Spiritual abuse has become an increasingly hot topic as more and more stories of bully pastors and hyper-controlling churches have grabbed headlines.

But how does spiritual abuse differ from mere emotional and psychological abuse, and what are its key features and stages?

Welcome to The Roy's Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church.

I'm Julie Roy's.

And joining me today is Justin Humphreys, CEO of 31-8, the leading independent Christian

safeguarding charity in the UK.

Over the past few years, 31-8 has conducted

numerous high-profile investigations of churches and leaders accused of spiritual abuse.

These include an investigation of the crowded house, the church founded by Steve Timis.

Timis is the former CEO of Acts 29, who was fired in 2020 for alleged bullying and

spiritual abuse. 31-8 has also investigated what some British publications have called

the mother of all abuse stories, abused by Jonathan Fletcher and John Smyth. Smithe ran a system of

evangelical camps for boys from elite schools throughout England,

and Fletcher was vicar of the prominent Emmanuel Church Wimbledon

and one of the most influential evangelicals in all of England.

So Justin Humphreys is well acquainted with abuse in a church context,

and in his book, escaping the maze of spiritual abuse, Justin explains how

the term came into being and how our understanding of spiritual abuse has evolved. He also explores

the key features of spiritual abuse and its impact, and he explains how to create safe church

cultures with authentic spiritual leadership. I'm so looking forward to my

discussion with Justin, but first, I'd like to thank two sponsors of this podcast, Judson University

and Mark Horda Barrington. Judson University is a top-ranked Christian university providing a

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