Who are “they”?
We see people everywhere blaming all of their world’s problems on some transforming conceptualization of “they”. But we rarely witness actual depictions of who the “they” are in reality.
“They” have launched a global conspiracy. “They” want to control every aspect of your life.
“THEY” WANT TO EAT YOUR CHILDREN!
One would think that with the “they” so often pointing to folks in government that incumbents running for office wouldn’t win more than 90% of the time. I guess, most of us blame everybody else’s representative?!
Even Presidents have to royally screw things up from a public messaging, or public policy standpoint in order to not be re-elected to office, but at least that does happen at a higher clip as 22% haven’t won re-election.
But, enough on that, just pouring a foundation in which I’m going to build my case that our evangelical churches, while driven toward liberty and individualism, have instead fallen victim to the controlling tendencies of our religious practices.
Evangelicalism Under Control?
I believe that quite a bit of what we call “faith” is actually controlled by something other than “faith”. Maybe it’s mostly my fault because of how I view the concept of faith. I lean into definitions 1a, 2a1, 2b2, and 3 below.
I’m not trying to be harsh. I hope your not one inclined to taking my thoughts that way. I simply want to be open about what I’m seeing. I believe the same applies to how doubt is defined in our circles as well. Too often, sincere questions asked in faith are labeled as doubt to keep the faithful from stepping out.
I believe these controls are robbing us of the beauty that we can find in relationship with Christ through Holy Spirit.
I’m afraid many things are in place that preclude us from hearing Holy Spirit. In most evangelical churches, pastors and church leaders determine the “acceptable” channels through which the faithful are allowed to hear Holy Spirit.
This control stifles our growth.
Before Christ left, what did He say His followers would receive to guide them into all truth? The Bible? Their pastor? Their denomination? The creeds? The traditions?
No, not any of those.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
-John 16:13, NRSV (emphasis mine)
In my opinion, we’ve used our structures, programs, creeds, statements of faith, and even the Bible itself to stifle the work of the Holy Spirit. Anything a believer wants to do must be acceptable within these frameworks to receive the blessing of church leadership and of the membership.
Please don’t misunderstand my point here even though I may not be expressing with the clarity at which I aimed. I don’t believe it is impossible to be under the leadership of the Holy Spirit within church control structures. Some controls are beneficial, others are detrimental. None are exclusive to any single evangelical congregation or to all congregations.
The problem arises when the notion that the Spirit can’t lead someone in a manner that violates these structural confines becomes dominant, either in a denomination or a local congregation. In some cases, this may be true, but in others it is not and in those cases we find the Spirit’s work quenched.
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.”
-1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, NRSV
Ministry As Business
One thing I haven’t missed at all since I stepped away from pastoral ministry is the business meeting. I despised them. I refused learning Robert’s Rules of Order because I really, REALLY despised that these meetings are part of “ministry”.
My experience with these events isn’t great. I’ve been cussed out and shouted down in these meetings. I’ve watched sincere believers leave churches because the business meetings in a particular congregation were atrocious and spirit-destroying.
It felt too often like war.
In many business meetings pastors are often powerless CEOs that must follow the directives of a board, i.e., the congregation. Our Americanized version of Christianity uses the democratic vote to determine the “will of God”.
Sorry, throughout Scripture the majority tends to get it wrong, like, a lot!
Majority rule is not how we need to be running our churches. Each part of the Body should have the liberty to follow Holy Spirit period … no need for congregational approval!
We also need to end this westernized concept of “church business”. The Church is THE Body of Christ, not the local Holy Ghost store. We’re not selling a product. I know that statement is going to ruffle a LOT of feathers.
Money is riding on the outcome so following Him takes a back seat to common sense economics and fighting over who gets their way with the budget (James 4:1-3).
Jesus turned over the tables for a reason. We didn’t learn the lesson, we just modernized the marketing.
Gatekeeping As Priority
The single most detrimental issue from the control standpoint revolves around the concept of gatekeeping. Evangelical gatekeepers vainly attempt control the access to the body (local congregation) and to the divine. I’ve witnessed many attempts at this form of religious abuse perpetrated by well-meaning, God-fearing people.
I’ve been one of them.
I’ve got LOTS of religious trauma to unpack. Many of you do as well. I’m hoping this blog is a conduit for healing.
Gatekeeping takes on a variety of forms, sin lists, theological tests, tradition adherence, etc. Diving into all of the forms of gatekeeping is a post all to itself. The meme below pretty much sums up my point for now. I’ll come back to this topic in another post.
White Patriarchal Underpinning
TAKE A DEEP BREATH!
This will probably be the most controversial of the topics in today’s post. Many, too many, of our modern evangelical churches have become dominated by white men coupled with traditions and debatable doctrines that support them.
I’m not going to dig too deep here because I think someone who sincerely wants to understand this dynamic of control would benefit from reading a couple of books. These two books helped me along my way and will hopefully help you as well.
Book #1 Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted A Faith And Fractured A Nation by Kristen Kobes Du Mez and #2 The Bible Told Them So: How Southern Evangelicals Fought To Preserve White Supremacy by J Russell Hawkins.
I’m going to forewarn you. These two books will challenge a lot of what you thought was fit for our faith. You’re going to be exposed to how evangelicals have used the Bible to denigrate and castigate women, people of color, and even the character of Christ Himself.
Once you’ve allowed yourself to life the veil the formula begins to make sense. Grasping these systems explains how so many evangelical churches have protected those in their ranks who engaged in sexual misconduct, mysogyny, racism, and various forms of abuse while driving out their accusers.
This article is just one, in a string of examples of this behavior.
Weaponizing the Bible
My final thought for this column centers on the Bible. For many evangelicals, it is the standard for faith and practice, or at least their creeds and statements of faith claim as much. The Bible has been misused to control people for a long time.
I know, I know, I KNOW what both Peter and Paul wrote! I’ll quote them both for you so you’ll stop thinking I’m Biblically illiterate!
“First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
-2 Peter 1:20-21, NRSV
“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
-2 Timothy 3:16-17, NRSV
Let’s talk about what Scripture says and doesn’t say in these two passages.
It says: Scripture was given to us by YHVH.
It doesn’t say: Scripture limits YHVH’s thoughts, capabilities, character, and movement.
It says: Scripture was written by people who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In other words, Scripture has a human side … like the four takes on Christ’s Resurrection.
It doesn’t say: Scripture is YHVH’s word-for-word, thought-for-thought dictated rule book for living.
It says: Scripture is useful in teaching, reproofing, correcting, and training in righteousness.
It doesn’t say: Scripture is useful in deciding who can be a Christian and who cannot.
It says: Scripture’s purpose is aimed at equipping us to do every good work.
It doesn’t say: Scripture’s purpose isn’t aimed at setting up a meritocracy among the faithful, a who’s who in which we elevate some and diminish others.
We’ve weaponized Scripture instead of using it as intended.
“But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.”
-James 1:22-25, NRSV
If anything, we are to use Scripture as a mirror to our own soul … to help us DO what it teaches. In Scripture we find YHVH’s word to us, for our benefit, as a sword cutting deeply into our inner being (Hebrews 4:12). Not for us to use to judge others as worthy or unworthy, but to look into ourselves to see that we are truly in the faith (Matthew 7:1-4 & 13:28-30; James 2:12).
Quite often, those we approve are disapproved and those we disapprove are often approved (Matthew 25:31-46; James 2:1-9).
I’m Done
For me, Xvangelical means a disengagement from these mission-damaging controls. Authoritarian-minded folks in leadership use these to keep the “flock” in line because they believe that is their calling. They seek through these means to replace the Head (Colossians 1:18).
Scriptural church leadership should have a different makeup and purpose. Rather than control the flock, they should instead be gently guiding the flock to green pastures aside flowing waters of flourishing faith.
Our goal should never be to control the lives of others.
I’ve gone on long enough for now, I’ll touch on each of these in more detail in future posts.
Grace and peace!
If you liked this post, you just might enjoy my book, What He Said: Living the Sermon on the Mount, Transforming American Culture.
You can read the prior parts of this series below:
What Xvangelical Means to Me, Part 1: No More Shame
What Xvangelical Means to Me Part 2: Politics Are Too Important
You can also follow along with me on my journeys through men’s mental health issues and Christian renovation at the links below:
That’s Me in the Corner – My journey through men’s mental health issues
Xvangelical – My journey through Christian renovation
Get your Xvangelical merch, all of my proceeds go to fight poverty!
Mark West, Xvangelical 
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