Healing Spiritual Abuse: How to Break Free from Bad Church Experience

by Ken Blue

Publisher:

IVP

, 1993

Overview

Are you a victim of Spiritual Abuse?

• Are you discouraged from questioning the decisions or teachings church leaders make?
• If you do little or no volunteer work for the church, do you feel like a second-class Christian?
• Does your pastor insist on being addressed by a title such as "Dr." or "Pastor"?
• Do you hear many broad, vague appeals to "surrender fully," "yield completely" or "lay it all on the altar"?
• Are public reports about various ministry activities sometimes exaggerated?
• Do church members feel safe talking only about past victories, not present struggles?
• If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be a victim of spiritual abuse.

Many of us have gone through bad church experiences that have left us feeling like failures. Blaming ourselves, we asked for God's forgiveness, but felt distant from the church and sometimes from God too.

Often, however, the fault is not ours but that of Christian leaders who abuse spiritually. How can we recognize the signs of spiritual abuse? What can we do to gain healing from the wounds we have experienced?

With clarity and refreshing honesty, Ken Blue answers these questions and offers hope and healing to the victims of spiritual abuse. In addition he shows Christian leaders how to avoid abusive patterns and instead offer Christ's gospel of grace to every casualty of bad church experiences.

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Key Features

• Addresses common questions and concerns
• Advises Christian leaders on how to avoid abusive patterns
• Offers hope and healing to the victims of spiritual abuse

Contents

• An Invitation to Freedom
• The Seat of Moses—The Power to Abuse
• Sniffing Out the Yeast of the Pharisees
• Heavy Loads
• They Do It for Show
• Majoring on Minors and Missing the Point
• Who Gets Hooked and Why
• Healed by Grace
• Healthy Church Leadership
• Healthy Church Discipline

Top Highlights

“If we are leaders, we should determine our motives for seeking positions of authority. Do we assume leadership of others to fulfill God’s call in our lives? To serve people? Or is pastoral office a means of achieving significance or gaining something else we lack?” (Page 66)

“Yet another tool insecure leaders use to enhance and defend their image is language. Abusive leaders often use words deceitfully and self-servingly. They do not speak to communicate but rather to confuse, manipulate and intimidate.” (Page 81)

“Among other things, Paul declared by this action that the truth always outranks position or title in the church” (Page 30)

Product Details

• Title: Healing Spiritual Abuse: How to Break Free from Bad Church Experiences
• Author: Ken Blue
• Publisher: IVP
• Print Publication Date: 1993
• Logos Release Date: 2020
• Pages: 162
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Religious addiction; Christianity › Psychology; Christian leadership; Manipulative behavior; Bible. N.T. Matthew › Criticism, interpretation, etc
• ISBNs: 9780830875481, 9780830816606, 0830875484, 0830816607
• Resource ID: LLS:HLNGSPRTLCXPRNC
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:31:53Z

About Ken Blue

Ken Blue is the director of Good News to the Poor, an organization that takes the gospel and business training to the developing world.