The purpose of this project is to reach out to those who have suffered spiritual abuse—those who have remained in religious communities and those who have been alienated from religion—and hear their stories. In learning more about their experiences, and providing a platform for them to share their experiences, I hope to inspire awareness of spiritual abuse within the church. Out of that awareness, and from a reflection upon the data, I hope to help congregations formulate tools and practices to prevent it, and to equip congregations and individual Christians to welcome and offer healing to survivors of spiritual abuse.

The project will begin with a survey distributed in the Nashville Metropolitan Area. Given the population of the region, I hope to receive around 500 survey responses with an outside goal of 1000.

Following up on the survey, I will interview a select number of willing respondents over the telephone and in-person. My hope is to video ten representative respondents, giving them a chance to share their stories and answer a few pertinent questions. The end result will be ten 15-20 minute videos. These videos would then be hosted on web site designed to allow others to upload videos of their own stories of survival and hope.

I plan to write about my findings, with an eye toward pastoral practice and equipping congregations. I hope to expand my research to other parts of the South at some point in the future, with the web site providing an ongoing resource for those who are currently experiencing spiritual abuse, survivors of abuse, and for informing congregations about this sad reality in an effort to combat the phenomenon.