Christian belief in God's will too easily leads to abuse

Following on from the recent John Smythe and Mike Pivlachi exposés in the UK, the average reader is likely to become more than cynical about Christian organizations due to the reports of abuse of young people in Christian contexts. However, the YWAM UK situation exposed in April 2025 is different to the previous two; it involves an organization as a whole, rather than just an individual leader with extreme (perhaps even perverse) habits, and much of what is described as "abuse” in the YWAM case might actually be seen as normal practice within parts of the Evangelical world, especially in missionary contexts. 

The Guardian UK news outlet broke the story in April, sensationalizing claims of abuse:

The world’s biggest youth Christian missionary organization is facing allegations of spiritual abuse and controlling behavior from young people who say they were left “traumatized”.

(All of the indented quotes below come from the same article.)

Let’s take one of the easier issues to start with:

The allegations span two decades and include claims that young missionaries were... told that leaving was against God’s will.

The central part of this quote which I've not included, is more problematic, but let’s just stay with the simple issue for a moment. Telling someone that leaving a missionary agency is against God’s will is hardly controversial in my experience, then again, nor is telling people that they should leave when they want to stay!

The thing is, it is part of the role of missionary agency leadership to discern what God is saying to those who work with them. Now, if someone was absolutely convinced that they should leave the agency, I would not stop them, even if I thought they were mistaken. The point being, the language of “God’s will”—normal everyday vocabulary in my world—comes across very strangely to the average secular-minded Brit. It sounds very, very domineering or abusive.

Commands were often communicated by leaders as though they were instructions from God. “They were always changing what other people wanted to do by saying: ‘I reckon, God is saying this.’ It was used to manipulate,” one former missionary said.

People play the so-called "God card”.

Having worked in leadership in a missionary agency, one of my least favorite things is when people play the so-called "God card”. If someone says that they believe something is God’s will, it effectively shuts down discussion—either that or you have to get into a long exploration of how God’s will is revealed and what the implications of such a statement are. And yes, it can be used to manipulate. I’ve seen it often enough.

So let’s get into the more meaty stuff.

Former YWAM volunteers described the use of rituals similar to exorcisms to banish demons from people who acknowledged having sex outside marriage.

Another former British YWAM worship leader described a “casting out” at a base in Australia, arranged after a man revealed that he had sexual relations with other men. Leaders placed their hands on him before chanting prayers to “banish the spirit of homosexuality”, and he reportedly convulsed. The British man was himself struggling with his sexuality and said he was left feeling as though a “demon” was living inside him.

Orthodox Christianity has taken the view that sex belongs within the bounds of marriage. Pre-marital sex, affairs, and casual sex are not seen as legitimate. Homosexuality is more complex, but obviously the same prohibition of sex outside marriage applies here.

However, there are some conservative Christians who believe that even celibate men and women who experience same-sex attraction should be disbarred from Christian ministry (despite there being a number of high profile Christian leaders—some practicing in secret—who fit into this category).

This is a point where Christian organizations find themselves running against the tide of contemporary culture. Our society, illustrated by the Guardian, finds it almost impossible to imagine that people would choose to be voluntarily celibate. Sex, with or without emotional commitment is the norm and anyone who tries to say otherwise is clearly bonkers (mad or crazy).

What we are faced with is a competing set of values.

What we are faced with is a competing set of values which leads to incomprehension. Christian organizations are seeking to uphold what they see as biblical standards, while the wider society sees these standards as repressive and abusive.

The thing is, wider society is not going to change its views on issues like this in the near future and Christian agencies are going to find themselves more and more out of touch with the outside world and as a result they are going to be open to more and more allegations of repression and abuse.

Digging back into the Guardian article about YWAM illustrates some of the issues. The quote above talks about people going through quasi-exorcism rituals to banish demons associated with pre-marital sex and homosexuality. Now, personally, I don’t see any biblical mandate for viewing these things as related to specific demons which can be cast out, but I know some others disagree. 

However, in a context in which society is already prone to see Christians as abusive, rituals like these can only add fuel to the fire. If someone is struggling with their sexuality or concerned that they have overstepped some lines in terms of sexual or other behavior, then prayerful counsel is far more likely to be of help than some sort of group extraction of their thoughts, desires, and maybe actions, in confession.

Perhaps the saddest line in the article for me was the following:

“I constantly had to do certain things in order for God to love me or to be accepted...”

Somehow, this poor woman working in a Christian organization had become convinced of something which is antithetical to the Christian message.

We think that we are going to receive sympathetic mainstream press coverage.

Obviously, the Guardian is spinning the story to get its point of view across. It does not have a particularly positive view of conservative Christianity and that is reflected in the article. However, Christian agencies need to realize this and to take this into account. We are fooling ourselves if we think that we are going to receive sympathetic mainstream press coverage.

YWAM’s response is worth noting:

A spokesperson for YWAM England said it was committed to “continuous improvement in safeguarding practices” and that each location was responsible for upholding standards. It said it was “strongly opposed” to forced confessions. “While confession of sin may occur, the person should never be publicly shamed or pressured to apologize.”

In the current climate a commitment to improving safeguarding is the very least that we can expect from Christian agencies and churches. Whether we like it or not, we have a reputation for being places where abuse happens more than it should.

Equally, many missionary agencies have an issue in that monitoring of these things is carried out in different locations around the world where staff may not have the training and qualifications needed to handle them wisely and, frankly, in some situations may not even see what the problem is in the first place!

Please don’t think I’m getting at YWAM here, they just happen to be the entity mentioned in this supposed media exposé. I am aware of similar issues being raised in connection with a range of different organizations. YWAM has specific problems related to their structure and ethos, but the same can be said for just about any missionary agency.

That being said, I think there are two related questions which need to be high on the agenda for all organizations that hold to a traditional Christian position on sex and sexuality.

How do Christian organizations navigate a global culture with which they are increasingly out of step?

The first is how do Christian organizations navigate a global culture with which they are increasingly out of step? Holding to conservative biblical standards while being sensitive and avoiding abuse is far from easy. The fact that a growing cohort of young potential converts don’t share a traditional view on these issues adds a further complication.

The second question is what are agency governing boards (if they even exist) doing in response to these issues when they arise within their organization (and they will). If this isn’t high on their risk register, they are not doing their jobs properly.

Originally published on Dr Eddie Arthur's Living in the Venn Diagram Substack. Republished with permission.

Dr Eddie Arthur has been a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators for over thirty years. For twelve years he and his wife Sue lived in Ivory Coast where they were part of the team translating the scriptures for the Kouya people. He is now based in the UK where he researches, writes, and talks about the future of global missions and provides contextual perspectives on societal change. Eddie's more recent writing can be found on his Substack "Living in the Venn Diagram".