Institutional Abuse

What is institutional abuse?

In this context, we are using institutional abuse to refer to any form of mistreatment of people within our Christian community. Such abuse is an abuse of power, position and trust caused by inappropriate or manipulative actions, usually within a church setting, either towards a selection of its members or the entire congregation. Such abuse can affect any kind of age group, including children, adults, and elder people.

Institutional abuse occurs when an individual’s wishes and needs are sacrificed or manipulated for some form of control or gain.  Whilst it is usually a leader in the church that is the abuser, in some cases, there may be one than abuser.  The abuser tends to prey on vulnerable people as its victim, by using the word of God to manipulate control or gain over the individuals involved. An example could be false doctrines for financial gain or inappropriate sexual relationships by a leader toward members of the church.

God’s thoughts on institutional abuse

Institutional abuse can severely damage a Christian’s faith in God. We see how intolerant and angered Jesus was by practices of the Pharisees and scribes that equated to institutional abuse. This is why we need to understand that as Christians, we have a collective responsibility to ensure we are not covering up institutional abuse within a church and to find a way of exposing the truth to hold them accountable to rectify their practices and also to ensure other Christians do not become a victim.

What are the signs of institutional abuse?

The following are signs of institutional abuse:

• A rigid or inflexible set of conduct or approach to the teachings, and the practising of the word of God
• Unhealthy and inappropriate relationships between a leader of the church and member of the congregation
• Members placing over importance on the church to the detriment of their family’s needs
• Individuals’ privacy and respect are violated, controlled or manipulated
• There are practices of religion that are not biblical
• There is no regard for religion, belief, or cultural background.  
• Adults are being treated as children, including arbitrary decision-making.

In some cases, institutional abuse can last for years or even decades in a church setting before either a crisis or members deciding to leave brings it to the forefront. Such abuse causes a lot of mass damage to members of the church.  To hide the abuse, the church affected normally has a culture of either ignoring, overlooking, or covering up any complaints to protect the institution’s reputation.

Institutional abuse is more likely to occur in settings where:

• Too much control and power is given to one individual
• There are no internal checks and balances in place
• There are a lot of vulnerable individuals as a result of religious brainwashing
• The church operates in a silo – no measures for accountability to a known church body
• Has a closed-in cultic approach and doesn’t mingle with other churches
• An environment where new ideas, support management systems, or other professional involvements are discouraged.

What are the Impacts of institutional abuse?

• Imbalance in church priorities and beliefs leads to impaired judgment
• Financial loss or inability to function emotionally without the input of the church
• Over dependency on the church and the leader and not on the relationship with God
• Some level of idol worshipping of a leader
• Breakdown in family relationships due to prioritizing church above all else

Due to emotional damage, a survivor of institutional abuse may have mixed feelings about reconnecting with any church or can result to becoming disillusioned in their faith in God. Holding churches and leaders accountable is a collective responsibility. It is important to remove yourself from an abusive setting and also find a way of exposing the abuse, so as to protect others from becoming a victim.

In conclusion, do not ignore the signs and impacts of abuses in your life. Doing so limits God’s best for you and your life aspirations. Find ways to start your healing process. Whilst not speaking to experts may not be readily available to you, however, you can begin to take steps towards effective self-healing Christian options like meditation, prayers, scripture declaration immersion, identity in Christ refocusing and retreats.

Christian meditation focuses mainly on using the word of God. We can see that in many verses in the bible. Psalm 1 is a good example that explains the important on meditating on the word of God. The practice of meditation is a learnable skill. Start by doing an internet search on meditation verses in the
bible, spend time studying these verses and allow the Holy Spirit to guide your understanding. As you do so, you will begin to explore other verses that you can use to specifically meditate for healing and restoration.

Remember, life is not a rehearsal. God always wants you to choose freedom in Jesus Christ. To be free, you have to decide to be 100% responsible for the change you want to see in your life, even though you may be 100% blameless for the life challenges you find yourself facing. As such, be ready for change. As the solution to overcoming life challenges will usually involve a combination of spiritual insights and practical professional skills, on things God will show you to do to surge ahead. As always, remain blessed with divine health and wellbeing.

If not already subscribed, please do so as this will enable you to receive the latest updates from us. You can subscribe by clicking this link.