A healthy culture is one of the most valuable treasures God entrusts to a church. It shapes discipleship, mission, unity, and spiritual vitality. Yet culture must be protected, because the New Testament consistently warns that threats to unity arise not only from outside the church but also from within.

As leaders, we must recognize cultural sabotage not to shame people but to guard the witness of Jesus and nurture the spiritual health of the flock. The early church faced these same patterns, and Scripture offers us wisdom for responding.

Below is my reflection on ten warning signs that a person may be undermining church culture, expanded with biblical anchoring and leadership explanation. In full disclosure, I saw this list of warning signs shared in multiple places on social media over the past few days. I’ve researched to find its source and cannot. I thought it was excellent, and I wanted to expand on it.

1. They Sow Quiet Discord

Division rarely begins with a microphone; it begins with a whisper. Proverbs 16:28 teaches, “A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.” Paul warned against “grumblers” and those who argue in Philippians 2:14.

Leadership Insight:

In organizational life, this is known as triangulation—voicing concerns to everyone except the people who can actually resolve them. Leaders must create environments where concerns can be voiced upward, not sideways. A church where people are not heard by leadership will often become a church where people whisper to each other.

2. They Criticize Leadership Privately but Smile Publicly

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for appearing righteous outwardly while harboring toxic motivations inwardly (Matthew 23:27–28). Hidden rebellion eventually becomes visible fruit.

Leadership Insight:

This pattern erodes trust, the oxygen of leadership. When someone is kind in public but destructive in private, they weaponize dual identities. Leaders must address this early because integrity gaps are contagious.

3. They Gather Weak Listeners

Gossip requires an audience. Paul warned the Corinthians that “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

 Leadership Insight:

Every organization has “available listeners”—people who have unresolved wounds, unmet needs, or unvoiced frustrations. Saboteurs instinctively gather them. Leaders must disciple these listeners, helping them develop spiritual resilience and biblically grounded discernment.

 4. They Refuse Correction

 Proverbs 9:8 says, “Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.”

 Leadership Insight:

Correctability is one of the strongest predictors of long-term leadership potential. A person who cannot be corrected cannot be trusted with influence. Healthy culture requires humility and teachable spirits, not defensive ones.

5. They Create Small Circles Within the Circle

Paul instructed the Romans to “…watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way…keep away from them.” (Romans 16:17). Internal cliques function like competing kingdoms.

Leadership Insight:

When sub-groups form around personality instead of mission, culture fractures. Church leaders must champion alignment—not by eliminating friendships but by ensuring that influence flows toward the mission rather than around it.

6. They Minimize the Voice of the Pastor

Statements like, “I hear the pastor, but…” signal the beginning of erosion. The serpent used the same pattern when speaking to Eve in Genesis 3:1, “Did God really say…?”

Leadership Insight:

Minimizing pastoral authority is not a preference issue—it’s a discipleship issue. The New Testament affirms the importance of spiritual authority rightly exercised (Hebrews 13:17). Undermining that voice destabilizes not just leadership, but spiritual direction for the body.

7. They Elevate Personal Preference Over Corporate Vision

In 1 Corinthians 1:10, the Apostle Paul urged the church in Corinth, which was divided over people arguing for their own personal positions, “I appeal to you…that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” Vision is the path the church walks; personal preference is the detour.

Leadership Insight:

Thriving organizations distinguish between preferences and priorities. Culture-breakers demand that their preferences become organizational priorities. Leaders must continually articulate the why behind the vision to keep the community tethered to its shared mission.

8. They Love Drama More Than Discipleship

 Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:23, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.”

Leadership Insight:

Saboteurs often thrive in ambiguity, chaos, and emotional turbulence. Drama gives them relevance and an audience. Wise leaders create calm, clarity, and Christ-centered focus—conditions where disruptive behavior cannot easily grow.

9. They Manipulate Through Emotion

Delilah (Judges 16) illustrates how emotional pressure can be used strategically. Tears, offense, and hurt can become tools rather than expressions of truth. Manipulation is the underminer’s weapon of choice.

Leadership Insight:

Emotional maturity distinguishes concerns that need compassion from manipulation that needs boundaries. Leaders must respond with empathy and clarity: love people deeply but refuse to let emotion reframe reality.

10. They Quietly Recruit Others to Share Their Offense

In Numbers 16, we find the story of Korah, who gathered supporters before opposing Moses. Offense seeks company. Rebellion seeks a coalition.

Leadership Insight:

Shared offense creates fragile alliances built on grievance rather than mission. Leaders must proactively cultivate reconciliation and make it normal—and expected—for brothers and sisters to work through conflict biblically (Matthew 18:15–17) 

Guarding Church Culture from Sabotage and Manipulation is Essential

For church leaders, these patterns matter deeply. Culture is contagious, for better or for worse.

A protected culture creates:

            •          Aligned mission

            •          Healthy discipleship

            •          Trust between pastors and laity

            •          Unity that can withstand spiritual attack

            •          A hospitable witness to the world

Pastors, lay leaders, and congregations must partner together in vigilance—not out of suspicion, but out of love for Christ’s bride: the church.

May God give us discernment, courage, and grace to cultivate cultures where the Holy Spirit unites us, the Gospel shapes us, and Jesus is clearly seen in us.

All God’s love,

Jay