C. J. Mahaney stepping down

I've posted twice before regarding SGM Sovereign Grace Ministries which was a look at structural problems in their discipline process and Sovereign Grace Ministries' use of demotivational methods which was a particular abusive technique they made heavy use of which was a distinctive. The leader of SGM C. J. Mahaney is stepping down. Note on his blog, note from the board, leaked documents regarding the dispute.  C.J. heads up Together for the Gospel, and is bringing in his friends from that organization to guide him during his stepping down.

I'd like to congratulate the people at the various SGM blogs: SGM Survivors, SGM Refuge, Spiritual Tyranny, Wartburg Watch, SGM Uncensored .  Mahaney has been a major leader in the whole New Calvinism movement.  So far the issues being discussed are internal problems regarding Mahaney creating problems with other pastors, rather than the more widespread  longstanding pattern of abuse of membership.  Its the authoritarian culture that's the problem, Mahaney, as dictators go is not unusually bad.  Part of being a dictator is terrorizing or at least intimidating those around you, that's the job.  If you don't like the behavior don't create authoritarian structures that necessitate it.

So the doctrinal and structural problems remain.  But what has changed is the problems are being widely talked about on the web.  When Joshua Harris rereleased Boy meets Girl the fact that 2 of the couples in his previous edition were getting divorced was public knowledge.  Stories about church facilitated sexual abuses have leaked.  Stories about embezzlement have leaked.  Stories about wrongful terminations, ruined marriages, and how miserable so many women are in SGM have leaked.   SGM is not able to act in secrecy anymore and the blogs above, and several others that were active over the last few years are responsible.

I don't have much to say other than this was an important step in people banding together to try and prevent the sorts of rampant abuses in authoritarian churches.  And the offer I made to Josh Harris 3 years ago remains open.  If SGM wants to start trying to build structures to stop abuses rather than to facilitate them I'd love to engage in constructive conversation.


____

Post Script (Feb 2, 2012)

It appears that way these allegations were handled was to create a biased board that investigated it and exonerate C.J. Mahaney.  The results are still not published, but the underlying facts to present Mahaney as having threatened someone to keep them silent years ago.   I'm not sure what is going to ever get published but I'll update here as more information becomes available:

• Response to SGM panal report from Larry Tomczak

____
See also:

• Al Mohler dismisses documents regarding Mahaney and abuse.  

Father Bill Hausen

Bill Hausen was a catholic Priest in Pittsburgh. During the 1990s he was a heavy drinker and the church disciplined him by forbidding him from driving. After he became sober he wanted the discipline lifted but the church wasn't concerned. This caused him a great deal of alienation. So when the 2002 Catholic priest sex abuse scandals broke Hausen delivered a sermon calling for wholesale revisions to the priesthood. In particular the ordination of married men and women. As a result of this sermon a transfer order was issued Hausen refused to obey the order, and founded his own church (Christ Hope). At that he point he was excommunicated. The church is now succesful and pitches itself to x-catholics.

This is a great case because it gives a good example of the kinds of problems with the "send them back" strategy for church discipline. This case is messy and complicated. While I assume most Catholics object to schism, can a priest make a call for a policy change? Did the church have an obligation if the objected to his sermon to try him for that and not utilize transfer for discipline purposes? And what about the driving issue, if he were reinstated with many years sober wouldn't it be reasonable to demand this discipline be lifted? Messy, messy...

But it gets worse. The new congregation has been around for 6 years? What should happen to the people attending an openly schismatic church? In theory they have excommunicated themselves, what degree of restoration should be required? What if they choose to go to another (from a catholic perspective) schismatic church that honors discipline, like say an IFBC church. Should they be allowed? This is just a wealth of topics. There is no disagreement on the facts, but how to handle the situation under almost any hypothetical is complex.

So jump in build a scenerio and a solution.

For more detail:
2008 article City Paper
2004 Religious news story
Godspy on the new church
Pittsburgh Tribune article on excommunication