Pensees: Pastoring the Disillusioned

Pastoring the Disillusioned

In the latest edition of the Sword & Trowel, Peter Masters has an excellent article on ministering to those who have left the charismatic circles. There are some valuable insights for any pastor who finds himself ministering to people who come from another evangelical circle. Pastoring the disillusioned is part of our calling. In my church we minister to the disillusioned from evangelical, charismatic, and fundamentalist circles. The similarities are often frighteningly the same.

Masters observes that there are at least three reasons why people leave the charismatic circle and join with a more traditional evangelical assembly. I think these three causes could also apply to believers who leave the KJVO fundamentalist church. The first cause or reason is a good thing. It is the mercy of disillusionment that God graciously bestows on His children for whom He has planned greener pastures. Disillusionment is often the tool that God uses to prod slow disciples.

A first cause, says Peter Masters, for leaving the charismatic circles is often serious disappointment or disillusionment which causes the believer to begin evaluating the claims of the movement. This, as has already been stated, is usually how God moves some of His children from one part of His Church to another part.

There are two more reasons that seem to cause a departure from the charismatic circles: personal “disaffection” and a “generally unstable temperament.” In other words, some may “come over to the derided traditionalists as an act of protest.” Others may not know how to think biblically and ground their thoughts in any kind of rational biblical theology. It is important that we recognize these, Peter Masters exhorts, because “we must be ready for disappointment.”

I have pastored people who are bitter and harbor personal vendettas against their former churches. They are personally offended and they embrace our teaching only because it is despised by the church they left. It doesn’t take long to see that these people are not sincere. It is usually a waste of time to invest anything more than a handshake in these people. But with sincere believers who are truly seeking the mind of Christ, it pays to think through what may be the lingering problems unique to those who have their kind of background. This is what Masters does in his article entitled wittily “Exercising a True Deliverance Ministry.”

Masters gives ten “lingering problems” that we may find in our friends who have left the charismatic movement. I’ll mention them here without comment.

1. The lordship of imagination.

2. A lingering trust in non-biblical sources of doctrine and comfort as in anecdotes and revelations.

3. Difficulty in adjusting to reverent, text-based worship.

4. A continuing thirst for phenomena such as healings and prophecies.

5. A lack of application and commitment to practical and genuine Christian service. [I break my no comment commitment here to say that I thought this was particularly insightful. Peter Masters says that the modern evangelical and charismatic movement is so focused on “me, me, me” that genuine service and true local church participation is a foreign concept to many “charismatic leavers.”

6. Confusion about whether the sign gifts have ceased.

7. Prevailing worldliness that lingers because of the prosperity emphasis. “Throughout the world the majority of charismatics have an approach to holiness that is quite different from anything previously seen in the history of th Christian Church. Separation from the world has little or no part in their holiness scenario. Nor (in most circles) does resistance to earthly wealth and comforts.”

8. Lingering pride from superior experiences.

9. A lack of understanding of biblical fellowship because the charismatic “hot-house approach to promoting friendships” but not biblical fellowship.

10. Struggles with doubt which leads to either cynicism or shallowness. “This is a product of their former intense loyalty to healings and other phenomena. The trouble arises from the simple fact that they never saw these wonderful things really happening in a certain, verifiable way. Even the miraculous signs have had to be taken on faith!”

Have you ever stopped to ponder on what may be the “lingering problems” of those who come to your ministry from harsh fundamentalism or the church growth movement?

I have.