spiritual abuse Archives

Here’s Why I Wrote My New Book, “Bully Pulpit”

February 20, 2023

Since the release of my new book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church (Zondervan, 2022), I have done a ton of podcasts. Some of the most enjoyable have been with Collin Hansen at Gospelbound podcast, Warren Cole Smith at World Magazine, and Sean McDowell and Scott Rae at Think Biblically podcast.

But in nearly all these podcasts, the first question I get is: “Why in the world did you, as a NT scholar, write a book about spiritual abuse?” And that’s a fair question. Nearly all my prior publications have been fairly academic and mostly on text/canon issues.

So, here’s a video giving my answer to this question!

“Bully Pulpit” Wins Book of the Year

December 5, 2022

The Gospel Coalition released it’s annual Book of the Year Awards today, and I was so pleased to see that my new book, Bully Pulpit, won Book of the Year for the ministry category.

The reviewers wrote: “Michael Kruger’s Bully Pulpit confronts this widespread problem with the beauty and transforming power of the gospel . . . He succeeds in creating a work that will be a change agent in our time and should live well beyond it.”

[UPDATE: I recently learned that Bully Pulpit was also one of the winners for the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Book of the Year Awards, and a runner-up for the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Book of the Year Awards.]

[UPDATE: Bully Pulpit was included on Tim Challies’ “Best Books of 2022” List]

I am grateful for these kind and encouraging words. And I am also appreciative of other recent reviews of the book:

Tim Challies: “I appreciate his handling of a difficult subject, his precise defining of the term, and his care in distinguishing between behaviors that are abusive and behaviors that are not. I appreciate his analysis of why churches are prone to elevate leaders who exhibit abusive characteristics. I appreciate his kind but insistent calls to pastors and church leaders that they ensure they are measuring up to the biblical qualifications for those who would take leadership positions in churches and Christian organizations. Most of all, I appreciate that he took on the topic at all, for only by facing it and admitting it can we address it. It’s my hope and prayer that Bully Pulpit is widely read so it can purify, bless, and strengthen the pulpit and, hence, the church.”

Timothy Paul Jones: “Bully Pulpit provides a concise guide to the tactics that an abusive pastor may employ to evade accountability, as well as a compassionate presentation of the impact of spiritual abuse on victims . . . a deeply biblical vision for the proper function of authority among the people of God . . . an exceptional book that will serve churches well in years to come.”

Wendy Alsup: “In this saturated market, Bully Pulpit offers something unique. Kruger speaks on spiritual abuse as a denominational leader in a conservative context—he’s president and professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary’s campus in Charlotte, North Carolina . . . Kruger offers concrete help for men who want to be pastors and churches seeking a pastor in his chapter on ‘creating a culture that resists spiritual abuse’ (111). He confronts our affinity for a leader who exhibits gifts of the Spirit over one who exhibits fruits of the Spirit.”

Dan Doriani (via Facebook): “Highest commendation for biblical theological and pastoral excellence goes to Michael Kruger’s book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church. It’s short, clear, and features diagnosis, cure, and prevention. It also applies to abuse in other settings. Every church should have copies.”

I also appreciate a number of kind comments from Andrew Wilson, Tom Schreiner, Bob Kellemen, and Brad Hambrick.

Let me also say that I have really enjoyed doing podcasts on the book. I’ve already done quite a few, but I should mention two of the most enjoyable have been with Collin Hansen for his Gospelbound Podcast, and Warren Cole Smith for World Magazine.

If you want to learn more about the book, and why I wrote it, check out my overview article here!

My New Book Is Here! Announcing the Release of “Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church”

November 8, 2022

I am pleased to announce the release of my new book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church!

Given that it is election day across our nation (Nov 8th), this may seem like a strange date for a book to be released. But since the book is about what godly leadership looks like, election day may be more relevant than it seems.

For those that follow this blog, you will know that the issue of spiritual abuse has been on my mind for the last several years now. Even before Mike Cosper’s excellent podcast, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, put it on the national radar, I’ve been concerned about some trends and patterns I am seeing across the spectrum of evangelical and reformed churches.

As a seminary president, and professor of New Testament, it’s part of my job to think about such things. After all, producing the next generation of leaders is what we are all about. And, more than anything, we want them to be like Christ.

And most of them are. To be sure, there’s much to be encouraged about when I look at pastors today. As a whole, they are a sacrificial, godly, and faithful bunch. Indeed, I am around pastors every day. I love pastors. I am a pastor myself.

But that is not all that can be said. For anyone paying attention over the last ten years, we have also seen the rise of a type of Christian leader that is, sadly, very different than Christ. Rather than being gentle, patient shepherds, some pastors (for a variety of reasons) are heavy-handed and domineering to the flocks under their care.

Of course, such behavior is fundamentally contrary to scriptural teaching about Christian leadership (1 Tim 3:3; Titus 1:7; 1 Pet 5:3). Indeed, Jesus spoke a good bit about such domineering behavior, warning his disciples against precisely this sort of authoritarian model of ministry (e.g., Mark 10:35-45).

Despite these warnings, however, some churches (at least more than we should be comfortable with) have tolerated, and sometimes even celebrated, precisely the kinds of leaders Jesus warned us against.

Indeed, there has been a bit of a “pile up” of churches wrecked by such behavior over the last number of years. Some of the high-profile cases are known to most. But there are countless other stories behind the scenes that we will never hear about.

I have written and talked about this issue before:

I have written a lengthy blog series about it (see here)
I led a panel discussion on spiritual abuse at the TGC 2021 National Conference (see here).
I did a 5-part series on misconceptions about spiritual abuse (see here)
And I have already done a number of interviews about my book (see the one with World Magazine’s Warren Cole Smith here).

In fact, my series on spiritual abuse has been, by far, the most read series on my blog. On top of this, the series triggered a deluge of emails, queries, comments, and even personal stories about spiritual abuse from all over the country. It has far surpassed anything that I have ever experienced before.

But there’s more that needs to be said and done. Churches need a resource that can help them understand what spiritual abuse is, how to spot it, how it affects the victims of abuse, and how the church can keep such behavior from happening.

This is why I have written my book, Bully Pulpit. I have written this book out of love for the church. After all, the church is the most important institution on the planet. Not only do we want to see her more and more sanctified as the day of Christ approaches, but we want to protect the sheep in the church from the wolves that Christ warned us about.

While loving the church may involve more than this, it certainly doesn’t involve less.

My prayer is that this book would find its way to the hands of pastors, elder boards (sessions), and other organizations that train and commend Christian leaders.

Here’s the official description: [Read more…]

5 Misconceptions about Spiritual Abuse: #5: “Talking About Spiritual Abuse Will Just Lead to False Accusations Against Pastors”

October 31, 2022

In anticipation of the Nov 8^th release (note: it’s been bumped back a week!) of my new book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church, I am making my way through a 5-part blog series on misconceptions and misunderstandings of spiritual abuse. You can read prior installments here, here, here, and here.

We come now to the final misconception in the series: “Talking about spiritual abuse will just lead to false accusations against pastors.”

As I have engaged the topic of spiritual abuse over the last several years, I have observed a repeated sentiment that pops up again and again. It is basically the idea that while spiritual abuse might be a problem, the real problem is false accusations against pastors. The concern is not so much about protecting the victims of abuse, but protecting church leaders.

Now, let me say that I understand this concern. False accusations do happen. People do lie. And churches need to take that possibility very, very seriously.

The problem with this misconception, however, is the way it frames the issue. It is suggestive that our default position should be a posture of suspicion toward the victims—as if the norm is that people lie about their pastors and the accuser is probably yet another person who just hates the church.

Now, to be clear, this is different than saying the accused is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Of course, everyone should be regarded as innocent until they are proven guilty. But that’s not the same thing as a presumption that the accuser is probably lying. Those are two very different things. And the latter is deeply problematic (not to mention unbiblical).

So, here are a few additional considerations that I think can bring more balance to the discussion. [Read more…]

5 Misconceptions about Spiritual Abuse: #4: “Spiritual Abuse Is Not As Harmful As Other Kinds of Abuse, So We Shouldn’t Worry Too Much About It”

October 17, 2022

In anticipation of the Nov 1^st release of my new book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church, I am making my way through a 5-part blog series on misconceptions and misunderstandings of spiritual abuse. You can read prior installments here, here, and here.

We come now to misconception #4: “Spiritual abuse is not as harmful as other kinds of abuse, so we shouldn’t worry too much about it.”

In my research for my forthcoming book, I was a bit surprised to discover how many people think that the harm caused by spiritual abuse is a distant second (or even third) to other kinds of abuse (whether physical or sexual).

Indeed, some seemed to view the heavy-handed behavior of pastors as one of those “regrettable” things that happen, but not really that big a deal. It’s just an inevitable part of church life that people should just be willing to “get over.”

Sadly, this kind of disposition sometimes morphs into an additional claim that those who are victims of such abuse are probably just overly sensitive to legitimate expressions of pastoral authority. Maybe they have just been influenced by our progressive, anti-authority culture. They are making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Now, to be clear, some people in churches are overly sensitive. Some folks seem offended by just about everything. And I make the point in my book that being offended or hurt, is not, in and of itself, proof of abuse.

At the same time, I think far too many abuse concerns are swept aside under the claim that the victims are “overly sensitive.” While merely claiming that a pastor is abusive doesn’t make it so, it is also the case that merely claiming that the victims are overly sensitive doesn’t make it so.

So, I think there needs to be a fresh assessment of the type of damage done by spiritually abusive behavior, so the phenomenon can be understood better. My book covers this in more depth, but here are a few quick thoughts. [Read more…]