How to Heal from Narcissistic Leadership and Rebuild True Christian Community

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2018

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Exploring the deep wounds of narcissism and the toxic environments that foster it, Mike takes us on a vulnerable and illuminating journey of self-reflection, healing, and spiritual formation in this raw follow-up to his recent conversations on narcissism in the church. Drawing from personal experiences, scriptural insights, and therapeutic practices, this episode equips listeners with practical tools for identifying narcissistic tendencies within themselves and their communities—while offering a hopeful pathway toward authentic Christian leadership and humble, grace-filled community.

Key Takeaways:
• Deconstructing Narcissistic Church Culture – Understanding how the “evangelical industrial complex” encourages celebrity pastors, platform building, and ego-based leadership models.
• Red Flags in Church Leadership – Practical signs to look for when evaluating whether a church is operating under narcissistic influence and how to respond wisely.
• Healing the False Self – Tracing the root of narcissism to childhood wounds and the formation of a false persona, and how confession, therapy, and spiritual disciplines help dismantle it.
• Practices for Spiritual Humility – How to embrace being the “biggest sinner in the room,” seek feedback, and refrain from chasing platform and applause.
• Reparenting Through Christian Community – The vital role of embodied community and the church in healing damaged self-image and reshaping identity in Jesus.

Resources Mentioned:
• Skye Jethani on the Evangelical Industrial Complex – https://www.skyejethani.com
• John Coe – Talbot Institute for Spiritual Formation
• Dallas Willard’s Teachings
• Jars of Clay (as metaphor and Christian band) – https://jarsofclay.com
• 2 Corinthians 4:7 – “Treasure in jars of clay”

Join us in resisting toxic leadership models and rediscovering what it means to be the church Jesus intended. Subscribe, share the episode, leave a review, and help spread the movement toward humility and truth in Christian community.

We’d love to hear your thoughts or stories on this topic. Email us at [email protected], and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

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Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

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Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey everybody, Mike here. So glad you're with us. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for liking and
0:17.4	subscribing and reviewing, supporting us in Patreon. I mean, thank you for all those things.
0:22.6	The liking, the subscribing, the reviewing is so important.
0:25.6	Because it keeps, it gets us noticed by iTunes and it just allows people to find us more easily.
0:32.6	So that's the big reason we're always mentioning that.
0:38.3	We think that at least the feedback we get is that this is helpful for lots of people.
0:44.3	And so, you know, we kind of take that on faith and keep pushing forward with it, even though it flies in the face of some of what we've been talking about when it comes to narcissism.
0:56.0	The last few podcasts, we've been talking about what narcissism is and why there are parts in the American church
1:02.0	that make it very attractive for narcissists to kind of jump into leader roles or roles of influence.
1:09.0	And so I just want to kind of review a little bit and then answer a question we got last
1:14.1	podcast about, okay, so how do you work on this?
1:17.4	The first thing I want to say is last podcast we talked about something that Sky Jatani
1:24.4	calls the evangelical industrial complex, which is the interplay between megachurch
1:28.8	pastors with large platforms, publishing houses who want to sell books and who put on conferences
1:34.0	to even to give a bigger platform to people that already have platforms.
1:37.9	You have this whole idea of platform building now or platforming.
1:43.7	Social media has made it very, very easy for those of us who have narcissistic
1:48.6	tendencies to meet those needs.
1:52.5	And it's made it very tempting for those who need to toil in obscurity to be content with
1:59.6	that. You know, when Paul says, you know, make it your ambition to live a quiet life, that is certainly
2:07.6	not what our world's ambition is.
2:10.6	And in the church, in church settings, we're very rarely rewarding pastors of 100-person, 200 200 person churches who pastor their socks off.
	...

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