Too often church pastors want to control the thoughts and behaviors of their church members. This undermines God’s desire to develop a relationship with people individually. The Bible tells us that we are meant to make our own choices.

When you’ve experienced church abuse, or any significant loss, it’s easy to get stuck in a form of exile where you feel lost and disoriented. This post offers a brief roadmap to help people find the path to recovery.

Abusive church leaders misuse Matthew 18 to silence victims. Learn why it may not apply to pastors and what you can do instead.

This is my second post with some of the questions and answers from when I was interviewed by Christy Boulware for her podcast. We looked at spiritual abuse and women in ministry.

I join Christy Boulware on her podcast to kick off her new series on “Resilience in the Pews: Tackling Anxiety and Church Wounds. In this post I answer a few of the questions that she posed to me about spiritual abuse.

Spiritually toxic leaders often weaponize the accusation of gossip to shut down complaints. But what does the Bible say about gossip? Accusing someone of gossip is often a tactic of spiritual abuse.

Healing and recovery from spiritual abuse is often elusive. But you can find your way back to a full life and meaningful spirituality. This post outlines a new five part video series on how to recover and heal from spiritual abuse.

So much of what is called Christianity today poorly represents Jesus. It’s just bad religion. Jesus didn’t come to give us more of the same. He came to exchange something new for the old… something alive and life-changing. His resurrection was proof that his way will last.

There are a lot of reasons to give up on church. The church has failed many people in many ways. But the church is the hope of the world if you engage in it.

Survivors of spiritual abuse are often misunderstood and mistreated. The book, Broken Trust, was written with this in mind and incorporated the input of many survivors.

Survivors of spiritual abuse are so often misunderstood and mistreated. This post will give you practical advice on how to treat survivors of spiritual abuse.

Churches that spiritually abuse people have common characteristics. Here are six traits from the book, Churches that Abuse.

After being abused spiritually, some people give up on church. Others dive right back into church. Before you return to church there are a few things to consider.

You are a leader in your church and spiritual abuse has just been exposed. What do you do? How do you “clean house” and get your church back on track? This post offers you a guide for the process.

When a church can admit that they have been abusive, they need to eradicate it from the roots. Any remaining scent of abuse will be quickly picked up by people who have experienced an abusive church.

It’s hard to admit to abuse. It’s tempting to minimize it. But when a church or pastor is found to be spiritually abusive it needs to be exposed. Don’t minimize spiritual abuse.

When you’ve experienced spiritual abuse, it can be so devastating you may not feel like you will ever recover. But God is faithful. He can renew your spirit if you give him the opportunity. This post will give you some direction to let that happen.

The church is supposed to be a blessing to the world. A pastor should be the greatest champion of grace and truth. There is nothing more perverse and distorted than a toxic pastor. Learn how to confront an abusive pastor.