Customer Reviews

Damaged Disciples: Casualties of Authoritarian Churches and the Shepherding Movement

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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.

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

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!

This book offers an insider look and first-hand experience of spirirual abuse within authoritarian churches. It should be a must-read for whoever is in ministry, studying for it or contemplating it.

I was wary to purchase this book because I was concerned that it would be another "cult hunter" book full of unbalanced distortions and half-truths, especially since the authors were wounded in the movement. For the most part the book avoids that pitfall. The end section theology, especially with regard to family leadership misses the mark a bit--probably overreacting.

However, the stories, and especially Ron's life story, which is the majority of the book, are very valuable. They give you a personal understanding for what it was like in at least the official Mobile-based part of the movement. It's actually very sad that such a cultish world could be created by men who were not intending to do so, and otherwise taught orthodox doctrine. And it's especially sad to see a promising young couple give such a large portion of their lives to this.

I would recommend that you also read S. David Moore's book on the Shepherding Movement if you want a more complete picture-- I believe that neither book stands on its own. Those seeking to build new church structures where Godly authority is present would do well to read both. It was not that all of the new emphases of the movement were wrong, but it was the case that certain emphases were unbalanced enough to hurt a lot of people, and we should be careful to avoid those, and take responsibility for our teachings if people are hurt.

This book about one couple's remembrances of the Shepherding/Discipleship movement is a sad and tragic tale. By sad and tragic, I mean pitiful; and by tale, I mean not very credible and not very balanced. Reading it made me feel queasy and even annoyed; such is the rambling, repetitive writing style and the shallow anecdotes shared by the authors. I don't want to be mean to someone who has, at least allegedly, been hurt, but the word that comes to mind about this book is: "lame."

As I read, I was particularly struck by how the Burks' repeatedly seem to blame their own problems and mistakes on someone else. Through part of the book, they often point the finger at their former "Shepherd" (small group pastor) named Gerrett, but I kept asking myself, "If Gerrett was so wrong, why did they keep naively doing what he 'told' them to do?" I also wondered, "Did Gerrett ever do anything good for them, or were they just masochists? Why did they stay with him for so long and supposedly sacrifice so much?" In other words, balance is missing here; one fails to understand why the Burks' were drawn to, and stayed with, this movement if it was so abberrant. I would guess that Gerrett (or the overall movement leaders) would have had to have some kind of redeeming qualities in order to lead so many people. I would HAVE to guess, though, because the Burks' don't seem to want to actually offer the reader any clues.

Also, they don't seem to ever indicate that they purposefully, clearly confronted their pastor or any other leader, or spoke out, or asked questions or disagreed openly until AFTER they left the movement. I wonder then, how could their pastor really know what was in their hearts and how best to help them? After all, even the Burks' seem to admit that there actually was much about the group that was biblical and loving. Yet, then they throw around words like "fear" and "intimidation" and "control" and "abuse," but such words are a bit shopworn and overused by all too many people who traffic in the cults of victimhood and lack of personal responsibility. The examples of misunderstanding or disagreement listed by the Burks seem to fall far short of actual "abuse" or "intimidation" (unless a person is just hopelessly thin-skinned, insecure, or clueless).

Growing up and living in the Florida Panhandle, I have had opportunity to meet and hear some of the people who have been involved in the Shepherding Movement over the years. I even went to some of their meetings in the Mobile City Theater many years ago. And, while there have been some difficulties or mistakes made by this movement (just as there have been in the Assemblies of God, Baptist, Methodist, Brownsville Revival, Toronto Blessing, Christian International, Maranatha, Episcopal, Church of Christ, and other groups), I would say that the overall "fruit" of this ministry has been very, very positive.

I won't argue that some people did get hurt via their personal involvement in the movement. Some chose to stay and be redemptive, some chose to leave and be redemptive, and some chose to leave and throw rocks. I am sure the Burks' would think and argue that they are being redemptive. But I really hope that they are not actually just portraying themselves as martyrs in order to puff up their victimhood status and their counseling business. I suppose God only knows.

If you want a more balanced historical look at the Shepherding movement, see the scholarly book by Dr. S. David Moore entitled "The Shepherding Movement." There is also an interesting book called "Derek Prince: A Biography" by Stephen Mansfield.

Perhaps a good dose of Dr. Laura Schlessinger's philosophy (taking personal responsibility for your life, your decisions, and your actions, and not living life as a "victim" always stuck in the past) would be a helpful antidote for what ails the Burks.

When one hears of abuse by clergy or churches, one typically imagines something darkly sexual, or screaming sessions of high pressure salesmanship, or kidnapping and isolation, or perhaps some kind of slick brainwashing. But in this book, none of that occurs.

By their own admission, the authors simply became dissatisfied with the direction and doctrines of their charismatic church; perhaps they were disillusioned by personalities or practices. They got "hurt" in personal disagreements with their pastor. In fact, one could even speculate from reading that perhaps, even, the authors were angered that they did not "advance" higher and more quickly in the "hierarchy" that they perceived.

Whatever the case, the book makes a fairly thin and disjointed case for lumping the authors' former church in with various groups where serious abuse does occur. Such cynical and hysterical labeling does a great disservice to those who are truly trapped in abusive and destructive cults.

It seems these days that everyone is a victim and that one can sell a lot of books by crying wolf. And, if you wrap it in some kind of academic, psychobabble mumbo-jumbo and throw in a sanctimonious tone that hints at brave triumphs over horiffic injustices, well, then, so much the better.

I must admit: I was part of the Shepherding Movement from 1975-1988 through a church that looked to Rev. Ern Baxter as a spiritual leader and caregiver. My life was permanently blessed by Rev. Baxter and the other men with whom he related spiritually. True, those men weren't perfect (and I was there the grievous day in Chicago, 1986, when they disbanded their fellowship), but their lives and teachings blessed, and continue to bless, literally millions of people. The modern worship movement, the Promise Keepers movement, the spiritual warfare and prophetic movements, and many others have grown out of the Shepherding/Discipleship teachings.

No one has been forced to follow their teachings. If a man like Mr. Burks can say that he voluntarily was part of that movement for many years, only to realize one day that he had "missed God," then how does he have any credibility to say that he's not "missing God" now?

Personality conflicts and doctrinal differences do not equal abuse. Congratulations to the authors for hyping and overstating their case, for unbiblically attacking their brothers and sisters in Christ, in order to sell some books.