Monthly Archives: August 2022

PCC’s Dirty Little Secret: Kate’s Story

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Editor’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series. Part two can be found here.

It has been two years since the Williams left Peace Community Church.1 They would have remained silent had the abusive leadership not proceeded to crush others the Williams love.

The Williams had an amiable relationship with Pastor Ensome. He has pastored over 20 years in the same church and is well respected by other pastors in their denomination. Kate Williams described him as “a good preacher.” She said he could be “charming and self-deprecating.”

Kate also noted that he appeals to people’s pride and sympathies. She explained to me,

“Michael and I loved being at Peace Community Church. We loved the community, the worship and a place to serve.  We were deeply hurt that we felt we could no longer stay. All at once we lost a place to worship, a church community, fellowship with people we loved. And we lost ministries that we felt God had called and gifted us to serve in.”

Why did they leave and are now telling their story?

Kate’s Story

It began several years ago when, as a member of the church, Kate was asked to help with a ministry at PCC. She spent some time speaking with each of the members individually and developed a committee to meet the needs that were expressed.

After three years of serving in the ministry, Kate was asked to head up another committee, a committee on which she enjoyed serving at a former church. This was where her heart truly was and so jumped at the opportunity. Kate felt free to move out of leadership of the first ministry as it was moving along smoothly.

After about a year, she was involved in reigniting a ministry of PCC. In the initial phase Kate called Pastor Ensome with her exciting news that there was real interest in the ministry. She was also calling to ask if they had the “church’s support to go ahead” with the ministry.

The pastor was affirming, but was “adamant that he did not want [a particular family] involved in leadership.” Kate didn’t ask why, but said, “This put me in an awkward position of having to either find someone else or do it myself. Pastor Ensome encouraged me to lead.”

It seemed that she could do no wrong. Pastor Ensome was appealing to her skills and she was encouraged. She wasn’t really seeking out ministry opportunities but rather being asked to lead ministries.

Then Something Happened

Kate and Michael were hosting an at-risk child and were struggling with feeling alone in their ministry to the child. She sought out a meeting with Pastor Ensome to share those struggles in hopes that he would share some wisdom, having had experience with special needs children. She knew her husband Michael, an elder, had a disagreement with Pastor Ensome the week before at an elders’ meeting but it did not occur to her that their disagreement could impact her meeting with the pastor.

From the very beginning of the meeting he seemed cold and disconnected from her.

She soon discovered why. Pastor Ensome went on the attack, accusing Kate of all sorts of things and defending himself:

  • He told Kate she was a judgmental person. He said, “Judgement emanates from you. You can see it in your eyes and that is why people move away from you.”
  • He stated, “You and Michael are so far off of how a church should be run.”
  • He “confided” in her that a staff pastor had told him Kate left the first ministry she served because she couldn’t get along with the women and that said something about her personality. The staff pastor confirmed later that this was not true.
  • He told Kate that John, the elder she worked closely with on a committee “had issues” with her. John, when asked the next day, said that no matter what she had been told, she had not offended him in the slightest. And, in fact, he considered her work inspiring.
  • He said, “I built this church,” and proceeded to name all the things he had done for the church.

Kate began crying and he told her “that my crying was good because now he could see my heart because most of the time I just seem to be running around checking things off a list.“

She was deeply hurt by this barage, which went on for about 20 minutes, and was baffled by the hurtful comments. She felt completely blindsided.

Michael explained, “There was no love, no gentleness, no kindness expressed. Kate says that she has never been spoken to in such a mean-spirited manner in her life.”

In a later email to the elders Pastor Ensome confessed that he had dismissed Kate and Michael and added he had done that with others before. He confessed that it was offensive to the Christ’s church.

It is still unclear why Pastor Ensome went on the attack.

The Dirty Little Secret at CCC

But soon she found she was not alone.

When talking with another volunteer the next day, the woman said,

“I’m surprised that this hasn’t happened to you earlier. You have made a lot of changes here and Pastor Ensome doesn’t like change. I know of several people the Pastor has attacked through the years.”

Later, the woman found Kate and reiterated her comments, noting that her husband had been verbally attacked by the pastor multiple times.

Two days later, Kate talked with a long-time member and the member told her Pastor Ensome’s behavior was Peace Community Church’s “dirty little secret.” She explained that the pastor attacks anyone who he perceives to be threatening his control over the church.

The member shared with Kate, “There are three groups of people related to PCC: the walking wounded, the unawares, and those who had left.” 

As light was shown on the darkness of Pastor Ensome’s leadership, more was revealed:

“I was told that ‘he would destroy me’ if I tried to push back and the best thing for us to do was for Michael to resign as an elder and for me to quit the committee and remove ourselves from any activity that involved Pastor Ensome so that he could not further harm us.”

Keep your head down. Remain under the radar. If you want to continue in any form of ministry. I don’t know how many times I have seen this played out by those who are suffering under toxic leadership in the church, organization, or business.

Unfortunately, the one left standing seems to always be the toxic one.

Changing the Narrative

There are numerous signs of toxic leadership. Though each experience has its unique flavor, there are many common factors.

One of the techniques used by toxic leaders is to “change the narrative.”

It didn’t take long for Pastor Ensome to begin changing the narrative. The pastor became self-righteous in his handling of the situation. He needed to bring Kate down to his level by suggesting she was just as culpable for the broken relationship.

“If both of you [Kate and Michael] feel that the offenses are only my fault or the church’s, I’m not sure anything can be done. Most reconciliation instruction used needs to include each party addressing their own sins (Mt. 7:5). When I have tried to reconcile with people who were unable to identify sins on their part it was not successful. I don’t think it wise to seek reconciliation in those situations. I would recommend you read Ken Sande’s work, ‘The Peacemaker.‘”

Later he wrote, “In my letter I was making the point that there is sin on both sides. But if you and Kate don’t think you have sinned, I don’t think we will be able to have a useful conversation about the conflict.” He added, “But in that case, we will need to discuss your roles in leadership at PCC.”

In other words, we are equal in our sin as we all sin. And if you don’t admit that, you will lose your leadership position.

Apparently, he has always occupied the high moral ground. It was those other people that could not admit their sin and he simply could not do anything with that, thus minimizing his own sin.

In addition, several months later in an “apology” letter of sorts, he told Kate and Michael that he did not have any negative thoughts towards Kate before the meeting in which he originally attacked her. However, in a letter to the elders he delineated the reasons why he needed to confront Kate.

He evidently had done some premeditation.

Pastor Ensome also said in a note that he was blindsided.

Who is the Offender?

Toxic leaders easily manipulate Scripture to their benefit.

Pastor Ensome leveled the playing field by pointing out the biblical concept that no one is free from sin. There are frequently sins committed by both parties in a conflict.

Though admitting that all are sinful, Pastor Ensome sidestepped his own culpability by suggesting they read Ken Sande’s book called The Peacemaker. It was a subtle shift from admitting his own sin to Kate’s supposed sin.

Ken Sande founded Peacemaker Ministries to help churches in managing conflicts. It is very helpful unless there is abusive leadership at work. Sande acknowledges this. He notes in his writing there are different ground rules for managing abusive situations.

In normal relationships, it may be helpful to own up to your own sins when confronting an offender, just as Kate did in one of the meetings. It may help the offending party humble himself and own up to his own sin.

But, the onus still falls on the offender and must be kept there in the confrontation (Matt. 18:15).

Pastor Ensome treated Kate horribly when she only came looking for help. It was his anger that built up towards Kate and Michael. It was not Kate’s sin and should not have been treated as such in managing the situation. There can be no backing down from this or the abuser will take advantage and there will be no resolution. . . in fact, generally there is no resolution when dealing with abusive leadership (or abusers in general).

Toxic leaders manipulate scripture so that they don’t have to come clean regarding their own sin.

Intimidating the Witness

Toxic Leaders spiritually intimidate.

After a meeting between Michael, the staff pastor, John (elder), and Pastor Ensome – that did not include Kate as she was “not emotionally strong enough to attend,” – another meeting was arranged with Kate.

There was still hope to salvage the relationship. Though Kate wanted to confront the pastor, she continued to work hard win his favor. She shared with me,

“It was an awkward meeting. . . I was in so much distress in encountering Pastor Ensome for the first time that I don’t clearly remember all that was said. I found it difficult to even speak. I had shared what I was planning to say with long time members and they told me that was the ‘stupidest thing I could do.’ They told us the only way to stay [at PCC] was to submit to the Pastor. So, at that meeting I basically said I was a sinner, I was open to rebuke, and that if I had done something offensive someone should have told me earlier. Pastor Ensome had already devastated me and I could not risk being destroyed by him.”

Pastor Ensome apparently was pleased by her humility and told her he didn’t mean to hurt her. He stated that his issues were with Michael.

He had effectively intimidated both Kate and other members into believing it was necessary to bow to his superior spirituality or suffer the consequences.

Continued

There is more. Kate’s story continues in Part Two (2). Part Two will be posted on Thursday, September 1.

NOTES

1 The names used in this article are fictitious, but the story is not. Pearls and Swine does not publish names, places, or identifiable information as it is our desire to keep victims of abusive leadership safe and to not distract from the lessons that can be learned from their story.

[2] Ken Sande, The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, 3rd edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004), 156.

Mia’s Story: A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break

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This Article is Part Three of a series telling the stories of two women who were sexually abused, one of their families, and the church leadership that misused their spiritual authority in response. This article includes topics such as sexual assault, domestic violence, physical violence, and spiritual abuse. I acknowledge that this content may be difficult. I also encourage you to care for your safety and well-being.

“As a pastor’s daughter I was always expected to be a bigger person.” Mia is a tough girl. She has been through a whole lot in her life.

A turning point for her was when she was sexually molested by a son of a Deacon in her church at ten years old. Her father was an Associate Pastor and he and her mom noted her change in behavior after that. But knew nothing about the assault. [Mia’s mother and father noted in a video they created that he had assaulted another girl and the church had handled it badly, covering it up and giving him a slap on the wrist.]

There was something “dirty” about that horrible experience, but she saw it as her own rather than the perpetrator’s sin. She just couldn’t bring herself to share it with her parents or others in the church.

So, it stayed hidden for years.

Mia went through two more horrendous experiences of violence—forcefully sexually molested a short time after and then raped by a youth pastor and his friend when she was 14 years old.

Like many who have been sexually assaulted, Mia took it on herself and did not share her story for many years. There were more than the usual reasons for her to remain silent about these horrible sins that were not her fault at all.

Unsafe Church

Mia was raised in an unsafe church environment.

As I listened to her story, I was overwhelmed with sadness, anger, and disappointment as I heard the litany of reasons why Mia has left the church. But, to be clear, she has not left Jesus, just the church. The bride of Christ has horribly added to her suffering and she cannot even enter a church without a raised heart rate and breaking out in a sweat.

At one point in our conversation Mia apologized to me, knowing that I am a leader in the church. But, I could only shake my head and commiserate with her. I know that many have experienced the kind of oppressive behavior Mia has in the church.

Mia’s story is for leaders who want to make church a safe place for sinners who have been sinned against in often the most egregious ways. Church leadership—elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, etc. —are called by the Lord (like everyone else) to be a solace to the vulnerable among us.

As was written in the blog prior to this, Mia went to the elders in her church believing that this was what a congregant member should do when struggling in her marriage. Though she didn’t know it at the time she went to them, her husband had been having an affair for several years and his paramour was pregnant with his child.

When Mia approached the elders, she shared openly her stories of sexual abuse. She also shared the sinful life she had lived during her teen years following those assaults.

Mia had abused alcohol and drugs and had an abortion when she was 16. She explained that it was about two years before coming to the elders that she had really dealt with her abortion. Mia shared that when she had her first child, she felt shame, believing that she should have been judged by God and should not have been allowed to get pregnant again.

She believes that this attitude came from the Pharisaical teaching of her childhood church.

Mia was still living with this kind of self-loathing despite knowing Jesus’ forgiveness when she came to the elders.

Rather than consider the incredible violations of Mia as an image-bearer when men used her body so wickedly, one of the elders (Sam) wanted her to know she was still dealing with consequences. It did not appear that he had any concern for the forgiveness she was promised in Christ. He couldn’t get beyond her long-ago sin in order to focus on the healing and help she needed in her marriage and from the after-affects of sexual assaults.  

Mia explained that Sam said “she was a horrible sinner and needed to deal with this.” She went on, “I had created a godly family with my husband, but Sam had to go back and pound on those times.”

Those times for which Jesus had forgiven her.

As Mia explained, “He was never kind. He never said, ‘We will get through this.'” Mia said, “He is such a prideful man…convinced he is an amazing person.“

As explained in the earlier blog, Mia suffered under a leadership that was more concerned about following their church rules than the love of Christ. Instead of responding to her hurt and trauma, they had to protect their own leader at all costs when she challenged Sam’s shepherding.

They have never held Sam accountable for his failure to shepherd Mia as Christ has called His elders to shepherd.

Oppressed by the Church

What has Mia learned from her church leadership?

She said she had to leave the church to find healing.

At one point, when I asked what had most helped her healing, Mia said, “To be free from the church.”

She explained, “Separating from that church took away their power.” Mia had been raised to respect and honor the authority church leaders have been given by Christ. But, that power had been misused to crush their sheep and their Phariseeism and failure to love and serve God’s people, to which Christ calls His leaders, destroyed Mia’s respect for them.

Mia shook her head, “It is so sad that non-Christian friends are way more understanding. They don’t judge you that you didn’t come to Sunday school two weeks.”

But There are Some

However, Mia has found some healing from those who take Jesus’s calling seriously. She described being dragged to an organization called “Journey to Heal Ministries” when she was still bitter and angry.

When she was introduced in the meeting, she said, “I would not lie about my life anymore.” She expected a response like she had received in her church, but the response was so different.

“They said, ‘We are so happy to have you here.’ I wrote my story and was apologizing like crazy and they told me, ‘IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT.’ It was the first time I had heard that from Christians. It was the most healing from my sexual abuse.”

The spiritual abuse continues to gnaw at her soul. But, Mia said, “My dad is very important. He says, ‘It’s okay to be where you are at.‘” She continued, “In the old days, it was discipline until you get to where you need to be. But, now it’s okay to struggle. I am not kept at an arm’s distance from my parents. When leaders lie to you, you have to question.”

Her parents are okay with that now.

Mia has remarried a good man and hopes her story can help others trapped in legalistic and uncaring church environments.

Where Do We Go

I am praying that church leaders who hear Mia’s story will recognize their own tendencies of self-protection and failure to extend grace to those who bear their souls before them. Jesus covers the sins of these hurting lambs and those sins are removed as far as the East is from the West.

And when it comes to those who have been horribly sinned against, like in Mia’s case, look to the Good Shepherd as an example. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.” [Isaiah 42:3]

See Mia’s parents’ story here

Emily’s Hell: All the Evil Under the Sun

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This article includes topics such as sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, physical violence, and spiritual abuse. I acknowledge that this content may be difficult. I also encourage you to care for your safety and well-being.

Second in a three-part series on two women who were sexually abused, one of their families, and the church leadership that failed to protect and care for them.

“I felt so dirty and worthless and useless and to be reminded of my worth in Christ is something I still depend on to this day when the doubts creep in.“

You would think that some former druggie, murderer, or adulterer said this. Looking back at his great sin, he turned to Jesus to see that He continues to love him though, like King David, he had failed miserably. But, now, he had turned from his sin in repentance.

But, that wasn’t the case.

Emily was raped.

Her great evil was being sexually molested repeatedly by a neighbor when a child and then being raped repeatedly by her boyfriend both before and during their engagement.

Her church leaders have said these were Emily’s fault.

Her church leadership not only turned a blind eye to her rapist, but told her she was shut out from the kingdom of heaven. Rather than be reminded of her “worth in Christ,” she has been crushed by God’s shepherds.

Like in Mia’s case (see her story) Emily’s church was not some radical fringe, cultish group. Rather, she was raised in a small, but respected denomination that prides itself on doctrinal thoughtfulness and purity.

But her church leadership has acted with anything but thoughtfulness or purity. They have acted with as great an evil as I have seen in these cases of leadership abuse.

Emily’s Story

Emily went through a period of blindness and attended a blind school for a short time when she was 18. She told me, the blindness was diagnosed as due to PTSD from her childhood sexual molestation and has since been resolved.

She said she began dating Jeff out of rebellion there but was “forcibly stopped” by her parents. They “tricked” her into leaving the school leading her to believe they had a family emergency. She explained, “They refused to let me out of the vehicle once they confronted me about my relationship” with Jeff.

Emily soon after attended a Christian singles conference where she met Chip. He was a big man and a member of one of her denominational churches in another city. They met up once again the following summer when they both attended the conference again and began “dating” over email.

Emily had no desire to marry Chip, but she explained to me, “I felt like I was used goods and nobody else would ever want me after that.” She and Chip ended up getting engaged.

But, she discovered him to be controlling and he hurt her repeatedly, physically and sexually, even before they were engaged.

Following one of his rapes she was taken to the Emergency Room where he remained by her bedside every minute. One of the nurses wrote in Emily’s record that she was very concerned about the “psychological circumstances of family at the bedside” along with several other comments about who was with her in the ER room. It can only be assumed that Chip was keeping a close watch on what she would report to the doctors and the nurse had suspicions as to the cause of her injuries.

Emily has pictures of the bruising. She said,

“I did try to report this to the [church leadership] but was rebuked and told to stop slandering my [fiance] in order to balm my own conscience.”

In addition, Chip had made comments that “he had molested both of his sisters as children and hoped that I could produce several daughters during our marriage.”

Emily was frightened and confused.

She reached out to Jeff once again. He offered to put her up in an apartment he had access to while she healed.

Emily stayed up all night, packed up what she could in garbage bags, and left her family’s home without them knowing. She told me,

“I left a 4-page letter on the kitchen table for my parents and Chip. [During] the entire trip to [Jeff’s city] Chip blew up my phone constantly. In the past if I didn’t answer messages and calls immediately he would hound me and others until I responded.“

That evening and well into the night, Emily’s father and other church leaders were texting and messaging her. They were

“begging me to come home for the good of my soul and blasting me for the sins they thought I had committed, including living with a man I wasn’t married to. Never mind that we had separate apartments.”

In time, her father quit contacting her, but her pastor continued messaging unabated. Emily was being “shunned” by her family and “hounded” by her pastor.

“I asked many times to be allowed to show evidence of the sexual abuse and physical abuse – both in the form of deep bruises and scars (that were still visible months later) and electronic proof I had gathered and kept.”

Since her mother was not speaking to her, Emily even offered evidence of the abuse to a lady in her church.

Emily said,

“Pastor Johnson said anything I submitted would be useless and automatically dismissed/denied because of the way I had left made me an ‘unreliable witness.’ I was not even allowed to submit proof since it was simply an attempt for me to excuse my sexual immorality.”

Playing the Harlot

Emily was compared to Jezebel. She was told she had “played the harlot.” She was told she could be “Rahab” (a prostitute) though needed the redemption Rahab got and she didn’t have.

She was called a “whore.”

Emily was told she had “lied to Chip” because she had not told him she was leaving.

“I was told that as a condition of repentance I would need to send Chip an apology letter specifically citing the sexual sins in full, explicit detail that I had led him into and for breaking my ‘vows of betrothal to him.‘”

She sent a letter that she described as full of the “juicy details.” But, Emily also begged to show the church leaders her evidence of abuse.

Her letter wasn’t good enough. She was planning to marry Jeff, who was a Catholic, and that showed she was unrepentant. It was believed that he could not be a Christian and Catholic.

She was then required to tell Jeff she did not believe he was a Christian and he was going to hell.

Emily was excommunicated by the church.

To Open and Shut the Kingdom Gates

“After the excommunication it was as if I no longer existed. Pastor Johnson had told me I was also being excommunicated because Jeff was Catholic and he told me that they, as elders, had the authority to open and shut the gates of heaven. And that they were shut to me.”

It was a Catholic priest who was most helpful in her healing. Emily told me the priest assured her, “Whatever sins I had committed I had been forgiven for by my faith in Jesus’s sacrifice and that it was time to also heal from the spiritual and physical wounds I had.”

The priest offered to have a couple Sisters sit with her.

Amazingly, Emily continued to seek the blessing of her former church. She reached out to them a year later and they told her she needed to show at least 8-12 months of repentance for her membership to be reinstated. Emily said she lived in “absolute terror of making an error.“

As evidence of repentance, Emily was told to remove pictures of her wedding from Facebook that included her new husband with the feet of Jesus in the background.

Emily said, “I was required to stand in front of the congregation while my sins were read aloud in graphic specifics.” However, her parents were unwilling to see her so she was not present when they read her “confession” to the church.

She “started to wear a head covering and only wore long skirts to further exhibit humility and submission since Pastor Johnson said that humility was a sign of repentance.”

Where To Now?

Emily is crying out. She has been so deeply hurt by the church and her family, on top of the trauma caused by sexual abuses she has suffered over the years. She has held it in, trying to go on with her life. But she wants her story to help others.

She has received so little vindication. It took much for her to open up to others about the spiritual abuse she has faced. Those with which she has trusted her spiritual growth and safety have so badly failed in ministering to her in her brokenness.

And Emily wants to see her relationship with her parents redeemed.

Who is going to humble themselves and seek her forgiveness. Who is going to recognize that their theology has gone seriously awry when they consider rape to be the woman’s fault?

Who is going to step aside from their complicity with rape and spiritual abuse and seek her forgiveness on their knees?

Unfortunately, it is not looking hopeful.

Emily needs to have the final word in her story:

“In sharing all of this I in no way excuse my sinful nature or the fact that everyday I am in need of God’s mercy and grace. That being said, I firmly believe the way I was treated was grossly negligent and spiritually abusive. I need safety and support. I needed shepherding and healing. All I found when I most needed love and light was damnation and darkness. I came to them bleeding and broken and they left me more broken still.

Growing up dad and mom taught us God uses broken, fallen vessels for his purpose and glory . . . I can’t help but think this is one of those cases. I found safety with Jeff when literally no one else was safe or could provide that safety for me. And we have a beautiful family and my husband loves the Lord and we are raising our daughters to know their worth in Christ and His love.“

GroupThink: What is the Root of Toxic Leadership

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There has been much ado about “systemic” this or that in recent years.

The concept of relational systems was largely popularized “in the 1940s in the work of the biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy who initially sought to find a new approach to the study of life or living systems. More broadly, he envisioned general system theory as a way to address the increasing complexity of the world’s problems.”1

Scientists historically saw the “whole” as explained by the “part.” With Bertalanffy that was turned upside-down: seeing the individual parts as affected by the whole. The complex environment—events, people, places, things—was understood to affect and form the individual.

Worn Down by PR

This is very apparent as we walk into a situation where the “group” is acting or speaking a particular way and we feel the influence of being marginalized because we don’t see things the same way. We are often tempted to go with the crowd. It is easier and safer to do so. And we might even be worn down by their PR over time.

Or we so often see it as a child grows up in a abusive home, deeply traumatized by it, and yet becomes abusive or marries an abuser later.

The impact the whole has on the part is very apparent.

Yet, many Christians are suspicious of systems theory because they think in a “western individualistic” way. They think soley of individual responsibility and so anything that broadens responsibility to the group, is foreign and crazy. However, the Bible was written largely to a much less individualistic culture and speaks much holistically to both individual and group think (Genesis 6:5; Proverbs 1:10-11; Judges 21:25).

We often refer to this as “drinking the Koolaid.”

Climate change

Recently, I was reading about a major ministry and its woes of toxic leadership. A director had been arrested for embezzlement and perjury charges while working in a previous job. In addition, an oversight organization had recently put the ministry on probation for “conflicts of interests” and a “climate of fear and intimidation” —not specifically eminating from the embezzler.

In these cases, we need to look at the “system.” Though these are individuals who are acting poorly, there is likely a toxic environment that provides a flourishing of the virus that periodically becomes visible to the watching world.

There needs to be a complete climate change.

I would withhold judgment regarding this particular ministry (believing it could just be that rebellious atom that was loose—a bad hire) if it weren’t for a discussion I had with an individual who had suffered abusive leadership under the ministry’s head honcho many years ago. These stories are nothing new to this organization.

Toxic systems attract and create toxic individuals.

Get to the Root

So, in order to bring help and healing to such an organization, it is not enough to just work on its parts. It is like treating the symptom and failing to get at the root cause. It’s like picking the rotten fruit when the roots are rotted.

There is a need to look at the fundamental vision of the “group.” What is their group-think? How do they view their ministry and Jesus, Who is supposed to be Lord of it all? Where in their philosophy of ministry have they gone astray?

At times it is in the small things. A little Phariseeism here; a little Phariseeism there.

But remember, those who are part of the system are not always toxic but may simply go along to get along. But in so doing they keep the system alive and are complicit. In essence, they become part of the whole. They may only need to be challenged and may extract themselves from the groupthink and be willing to make changes necessary to detox the system.

The church needs to be careful in its rush to throw the baby out with the bathwater in regards to systemic issues. This world is not just individuals living in separate spheres, but a complex web of systems. Considering the system of the organization can be a means of working on a problem from the root up.

When we see a toxic leader, we need to consider why that leader gained his position in the first place.

And we may find that the root is a systemic toxicity.

NOTES:

A. Montuori, “Systems Approach,” in Encyclopedia of Creativity (Second Edition), ed. Mark A. Runco and Steven R. Pritzker (San Diego: Academic Press, 2011), 414–21, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-375038-9.00212-0.