As the Apostle Paul offered his farewell address to the church at Ephesus he offered a paradigm for leadership in the church. Throughout his farewell address, Paul’s words reflect three years of diverse conflict as he served the church. Paul’s time at Ephesus was marked with tears. His straightforward declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ provoked the conflict. The sources of conflict were “the plots of the Jews,” “savage wolves” from outside the assembly, and leaders within the church that will arise to speak “perverse things” in an effort to divide the church. As Paul takes leave of these believers, he warns them of continuing conflict and urges them to “be on guard” and “be on the alert.” Even as he transitions to another area of ministry Paul declares that “the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.” In other words, conflict cannot be avoided. In fact, it is the Holy Spirit that is guiding him from conflict to conflict. The goal of Paul’s ministry is to “build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:18-32).
Toxic Leadership in the Church. Here we will consider the conflict and spiritual abuse that is caused by toxic leaders within the church. Jean Lipman-Blumen defines toxic leaders as “those individuals, who by dint of their destructive behaviors and dysfunctional personal qualities generate a serious and enduring poisonous effect on the individuals, families, organizations, communities, and even entire societies they lead. …Intentionally toxic leaders deliberately harm others or enhance themselves at others’ expense, while unintentionally toxic leaders nonetheless cause serious harm by careless or reckless behavior, as well as by their incompetence.”[1]
The Scriptures refer to toxic leaders as “false prophets,” “false christs,” “false apostles,” “false teachers,” and “antichrists.”[2] Jesus warned the church to beware of false-christs.[3] The false-christs are eschatological figures, god-like leaders that operate with charismatic power and miracles in order to deceive the disciples of Jesus Christ. The false-christs correspond to the antichrists of the Johannine epistles. The antichrists are “already in the world” seeking to deceive the world by denying the incarnation of Jesus Christ.[4] Likewise, Jesus warned the church to beware of the false-prophets “who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”[5] The false-prophets exorcised demons and performed miracles in His name, but were nonetheless lawless and apostate.[6] The charismatic signs of the false-prophet serve to deceive the elect of God by misdirecting the follower so that the lawlessness of the false prophet is ignored. Too often, charismatic toxic leaders, and their followers, become convinced that the rules don’t apply to them. This may be demonstrated in the successful pastor who believes that he (or she) is above local board accountability, denominational polity, or even the moral laws of Scripture. Charismatic powers and success have become the sole proof of divine authority. Because divine authority is assumed, the toxic charismatic leader has the authority to challenge the Scriptures and the Great Tradition of the church, often leading to heresy and schism.
Jesus rebuked the churches of Pergamum and Thyatira because they tolerated false-teachers and false-prophets that deceived the church and led believers into immorality.[7] The lawlessness of toxic leadership is often expressed in sexual immorality. Persons of power can psychologically and morally manipulate their followers into immoral and abusive sexual relationships. Sexual relationships between persons of power and their followers should never be viewed as consensual. [8]
At Corinth, Paul was challenged by the super-apostles. The super-apostles were really false-apostles, “deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” These false-christs, false-prophets, and false-apostles are very difficult to discern because they hide within the church as angels of light.[9] One would be sorely mistaken to believe that toxic leaders are limited to pedophile priests and suicidal cult leaders. Toxic leaders are often gifted with chameleon-like qualities with the ability to hide in plain sight. Also, their colleagues and disciples within the church enable, and sometimes even prefer, toxic leaders.[10] Many of the Corinthian believers preferred the false-apostles over Paul. The false-super-apostles distinguished themselves over Paul by boasting of their achievements and by contrasting their strengths over Paul’s weaknesses. They presented themselves as victorious, anointed “men of divine power.” The Apostle John rebuked Diotrephes, an elder of the church in Asia Minor, because he “loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say… unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and …does not receive the brethren.”[11] All too often, the toxic nature of a leader is ignored, or camouflaged (with the complicity of colleagues) for years and is not discovered until considerable harm has been inflicted upon the church.
Why are we susceptible to toxic leaders? Why would hundreds of people follow Jim Jones into the jungle of Guyana and drink poisoned Kool-Aid? What is the appeal of heretical teaching? Why do tens of thousands of people devote considerable time and money to religious leaders of dubious character and motivations? Why do colleagues and disciples of toxic leaders ignore their destructive and dysfunctional behavior?
Intoxication. Toxic leaders are intoxicating. Humans thirst for power and easily become intoxicated by it. Humans have an existential need for security, achievement, and meaning. In other words, humans are motivated by self-interest. Toxic leaders are destructive and dysfunctional but they also have energy that drives them toward success.[12] Many people find that their existential needs are satisfied by the energy of toxic leaders. Intoxication produces excitement and euphoria. The relationship between the toxic leader and the intoxicated followers is symbiotic. In the church, toxic leaders are persons of pseudo-spiritual power. The false-prophets speak superficial words that offer a false sense of security.[13] The false-apostles perform miracles and teach “special revelations” that inspire (and deceive) their disciples. Intoxicated disciples reciprocate by venerating, even worshiping, their leader and providing financial support. Ears are tickled[14] and egos are massaged. The truth of the message of Christ is lost amidst the frivolity of it all. Intoxication also produces confusion and stupor. Leader and disciples are willing to throw caution to the wind unaware of the inevitable devastating crash. Intoxication often causes death. The very energy that drives toxic leaders to succeed will, in the end, also be their undoing. When toxic leaders crash, their disciples suffer the devastation.
Idolatry. Sociologists Max Weber defined a charismatic leader as an individual who is “set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural … powers or qualities” that are “not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin.” According to Weber, allegiance to a charismatic leader is guaranteed by miraculous signs and “is freely given” as “hero worship” and “absolute trust” by devotees. [15] The trust given to charismatic leaders by devotees is often blind. Even when the destructive behaviors and dysfunctional personal qualities of the charismatic leader become common knowledge, ardent disciples often mimic the three mystic apes – they choose to hear nothing, see nothing, or speak nothing that may cast a negative shadow upon their leader.[16] Sometimes, the distinction between being endowed with supernatural qualities and deification becomes blurred. The charismatic leader becomes something of a demigod. The leader’s colleagues promote the illusion of omnipotence and the disciples feed the toxicity because of their existential needs. When one is a god, the rules of mortals don’t apply and serious abuses of power will occur. In Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, the deification of the leader is often expressed in the theology of the anointed one.[17] This teaching suggests that believers should be submissive to “anointed leadership” even when the anointed leader demonstrates sinful, dysfunctional, or destructive behavior. Therefore, the anointed servant of God is beyond accountability. Holding to this toxic myth, many believers have been complicit in allowing toxic leaders to sow their destructive seeds throughout the church.
The idolatrous tendencies that contribute to toxic systems within the church are demonstrated in the emphasis on triumphalism and success. Success is often interpreted as God’s favor, even if the successful leader has fatal flaws. George Reed has written that “toxic leaders might be highly competent and effective in a short-sighted sense, but they contribute to an unhealthy command climate with ramifications extending far beyond their tenure.”[18] Jean Lipman-Blumen has suggested that the success of toxic leaders may be attributed to their ability to sell a “grand illusion” to their followers. The toxic illusion assuages fears, dulls pain, and affirms destiny, all if the disciples give unwavering allegiance to the leader. The toxic leader’s grand illusion becomes the basis of morality. Any action in service of fulfilling the grand illusion is a just and moral act.[19] However, the toxic system cannot be maintained. The fall of the toxic leader and collapse of the grand illusion will have devastating psychological and spiritual consequences upon everyone involved.
Next blog – Toxic Leadership and Spiritual Warfare
