Spiritual abuse in Bible-Presbyterian Church

Requiring preachers, missionaries, staff to affirm specific theological positions—particularly KJV-Only and Verbal Plenary Preservation doctrines—before receiving financial support exemplifies spiritual abuse through the weaponization of doctrinal conformity.

Spiritual abuse emerges when those with power to influence others use coercive authority, which constitutes abuse when wielded by church leadership.[1] In our scenario, financial dependency becomes the coercive mechanism. Spiritual abuse involves systematic patterns of coercive and controlling behavior in religious contexts[1], and this includes manipulation, exploitation, coercion to conform (inability to ask questions), and control through the use of sacred texts.[1]

The theological problem compounds the abuse. Some erroneously assume that using the KJV insulates their ministry from theological error, and some believe that using other conservative translations means departing from the faith and heading toward compromise.[2] However, no particular translation, manuscript, or text family can scripturally claim exclusive rights to the teaching of providential preservation.[2] The original KJV translators themselves recognized in their preface that all translations, done by fallible humans, are not perfect and can be improved upon, and they respected other translations as God’s Word.[2]

What makes this abusive is the mechanism: spiritual abuse occurs when a leader uses spiritual authority to coerce, control, or exploit a follower, causing spiritual wounds.[3] Conditioning financial support on doctrinal agreement transforms legitimate theological conviction into a tool of control. Spiritual abuse results when spiritual teaching is used to gain control and reinforce the leader’s authority rather than to empower and nurture those being led.[3] Staff members face an impossible choice: compromise conscience or lose livelihood—a coercion that violates both Christian ethics and human dignity.

[1] Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer, Pivot: The Priorities, Practices, and Powers That Can Transform Your Church into a Tov Culture (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2023), 61–62.
[2] James B. Williams and Randolph Shaylor, eds., God’s Word in Our Hands: The Bible Preserved for Us (Greenville, SC; Belfast, Northern Ireland: Ambassador Emerald International, 2003), 335, 343.
[3] Ray S. Anderson, The Soul of Ministry: Forming Leaders for God’s People (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), 191.