Speaking as a church consultant I have become acutely aware of unsuspecting dragons often found in church leadership.  Personality disorders are on the rise and the church has not been exempt from the challenges. One Harvard Medical School scholar (Martha Stout) reports personality disorders have doubled over the last fifteen years!

I used to think troublesome leaders and board members were just misguided, reactive or had needs to control things around them. I no longer believe these folks are so benign. One personality disorder is referred to as “Borderline” personality types. These folks jump from being angelic to being evil in subtle ways. They leave distraction behind them in ways that is very difficult to pin down.

Functional sociopaths also find their way into our church’s leadership. Sometimes they are the pastors themselves and often they are lay leaders with no official leadership role. But the disarray, conflict, destroyed reputations, suspicions and breakdown of any healthy community life follow them all.

Here are some of the traits and factors professionals share with us when trying to spot and defend ourselves against disordered people:
 

  1. They create suspicion
  2. They fain to operate form “conviction” creating a party spirit and dividing of a group up into camps…often over pointless issues.
  3. They are remarkable liars.
  4. The leave a wave of broken ministries, persons and dreams behind them.
  5. The have a way of making themselves central to what is going on.
  6. They nearly always have money issues.
  7. Sometimes have cloudy sexual questions around them.
  8. They are excessively prudish hence looking pure and righteous.
  9. They are control freaks
  10. Slip around accountability
  11. Have trophy families
  12. They are flat emotionally often are very distant from spouses and others.
  13. They change friends almost every other year or have none
  14. They usually were abused in some fashion as children.
  15. They are intimidating and charming at the same time.
  16. They have above average intelligence.
  17.  Snobbish about positions they hold.
  18.  Exempt themselves from required meetings.