Scandalous, the musical.
In November 2012 a new Broadway Musical debuted in the Neil Simon Theater in New York. The production, called “Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson”, lasted for 29 regular performances before it closed that December.
It’s not at all surprising that there was a musical written about the vivacious founder of The Foursquare Church. The visibly effective and personally dominating “Sister Aimee” has shown up (explicitly or implicitly) regularly as a main character in popular media, starting with the 1927 Sinclair Lewis Book Elmer Gantry (and the 1960 movie adaptation), and extending all the way to 2020 with the first season of the HBO revival of Perry Mason.
What WAS surprising to this Foursquare pastor was that one of the primary producer/funders of the musical was The Foursquare Church itself. During that season there were many questions throughout the denomination about how funding could have been approved, who made the decision to back the play, and whether we could have used a million dollars on something more missional than Broadway.
Ultimate responsibility was traced back the President of Foursquare. And as I remember it, he nearly lost his job over it. While there seemed to be some justification for the action, and the decision included the requisite accountability, at the end of the day there were just too many questions about both the process of funding and the principle behind it. A scandal was brewing over a play called scandalous, and someone’s head was going to roll.
Until it didn’t!
From my cheap seat the one thing that kept the president from losing his job was humility. He owned his part of it. He explained his rationale without excusing or defending. He repented where he needed to. He submitted to the wisdom of the elders and the denomination regarding his role. And we all extended grace to the leader and gratitude for such a response.
Because that hasn’t always been the outcome of leadership scandals in Foursquare. From the beginning, when Aimee famously vanished for a season, or with her untimely accidental death by overdose, to the many, many, many leadership scandals that have rocked our denomination over the years, the pattern of response has been defense, excuse, justification, and “ends justifying the means” rationale until it’s untenable and the leader gets removed… and quickly forgotten.
It happens so frequently that it’s almost as if there is something other than flawed people at the root of the problem. The people (usually good people) come and go, but the same problems remain.
To be fair, it’s not just The Foursquare Church that has this problem. Every day I get online and see yet another high (or low) profile Christian leader who has been exposed for domineering or abusive leadership.
Every week the church world seems to be rocked by yet another scandal.
And I don’t think many (if any) of these Christian leaders set out to live a scandalous life. I’m almost certain that none of these churches or denominations are secretly plotting to fleece the flocks. I’ve been in Church and denominational leadership for 35 years and every leader I know got into this to serve Jesus and share the good news of the Kingdom of God.
So, how does all this happen?
JR Woodward seeks to help us understand what is going on. He builds on the work of Walter Wink and others when he suggests that there are spiritual Powers at work in individuals and institutions that are strategizing to take us out and shut us down. And that we would do well to recognize the strategies of the enemy so we can stand against them.
Woodward’s book The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church is a robust, academic work exploring foundational issues that cause leadership scandals. His primary focus is on the spiritual realities that exist in a leader’s life—who the leader is imitating—and the strongholds, or powers, evident throughout an organization’s culture.
Woodward tells the reader why he wrote this book: “In this book, I not only seek to link the fall of church leaders to patterns of domination, but I also hope to demonstrate a link between imitation and the Powers. I want to explain how leaders who uncritically imitate patterns of power seen in the fallen world are liable to fall into the patterns of domination.”[1]
Large, effective ministries are not bad in themselves. Aimee Semple McPherson impacted hundreds of thousands of people for eternity. Bill Hybels taught many of us leadership principles that we are still using to this day. Mark Driscoll opened doors for young leaders to courageously approach church differently and reach a generation far from God.
But the ends can never justify the means. We can’t imitate systems that “work” in the world that are based on faulty, broken spiritual premises without getting trapped by the Powers behind those premises. I truly believe some of the challenges Foursquare has to this day are outcomes of a founder, who, though anointed, gifted, and well-intentioned, had gotten sucked into imitating the patterns and powers of the world.
And It’s possible that the denomination’s well-intentioned funding of the “Scandalous” musical had the same problem.
I want to finish this post with a question Woodward asks at the beginning of the book: “Are you creating systems in your ministry that mirror the systems of the world, or are you creating systems and structures that mirror the kingdom of God?”[2]
[1] JR Woodward, The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church, Movements Publishing, 2023 (xxviii).
[2] Woodward, The Scandal of Leadership, xxiv.
About the Author
Tim Clark
I'm on a lifelong journey of discovering the person God has created me to be and aligning that with the purpose God has created me for. I've been pressing hard after Jesus for 40 years, and I currently serve Him as the lead pastor of vision and voice at The Church On The Way in Los Angeles. I live with my wife and 3 kids in Burbank California.7 responses to “Scandalous, the musical.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hi Tim,
You wrote, “I want to finish this post with a question Woodward asks at the beginning of the book: “Are you creating systems in your ministry that mirror the systems of the world, or are you creating systems and structures that mirror the kingdom of God?”
About half my time is spent wondering/praying (oops second place), planning for work in Ukraine. You question causes me pause. What is God’s plan for Ukraine, how can join him in the work that HE is doing (not what Russ thinks needs to be done.).
I am unsure about a million dollars for a broadway play, but it is God’s money anyway…poor stewardship…or were people impacted for God because of it? I pretty sure God would spend a million dollars if ONE seeking soul came to Him.
Nice post and example.
Shalom….
Thanks Russ,
I agree with you about the play. It’s not the money but the intent and impact. I’m certain something like “the chosen” costs much more than $1 million, but the ROI seems to be great.
Keep asking that question about systems of the Kingdom of God vs. the world of your own ministry. I think too often we get stuck asking that question about other people’s ministry and neglect challenging ourselves. I didn’t read this book and think “Oh now I know THEY are doing it wrong” but I read it asking “where might I be getting it wrong?”.
Thanks for your reflective post, Tim. You end with the question: “Are you creating systems in your ministry that mirror the systems of the world, or are you creating systems and structures that mirror the kingdom of God?” I’ve been thinking more recently about the non-profit/parachurch ministry to parents that I would like to create in the future. This is a helpful question as I think about setting the DNA and values from the start, writing things like a purpose statement and a charter. In your opinion, what are the most insidious traps that a ministry leader might fall into? Any I might not be thinking of?
Kim, in my experience power and privilege are 2 things a leader has to be careful about. They go together. The more unchecked power one has, the more unaccountable privilege they often end up taking for themselves. Creating accountable structures is probably the #1 thing I would encourage someone starting a ministry. Not restrictive (you don’t need someone “holding you accountable” who is small minded, bitter, or has hidden agendas) but people who can help point out where power or privilege might be crossing lines and graciously help enlighten you to help you keep from destroying your ministry and eventually your life.
Just my 2 cents. Thanks for the question.
Tim, with both of us having had a somewhat front row seat to much of what captured, I can add my affirmation to your assessments. You addressed the problems without demonizing the individuals, which was even more highlighted in your following statement:
“Large, effective ministries are not bad in themselves. Aimee Semple McPherson impacted hundreds of thousands of people for eternity. Bill Hybels taught many of us leadership principles that we are still using to this day. Mark Driscoll opened doors for young leaders to courageously approach church differently and reach a generation far from God.
But the ends can never justify the means.”
Both you and I have had our share of people attack us as large church pastors, and decry the mega-church, and sure, their may be valid arguments to wrestle with, but we know that there are many quality, God-fearing people trying their best to serve the Lord and his church. Whether large OR small, it’s always possible for people to fail and fall. But it doesn’t mean they are the devil incarnate, as noted by your references of McPherson, Hybels, and Driscoll. Thank you for having that kind of balance.
Thanks for bringing up the tension of pastoring a large church. There are folks who throw rocks at me/us just because there are a lot of people being served.
I don’t think large church is necessarily imitating the powers. There are certain best practices in finances, operations, HR, legal, group dynamics, ministry systems, etc. that are required as a congregation grows larger, and it’s not a problem to embrace those. However, I’d also say that if we uncritically embrace those without first (and continually) asking the question “Is this what God wants or is it just what we think works well?” Then we can end up imitating the Powers without ever intending to.
So much to say here. Maybe I’ll write my own book (or at least an article) someday.
This all goes back to cancel culture I suppose? Do we cancel all the good work someone has done when their humanness comes out? All of this is so hard and a wicked problem. I appreciate your story of how the president of your denomination expressed humility and how an entire denomination extended grace. Seems like a miracle to me!