Mobbing in the Church: Some Thoughts On Church Bullying
The room was silent as people shifted nervously in their seats. Those uncomfortable with the conflict had their heads lowered, avoiding eye contact. Others lifted their heads high, scanning the room. On a normal Sunday night, the room would be full of the sound of the organ and jubilant praise, but this night the only sound that permeated the thick air was that of the sound of crinkling paper and the shuffling feet of ushers collecting the ballots. Only a majority vote was required to get rid of Pastor Jones, his wife and their four children. As the head deacon headed to the microphone to share the results, hearts pumped in nervous expectation. It was finished. Enough votes were cast to remove the pastor and get back to how things were before. No moral failure. No financial impropriety. No character flaw. The loss of power and the many changes were too much for the mob to endure.
With tears, Pastor Jones and his family headed to the front. Heads were held high in response to his faith and to recognize his time as pastor. While the majority had spoken, over forty percent hadn’t voted against him, and he owed it to them to speak. Pastor and his family were forever marked by that day. The church was never the same. The mob had won, in the short-term, yet the long-term effects would last for generations.
Workplace violence in the form of mobbing is a reality that must be acknowledged and addressed by the church. “Mobbing is a type of bullying carried out by groups” (Johnson, p. 172). While bullying and workplace violence is prevalent, current studies are mainly limited to corporate environments. However, the topic must also be addressed in the non-profit church setting where lines of authority tend to be complicated. As illustrated in the true story of Pastor Jones and his family, although names have been changed for privacy, this happens far too often while pastors are left to suffer in silence.
Churches are a ripe environment for workplace violence and an environment replete with silence. The sources of mobbing, the psychological effects of workplace violence, and the ramifications of mobbing on churches and their pastor must be considered. This will increase awareness of the necessity for churches and pastors to be proactive in confronting bullying in the church.
Workplace bullying directly relates to ethical conflict management within an organization. The recent rise in awareness of workplace bullying and violence has sparked movements toward legislation. (Raypole). According to Raypole, healthy workplace laws have been passed in several states, yet there is additional work to be accomplished in creating ethical work environments across the country.
While legislation will enable legal action in cases of workplace bullying, the greater issue resides in the culture that is created in organizations. The rise in prevalence of bullying can be directly tied to a lack of leadership. Leaders set the tone for an organization. When bullying is permitted through lackadaisical leadership, people and the organization suffer (Glambek, p. 309).
Non-profits, and specifically churches, can suffer unduly with fractured leadership structures. In a corporation, when the superior is engaging in bullying, there are clear lines of authority as to how to report such behavior. Yet, when a mob in allowed to coalesce amongst a church congregation, the lines of authority become blurred. There is much research that has been compiled on subordinates receiving ill treatment and being the target of the mob, yet there is very little research noted on the leader being the target of the mob (Tanner, p. 721). While groups have the ability to showcase the positive and negative aspects of an organization, leadership is displayed in the response to group dynamics (Nielsen, p. 79).
Mobbing has a lot to do with leadership, yet an understated element of mobbing is the lack of action by silent bystanders. While leadership has great power to curb bullying, the bystander has tremendous ability to affect the situation. “Bystanders are also a part of the problem and therefore also part of a possible solution” (Mulder, p. 16). Due to fear of conflict, many bystanders in Christian organizations remain uninvolved while victims suffer. This lack of action leads to irreparable harm.
To a greater degree than other leaders of organizations, pastors can become confused regarding their own identities. Leaders of corporations struggle less with role identity while pastors’ professional and personal lives are intrinsically entwined (Pooler, p. 708). Leading a congregation and fulfilling the many roles that are required of pastors can lead to high stress and emotional tension (Adams, p. 149). According to Kinman, the stress alone of leading a congregation can have adverse health effects on the pastor (p. 672). The combination of these two realities makes the church a ripe environment for mobbing to occur as mobs target one individual in order to inflict harm on the person and the organization.
The effects of bullying, and specifically mobbing, can be catastrophic. Mobbing is a continual assault on the emotional, physical and spiritual well being of an individual (Nunez, p. 34). The effects of mobbing can lead to physical health problems, mental health stress and even attempts of suicide (Nunez, p. 39). Religious organizations encounter this type of behavior, but many times it is not dealt with due to the nature of the work that the organization does and the attempt to spiritualize the behavior (Nunez, p. 37). This has the propensity to lead to tremendous harm to the individual and the organization.
Workplace bullying or mobbing, in corporations, affects the employee and therefore affects the home life of the employee. Yet, in the cases of clergy, there tends to be a lack of separation for the family from the affects of workplace bullying, as they are members of the church as well. In the church, mobbing directly affects the entire family of the pastor.
In addition, the pastor is at a larger risk than people in other corporations of losing more in the process of workplace bullying or mobbing. Mobbing can directly impact the pastor’s salary, physical home or parsonage, their friends and support group that are found within the church, and their personal place of worship (Tanner, p. 724).
Another rising factor in workplace bullying is the relatively new phenomenon of workplace cyberbullying. The invention of social media has been a wonderful tool for connection, yet the unintended consequence of greater connectivity is the potential for abuse. Cyberbullying intensifies workplace bullying because there is a potential for anonymity, increased exposure to the victim, and the potential audience grows through online posts and shares of posts (Vranjes, p. 380). With a larger cyber reach, the psychological effects of bullying grow exponentially.
The Bible does not endorse bullying. The popular scripture verse that has been coined the Golden Rule sums up the essence of how to treat others. “Do to others what you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12, The New Living Translation). The Bible teaches how to treat one another, with love, grace, compassion and truth.
The Bible is also replete with instructions on how to deal with your enemies. Jesus tells His followers to pray for their enemies and to bless them (Matthew 5:43). The Bible also speaks to turning the other cheek in humility, to count it joy to suffer for Christ, and to not seek revenge but to allow God to avenge. Scripture also instructs us to “remove the scoffer among you” (Proverbs 22:10). Having courage, standing strong and crying out for God’s help are all instructions given to the victim.
Lest one think that passivity is what is required of a Christ follower, there are plenty of instructions geared towards justice and the earthly execution of justice.
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers (Proverbs 6:16-19, English Standard Version).
Unlike unbelievers, Christ-followers don’t seek justice themselves, for they allow the Lord to fight for them. This does not mean an absence of earthly justice; it simply is an acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God and His eternal nature.
The proper response to bullying in the church or mobbing in the church is threefold: prayer, truth and repentance. The first step to confronting mobbing is to pray and invite God into the situation. There is no battle that will be won without God. “My help comes from the Lord” (Psalm 121:2, New International Version). In order to successfully navigate bullying, we must ask God for help. Second, there must be an acknowledgement of the facts to those in authority. “But everything exposed by the light becomes visible – and everything that becomes illuminated becomes a light” (Ephesians 5:13, New International Version). Bullies desire for their actions to remain in the dark and there can be no true freedom until the light has exposed the actions of mobbing. For far too long, the silence in the church has been deafening. And third, there has to be a call to repentance. When antagonism is exposed to the light, there must be a call to repentance. Church leadership must confront mobs and a pathway to restoration must be presented. By praying, revealing and offering a course to repentance, there can be incredible freedom found for all those involved.
Leadership, as a topic, has been exhaustively addressed in our culture with limited impact. It is time for followership and leadership to be adequately addressed and followed through in our churches. Many view leadership and followership as two diametrically opposing positions, yet there can be great harm in viewing followership as separate from leadership. “At its heart, followership is the complement to leadership. You can’t have one without the other. This doesn’t mean that followers are defined by what leaders are not. A follower is a leader’s counterpart, not his or her opposite” (Hamlin, loc. 102). So, it should be no surprise that functional followership makes functional leadership possible just as Johnson asserts that, “toxic followership makes toxic leadership possible” (p. 213). Greater training and support for followers and leaders needs to be instituted in the church.
Mobbing will never be erased from the church environment, yet there are definite steps that can be taken to reduce the occurrence and to allow for healthy environments. Through evaluation of church structure and church leadership, a healthy environment can be established. The entirety of the church needs to be aware of the authority structure and the ways to report abuse. The pipeline of authority needs to reflect checks and balances as well as reporting mechanisms for people in every tier of leadership.
Church leadership need to draft plans for discipline, rehabilitation and restoration prior to the need of such procedures. The avenues of recovery need to be clearly stated and outlined. This would include all levels of leadership within the church and the denominational structure.
Ethics and the study of ethics are needed because there is sin in this world. This sin doesn’t stop at the curb outside the church doors. The necessity to study and to determine how to help pastors and congregations stay on mission through avoiding workplace bullying is an ever rising problem with very little attention.
In order for the church to be effective and for pastors to live out their call, this issue needs to be addressed. The silence of mobbing has killed the dreams and the families of too many and has allowed broken people to remain in their depravity. There is freedom, yet freedom will only come through acknowledgement, healing and systems that ensure proper attention is paid when an attempt is made at workplace bullying. Mobbing may be an animal kingdom instinct, yet the church of Jesus Christ lives according to a different Kingdom. Even as the mob shouted aloud for the crucifixion of an innocent man, there is incredible hope that God can use the intentions of a mob and turn it for the good of individual and the organization. The mobbing of Jesus led to death, yet the death of one man leads to victory.
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