Damaged Disciples: Casualties of Authoritarian Churches and the Shepherding Movement [Paperback]

Ron Burks (Author), Vicki Burks (Author), David A. Seamands (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1992

Damaged Disciples is the account of Ron and Vicki Burks' search for a meaningful faith. Unfortunately, the nontraditional church they found trapped them in a branch of the charismatic movement that taught them to be subject to their spiritual "masters" in every area of life. Vicki was taught to submit herself to her husband where she was to be sustained by his spiritual life which, in essence, allowed none for her. This is also the chronicle of the beginning of their journey back to faith and wholeness.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Vicki holds a Batchelor of Science and a Master of Arts in Counseling from Ohio University and is a Professional Clinical Counselor at Health Recovery Services in Athens. Her journey of recovery both from a fringe church experience and from extensive childhood sexual abuse has been an inspiration to all who hear her lively workshops.

Ron holds the Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Counseling from Asbury Theological Seminary and the Ph. D. in Counselor Education from Ohio University. He is also licensed as a Professional Clinical Counselor in Ohio. He has worked for 9 years at the world's only residential facility for ex-members of abusive groups. In that time he has helped hundreds of survivors of abusive families and groups. Ron is active in research and has presented studies at several national conferences. He has appeared on several news programs and on the Montel Show.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (June 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310576113
• ISBN-13: 978-0310576112
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,137,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one hit close to home!, July 6, 2003

By 

L. L Teuling "meloroze" (McAllen, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Damaged Disciples: Casualties of Authoritarian Churches and the Shepherding Movement (Paperback)

This book shows the problems experienced by a young couple who were involved in the Shepherding Movement surfacing early 1970's in the Charismatic Movement (which was strongly influencing Evangelical Christianity). Basically, there were four (later five) prominent Bible teachers who began to emphasize an obedience to human authority all out of proportion to what is actually taught in the Bible.

And this hit close to home. Although my experience was different from the authors', I still could identify with it strongly. In the early 1970's I was going through a difficult time in my life, and I received a great deal of spiritual and emotional support from the Charismatic Movement.

However, I began to notice a shift in the loving, caring prayer group I had been attending. They were showing disturbing authoritarian attitudes and sexism, emphasizing an obedience to human authority that seemed oppressive to me. It turned out my formerly loving prayer group was buying into this "Shepherding Movement." Later on I questioned some of the ideas they were putting out, and I got emphatically shown the door!

Even though these Bible teachers are not teaching "Shepherding" any more, many lives have been hurt by this, and the book is well worth reading. This kind of problem can happen again when people put obedience to human authority on the same par with obedience to God.

We need to be aware of this -- and most important, we need to study the Bible for ourselves to find out what it actually says. There still are oppressive groups out there who operate in much the same way, even if the name is different.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Escape from shepherding and authoritarian abuse, January 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Damaged Disciples: Casualties of Authoritarian Churches and the Shepherding Movement (Paperback)

This book is well worth reading if you need information about the shepherding/discipleship error, and especially if you
have been victimized by it. The authors were involved in
shepherding for many years, and present a thorough examination
of what is wrong with the beliefs and practices. The book
is written in a calm tone and is not angry, bitter or
vindictive.

The shepherding errors are wide spread in many churches and Christian groups today even though they are no longer named
as such.

If you have been hurt by spiritual abuse in a Christian setting,
this book will help you. You may be surprised, as I was, to
discover that many of the teachings you were subjected to
are actually shepherding teachings. These ideas became very
popular and are still wide spread despite the fact that
they have largely either gone underground, are renamed, or
not recognized as being shepherding. If you were hurt in a
word of faith church I would recommend reading this book to

see the origin of some of the common practices and beliefs which are actually unbiblical, despite perhaps being sincere.

Reviewed by Oceanwaves

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Deceptive! On purpose or not I don't know, April 22, 2010

By 

Duane Waller - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Damaged Disciples: Casualties of Authoritarian Churches and the Shepherding Movement (Paperback)

This is one of many books on the shepherding debacle that spanned from the 70s-80s-90s and has yet strong derivatives today.

In another book: "The Drift Into Deception" Agnes C. Lawless and John W. Lawless write:
"In the 1970s and 1980s the Shepherding movement was considered by some as the fastest growing element of fundamentalist Christianity.
It is rightly seen as one of the leading proponents of authoritarianism"
Page 109

I would give the would-be reader a serious warning against "Damaged Disciples".
Within the first chapter, the authors rightly use the words "devastation", "broken homes", "broken marriages" and "broken lives".

But as the book progresses the writing takes a subtle shift.
Instead of showing the reader how to identify warning signs of the shepherding movement and its abuses, by divulging real life events, the authors increasingly can be found actually PROMOTING the shepherding mantras.

First, comes the defense chapters for all of the leaders, who (You should know if you've read other documentaries of the shepherding movement) were the engineers of the abusive system.

Next, one by one, the inner teachings of the shepherding movement are meticulously expounded.
Many fallacious arguments to get the reader to accept the teachings ensue.

By the time I got to chapter 4 "Pillars of Heaven" I jolted my head up and said "MY GOD, THIS BOOK IS NOT EXPOSING THE SHEPHERDING MOVEMENT, ITS PROMOTING IT!!"

I cannot tell you the author's true intent.
I can only suspect that the authors still embrace the vast majority of the Shepherding teachings and this book is an attempt at doing damage control.

Reader beware!