decide to stay, don't be naive.Here's some advice about the fightyou'll face:

Decide whom you will serve. Youcan't serve God and His people if yourprimary motivation is to please others.

Be ready/or resistance. The Bibleshows that truth is usually met with op-position and threats.

Keep telling the truth. That's thebest chance you have for breaking thecrooked "codes" people have for com-municating.

Know who your true enemy is. Peo-ple may be used by Satan, but peoplearen 't the enemy; Satan is. "Our strug-gle is not against flesh and blood"(Eph. 6: 12).

Hang on to the Chief Shepherd. Ris-ing up in aggressive anger is not neces-sary or helpful; we must depend onGod to set things right. Hang on toHim.

Confront the leaven. The "leaven"Paul warned against is legalism (seeGal. 5 :9). Expose it.

Know how a healthy spiritual sys-tem functions. A healthy system is abody of many members, all withgifts and needs, interrelated and in-terdependent on one another. At thecenter of the system is Jesus, thetrue Head.

Meanwhile, you must experiencesafe relationships where you can healfrom your psychological and spiritualwounds. Find friends who understand,and tell them about it. Get some sup-port. In that healthy context, you canreceive permission and opportunities topractice getting your sense of identityas a gift from Jesus.

Above all, listen to God. That maybe especially difficult because the spiri-tually abusive system you've been apart of has probably attempted to hin-der your spiritual hearing. But God willnever leave you or forsake you. If youlisten, He'll speak-and His truth willset you free from the bondage of spiri-tual abuse .•

David Johnson is senior pastor of Churchof the Open Door in Crystal, Minnesota.Jeff VanVonderen, pastor of counseling atthe Church of the Open Door, is also direc-tor of Damascus Inc., a family-focusedrecovery ministry.

: ,t

''1l11ln'litltc:\'o~:(hange" ',6" fruit ofthe lif: of the community hin-',,,.lu,,,,,u,llS 10 re-evaluate our '-dered us from treating those criticisms

':tbeTatholic communi~" with the seriousness they deserved.

A Gradual ShiftIn any case, these negative commu-

nitydynamicsdidn't emerge full-blownovernight. They grew slowly over timeand were difficult for those inside thesystem to evaluate properly until thenumbers of those hurting made us real-ize something had to be done.

The Word of God community began

counsel from whomever they wish.. ','.in the, year Bishop Albert',.'theCatholic bishoppf '""Ohio, announced the re-.

'0 evaluation he bad conductedyt~~)L1the<G()Ve:na.ntcommunity in that city

.much that' was good, .',',ah;6~sriC)tte_,(j,some-of the 'same prob-

arrickhad observed in the'

',is .eoumenical, .anumber of ournembersareCathclic, and the local

. cbisbop-::-KennethPovish- '.1\,;;===--..=========a~",fueen';:eDcoui-aging about the in a genuine encounter with God in the

"'ll'~H;;,-.".o·Jr-communiry is nowmak- power-of the Holy Spirit. We wanted to'recorning to the end ofa pe- give our whole lives to Him and bee~afuation and change that has fruitful in His service. To a large ex-

tte'ffiPted" ~o"deal with many of the tent, this is what happened. But over'addressed by the. bishops the years, our fundamental trust in God

other:dties.<:Povish considers the and the power of the Holy Spirit wasrlireCtionsbeing taken as "healthy" subtly supplemented by greater human

. _ .leading the .communi ty into "the effort to "safeguard" this work of the,·m'ainstreamofthechurch." Lord, to "ensure" that it didn't get off<;"1'¥0t~all of the evaluation has 'been the track.prompted by church authorities, 'how- ' A gradual shift occurred that we

. .Someof the.impetus 'for change scarcely noticed at first: We movedfrom within the communities from primarily trusting in and exalting. In our own community, we Christ to focusing more and more on

,ncluc:ea,thata growing number of com- "our way of life," "our teaching," "ourii)~,~:mumit:y"members were seeking counsel- leaders," "our approach," "our commu-

and participating inIz-Step groups. nity." This subtle but fundamental shiftThey needed help with problems that expressed itself in several ways::jseemed, at least in part, 'to be linked to • Legalism. In an attempt to build a

,,: \the negative dynamics that had devel- comprehensive Christian environment,:)ped over-time in the environment of we overemphasized externals. We, community itself. didn't teach scriptural principles and:i:':Criticisms of certain aspects of our point people to Christ and the Holy

life bad appeared periodi- Spirit for specific ways of applyingthem in their own lives. Instead, wespelled out in detail what we thought

was "the" Christian approach to numer-ous areas of life and expected commu-nity members to follow our rules.

For example, rather than simply pre-senting what Scripture teaches aboutmodesty, we dictated which types ofclothing were acceptable in the com-munity. Rather than simply teachingabout male and female roles and iden-tity, we spelled out what householdchores we believed men could andcouldn't do, These "recommendations"carried enough weight to make peopleextremely uncomfortable in the com-munity if they disagreed with them.

The requirements we set in place of-ten had genuine merit. But the cumula-tive effect was to create for manypeople a burden too heavy to carry.Many people experienced a growinggap between what the communitytaught they should be doing, and whatin fact they felt they were able to do intheir own lives and families. This re-sulted in an atmosphere of guilt, inade-quacy and discouragement that sappedthe spiritual vitality of the community .

• Judgmentalism. Legalism alsocultivated a judgmental atmosphere.We found ourselves measuring one an-other by our conformity to externalstandards that tended to overshadowthe more fundamental qualities of loveand mercy. Members of the communityfelt that they dared not share their prob-lems in their small groups lest they becondemned for not following success-fully all of the practices we had man-dated. The ultimate result was anoppressive burden of stress and fearthat prompted many people to seekhelp from outside counselors or mutualsupport groups-help they could havereceived in the community if the atmo-sphere had been different.

• Self-importance. We developedan exalted view of our particular placein God's plan and exaggerated our im-portance. Building covenant communi-ties, we thought, was clearly the mostimportant work to be done by Chris-tians, Consequently, we only wanted tobe involved in what could directly con-tribute to "our work." We insisted thatany Christian who had the opportunityshould join a covenant community.

.• Disdain for other Christians.Along with this view of self-importance

CHARISMA. JULY 1992 31

went a condescending attitude towardthose who "merely" preached thegospel without establishing communi-ties as well. We failed to value highlyenough the contribution of others andemphasized the "weakness" of othergroups and organizations. We magni-fied the "dangers" out there in thewider church and world, and insistedthat only covenant communities couldprotect Christians from such pitfalls .

• Self- preservation. Our desire topreserve the institution we had createdoften meant we didn't adequately re-spect community members' reasons forleaving us or their ability to hear theHoly Spirit for themselves. We as-sumed that if they were thinking ofending their relationship with the com-munity, they were probably making amistake-and we communicated thatassumption to them. This caused themto feel fear, confusion and guilt overtheir attempts to evaluate their situa-tion, and such feelings were intensifiedif they decided to leave.

The problem was heightened by asolemn approach to the communitycovenant itself. In practice, our exalta-tion of that explicit commitment ledmany to put it, at least unconsciously,on the same level as the fundamentalChristian covenant that brings us intorelationship with God or the marriagecovenant that joins husband and wife.Fear and guilt about leaving was fur-ther compounded by the fact that mem-bers were required to have the approvalof the community leaders in order toJeave in "good order."

In fact, there were a few cases ofoutright ostracism in the process. Bythe grace of God, reconciliation hasbeen reached now with the individualsinvolved. But more typical was a gen-erally non-approving attitude expressedto those leaving, which cut off the loveand encouragement they should havehad .

• Lack of accountability. Some ofour approaches to leadership made itmore likely that the imbalances andabuses I have described would occur.For example, we made it almost impos-sible to change top leadership.Accountability to higher church author-ity-while provided for on paper-never functioned properly. This was

32 JULY 1992, CHARISMA

especially a problem within an ecu-menical community like ours, wherethere was no single church authority.Accountability by leaders to the mem-bers of the community was similarlylacking.

• Authoritarianism. In an effort tocompensate for the stress on indepen-dence and individualism so prevalent incontemporary society and parts of thechurch, we overemphasized submissionto spiritual authority-that is, to theleaders of the community. Leaderstended to take on too much responsibil-ity for giving direction to individuals,and individuals handed over too muchresponsibility to their pastoral leaders.

The common practice was for mem-bers to submit decisions within all ar-eas of life to their pastoral leaders:finances; approach to family life; daily,weekly and yearly schedules; service inthe community; vocational matters; in-teraction with relatives and more. Thisled to stress and burnout in leaders, andit created an unhealthy passivity anddependency among members on theirleader or community.

• Conformity. We put great stresson submitting to community norms forthe sake of unity. In the process, wefailed to recognize that unity firstneeded to be rooted in truth and thatloyalty to Christ Himself must super-sede loyalty to community leaders. Theresult was an enforced and deadeningconformity.

• Secrecy. Along with this emphasison "unity" went a teaching on secrecyand confidentiality that stifled legiti-mate disagreement and open discussionof issues that would have preventedsome of the imbalances we are nowworking to correct. Many of these neg-ative social dynamics could never bediscovered simply by reading ourofficial documents; they operated in an

unofficial "off the record" manner, .stemming from attitudes of authoritari-anism.

Learning to Rely on GodBishop Sam Jacobs, Catholic bishop

of Alexandria, Louisiana, and chairmanof the National Service Committee ofthe Catholic Charismatic Renewal,summed up the situation well in an arti-cle published in New Covenant maga-zine. He noted that in our covenantcommunities, structures were devel-oped to build the "perfect community,"to create the "perfect unity" betweenChristian brothers and sisters-"some-thing that the broader church has notbeen able to accomplish in 2,000years." Policies were imposed from thetop down by an elite group of leaders,he observed, and "everything wastightly controlled for fear that it wouldnot hold together of itself...Father, for-give us."

As a leader during this time, it'sbeen humbling, embarrassing and acause for grief to see the many wayswe've gotten off the track and the waysin which we've grieved the Lord andour brothers and sisters in Christ. It'sbeen a time for repentance, for soulsearching, for change. With BishopJacobs, we must ask God-and thebrothers and sisters we've wronged-to forgive us.

At the same time, however, it's beena time for joy and gratitude that theLord loved us enough not to leave us inthese problems. We know that God'smerciful judgment and purificationcome out of love, and we're profoundlygrateful that He's correcting whatneeds to be corrected so we can partici-pate with Him in the wonderful thingsHe has in store for all of us in the daysahead.

Over the years, we came to focuson too many things other than "JesusChrist and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).So we're finding it a joy to return toHim now in a new way and to dedicateourselves anew simply to knowing Himand the power of His resurrection .•

"

'I

Ralph Martin is the senior leader of TheWord of God community in Ann Arbor,Michigan, and host of the weekly televisionprogram The Choices We Face.