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Rating: 
Summary: Escape from shepherding and authoritarian abuse
Review: This book is well worth reading if you need information about the shepherding/discipleship error, and especially if you
have been victimized by it. The authors were involved in
shepherding for many years, and present a thorough examination
of what is wrong with the beliefs and practices. The book
is written in a calm tone and is not angry, bitter or
vindictive. The shepherding errors are wide spread in many churches and Christian groups today even though they are no longer named
as such. If you have been hurt by spiritual abuse in a Christian setting,
this book will help you. You may be surprised, as I was, to
discover that many of the teachings you were subjected to
are actually shepherding teachings. These ideas became very
popular and are still wide spread despite the fact that
they have largely either gone underground, are renamed, or
not recognized as being shepherding. If you were hurt in a
word of faith church I would recommend reading this book to see the origin of some of the common practices and beliefs which are actually unbiblical, despite perhaps being sincere. Reviewed by Oceanwaves
Rating: 
Summary: This one hit close to home!
Review: This book shows the problems experienced by a young couple who were involved in the Shepherding Movement surfacing early 1970's in the Charismatic Movement (which was strongly influencing Evangelical Christianity). Basically, there were four (later five) prominent Bible teachers who began to emphasize an obedience to human authority all out of proportion to what is actually taught in the Bible. And this hit close to home. Although my experience was different from the authors', I still could identify with it strongly. In the early 1970's I was going through a difficult time in my life, and I received a great deal of spiritual and emotional support from the Charismatic Movement. However, I began to notice a shift in the loving, caring prayer group I had been attending. They were showing disturbing authoritarian attitudes and sexism, emphasizing an obedience to human authority that seemed oppressive to me. It turned out my formerly loving prayer group was buying into this "Shepherding Movement." Later on I questioned some of the ideas they were putting out, and I got emphatically shown the door! Even though these Bible teachers are not teaching "Shepherding" any more, many lives have been hurt by this, and the book is well worth reading. This kind of problem can happen again when people put obedience to human authority on the same par with obedience to God. We need to be aware of this -- and most important, we need to study the Bible for ourselves to find out what it actually says. There still are oppressive groups out there who operate in much the same way, even if the name is different.
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