Disobedient Women

How a Small Group of Faithful Women Exposed Abuse, Brought Down Powerful Pastors, and Ignited an Evangelical Reckoning

By: Sarah Stankorb

Narrated by: Suehyla Young

Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Journalist Sarah Stankorb outlines how access to the internet—its networks, freedom of expression, and resources for deeply researching and reporting on powerful church figures—allowed women to begin dismantling the false authority of evangelical communities that had long demanded their submission.

A generation of American Christian girls was taught submitting to men is God’s will. They were taught not to question the men in their families or their pastors. They were told to remain sexually pure and trained to feel shame if a man was tempted. Some of these girls were abused and assaulted. Some made to shrink down so small they became a shadow of themselves. To question their leaders was to question God.

All the while, their male leaders built fiefdoms from megachurches and sprawling ministries. They influenced politics and policy. To protect their church’s influence, these men covered up and hid abuse. American Christian patriarchy, as it rose in political power and cultural sway over the past four decades, hurt many faithful believers. Millions of Americans abandoned churches they once loved.

Yet among those who stayed (and a few who still loved the church they fled), a brave group of women spoke up. They built online megaphones, using the democratizing power of technology to create long-overdue change.

In Disobedient Women, journalist Sarah Stankorb gives long-overdue recognition for these everyday women as leaders and as voices for a different sort of faith. Their work has driven journalists to help bring abuse stories to national attention. Stankorb weaves together the efforts of these courageous voices in order to present a full, layered portrait of the treatment of women and the fight for change within the modern American church.

Disobedient Women is not just a look at the women who have used the internet to bring down the religious power structures that were meant to keep them quiet, but also a picture of the large-scale changes that are happening within evangelical culture regarding women’s roles, ultimately underscoring the ways technology has created a place for women to challenge traditional institutions from within.

©2023 Sarah Stankorb (P)2023 Worthy Books

Critic reviews

“Journalist Stankorb debuts with an intimate and engrossing look at how a small number of evangelical women have engaged in an "Online battle" with the American evangelical church, challenging the rigid gender roles favored by ultraconservative church leaders… Sheds fascinating light on the process of deprogramming from extremist religion. Weaving in her own faith journey as the child of an abusive alcoholic father, Stankorb delivers a compassionate portrait of pain and perseverance.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“For much of its history white evangelicalism thrived on identifying threats external to the church which served to mobilize those in the pews toward greater devotion. By elevating the brave voices of those who were sexually abused by church leaders and then ignored and abandoned, Sarah Stankorb demonstrates that one of the greatest threats to evangelical witness actually came from within. If there is a future for white evangelicalism, it must include a deep reckoning with the savage destruction caused by abuse. This story is far from over and this book is an ideal place to start the journey.”—Andrew Whitehead, author of Taking America Back for God

"Sarah Stankorb writes with extreme empathy about generations of women who grew up in the church and are finding a way out... unwinding a mental landscape of power and sexuality that informed their entire selves. It takes incredible strength to do this, and Stankorb deeply understands each woman’s journey."—Michelle Legro, editor at WIRED

An important Book Worth Reading

I am an African American woman who was raised by a Roman Catholic dad and a United Methodist mom. I was shocked by the information presented in this book. The abuse described in this book is universal. It's going on in religious institutions the world over. I appreciate your bravery for telling your story and those of the victims of abuse. You're going to help a lot of people.

Excellent read

A read recommended by a podcast (wish I could remember which) that truly explains so much about our current climate.

An accurate report of the evangelical meltdown

I lived this. I grew up under the teachings of Bill Gothard and IBLP. My family joined the ATI program in 1992, and I worked at IBLP headquarters in Illinois from 1994 to 1996. My personal diatribe against the evils of rock music, written when I was fully under the influence of Gothard's cult, is printed in "the purple book." (Though I now repudiate it publicly every chance I get.) I know many of the girls whose stories are mentioned, and witnessed many of the events described, in the chapters on IBLP. I am part of the Recovering Grace website team and am one of the volunteers who began receiving stories from survivors in 2011 and subsequent years.

This author has done a fantastic job of researching the downfall of a number of evangelical ministries, ministers, and celebrities over the last decade. It was hard to read both because of the trauma it resurrected and because of the depth of damage that has been done in the name of Christianity. However, I strongly recommend it, as it is a very important part of understanding what has happened to evangelical Christianity over the past 50 years.

Both the author and the narrator did an excellent job of presenting this material, and I hope that mainstream Christianity will pay attention. I wish I thought that the evangelical world would pay attention, as the answer to their constant lament of "why are people leaving the church" and "why are we losing our young people" is given in these stories. But I fear the evangelical world won't listen. They will just continue building their fortifications taller and stronger while doing their utmost to discredit those who are trying to tell them that their fruit is rotten.

A must listen for Pastors and leaders.

Failure to lead with integrity, wisdom and God’s holy and authentic love for others, will produce “bad fruit.” Listening, I was not prepared for the way it inspired me to contemplate the many ways we can fail to fully comprehend the stories of abuse and the multi generational impact. We need to know how abuse by leaders is compounded by a lack of accountability.

Additionally, I felt privileged to hear the stories of so many who have been brave enough to give their accounts over and over with holy hope in a future where protecting the abuser will be unheard of, accountability will be swift and truth openly revealed.

Powerful!

I couldn’t put this one down. So many of the names, leaders, and movements mentioned were so familiar and the stories of harm and abuse at the hands of church leaders echoed my own. I personally know several of those who bravely shared their experiences with the author and found her reporting extremely well researched and credibly described. This book is an excellent source document for those seeking to understand the #churchtoo movement.

The reader also did an excellent job. Very listenable.

Nothing new

Dry retelling of everything you’ve already seen on Netflix. If you’re already informed about IBLP and Gothard, might as well skip this one