February 12, 2013
Church Exiters—Ministering Restoration: Recovering Spiritual Harmony
We’ve been hearing a great deal lately about people who leave the church. Here is a website that is devoted to helping those people whose exiting may have resulted from having suffered spiritual abuse.The website is a ministry of Dr. Barb Orlowski, who lives the Canadian province of British Columbia. She researches, speaks, and writes on recovery from spiritual abuse. Dr. Orlowski lists some common misperceptions about spiritual abuse, discusses its prevalence, and provides guidance for understanding how spiritual abuse wounds people and how they can recover. “Since many people think that spiritual abuse is only found in cults or cult-like groups,” she says, “it is a shocking reality to be informed that spiritual abuse can be found in many Bible-believing churches with orthodox doctrinal statements.” Her website includes articles about how patriarchy is related to spiritual abuse and how spiritual abuse is connected to other forms of abuse. She also provides links to resources for those who have suffered from spiritual abuse.
