Appendix: Issues in Recovery

Apendix: Issues in Recovery

Many themes and issues have emerged from these stories of people recovering from churches that abuse. These are often more implicit than explicit. Thinking through these issues in the following terms may be helpful to victims of abuse and those who seek to counsel them.

WHY PEOPLE ARE DRAWN INTO ABUSIVE GROUPS

• Emotional needs
• The attraction of authority
• False expectations
• The deception of positive impressions and ready acceptance
• Vulnerability through inexperience with a healthy Christian faith and community
• Dependency needs

FACTORS THAT MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO LEAVE AND RECOVER

• A system that fosters dependence
• Members not encouraged to think for themselves
• The community emphasized rather than the individual
• Emphasis on uniformity and conformity
• Social skills undeveloped
• “Set up” to fail: self-fulfilling prophecy
• Feelings of being” orphaned” and rejected
• Culture shock
• Nowhere to turn for faith, because other churches discredited
• Ill-equipped for relationships
• Isolation from society
• Estrangement from family
• Loss of focus and purpose in life
• Feelings of shame and guilt
• “Victimization” syndrome
• Lack of trust in authority and/or intimacy
• Insufficient resources (financial, emotional, relational)
• Feelings of anger and bitterness impeding forgiveness
• Network of friends within the membership

FACTORS THAT MAY RETARD OR INTERFERE WITH RECOVERY

• Feelings about oneself: self-esteem
• Economic instability
• Caution about entering another Christian community or church
• Dependency
• Need for re-socialization
• Marital and family conditions
• Need for professional counseling
• Being viewed with distrust or skepticism by other Christians
• Lack of self-discipline
• Spiritual paralysis

SOME FEELINGS TO CONTEND WITH

• Rejection
• Low self-esteem
• Shame and guilt
• Futility
• Isolation
• Inadequacy
• Grief
• Regret for lost years
• Loss of identity
• Fear and confusion

Farewell to Foundry

a poem about leaving j.p.u.s.a.

© 1994 by Jace K. Seavers. Used by permission. Seavers was a member of Jesus People USA for nearly ten years and wrote lyrics for REZ band. He wrote this previously unpublished poem in August 1991.

Copyright, Linking

The full text of Recovering From Churches That Abuse has been placed online at Apologetics Index by permission from the book’s author, Dr. Ronald M. Enroth.

© Copyright 1992 by Ronald M. Enroth.

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See Also

• Churches That Abuse – online book, also by Dr. Ronald Enroth
• Research resources on abusive churches and spiritual abuse
• Guidelines for selecting a counselor/cult expert