In the light of recent reports in the media, Bishop Andy Lines, describes his own experience of spiritual manipulation.
“Those with spiritual authority are like all in authority. All authority is open to abuse or manipulation.
I have been coming to terms with elements of spiritual manipulation in my own life. It has been a very hard and painful process requiring months of professional counselling for me to come to terms with what I have experienced. It took considerable time before the light went on, and has required lots of support during three months in Australia. However, I now realise the nature of what was happening. I have come to realise that this can happen to strong as well as vulnerable people. I have become aware that the particular manipulation and control I have experienced has been experienced by a number of others.
We do not always act in accordance with our stated belief in a God of grace. However good our intentions are, Christian leadership in encouraging spiritual growth in others, needs to draw on the grace of God as experienced in the Bible for motivation rather than on external coercion. When we fail cheap grace is not what we need. What is required is recognition of our sinfulness and repentance, confident in the forgiveness Jesus alone provides.
I am grateful to those who have reached out to me in support. As I pray and think about my own experience, I trust that I will be able to share with and help other survivors.
Since September last year, I have not exercised formal episcopal duties as such. The authorities to whom I am accountable have carried out a thorough investigation and have cleared me to return to such duties. But it is apparent that such a return can only be gradual, both because of the need to recover from all that this ordeal has involved, and also to allow time to consult with those whom I am called to minister to.”
In response to this statement the following comments have been made
“The betrayal of trust by a mentor is a terrible wound, and when things like this take place in the Church it only increases the pain. Bishop Lines is a survivor who has shown the willingness to do the hard spiritual and emotional work of coming to grips with the actions of an abusive father-figure. He has my full support as he works to support other victims and cares for those churches leading the reformation of Anglicanism in Europe.”
Archbishop Foley Beach,
Primate of the Anglican Church in North America
Chair of the Gafcon Primates’ Council
“Bishop Lines has immense gifts for ministry, and through this difficult personal trial has shown himself to be a leader of character. He has my full support, and I look forward to working beside him in the years to come.”
Archbishop Ben Kwashi,
Gafcon General Secretary
Say what? False accusations? Burn out? Misunderstandings? Demons? Banshees? Name calling? Power struggle? Mid-life crisis? Publishing non informative letters only whets the curiosity. I’m not saying professional counseling can’t be helpful but I’ve never heard of a case where it has. I still agree with the upper level psychology class taken at university taught by a full fledged psychiatrist doing original research at University Hospital that a patient with one problem entering talk therapy is guaranteed three by the time money runs out. Common sense usually trumps all.
Some of us opt out of situations where dominant personalities assume the role of dictator by means of bullying or more subtle forms of coercion; in order to save ourselves we simply walk away. Others faithfully persevere out of a sense of duty – until they are broken. There may be good reasons for choosing either response; no one should be judged for taking one view or the other about how best to respond.
However, there is never any excuse whatsoever for anyone using his or her own position in order to abuse other people. The greater someone’s gifts (ability or persona or position of authority), the greater is his or her responsibility to exercise those gifts justly, graciously and with due sensitivity to the needs of others. To fail in that responsibility is a sign of weakness rather than strength – the person is revealed as not being so great as had been supposed. In Christian service it is a sign of unrepentant sin which must be confronted, repented and accepted as an unavoidable cause for learning a new and hard lesson in humility.
But there is cause for repentance too by anyone or any group which has suspicion that such bullying is happening but fails to do anything about it. Turning a blind eye or, worse, attempting a cover up (which amounts to lying for the sake of convenience) is to be complicit in the abuse.
Firstly, my prayers are with Bp Lines and the other victims.
But why the lack of detail? We know that Jonathan Fletcher is the abuser – why couldn’t this be made clear? And what did Fletcher do?
Gavin Ashenden said, in the Anglican Unscripted video, that Fletcher was engaged in “homo-erotic pastoral engagements with young men of a manipulative and blackmailing kind” and “it ranged from sexual horseplay to something much more serious”.
If that is what happened to Bp Lines, I feel deeply sorry for him. But it’s rather misleading to label it as “spiritual manipulation” and “control”.
They could have announced in Sept 2018 that Bp Lines was stepping down from duties for a period as he’d been the victim of an abuser. But they didn’t.
The fact that it took a newspaper report before any statements were issued suggests a cover-up. That’s unacceptable in the church.
It is natural to want to understand this situation and query what sort of hurt demands a pause for counselling and reflection. In any case, taking time for a review and personal introspection to determine if one, as a victim, has absorbed something from a mentor that has subsequently been passed on, intentionally or unintentionally, to those her or she, in turn, support as mentor or leader, is highly commendable. Would it not be right for me to assess if I, as a result of damage done to me, have also done damage to others. If I have absorbed and transferred hurt I would need to address it.
The wonderful thing in this case is that “damage”, of whatever sort, has been identified and hopefully the repercussions of that can be as well. The details of this are none of our business. The example is, perhaps, of great importance. The wisdom is in understanding what needs to be and can be fixed and recognizing what needs be left lie.
alphaTomega, I am famous for putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 45! I find, however, my math is generally not far off the sums others arrive at. That said, my comments were made from a context of knowing nothing more than Bishop Vines had a mentor who may have led him into error himself which prompted him to take stock of his own position. If you note I also wrote of addressing any subsequent hurt he may have caused as a result. Such an action, if taken, is hardly a “cover-up”.
Perhaps the best “cover-up” ever is when Shem and Japeth backed into the room of their father to cover his shame after Ham had made a point of exposing him. One of the hardest things for us to discern is when to do just that.
All of our leaders–bishops, arch-bishops–indeed all priests are men (and women) struggling with sin in their lives and around them. Most, we trust, are trying harder to help than to hurt–relying on the Holy Spirit to help them contain themselves enough to live out their vocations. All fail at times. I am afraid the maths here are leading us to a point where we will not believe anything except a “guilty” plea.
Well, after reading all this, I have not the slightest idea of what he is talking about. Zero.