I also found this list of abusive symptoms rather intriguing:
Signs of an abusive church (edited for length).
1) Abusive church leaders in abusive churches are into power and control. Enroth writes, “The spiritual autocrat, the religious dictator, attempts to compel subordination; the true Christian leader can legitimately only elicit fellowership.” Within a church context a legitimate leader promotes cooperation among church members, not dominate-submissive relationships.
2)Abusive church leaders in abusive churches are into dichotomous thinking. With them everything is black-white, either-or, this-that, us-them. Dichotomous thinking is generally expressed in overt or implied terms such as “we the true followers of Jesus” versus those others “who are not as spiritual as we are.” Of course, dichotomous abusive church leaders are the judge and jury on who is or who is not spiritual, who is or who is not fully walking with Jesus.
3) Abusive church leaders in abusive churches are into legalistic perfectionism and perfectionist legalism. Again, legalisms are not about holiness; they are about power and control. Naturally, activities like fasting, keeping away from worldly amusements, attending numerous prayer meetings may in fact be spiritual and wholesome activities. However, when these activities are extreme, rigid, or excessive then we are talking about addiction, not spirituality.
4) Abusive church leaders in abusive churches have a tendency towards isolationism. Some of this isolationism may be more social than physical. Abusive groups will not mix with the impure or with the unholy. With them light has no fellowship with darkness, and they are very clear who is in the light and who is in the dark. Thus, they tend to isolate themselves from the world and even from other Christian groups.
5) Abusive church leaders in abusive churches are obsessed with discipline and even excommunication. In some abusive Christian circles, to question the church leader(s) means questioning God Himself. Abusive Christians are so certain that they are right and that they have the mind of Christ that they can be extremely punitive if they are not obeyed.
6) Abusive church leaders in abusive churches discourage church members’ having contacts with people outside the fellowship, including family members.
7) Abusive church leaders in abusive churches install surveillance systems (read “pastoral care”) within their fellowships. Of course, for abusive church leaders a surveillance system is all about a spiritual concern regarding people’s souls and how to best pastorally and brotherly look after the sheep of the flock. However, these surveillance systems go way beyond pastoral care. They are about power and control.
8) Abusive church leaders in abusive churches promote a Pied Piper mentality, especially among young people. For example, a youth leader who becomes a Pied Piper and has all the youth of the congregation running after him is a bad scene. There is no room for a personality cult in a legitimate non-abusing Christian fellowship.
Wow – it’s like they wrote this directly about the Honor Academy. With the possible exception of number 6, every single one of these applies. I don’t know what else to say, except that if you are considering the Honor Academy internship or even if you are already in it, run away and don’t look back.
I can’t imagine how any current or past interns could possibly refute any of these charges.
Just because your ministry is Christian or your organization is supposedly doing “great things for God” does not make this behavior acceptable.
