The Struggle for Power
Having grown up in church circles and having been in ministry since my mid-20s, I had never experienced domineering leadership until I viewed a church that a relative attended from a distance. There was high energy and much emphasis on winning the lost. The pastor preached with enthusiasm and passion. However, as time continued, some very troubling actions began to occur. If someone questioned the leadership, they were asked to leave, point blank. Anyone in a leadership role was asked to unfriend them through their social media accounts and asked to halt all contact. Being a church plant, it did not have a church board but rather was solely run by the pastor. Although the pastor had a mentor from afar, he had no accountability for many of his actions. In the times I spoke with him, I noticed deep-seated insecurities which were masked by a very assertive disposition. This relative and his family eventually left the church and also witnessed some take him off their friend’s lists. This church continues to grow in numbers, but so many casualties are left in its wake. How can something like this continue? A chief reason is that there is much intimidation and manipulation. Congregants feel they have little power to speak up or talk back. The abuse is excused due to the post of the leader and seemingly spiritual results that seem to take place.
JR Woodward, in “The Scandal of Leadership” tackles the systemic problem of these power abuses in the church. Woodward states that “spiritual warfare is primarily about the struggle of power.”[1] He differentiates worldly power, that which opposes the good, from holy power, embodied by the Holy Spirit. However, he draws another correlation as well. It is important to recognize the “fingerprints of the devil in our own lives, the lives of our churches, our movement of churches, and the world at large.”[2] I was drawn to Woodward recounting Eugene Peterson’s explanation of the three ways that humans attempt to reach transcendence: through the highs of drugs and alcohol, through sex, and through crowds. “A crowd is an exercise in false transcendence, upward, which is why all crowds are spiritually pretty much the same, whether at football games, political rallies, or church.”[3] I find this profoundly true. The quest for growth and numbers is often attained at the sacrifice of deeper spiritual transformation.
This deeper spiritual transformation is often neglected by the leader due to the busyness of feeding the proverbial church growth monster. Warner and Wilder in “Rare Leadership: 4 Uncommon Habits for Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead” advocate for the leader to begin with learning a transformation regimen, one where imitation, identity and intimacy can flourish.[4] Without this, the leader is often motivated by fear of failure and driven by the need for constant growth and success. Simon P. Walker notes that power is wielded by every leader but can be very dangerous if the leader does not understand or own the power they have.[5] This often results in a ‘defended’ leader, one who wields their power without accountability or thought to how it affects others.[6]
In his article, “Spiritual Abuse: 4 Twisted Values That Enable Churches to Hurt People,” Daniel McCoy sums up how spiritual abuse happens. “We enable spiritual abuse when we: 1) value charisma over character, 2) value the institution over individuals, 3) value advancement over accountability and 4) enable spiritual abuse when we value muscle over meekness.”[7] Woodward adds to this as he speaks of Rene Girard’s mimetic theory which links the idea of Powers with imitation and desire. As humans, we are simply wired to imitate those we hold as models.[8] Woodward goes in great depth to explain the power of imitation that can either transform us as we imitate Christ or can lead us astray as we imitate Powers in leaders that may not be grounded in Christ. Furthermore, each one of us has the potential to have a misplaced identity in our perceived sense of success and status, resulting in selfish ambition.[9] It takes the regular practice of emptying ourselves and imitating Christ which denotes a “kenotic spirituality.”[10]
Philippians 3:10 states “I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings.” This is where our heartfelt desire needs to attach itself; not to a fallible leader, not to success, and not to the growth of a church.
[1] JR Woodward, The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church (100 Movements Publishing, 2023). xxiii.
[2] JR Woodward. xxiii.
[3] JR Woodward. xxx.
[4] Marcus Warner and Jim Wilder, Rare Leadership in the Workplace: 4 Uncommon Habits That Improve Focus, Engagement, and Productivity (Chicago, IL: Northfield Publishing, n.d.). 107.
[5] Simon P. Walker, Leading Out Of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership (Carlisle, UK: Piquant Editions Ltd., 2007).
[6] Simon P. Walker. 40.
[7] Daniel McCoy, “Spiritual Abuse: 4 Twisted Values That Enable Churches to Hurt People,” May 27, 2022, https://renew.org/spiritual-abuse/.
[8] JR Woodward, The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church.
[9] JR Woodward. 265.
[10] JR Woodward. 265
About the Author
Esther Edwards
Esther has served in ministry leadership for over 35 years. She is an ordained minister, an ICF and CCLC certified coach, and licensed coach trainer. Her and her husband have launched their own coaching practice, Enjoy the Journey Leadership Coaching and seek to train ministry leaders in the powerful skill of coaching. Esther loves hiking, reading, and experiencing new coffee shops with friends and family. She enjoys the journey with her husband, Keith, their four daughters, sons-in-law, and their four, soon to be five, beautiful grandchildren.12 responses to “The Struggle for Power”
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Interesting mention of Daniel McCoy’s 4 twisted values. Sadly we’ve probably all seen some version of at least a couple of these. In your experience in church leadership, what checks and balances have you seen effectively work to make sure not even a hint of these twisted values are tolerated? Or is it more complicated than that?
Hi, Kim,
Thank you for your response. To answer your question, there is never one thing that is “the’ answer since there is much complexity around how we got to where we were and also since it is often “the crowd” that is the enabler as well as the leader. However, I can speak as a pastor that having relationships that can be brutally honest to speak into a leader’s life is crucial, since blind spots can easily make one oblivious to how we are perceived. Isolation often breeds unhealthy outflows.
Hi Esther,
Brilliant post. You wrote, “It is important to recognize the “fingerprints of the devil in our own lives, the lives of our churches, our movement of churches, and the world at large.”
Woodward reminds me of the spiritual battle, not only for our Christian Leaders, but the body of Christ too.
Examining ourselves first, repenting, and opening our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit.
Got it….now we have to do it.
Shalom…
Agreed. It is easy to say, but takes intentionality to daily live it out. We all need daily grace.
I think I must have missed Woodward’s reference to Eugene Peterson, quoting him stating, “A crowd is an exercise in false transcendence…” That is so powerful. Even as I read that now, I’m thinking about how today one of the questions our presbytery’s MNA committee (Mission to North America) asked one of our church planters had to do with numbers. It was an honest question in the hopes of caring for and supporting the planter. The question was around the planter’s average attendance. It was a question that had to do with metrics and the planter’s season of ministry. I do wonder how, deep down, that question is received by the planter and the answer by the committee. We do place a great deal of importance on numbers (crowds?).
At any rate, a question came to mind as I read your opening example: What do you think the pastor could have done differently, in his formative years, to deal with some of the deep-seated insecurities and manipulative tendencies that were manifested in his ministry? Secondly, what do you think both the church and the educational institution he attended (e.g., the seminary or bible college, etc) could have included in their training or programming or curriculum to have addressed some of these issues?
Hi, Travis,
I also found Eugene Peterson’s take on crowds very interesting. He also mentioned that what is so deceptive about crowds, is that crowds transcend upwards with much affirmation and acceptance, whereas drugs/alcohol and sex transcend downward with warnings against it. We, as a society, and as a church at large, think a crowd automatically means growth. However, that is not always the case.
As for the pastor that I mentioned, I believe what could’ve helped, would’ve have been mandating an older coach or mentor that was not like him in personality to work with him.. His mentor was his clone…a maverick who had much success as well. Also, it would be advantageous to have more psychological tools that are taught in the seminary regarding how to handle conflict and criticism as well as understanding more about your own personality style and its shadow side as it reacts to them. Books like Simon L. Walker’s first book regarding the front and back stage and the variety of outcomes in how we process attachment, would be very helpful.
Hi Esther, I enjoyed reading your post and the article by Daniel McCoy. You stated, “The quest for growth and numbers is often attained at the sacrifice of deeper spiritual transformation.” I have to agree. In your context, what attention is being paid to the spiritual formation of pastors? What do you think is needed?
Our church netword has offered several seminars and prayer retreats that highlight spiritual formation. One was last year for women leaders. It was a prayer retreat with many spiritual formation exercises. It was very impactful. I hope we have more since it gives a sacred space for the Holy Spirit to shine his light deeper into our souls and because it is with others, we can process together.
Hi Esther!
Thank you for your post which enlightened me about the fear of failure and being dominated by the constant desire to succeed. You’ve reminded me about it. Thank You!
In your opinion, What are the objectives pursued by pastors whose ministries are predominantly driven by a desire for success, to the extent that it frequently influences their emotions and thoughts? Thank you!
Hi, Dinka,
So good to hear from you. That is a loaded question. The objectives are usually the same objectives we all have in ministry…to love God, love people, and serve our community at home and globally. However, it is often in the successes of ministry that the motivation can slowly shift to feeding one’s own need to be liked and praised. It is actually addictive to have a constant dopamine high of having success (https://hbr.org/2023/01/why-success-doesnt-lead-to-satisfaction). When we begin to become addicted to the crowds or the praise, our emotions and thoughts are driven to the next thing that will be better and bigger. Oh goodness! We all have that Power within us that is at war with God’s Spirit with in us. I have had to wage war against it in my own spirit as we have had successes in ministry. I find applying the daily Examen at the end of my day helps me listen to the Holy Spirit in bringing to awareness any wrong thoughts or motives because it can be a very slow fade where you don’t even notice that you are “doing” ministry for your own gain.
How about you, Dinka? How do you keep your motives healthy when you have success?
Esther- I really appreciated your highlighting of McCoy’s article, as it showcases the impact our values can have on our leaders and pointing out the symbiotic nature of the leader/follower relationship. I wonder how those of us who are in leadership roles can equip those who follow us to behaviors that are the antithesis of the “4 Twisted Values That Enable Churches to Hurt People?”
Jen,
Mmmm. Good question. Perhaps equipping followers would be to apply what you are working on regarding your NPO. Giving space for tough conversations gives followers examples of how to disagree and ask questions, not necessarily with a constant critical view, but with curiosity when things don’t sit right in their Spirit. Validating their ability to discern builds leadership ability in them as well. Perhaps also more training on what healthy Spiritual traits look like in a leader and what not to accept or allow in their own lives as they rise to leadership.