Meahl Memories

A Church Called Tov  - Introduction

Scot McKnight and his daughter Laura Barringer wrote this book after the unraveling at Willow Creek, a megachurch near them which they had been part of in the past. While the Willow Creek story unfolded, Harvest Bible Chapel, another megachurch in the Chicago area, dismissed its founding pastor, charging him with decades of "insulting, belittling, and verbally bullying others...improperly exercising positional and spiritual authority over others to his own advantage... [and] extravagant spending utilizing church resources resulting in personal benefit" as part of "a substantial pattern of sinful behavior." (p. 4)  

Their thesis: "In the absence of a culture that resists abuse and promotes healing, safety, and spiritual growth, the heartbreaking truth is that churches of all shapes and sizes are susceptible to abuses of power, sexual abuse, and spiritual abuse." (p. 5) 

This is where I come in. "The tragedy of these and far too many other stories is that, instead of focusing on the wounded, the victims, and the survivors of abuse, these organizations focused on themselves, on their leadership, on their own self-interest. They protected the guilty, hid from accountability, and silenced the wounded." (p. 5)

For the past 23 years, we've been part of non-denominational churches started by pastors who wanted to be in charge, who couldn't get along with the denominational set-up in their churches (the committees, the deacons, etc.) Some of these churches had no accountability board at all. One had an elder board with elders chosen by the pastor and "voted" on by the church. Though there may have been a few "no" votes, in general people didn't know enough or care enough to ever reject an elder candidate. One had an elder board with elders chosen by the pastor with the congregation given the opportunity to inform the pastor if they knew any reason the person shouldn't be an elder. To my knowledge, that never happened. In all but one of these churches, the congregation never saw or voted on a budget.  And it wasn't long before the cracks appeared in the kingdoms these pastors had built. In our last church, we dared to speak up, and that was the end of us.

Tov is the Hebrew word for good. And this book is going to suggest "what it takes to form a culture of goodness in our churches that will resist abuses of power, promote healing, and eradicate the toxic fallout that infects so many Christian organizations." (p. 8)