5 Signs Your Church is Brainwashing You

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The church is supposed to be a safe place where people can come together to celebrate Jesus, learn about His teachings, and be open about their faith struggles. Conversation and discussion in the church is a positive thing that helps the congregation grow together. Without questions and inquisition, there will be stagnant and underdeveloped relationships with Christ.

So what do you do if you feel that you are afraid to speak up in your church? Are your pastors and church leaders discouraging discussion of hot topics, shutting down new ideas, or shunning those who do not share the same beliefs as them? If so, your church may be having more problems than you think. These are signs that the church is brainwashing it’s congregation into groupthink. This is where members of a group are fearful of questioning leaders, assume the majority is always right, or feel vulnerable when they want to speak up. Instead, members are assumed to already agree with everything the church says and does.

Jesus wants us to question Him, ask questions when we are confused, and take the time to fully understand what we believe in and why. Our faith journey is not supposed to be simple and rules should not be in place. Here are the signs that your church is using brainwashing techniques.

Unanimity is Assumed

One thing needs to be made clear: never assume that because we have Jesus in common that we also share every opinion about Him. It’s an easy assumption to make, however it is regularly proved wrong.

Have you ever agreed with other fellow church members simply because they said something the lines of “we’re all Christians here, right?” There are many different ways to interpret the Bible, different denominations in Christianity, and the like. There is so much variety, that it is unrealistic to assume that everyone in your church also believes in the exact same things. Unanimity should not be forced on others. Just because the majority thinks that they are right does not mean that they are. Questions should be encouraged.