Welcome to ChurchTrauma.org
“Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.” Ecclesiastes 4:1 English Standard Version (ESV)
Our Story: Dominique & Megan have been in a religious cult, a charismatic nondenominational church, and a Southern Baptist church that all exhibited signs of spiritual abuse. As survivors of spiritual abuse in diverse church settings, they have dedicated their lives to preventing spiritual abuse in institutional settings and serving others who have also been abused under the guise of Christianity.
Our Goal is to:
Listen: We hope to provide a safe place for victims of spiritual abuse to share their stories without judgement.
Identify: We want to identify spiritually abusive wolves within organized religion, to protect others from harm.
Educate: We want to help others identify the signs and symptoms of spiritual abuse through our written works and educational resources, and through speaking engagements.
Blog Posts
Oliver’s Tale: Part Sixteen of My Life Inside the Narrowgate Cult at Messiah College
Editor Note: This is Oliver’s story. It includes his journal which was written in February of 1997, as well as his personal journey over the past 25 years. This was written in his own words and shared with his permission. My account of the surreal week in Feb 1997 when the Narrowgate cult disintegrated. …
Pooky’s Tale: Part Fifteen of My Life Inside the Narrowgate Cult at Messiah College
This is the first of several entries that are co-written by other Narrowgate members. The information was gathered through interviews and from original journals, notes, and letters written by Pooky at the time of Narrowgate. These first-hand accounts are fascinating to read, almost 25 years later. It is always refreshing to get another person’s perspective, …
The Morning After: Part Fourteen of My Life Inside the Narrowgate Cult at Messiah College
The next morning I woke up and wondered if the past 24 hours was all just a bizarre dream. But reality reminded me that I was waking up alone in our King-sized bed. Pooky had fled with Emma and her Baby, and I was alone. Because I was the only one (that I knew of) …
Red Flags at Reaching & Teaching International Ministries (RTIM)
Reaching & Teaching International Ministries (RTIM) claims that it “exists to reach the peoples of the world through evangelism and by meeting the great need for deep discipleship, pastoral preparation, leadership training, and theological education around the world.” A Godly, righteous-sounding mission. Yet incredibly, at one point in the not-so-distant-past, three men who were either …
Continue reading “Red Flags at Reaching & Teaching International Ministries (RTIM)”
The Storm – Part Thirteen of My Life Inside the Narrowgate Cult at Messiah College
There is a song by the popular Christian music group Casting Crowns, entitled “While You Were Sleeping.” The song takes a different approach to the classic Christmas carol about the Little Town of Bethlehem – while the town of Bethlehem was going about its usual business (which they correlate with “sleeping”), Christ the savior was …
The Calm Before… Part Twelve of My Life Inside the Narrowgate Cult at Messiah College
The last entry was pretty traumatic for a lot of people and perhaps as a result of reading this, they were re-traumatized to spiritual abuse in your own life. One dear friend who was not in Narrowgate reached out to my wife this past week and said that reading our experience re-traumatized her to some …
Armageddon: Part Eleven of My Life Inside the Narrowgate Cult at Messiah College
Author’s note: This blog was quite possibly the hardest yet to write. Of all the experiences we’ve had in the Narrowgate cult, this is most certainly one of the most traumatic experiences of my entire life. It’s difficult to dig this up – several people who I have talked about this experience have blocked it …
Continue reading “Armageddon: Part Eleven of My Life Inside the Narrowgate Cult at Messiah College”
Church is the Thing with Friendship
Insomniac poetry. (Yes, I know I have a ways to go. And YES I know all churches aren’t bad and NO I don’t think everyone should stop going to church. This is just my personal experience, it’s my therapy, so excuse the darkness.) From a prompt “__________ is the thing with ___________” based on Emily …
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:15-16a
This website relies on the creative minds who have graciously donated their photography for free use on Unsplash. We try to give credit where we can to your hard work. Thank you!
