After the Abusive Leader Steps Down

Neither the Character solution nor the Culture solution solves the Power problem.

When a pastor, a senior leader, or a president, becomes abusive in a serial manner, and all this is revealed, there is a crisis point in the organization. The organization that he or she has led, must now come to terms with the aftermath of his (or her) abuse. This usually starts with the senior abusive leader stepping down or being removed. Hopefully this deposed leader will then set about onto a course where he or she can come to terms with his or her own sin, repent, lament, make things right with the ones abused, reconcile, restore. The organization however, is still left to put the pieces back together again. What do the remaining (or interim) leadership do to set the organization on a course to healing, restoration and renewal?

The two assessments most often made are:

a.)   it was the character of the abusive leader that was the problem,

b.)   it was the culture of the church/organization that enabled such an abusive leadership that was the problem.

In response, the solutions most offered are

a.)   “the character solution”: understand and diagnosis the leader’s narcissism sooner before it gets out of hand and provide intervention, and above all, replace the abusive leader with a leader who has good character.

b.)   “the culture solution”: cultivate a different culture at the church/organization that is not dependent upon and indeed resistant to narcissistic abusive leaders. Work for cultural awareness of the indicators in the behavior of the leader that red flag his or her narcissism? Eliminate key tools that a narcissist leader uses like NDA when firing a person. Structure job descriptions to not attract narcissists. Have accountability groups and practices. Avoid celebrity models of leadership.

I view Diane Langberg’s Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church, Chuck DeGroat’s When Narcissism Comes to Church, Scot McKnight/Laura Barringer ‘s A Church Called Tov, as all helpful and insightful guides in doing this kind of work well in a church. 

But I want to suggest that, even though these two solutions might curtail abusive leadership and even hold it in check for a time, we must go further than these solutions to get to the root of the problem. We must look at the problem of power itself, how power works, and how when worldly power is used in the name of God, abuse is sure to follow. If we do not examine and reshape what power and how power operates in our life together as a church (or organization), these two solutions will be band-aide solutions covering over a disease simmering below the surface that is sure to erupt later if not dealt with.

In my forthcoming book, Reckoning With Power (Brazos 2024), I describe how there are two kinds of power at work in the world, not one. There is worldly power, which is exerted over persons and there is Godly power which works relationally with and among persons. Worldly power is coercive. A person or organization takes control of things with worldly power. Worldly power is enforced. It is prone to abuse. God’s power on the other hand is never coercive. God works by the Holy Spirit, persuades, never overrides a person’s agency, convicts, works in relationship. Through this power God heals, reconciles and reorders not only our personal lives, but the social worlds we live in as well. It is miraculous power because it always works beyond the expectations of human imagination.

When Christians use the coercive power of the world to do the work of God in the name of God, limits are removed from the use of that power. After all, God’s work cannot be questioned. We must go to any lengths to accomplish His purposes. And with any limits gone, all hell breaks loose, abuse and trauma surely follow, and we have a dumpster fire on our hands.

Certainly, there will be times in the world for Christians to use worldly power, but always for limited ends. Within the social realm of the church however, the power of God, released in Jesus, is the sole power at work. And Godly power upends worldly power. It requires us to submit our agency to God and His power, not take control of worldly power to act in the place of God. The problem of power for the church is always about discerning God’s power at work, and the refusal to use worldly power in the name of God

In Mark 10:42 Jesus forbids His followers to use worldly power in His Kingdom. The context is Jesus’ disciples jockeying for power in the coming Kingdom. As they looked to enetering Jerusalem victoriously, given the imminence of the Kingdom, James and John assumed power would look like worldly power over people’s lives, and they jockeyed for the seats to the right and left hand of Jesus, the positions of power. Hearing about this, the other disciples got angry, not liking that they were being sidelined in this process. Jesus gathers them together and says the famous words: “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be a salve of all.” (Mark 10: 42-44). This episode repeats elsewhere in the gospels and it is played out over and over again in Jesus ministry. It could not speak more plainly to Jesus’ theology of power.

Jesus is saying in no uncertain terms that worldly “power over” shall not be part of His Kingdom. Indeed worldly power closes off the space for God to work in His power. There is this sense that the use of worldly “power over” is not just a problem for the church of Jesus Christ, it is a heresy for the church, and it impedes the church’s calling to be the center of Christ’s healing power at work in the world. For those who work under His rule, worldly power is not an option. It shall “not be so among you.”

Over and over again, these past decades we have seen Christian leaders start out with good intentions, a heart for serving God and His mission, only to be gifted with success, be elevated to celebrity status, platform and money, and fall horrifically into abuse of all kind and moral disgrace. It is what happens repeatedly when the power of the world is used in the name of God. It has been referred to as “the hubris syndrome.” If we do not address the power problem therefore, we are in essence placing a band aide over it, and waiting for the “hubris syndrome” to take over all over again. “The character solution” will ultimately be a band aide unless we address the power problem.

Likewise, over these past decades, we have seen elder boards, leadership groups, in the face of awful complaints against a leader’s abuse of power, be enamored by the good things God was doing under his (or her) leadership: all the people coming to church on Sunday morning, all the people being “fed” by God’s Word, the increase in money flows, buildings, facilities and the growth of a radio ministry. These were all signs that God was working among them through this leader. God was behind this leader’s flagrant use of worldly “power over” people. This power could not be challenged. We must protect and enable this power, so they think. In this way the pathway to abuse of demonic proportions was opened. It is the spectacle that happens again and again when worldly power is blurred with God to keep its impressive programs going. The results are almost always toxic. “The culture solution” will ultimately be a band aide unless we address the power problem.

We must go further than addressing “the character problem” or the culture problem.” These solutions will prove to be cosmetic solutions at best, like putting a band-aide over the metastasizing cancer. Worldly power being used in God’s name for His purposes, if not named, will eventually go unhinged. One last time. These solutions will go for naught, unless we address “the power problem.”

Look for my forthcoming book

Reckoning with Power: Why the Church Fails When It’s on the Wrong Side of Power

by David E Fitch

(Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, early 2024)