Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991, Page 55
of the phenomenon with the names of all the leading personalities who have played a part
in its spread and development since the early 1970s.
Edited by Flavil R. Yeakley, the principal author, and with articles by Howard W. Norton,
Don E. Vinzant, and Gene Vinzant, the book focuses on the discipling movement as it
manifests itself within the Churches of Christ. The authors have an understandable concern
to defend their churches against the coercive methods of the disciplers, yet what they have
to offer is of great value for every denomination.
This book records the great initial impulse for the discipling methodology which came from
Gainesville, Florida, where Chuck Lucas shepherded the Crossroads Church of Christ and the
campus ministry of the University of Florida. The book then reports on the powerful impact
of Kip McKean and the Boston Church of Christ, a church that has nourished many daughter
congregations. Yeakley notes the historical background in the Restoration Movement
fellowships. Some readers may be familiar with these when they are described as "restoring
churches" or "multiplying churches."
A unique feature of this book is the editor‟s technique of using boxes spread throughout the
text to highlight some of the thoughts expressed. While this method was not intended to
serve as an outline of the material, it does prove useful for a rapid review. For example, the
first box informs the reader that "most of the churches that employed Crossroads-trained
campus ministers eventually divided into discipling churches and churches that oppose this
approach." Another box summarizes the problem: "Members are controlled in such a way
that their personalities are changed to conform to the group norm."
What is the dilemma that the authors are concerned with? In their words, "It involves the
question of how we can help others become more and more like Jesus Christ without
making them over in our own image and thus changing them in ways that have nothing at
all to do with Christianity." One could say, I think, with somewhat more directness, that the
dilemma is, "How do you deal with the destructive control employed in this sort of
ministry?"
Yeakley is surprisingly optimistic that the Church of Christ can "correct its many failings."
He should be in a good position to make a judgment --in 1985 he undertook a study of the
growth of the Boston Church. It was a methodical and objective study in which he assessed
personality changes among 900 members. He used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which
assumes that a person‟s "true type" does not change and that when there are changes they
do not indicate normal healthy growth. "Healthy growth takes place," he notes, "within a
person‟s true type and does not require denying one‟s true type and trying to become a
copy of someone else."
However, the Yeakley study concluded that the Boston Church of Christ is producing in its
members the very same pattern of unhealthy personality change that is observed in the
studies of well-known manipulative sects. He notes that this pattern of personality change
was not found in other Churches of Christ nor in members of five other mainline
denominations. He adds that the Boston Church now teaches that Christians must obey
their disciplers even in matters of opinion.
Yeakley, a trained researcher in growth, makes an observation which, in view of the facts he
has brought to light, seems strange. He contends that the Boston Church is growing not
because of what it is doing that is wrong but because of what it is doing that is right. One
has to believe that this sentence (which appears on page 72) has escaped his own
proofreading. The author‟s research and this reviewer‟s experience argue to the contrary.
The decisive factor in the expansion of these shepherding/discipleship groups is precisely
the manipulative techniques that they employ.
of the phenomenon with the names of all the leading personalities who have played a part
in its spread and development since the early 1970s.
Edited by Flavil R. Yeakley, the principal author, and with articles by Howard W. Norton,
Don E. Vinzant, and Gene Vinzant, the book focuses on the discipling movement as it
manifests itself within the Churches of Christ. The authors have an understandable concern
to defend their churches against the coercive methods of the disciplers, yet what they have
to offer is of great value for every denomination.
This book records the great initial impulse for the discipling methodology which came from
Gainesville, Florida, where Chuck Lucas shepherded the Crossroads Church of Christ and the
campus ministry of the University of Florida. The book then reports on the powerful impact
of Kip McKean and the Boston Church of Christ, a church that has nourished many daughter
congregations. Yeakley notes the historical background in the Restoration Movement
fellowships. Some readers may be familiar with these when they are described as "restoring
churches" or "multiplying churches."
A unique feature of this book is the editor‟s technique of using boxes spread throughout the
text to highlight some of the thoughts expressed. While this method was not intended to
serve as an outline of the material, it does prove useful for a rapid review. For example, the
first box informs the reader that "most of the churches that employed Crossroads-trained
campus ministers eventually divided into discipling churches and churches that oppose this
approach." Another box summarizes the problem: "Members are controlled in such a way
that their personalities are changed to conform to the group norm."
What is the dilemma that the authors are concerned with? In their words, "It involves the
question of how we can help others become more and more like Jesus Christ without
making them over in our own image and thus changing them in ways that have nothing at
all to do with Christianity." One could say, I think, with somewhat more directness, that the
dilemma is, "How do you deal with the destructive control employed in this sort of
ministry?"
Yeakley is surprisingly optimistic that the Church of Christ can "correct its many failings."
He should be in a good position to make a judgment --in 1985 he undertook a study of the
growth of the Boston Church. It was a methodical and objective study in which he assessed
personality changes among 900 members. He used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which
assumes that a person‟s "true type" does not change and that when there are changes they
do not indicate normal healthy growth. "Healthy growth takes place," he notes, "within a
person‟s true type and does not require denying one‟s true type and trying to become a
copy of someone else."
However, the Yeakley study concluded that the Boston Church of Christ is producing in its
members the very same pattern of unhealthy personality change that is observed in the
studies of well-known manipulative sects. He notes that this pattern of personality change
was not found in other Churches of Christ nor in members of five other mainline
denominations. He adds that the Boston Church now teaches that Christians must obey
their disciplers even in matters of opinion.
Yeakley, a trained researcher in growth, makes an observation which, in view of the facts he
has brought to light, seems strange. He contends that the Boston Church is growing not
because of what it is doing that is wrong but because of what it is doing that is right. One
has to believe that this sentence (which appears on page 72) has escaped his own
proofreading. The author‟s research and this reviewer‟s experience argue to the contrary.
The decisive factor in the expansion of these shepherding/discipleship groups is precisely
the manipulative techniques that they employ.
