Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church

by Michael J. Kruger

One is hard pressed to come up with two words more opposed to the characteristics of a bully pastor, which is precisely why such pastors should be disqualified from ministry. Bully pastors lack gentleness, compassion, and understanding. They put enormous burdens on the backs of people, are hypercritical, and are hardly ever pleased. Moreover, instead of being humble, abusive pastors are notoriously arrogant, convinced they (and their churches) are truly special. Not all pastors wear their pride on their sleeves. But even if it’s just in their own minds, they genuinely see themselves as above others, which is why they are unwilling to receive criticism or correction. Conveniently for us, Paul combined these two qualifications for ministry in a single verse. He wrote, “An overseer, as God’s administrator, must be . . . not arrogant . . . not a bully” (Titus 1:7 HCSB, emphases mine). It’s almost as if Paul based the qualifications for ministry on Jesus himself. If a person is not gentle and lowly, but instead a bully and arrogant, then he should not be a pastor. Of course, to say a pastor should be gentle is not to say that’s everything he should be. No one is suggesting that pastors are only gentle and nothing else. Sometimes Christian leaders should be bold and courageous, even firm and direct, especially as they contend for the truth in a hostile world (Josh. 1:18; 2 Cor. 10:5–6). The problem is that more and more churches seem to prefer only the latter. If they have a mod...