Cult-like Churches: What to Look Out For

For millennia, religious cults have succeeded in luring people into their membership. Many cults are experts in building a loyal following, using a variety of subtle techniques and approaches. While some destructive cults do not hide their nature and openly recruit any who wish to join their ranks, many others use deception and subterfuge to trap people or infiltrate other organizations, as in the case of the Shincheonji cult in South Korea that caused one of the initial COVID-19 outbreaks in the country.

Thanks to social media and greater access to information, many average citizens have become wise to the identities and tactics of active religious cults in their communities. But even though specific cults can be avoided, a deeper and harder-to-detect problem is the presence of cult-like characteristics and tendencies in orthodox (legitimate) Christian churches.

Common Characteristics of Religious Cults

It is difficult to define precisely what a destructive religious cult is. But according to a seminal paper written by psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, and the International Cultic Studies Association, destructive religious cults have the following common characteristics:

1. A charismatic leader who wields excessive power and has a totalitarian style of leadership, often becoming an object of worship or veneration.

2. Mind-numbing, thought-suppressing, and brainwashing techniques are regularly practiced and enforced through coercion or fear.

3. A lack of financial or ethical accountability of its leaders, creating an atmosphere in which questioning and dissent are strongly discouraged.

4. Leaders dictate how members should live, think, talk, dress, and even whom to date and marry.

5. An "us-versus-them" mentality leading to mistrust or even hostility toward outsiders.

6. Members suffer from a pervasive sense of guilt and never being good enough.

7. Members are encouraged to spend inordinate amounts of time in the group, limiting their social interactions almost exclusively to the other members.

As heart-breaking as this list is, to many church-going people, it is also very familiar. Tragically, there are more than a few churches that exhibit some or all of these cult-like characteristics. This problem is by no means unique to any one denomination or spiritual tradition; it is found everywhere, in every continent. The problem is, if anything, pervasive.

“The pain people experience in cult-like churches is just as real as the pain victims of actual cults experience, and God desires to heal and free them both.”

It brings no comfort to the church-goer who attends a cult-like church to know that their church is technically not a cult. Even if a church is part of a recognized denomination in good standing with the global Christian community, unhealthy churches within such denominations can and do exist, and abuses can and do happen. The pain people experience in cult-like churches is just as real as the pain victims of actual cults experience, and God desires to heal and free them both.

What To Do if You Find Cult-like Qualities in Your Church

How one responds to the realization that one belongs to a cult-like church depends on many factors. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Careful consideration must be given to the type and severity of the cult-like characteristics present in the church. Do the problems involve all the leaders, or just one? Are they openly taught by the church, or implicitly sensed? Are the leaders aware of the problem? These are just some of the many questions that need to be explored before a course of action can be decided upon.

“How one responds to the realization that one belongs to a cult-like church depends on many factors. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.”

In terms of general counsel, however, the first step in any case would be to open dialogue with the leadership. In Matthew 18:15, Jesus tells us to go directly to a brother who sins against us and to point out their fault in the hope that they would repent and turn from their error. This command includes going directly to pastors and elders, since they too are considered brothers and not superhumans or superior spiritual beings (even if they claim to be).

If, after ample time, prayer, and dialogue with other witnesses (Matt. 18:16), the leaders do not acknowledge the problem or are unwilling to do anything about it, it may be time to consider leaving the church. It is exceedingly difficult to change a church's culture from the bottom-up. Unless major changes are driven by the top leadership, short of divine intervention from God, church-wide change is all but impossible.

“Unless major changes are driven by the top leadership, short of divine intervention from God, church-wide change is all but impossible.”

One approach that should not be taken is to shame and pressure the leadership of the church publicly through social media or by telling the local news about it. While that approach may result in some change in the church's leadership or culture, it will also do extensive harm to the reputation of the universal Church and to Christ Himself. For this reason, Paul encourages believers to settle disputes internally, among themselves (1 Cor. 6:1-6).

A final note: if you are experiencing physical or sexual abuse by leaders in your church, get out immediately. Do not go back to that church and tell law enforcement about it. Such abuse is considered a crime and ought to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to prevent others from being harmed. In the case of emotional or psychological abuse, the abuse may not be considered criminal, but if it is severe enough, it may warrant your immediate departure from the church as well.

Conclusion

Hebrews 13:17 tells us that we should obey and submit to our leaders because they keep watch over our souls. But that does not give leaders the right to lead with arrogance, to intimidate and abuse, or to elevate themselves above others, because the same verse also says that leaders will give an account to God. Any pastor who runs his ministry like a cult turns his back on his call to be a shepherd and is liable to face judgment on the Last Day. It is an act of love to call out such pastors in the present, to give them a chance to change their ways before it is too late, and to allow those under their care to live in blessedness and freedom rather than in bondage.