I was reading this article over at Melvin Jones Pulpit Pimps blog about a man by the name of Jay Cameron who has written and produced a play called “Church Mafia” based on his experiences in a church that manifested spiritually abusive traits.
In his Fall 2007 newsletter available here, Cameron states at the beginning of his article about Church Mafia:
Church Mafia is the term Jay uses to describe a controlling, deceptive and abusive mindset that can develop anywhere in any church worldwide. No particular denomination, race or geographic region is immune from the different temptations to become one. Jay describes a change in atmosphere that forms when a church mafia is present. Some of the signs include emotionalism, un-written rules, dishonesty and rejection of those who question or disagree with those in church leadership. You may be wondering how Jay knows so much about a Church Mafia. Well, he used to be in one.
He says, “They catered to immaturity and selfish desires.” They made him feel special. “My needs were met.” People-pleasing used to be one of his character flaws. “I never said ‘no’.” After participating as an insider for so long, he realized “this is not how you treat God’s people.” He knew he must expose this mistreatment as sin. Though he left the church quietly, a year passed before he began to speak about his sinful church mafia activities. Almost immediately, he discovered he and his wife were black-listed or shunned by people who used to be their friends. Despite poor treatment by some at his former church, Jay understands he can no longer keep silent. The way he sees it, he would be a part of the problem if he didn’t go forward with this play or continue to speak about the church mafia.
Via this play, the man of God decided to come out and “break the Spiritual Omertà by speaking out about what he saw and also being part of the spiritual abuse by participating in it via this play. Even though this play appears at this time to be only performed in the DC-Maryland area with no announced plans for a taped release to DVD, one can really feel a sense of ‘bravery’ as Mr. Cameron tells us the truth in a three part interview available at GodTube.
Freedom From Bondage Part 1 with Jay Cameron
Freedom From Bondage Part 2 with Jay Cameron
Freedom From Bondage Part 3 with Jay Cameron
The play was really good. I recognized so many of the issues and techniques being used by the pimps.
I got my head messed up in a splinter-church “Christian Fellowship” around 30 years ago. One of the problems at that time was Christian “Cult Watch” groups defined “cult” entirely by theology, not repeat NOT by abusive control-freak behavior.
Since the group had an orthodox Evangelical theology (i.e. similar to Fundamental Baptist mixed with Charismatic, with heavy emphasis on “Discipleship”), it was NOT considered a “cult” despite its cultic “Christian Mafia” behavior. How many (like me) reached out to other Christians like the cult watch groups only to be told (judging entirely on theology instead of behavior) that the group was Truly Christian and it was our Rebellious Fleshly Nature that caused our doubts, just like our Discipleship Masters “God Saithed”?
When I discovered D&D, I was able to get out of there (written off as a Lost Backslider); I found out years later others required kidnapping and deprogramming. But they weren’t a “Cult” because their Christology was orthodox (if hyper-Fundamentalist)!
How many others have had their heads permanently messed up (to the point of “Take Your God And Shove It!”) in the same way and either burned out or NEVER got out?
Wow. I admire what Pastor Jay is doing and how he’s doing it (”attacking the spirit, not the people”). I hope this play brings healing to the wounded, and warns those who might turn into “church bullies”.
One quibble with the quotation: “Some of the signs include emotionalism …” I was in a church-mafia situation where emotion was decried and distrusted, but in its place, those in charge relied on their supposed intellectual superiority to keep people in line (they were more bombastic than smart, and their boldness had decomposed into arrogance). The point is always manipulation and control, and one of the signs is a horrendous imbalance between mind and heart.
From what my husband tells me, his family was also in an abussive baptist/charismatic church which may have been a church maffia situation. I am going to show him this blog. His siblings are still messed up and so is he to some extent. I became a believer in a very solid church so when he began to tell me about his experiences I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t believe his parents could be involved in something like that. I had no idea this kind of stuff happened in “Christian” churches. I thought they only happened in cults.
Interesting point. However, I have heard that these same tactics are at work within another realm of Christianity.
Some (not all) Christian Owned Businesses
In this mindset, it is the opposite of corporate churches. They would like to become “church corporations’ where they are a business on the outside but run the businesses like a church. I know people who worked in these ‘church corporation’ environments that when people got laid off, the ‘church corporation’ owners referred to them as ‘Achan” and ‘purging of the remnant’. Told them not to badmouth them for that was the equvalent to touching God’s anointed….
It goes far and beyond the four walls of the church….