A necessary 500-Year reformation – the eradication of abuse

In her book The Great Emergence, Phyllis Tickle used the metaphor of “The 500-year Rummage Sale” to describe the change process the church inevitably needs.  The church needs to “clean house,” she said, and it needs a “giant rummage sale.”  It would be apt to rename Tickle’s book in the present context, The Great Emergency.

One thing we must get rid of in the church is abuse.

If we aim to do that — get rid of the symptom, abuse — then we must get to the heart of the matter, the cause of the abuse, and that is power.  The abuse of power.  The abuse of power causes abuse.

Once and for all we need change from the very top in all denominations.

All denominations need their own first priority ‘do no further harm’ strategies solid enough to be actionable.  Not first priority down the list somewhere, but genuinely this is the number one issue.

This will require Christ-likeness from those at the very top.  In response to this present crisis, which no doubt darkens the image of the church over the centuries, not just decades, we must face truth if we’re to have any chance for change.

If we face the truth long enough, it will cause the church globally to repent in sackcloth and ashes.

If we can’t handle the truth because it ‘guts’ us, we can’t fix the problem — the abuse that runs rife in churches and Christian organisations because of unaccounted power. 

Abuse flourishes and trauma explodes when misuses of power are the silent modus operandi.  We don’t even question it, because power has so become a central part of church culture.

We can’t fix this until we upend the model, and it needs to happen on a global scale.

One of the best articles I’ve read on the Zacharias scandal said:

“Investigators were able to obtain an immense amount of incriminating information from Zacharias’s old phones—including phones that he allegedly refused to turn over to RZIM when the Thompson allegations surfaced in 2016.  In other words, had the ministry conducted even the most minimally competent investigation, they could have discovered (and potentially stopped) almost four years of additional misconduct and abuse.”

Even the most minimally competent investigation would never have gotten baby wings to fly in a culture that so protected its founder.

Cultures of these ‘church’ organisations are thick with evil, principally pointed to protect a person — the leader.  They don’t give a toss about Jesus’ reputation — with every breath of abuse, they not only insult Jesus’ name, but they also set out to kill his indominable Spirit.

If only the church would stand to eradicate misuses of power that allow abuse to flourish.

We need to do it, and we must do it.

Photo by Federico Respini on Unsplash