Readers Respond to Anyabwile Article

Sometimes I post quotes from people who may not line up with my beliefs and last post was such a case.  In the article, A Sign of Hope Among Mayhem of Church Abuse,  I was excited about what I was seeing by a pastor associated with the Gospel Coalition, Thabiti Anyabwile.   I am uncomfortable with some of what I see from the Gospel Coalition (and some of you may have picked up on that in my response to Steve in the comment section); however, I posted it because the article contained good and helpful information about the subject of abuse in church.    Abuse is one of the primary focus points of this blog and discussing ways to prevent and handle abusive situations in churches, so this article certainly fit in with that topic.  

I have used John MacArthur's quotes on the blog because I know a lot of readers connect with his teachings.   I appreciate some of his teachings, too;  however, I don't buy everything he says/teaches and also have had some negative experiences with key pastors there.

There was another post in which I quoted Alexander Strauch.  The quote was good; however, a reader, A. Amos Love,  also informed me of other ideas Alexander stands for.  I appreciated his comments:

I love it when people challenge me.  If I see something that rings true to me, I may post it.   People may not agree with me.  That is okay.   Keep in mind that I'm trying to keep the main focus as the main focus.

Here's where I'm coming from:   in abusive churches, we were not allowed to question.  Information was preached to us.  The pastors thought they owned us and what was taught to us.   Sometimes we can fall into the trap of rigid black and white thinking.   I used to be there.  I didn't like the person that I became when using that kind of black/white thinking.  Getting too tied into the all-or-nothing mindset, I failed some people relationally.  I still think it's okay to say that I don't care for the group that Thabiti Anyabwile associates with, but his words on this particular subject ring true for me.  So, please know, if I do use a quote from someone you may have issues with, see if the quote without the name attached lines up for you.  

But if you see something that I have posted that is not sitting right with you, please feel free to question it.  And feel free to do it publicly in the comments section.  I am not afraid of conflict or good debate.  It's good to wrestle with ideas.   Part of my spiritual abuse detoxing has been wrestling with the ideas that have been taught to me by my abuser.  This is a safe place to do so.  

That said, here is what a reader sent regarding Saturday's post and I would like to open it the subject for comment.  I appreciated this e-mail:

Reading the whole article by Thabiti Anyabwile did not give me a lot of hope for 2 reasons - 

#1 - This was about sexual sin - something most Christians would agree on. If a pastor sins in this way, the only question is whether they should be restored through some type of process of counseling. (But, many of the people on the Wikipedia list (Ted Haggard, Paul Cain, Lonnie Frisbee) had large enough egos that they felt they did not need to submit to any restoration process and "dropped out" or resisted it.)

#2 - The "solution" presented here is one that Leaders need to discuss, propose. Most Reformed churches don't have congregational input.  

"Does your staff, leadership team, elders and congregation have a set of practices and policies that help guard against the moral failure of leaders and to address it when it happened?  After reading sifted through a fair number of recent articles and scandals, I’m freshly convinced I need to lead First Baptist’s leaders through discussions and proposals on this issue." 

Also, we know that Pastors can be abusive even if they do not fall into immorality. 

JA's thoughts:  I hadn't made the connection that the abuse Anyabwile was referring to applied solely to pastors with sexual sin.  The comments seemed to be mixed with some discussing sex abuse, but others discussing spiritual abuse as well.  I really appreciated this reader pointing that out.  After rereading the article, I do believe the article was primarily written with the focus on sexual abuse by pastors.  However, the title of the article refers to "pastoral failures".  When I am thinking abuse, I'm thinking all abuse:  abuse in the church by members, abuse by pastors (sexual, spiritual, etc).   Aren't those types of abuse considered to be pastoral failures?   Any thoughts?


And here's part of an e-mail another reader sent me:

While I think Thabiti Anyabwile's insights are spot on and are helpful for the general Christian world to hear and consider, unfortunately the Gospel Coalition caters to an large audience of a certain brand of Christianity that on the one hand, holds the doctrine of sin highly and has seen very little (at least that has not been exposed) overt scandals. However, these are the same circles who perpetuate some very hard core views on secondary issues like complentarianism, homeschooling, etc so highly that when they use the term "gospel" with "coalition", they mean much more than simply a united view on the centrality of Jesus's life death and resurrection. They mean, we are the ones who really have these cultural things figured out and our version of living out the "gospel" is the most accurate.

Mr. Anyabwile seemingly has good intentions,  however, the circles of folks he interacts with hold to some subtle and not so subtle views and practices that reveal that they don't "get it". His words are true and helpful (perhaps he does see the problem more than some). But this admonition of his that you posted is not specific enough to be taken seriously. The leaders involved with the Gospel Coalition and the movement associated with it can see the issues in blantant sex scandals, but are blind to their own sexist and unhealthy practices in their own congregations. Again, I know you get it, hence your post! I'm so thankful for people like you speaking out and confronting these issues.

I don't know what a healthy view of women in a church would look like exactly, but I know my gut is telling me that there is something very very off wrong about these hard core reformed pastors who preach more about men and women's roles than they do about loving the world. I hope that Mr. Anyabwile's words illuminate the harder to see areas of abuse in the lives of the very people he is in close circles with. I hope that churches will stop fearing liberal theologoy taking over the church to the point that they fail to protect women. I hope they return to the simplicity of the gospel and allow it to correct church practices and that churches become a place of refuge rather than a place that harbors sexism and abuse. I saw this more generally as I left my old church, but now with the situation at hand in my life, it is so much more clear.

Thank you for your boldnesses in confronting abuse. It has helped empower me to stay strong in this situation. 

These words struck me the most:   but I know my gut is telling me that there is something very very off wrong about these hard core reformed pastors who preach more about men and women's roles than they do about loving the world. 


Here we go again -  some pastors are more committed to secondary issues in the church and miss the primary focus - loving and guiding their people.  I continue to receive stories about situations like this in my inbox.  This blog will continue to address these issues.  Sometimes it's difficult to understand until connecting with someone's personal story - if you'd like to share yours on the blog, please contact me.

Because they hated knowledge

and did not choose the fear of the LORD,

would have none of my counsel

and despised all my reproof,

therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,

and have their fill of their own devices.

For the simple are killed by their turning away,

and the complacency of fools destroys them;

but whoever listens to me will dwell secure

and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

(Proverbs 1:29-33 ESV)