I’ve never met the Rev. Phil Wyman of Salem, Massachusetts. In fact, until I read about him on the front page of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) yesterday I didn’t know that he even existed. Phil Wyman is the pastor of a small evangelical congregation in a very old city where a considerable amount of tourism revolves around the story of the execution of twenty men and women, who were accused as witches, in 1692. 

I’ve been to Salem. I’ve visited the quaint museums and walked the streets of this historic place. I even saw a dramatic production of the witch trials staged by actors from Gordon College. I have also witnessed the presence of real witches and Wiccans in Salem, openly touting their message in public places. Salem is actually a beautiful New England town and clearly in need of the gospel. This is actually why Phil Wyman went there a few years ago as a minister of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a Pentecostal denomination.

Phil’s story is really quite simple. He was drawn, as a young convert to Christ, to engage nonbelievers about their pre-Christian traditions. He wanted to reach them with the good news. This led Phil and his wife to leave Southern California to go to Massachusetts. For a time he was supported in his work by his denomination but that support ended recently.

Last year local conservative Christian leaders began to question Phil Wyman because his methods were found objectionable. This began when he volunteered to serve with the city’s largest event, the annual Halloween festival.  Phil worked to create relationships with Salem’s pagans by showing them real neighborliness says the WSJ story. Christians and witches debated the difference between magic and miracles and Phil, and his Christian friends, chatted openly with people at Salem’s witch shops. He even allowed them to show him how they read tarot cards. Some of these witches sought Phil for spiritual counsel. One such woman, who joined Phil’s congregation, says of him, “He lets people figure out their own spirituality.” Phil is careful to not approve the practices of these witches and does not join their rituals, saying, “It’s their worship, not mine.” But, and this is the important point here, he does not attack these people as the children of the devil. On October weekends this year he provided a stage, sound equipment and live music for folk musicians, candy-apple sellers and caped tour guides in Salem. He also provided a Christian-tinged theatre. In a tent that the church set up a member of Phil’s church openly confessed “the sins of the church” to those who would listen. (For those of you who have read Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz you will recall this same thing being done on a college campus in Portland, Oregon.)

One local Salem citizen says that some of his witch friends were moved to hear of a Christian who admitted that the church had actually wronged people in the past. He added, “Sure, he wants to convert people, but he does it in a way that respects you.” What a beautiful testimony to a truly missional approach to evangelism. How I wish more people would take a page from Phil Wyman.

But Phil Wyman is now in trouble with ecclesiastical authority. The Foursquare Church rejected him as a minister in March of this year. Why? Four local pastors felt that Phil was just too close to the enemy. Said the regional Foursquare leader, “Phil had a strategy and methodology that was significantly different from how we perceive church life.” This came about because Phil’s picture appeared on a witch’s Web site. He was seen, in this offensive picture, bending as if to kiss the hand of a horror-movie actress who appears at the Salem vampire ball as Countess Bathoria. (Phil denies he did this and the picture was removed when the person found out Phil’s concerns.) A local pastor felt that Phil had crossed the line, appearing “too familiar, too cozy, too amicable with that

[evil] community.” What he is saying is that Phil simply got too close to the evil one and showed too much acceptance to such sinners who are ensnared by the devil. This charge sounds like the charges leveled against Jesus in the Gospel accounts when he was seen as the “friend of sinners,” including sinners who were possessed by the evil one.

Phil’s church, called The Gathering (www.salemgatheringcom), was finally rejected by the Foursquare leaders because they were discomfited by four local pastor’s expressed concerns and by Web links that connected Phil to the wrong kind of Satanic Web sites, i.e., to places where Christians are opposed by the devil. The Foursquare leader said to Phil, “I feel you are not seeing the vulnerability you are opening up to regarding demonic activity. It is my judgment . . . . that you are crossing the line into the aberrant.” When Phil, and his associate pastor, were actually examined by Foursquare leaders last year these leaders wanted to know how Christians could become friends with witches? (Just weeks before this meeting Phil had received a grant of $84,000 from the Foursquare Foundation so that he could teach the evangelization techniques he had learned in Salem.) When Phil asked for a second meeting with the church leadership, to pursue these differences further, the denominational leadership refused. The grant money he received before this decision came down has been used to pay rent and bills but when it runs out Phil says he will likely have to weld and teach guitar lessons to make ends meet.

When I read this story I went to www.google.com and found Phil’s Web site by searching for Rev. Phil Wyman in Salem, Massachusetts. (I love the Internet for many reasons but this is one—I can find people easily and communicate with them immediately.) I read various articles and reflections by Phil on his site with keen interest. I found both his spirit and his missional perspective refreshing and Christ-centered. There is every reason to conclude that Phil is both orthodox and evangelical. I do not know all the facts in this particular case but I think I understand what happened to Phil because I have seen this story repeated many times over during the past few years. I have also experienced various types of evangelical rejection for similar missional reasons; i.e., getting too close to the wrong people and places.

After reading this account, and visiting this Web site, I decided to take action in this case. I wrote Phil an email expressing my encouragement and my sincere desire to get to know him. I also sent a small gift to his ministry, via his secure donation feature on his Web site. I am glad someone in Salem is seeking to incarnate the love of Christ in this way, someone who announces to true “outsiders” that the kingdom is near and thus they are loved by God and need to know of the reconciling work of Christ for the world. 

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Comments

  1. Adam Shields November 1, 2006 at 9:13 am

    Thanks for posting. The church has participated in this too much. I made a small donation as well. Hopefully enough interest will be generated to help this ministry continue.

  2. Josh R November 1, 2006 at 10:09 am

    It will be interesting to see if Foursquare has a response… I wouldn’t be surprised either way.
    Searching their website for the word “Jesus” yields very few results. It is only mentioned on one of the 4 front pages.
    Looking at the pastor’s musings, many of them are fictitious extra-biblical stories about God.
    He very well may be a dedicated Christian, but that doesn’t mean his approach should be endorsed or supported by a denomination that is not ashamed of the name of Christ.

  3. Bruce C. Meyer November 1, 2006 at 11:20 am

    I have been teaching at Salem State College for several years. Sometime recently I began to find a lively desire in my heart to see those in Wicca and the wide variety of gnostic (“have an experience with God”) religious people come to know Christ. I searched through my associates far and wide and everyone who seemed qualified for evangelism wanted to work on inhouse theology quibbles or were simply afraid of the sins of the witchcraft/polyamory/gnostic crowd. Actually, me too. But my sense of burden had the marks of God’s leading, so I kept on. The ONLY ONE that I found was in my backyard, Phil Wyman.
    For those who know anything about spiritual warfare, it should be of no surprise to hear that his dog was hit by a car, and that a close family member was in a health crisis as well–on Halloween. No kidding.
    Phil preaches the Gospel of salvation through faith in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. He teaches that God does miracles and reveals Himself–not an everyday occurrence, but still very much like a cross-cultural mission situation where miracles are not considered strange. The real challenge that I’ve experenced, and Pastor Phil seems to meet well, is to be orthodox on essentials and to have the real thing in love and holiness of life among the animists and gnostics, with their claims to the “higher knowledge.”
    He just isn’t afraid to be both holy and found in the company of sinners. By the grace of God.
    If I keep my hand to the plow, I too will stay holy and not afraid, too.
    One “little” p.s. Is it such a bad thing to be condemned by polite people for reaching out to social outcasts? I think not. The polite people have all the churches they can handle. (Especially Roman Catholic New England, with the Long Lent, as Richard John Neuhaus put it. ‘Church’ here has fallen on hard times.)

  4. Phil Wyman November 1, 2006 at 3:31 pm

    Thank you John.
    These were really gracious words. We will have to meet.
    Interesting note to Josh’s response. When we were pulled before the council meeting last year, and interrogated about our relationships to the Pagan community, the three hour meeting ended with a barrage of personal attacks. One such attack came in these words, “I’ve heard you say the word Jesus maybe once or twice in this whole meeting.”
    It’s the day after Halloween. I’ve not slept much in the month of October: preparation, ministry outreach, children’s events, and interviews with Suzanne Sataline (she’s way cool) from the Wall Street Journal have left me yawning.
    Yet – people asked about knowing Jesus, our Pagan friends love us even more, and the sign carrying fundamentalist street preachers have been calling us a cult in front of our own church. If you know Randy Stonehill’s tune sing along with me, “It’s a great big stupid world….”
    Grace upon you all,
    Phil

  5. Josh R November 1, 2006 at 6:46 pm

    Phil,
    Good luck with your ministry, I will be praying for your ministry’s fruitfullness.
    I don’t mean to join the lynch mob, if such thing exists, I am just saying that without hearing both sides of the story, I can understand why Foursquare might be concerned about how well your philosophy and strategy melds with theirs.
    These type of disagreements should be handled quietly, and internally. I don’t see any reason that the scripture in 1 Cor 6 doesn’t apply to the court of public opinion. The damage is the same, if not worse.
    Hopefully being free from the denomination’s supervision will allow both ministries to stop quarrelling and focus on what is important: bringing people to into relationship with Christ.

  6. Fingertoe.com November 1, 2006 at 7:03 pm

    Pastor Wyman responds

    Pastor Phil Wyman responded to my comments over on John Armstrong’s Blog. I noticed several blogspot blogs run by Pastor Wyman, If you want a better feel for his ministry, check them out, and form your opinion. The Why Man…

  7. Victoria November 1, 2006 at 8:49 pm

    I was brokenhearted to hear about this. God bless you Pastor Phil.

  8. John W. Morehead November 2, 2006 at 3:11 pm

    I recently became aware of Phil’s story and blogged on it myself. Phil can use all the positive exposure and support he can get. Unfortunately, this type of reaction is not uncommon among conservative evangelicals when they encounter adherents of religions or spiritualities they often consider bogeymen. My hope is that the American church can begin to adopt more of a lifestyle of discipleship that embraces the social outcast in the spirit of Jesus, otherwise they will not only continue to keep the adherents of alternative spiritualities at bay, but they will also push away missional church leaders like Phil, thus growing the ranks of church exiles in the West.

  9. Dave Moorhead November 3, 2006 at 8:34 am

    I find it interesting that the area ministers are condemning Phil for his fraternization with Wiccans and witches while whatever they have been doing for the last 300+ years doesn’t seem to have had much effect. They don’t seem to recognize the fact that shunning these people has had little impact for the gospel! What? Did they think the witches would just shrivel up and go away if they stayed away from them? These people are NOT the enemy! We do not struggle against flesh and blood. When, for Christ’s sake (please read that literally), will people realize this?

  10. jeremiah November 4, 2006 at 10:23 am

    …I opposed Peter to his face because he was clearly in the wrong…
    March 25, 2006
    Mr. Jack Hayford, President
    Mr. Hayford, My name is [jeremiah]. I have been a Christian for 22 years. I have been part of the Gathering for six years and also an elected member of the church council. I am concerned about recent events here in Salem – initiated by John Hatcher. Our pastor, Phil Wyman, has been released by Foursquare. This is extremely alarming to me as the Foursquare leadership acted in a bizarre, unprofessional manner. I have served in the military and in the corporate world and have never seen an organization operate in such an unprofessional, dysfunctional manner. Not only are the claims about Phil Wyman untrue, no leader involved in the decision to release Phil Wyman has ever allowed Phil Wyman or anyone at the Gathering to share the correct version of the facts to an impartial party. I would also like to make a scriptural appeal and observe that no leader who was involved in the decision to release Phil Wyman has made an attempt to ascertain the facts for themselves as the Bereans did to Paul’s claims about Christ. In the recent issue of Advance magazine, John Hatcher bravely disclosed difficult health issues he is experiencing. While wanting at all costs to avoid “mudslinging,” “striking back,” and “hitting someone while they’re down,” John Hatcher has appeared to be exercising less than optimal decision-making in this process. I must implore you, Mr. Hayford, with every core of my being and spirit, to fully investigate this matter yourself or through a duly delegated impartial representative from your office. I ministered at and was sent to the Gathering under the blessing of [my previous church] where I attended for eight years and was a member for five. I have seen and experienced my share of church dysfunction. In my humble opinion and experience, this case warrants urgent attention, mainly for the sake of the Foursquare organization in this region. Humbly Yours, Michael L. Crockett
    [It is interesting to note that this letter – addressed to Mr. Smith, President – was “intercepted” by another denominational leader – who responded to me with a polite, yet incoherent, letter]. Don’t know if Hayford ever bothered to read the letter.

  11. jeremiah November 4, 2006 at 10:36 am

    Josh, please know we hold Jesus above all. I am reminded of Aimee’s teaching on “We would see Jesus.” We do not call the body of Christ to task for our own sakes or even for being open to Pagans, for being in Salem, or in spite for being kicked out of Foursquare but for the sake of the body. As long as unjust, unteachable leadership remains the practice in Foursquare, we will call the Peters [and the Pauls who try to “preach” at Ephesus and might be torn apart by the rioting crowds-possibly losing half our New Testament] to task.
    …I opposed Peter to his face because he was clearly in the wrong…
    March 25, 2006
    Mr. Jack Hayford, President
    Mr. Hayford, My name is [jeremiah]. I have been a Christian for 22 years. I have been part of the Gathering for six years and also an elected member of the church council. I am concerned about recent events here in Salem – initiated by John Hatcher. Our pastor, Phil Wyman, has been released by Foursquare. This is extremely alarming to me as the Foursquare leadership acted in a bizarre, unprofessional manner. I have served in the military and in the corporate world and have never seen an organization operate in such an unprofessional, dysfunctional manner. Not only are the claims about Phil Wyman untrue, no leader involved in the decision to release Phil Wyman has ever allowed Phil Wyman or anyone at the Gathering to share the correct version of the facts to an impartial party. I would also like to make a scriptural appeal and observe that no leader who was involved in the decision to release Phil Wyman has made an attempt to ascertain the facts for themselves as the Bereans did to Paul’s claims about Christ. In the recent issue of Advance magazine, John Hatcher bravely disclosed difficult health issues he is experiencing. While wanting at all costs to avoid “mudslinging,” “striking back,” and “hitting someone while they’re down,” John Hatcher has appeared to be exercising less than optimal decision-making in this process. I must implore you, Mr. Hayford, with every core of my being and spirit, to fully investigate this matter yourself or through a duly delegated impartial representative from your office. I ministered at and was sent to the Gathering under the blessing of [my previous church] where I attended for eight years and was a member for five. I have seen and experienced my share of church dysfunction. In my humble opinion and experience, this case warrants urgent attention, mainly for the sake of the Foursquare organization in this region. Humbly Yours, Michael L. Crockett
    [It is interesting to note that this letter – addressed to Mr. Smith, President – was “intercepted” by another denominational leader – who responded to me with a polite, yet incoherent, letter]. Don’t know if Hayford ever bothered to read the letter.

  12. Parableman November 5, 2006 at 8:43 pm

    Christians Reaching Out to Neo-Pagans

    Bruce Meyer left the following comment on a post that wasn’t about this subject, so I thought it might better occupy its own post: Recently Jeremy and I have been talking about reaching out to neognostics and pagans. After we talked, I realized that th…

  13. John Smulo November 24, 2006 at 10:49 pm

    John,
    I just found your blog for the first time. I’m very glad to see you’ve written on this. I feel terribly for Phil, and we need to give him and anyone else who has been judged for sharing the gospel all the support we can.

  14. Mark Bishop May 2, 2007 at 1:44 pm

    John,
    I just stumbled across a link to your blog, and would like to thank you for you post about Phil’s situation.
    From what I have seen, the Foursquare denominational leaders could learn much from the Gathering’s approach to sharing the Gospel.
    Mark

  15. Patricia Hayes January 11, 2008 at 11:21 am

    I find your stream here quite upsetting, as a considerable amount of mudslinging is being directed at my pastor, John Hatcher. I have known him for over 20 years, and let me just start by saying that I have never in my life met a more compassionate and fair man than John Hatcher. He is accepting of people from all backgrounds and walks of life. He is ready and willing to share the gospel with anyone who will listen, and he is never judgmental. I am sure that he had good reason to let Phil Wyman go from Foursquare or it never would have been done. As district supervisor, his job is a tough one, and letting a pastor go is one of the hardest parts of that job. It is never done without careful consideration, wise counsel and much prayer.
    I once shared lunch with Phil Wyman at a pastors conference, and talked with him at length about his ministry. While I liked him very much, I found his ideas and execution of ministry quite unconventional, he often invited pagans up on the stage during services, and in a question and answer format, gave them a forum to share their beliefs. lets be honest this just doesn’t mesh with the Foursquare model. I have no doubt that he is reaching people, and that His ministry can flourish on its own outside of the restrictions of Foursquare. The bottom line is if Phil Wyman is doing God’s work, then God will bless it! So what are you all worried about?

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