A Church Group, a Lawsuit, and a Culture of Abuse

[kwassa]

Because of cbayer, I have started reading Religion Dispatches and immediately ran into this story, which is all about a megachurch that is local to me. My neighbors are members. I know others from the nearby neighborhood that are members. A friend of a friend escaped from this patriarchal mess of a church, that basically supported her husband's right to beat her.

The strange local aspect is that this church is located in Montgomery Country, Maryland, immediately north of DC, an affluent and mostly liberal blue county in a blue state. There are 3 Christian megachurches within a few miles, with the irony that the Islamic Center of Maryland sits right between two of them.

So, how did this happen here? I don't know, but the analysis of what she calls "abuse culture" is brilliant. Hats off to T.F. Charlton. It is all about the sickness of the patriarchal practices of Christianity.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/6788/a_church_group__a_lawsuit__and_a_culture_of_abuse/

I was not surprised when Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), the church group I grew up in as a teen and young adult, was served with a lawsuit this past October, alleging clergy cover-ups of sexual abuse.

Sadly, I was even less surprised when the suit was amended in January to include Covenant Life Church (CLC), the congregation I had attended for nine years, and to add new charges of physical and sexual abuse by pastors, as well as allegations of abuse on church property. From what I’d seen inside Sovereign Grace and Covenant Life from 1996–2005, the alleged abuse seemed almost predictable—the result of the group’s toxic teachings on parenting, gender, and sexuality.

....................................................................................................................................

The larger context for corporal punishment is the belief that Christians must cultivate a lifelong attitude of submission to God-given authority. Parents are one such authority; male leadership over women in the family, church, and society is another.

Both women and children are taught that submission is part of a divine plan that should be embraced joyfully, and that even submitting to abusive men is noble and Christ-like. CLC pastor Joshua Harris quotes 1 Peter on this score, praising slaves who obeyed the masters who beat them as following Jesus’ example. Harris interprets this to mean that all Christians are called to submit, even when “suffering” under “unjust” leadership. Therefore wives are called to resist the “sinful” impulse to “fight back” against or even criticize husbands who misuse their “authority.”

[cbayer]

1. Did you know the extent of what was going on before you read this article?

Are other people in the area aware?

Since this article, Mahaney has resigned and 20 individual churches have withdrawn from SGM.

[kwassa]

4. I didn't know this in this detail.

I heard rumors and stories about the place.

I don't think that withdrawal alone will change those individual churches very much.

[cbayer]

5. Upon further investigation, I think you are right that it won't change those

individual churches much.

But they do represent about 25% of the membership, so their withdrawal will probably impact the SGM organization.

And that seems like a good thing.

[kwassa]

8. yes, it certainly is a good thing.

I wonder about the life and death span of many of these megachurches that depend on the charismatic personal qualities of the founders. What happens when that disappears?

from wikipedia:

Early in 2012, Sovereign Grace Ministries announced their intention to relocate their headquarters from Gaithersburg, Maryland to Louisville, Kentucky, citing Louisville's lower cost of living as well as the growing connection with The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in town.[23] Some critics have suggested that the move may have more to do with the fractured state of the organization's relationship with the SGM flagship church, Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg.[24]

In late 2012, charges were brought against Sovereign Grace Ministries for allegedly concealing sex abuse among laymen. The plaintiffs claim church leaders did not report accusations of misconduct to the police and offered legal advice to suspected pedophiles.[25] Late 2012 also saw the departure of the movement's flagship Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD from SGM; a decision supported by an overwhelming majority of voting members.[26] Additionally, the Sovereign Grace churches in Charlottesville, VA, Sarasota and Daytona Beach, FL cut ties with the movement during this period. Daytona Beach's pastor Jesse Jarvis noted a “leadership culture characterized by excessive authority and insufficient accountability” as rationale for the church's departure.[27]

[pinto]

11. I think singular charismatic led churches have peaked, will decline. Publicly available scrutiny,

just as with the Catholic hierarchy, doesn't exist in a vacuum. Folks see the info. Many take a second look at previously held assumptions.

I think it all bodes well for religious communities and their relationship with the larger secular communities.

[freshwest]

2. I found several blogs about this church and the various movements:

http://christianagnostic.wordpress.com/tag/josh-harris/

That link deals with a series of very disturbing events. The next was about practices coming out of this movement which will have longer consequences:

http://bgbcsurvivors.blogspot.com/2012/11/courtship-background-and-negative.html

Home schooling, parental and male control of women and the destruction of friendships and isolating people is part of this. That second link asks a question I have asked about the similarity to ancient practice of arranged marriages being pushed. The tribal aspect is discussed, as well in an informal blog setting.

This third link is much more direct and goes to the problem:

http://sarahoverthemoon.com/2013/01/09/some-humans-are-more-equal-than-others-joshua-harris/

Hope these make for a good read about how this developed and how to leave or reform it. I avoided mega churches when I saw these trends developing.

Other DU groups did not allow discussion of how to reach out to members of mega churches politically, condeming them as a whole. Many vote consistently and conservatively.

I don't have anything further to contribute on this. EOM.

[cbayer]

3. The silver lining here seems to be that there are churches that have disassociated

themselves from this group.

Those are the ones were there may be an opportunity to find common ground.

[freshwest]

6. The thing is, they are not an isolated phenomena in churches. It's like a corporate sales group.

Small or medium churches, large churches, they all have their own culture that shared the same reading, visual and musical businesses.

They criticize everything else in society they see as liberal and micromanage the lives of both the men and the women. After the marriages and children are born, there will be an effect across generations, as one of the blogs I posted explained.

They are primarily a middle class demographic, well-funded with national and international themes being pushed. One after another, they go down this road of reading Tim LeHay's series and others, reading their own version of book of the month selections and doing studies.

I watched a church turn from being liberal and egalitarian to hard right with these outside influences. They are prosperous and vote against all government regulation, taxes and social services. They don't think the state should have anything to say regarding education, business or the environment.

This is a terrible return to an age I didn't grow up in, so assigning blame to an older generation won't fit here and they aren't dying out, instead they going tribal. There is a version of this on the left as well, seeking to ready oneself for an apocalypse they expect from other causes.

It means the end of societal unity by decentralization and inevitable power over groups of people ending up in the hands of grifters of all types. I don't think most Americans grasp how bad it is in some places already, as most live in urban areas. But we have personality cults in big cities as well, with men who find willing followers from those who see things coming apart in the world, even though a lot of that is hyped by media. They want someone to blame and something to make themselves feel special and more entitled to survive than others they don't know.

[cbayer]

7. It seemed that for awhile I saw them popping up everywhere, but on my last road

trip, I seemed to see more megachurch buildings that appeared to be abandoned.

I don't know the statistics, though.

How does a church go from being liberal and egalitarian to hard right? Was there objection? Did certain portions of the congregation leave?

Cults have always existed. Is this a cult or a valid and growing movement?

I think your points in the last paragraph may speak to the increasingly large number of people who feel marginalized by the current economic situation, but I may be wrong.

[kwassa]

9. actually, the Internet has been a powerful tool against this trend.

The Internet, in terms of SGMsurvivors and the other links you posted allows each parishioner to talk to all the others without the clergy or lay church management of the church interfering. Truth and access to information is our greatest hope in this regard. SGM and these other groups got their start before the Internet, but the truth will be told by those who participated in it.

These groups only work well when they remain closed, and the web prevents that.

[cbayer]

10. Sunlight is the best disinfectant in situations like this.

That's why the scientologists remain so very, very secretive, imo.

[locks]

12. thank you for the post though it is very sad

We have many mega churches in Colorado. Some seem to try to preach and practice the gospel of peace, justice and service to neighbors. But most are like the Catholic church, corrupted by power, wealth and adulation, they become more and more rigid, narrow, and vulnerable to the old deadly sins which all of the great prophets have warned us about. They have become the Pharisees, praying on TV instead of in their closets, preaching that a (loving) God is punishing us until we submit and obey. This hierarchal divine plan has become so ingrained in our nature and our nurture that cultures through many centuries and around the world have accepted it as the only way to keep order and balance in society. Religion is only different from corporations, government, etc in that it convinces its followers that the rules are laid down by a priest who speaks for a higher power. If we could turn away from these false prophets and to real humility I think Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama, Muhammed, Jesus, speak to us we might find hope for change.

[goldent]

14. You say they are like the Catholic Church

but then you describe a church that I don't recognize at all like the Catholic one. Where did you experience this kind of Catholic church?

[skepticscott]

13. Makes me wonder

if they call for Christians to "submit" to the "unjust leadership" of Barack Obama without fighting back or criticizing him.