Familiar Words, Different Meanings: Wellspring uses the language of historic Christianity, but many familiar terms carry meanings that differ from their ordinary or historic understanding.

Confusion Replaces Clarity: As definitions quietly shift, ordinary conversation becomes increasingly difficult because people appear to agree while operating from different assumptions.

Control Through Language: By reshaping the meaning of common words, language itself can become a mechanism for directing beliefs, relationships, and behavior.

​

​

A common feature of high-control environments is control over language itself - especially the definitions attached to familiar words. People may continue using the same vocabulary as the wider Christian community while gradually assigning those words different meanings.

 

When a system gains the power to redefine familiar terms, it also gains the power to shape how people interpret reality, authority, obedience, harm, and truth. This is not a secondary issue or a side effect; it is one of the core mechanisms of control.

​

One of the effects of this kind of language control is that ordinary conversation no longer feels ordinary. It can feel as though every word must be negotiated, every phrase may carry hidden meanings, and every statement risks being reinterpreted through insider language and unspoken rules. Instead of bringing clarity, speech becomes coded, layered, and difficult to navigate.

 

In this way, control is maintained not only by directing what people say, but by reshaping meaning so thoroughly that plain speech itself becomes difficult.​

​

At Wellspring, this is not limited to theological terms. Even common words gradually took on specialized meanings that shaped how members understood reality.

​

​

Familiar Words Create Trust

​

Wellspring consistently used familiar Christian language. These words carry widely understood meanings in Christian life. They signal safety, shared faith, and spiritual legitimacy. For many people, this language created a sense of comfort and trust. It sounded like Christianity as they already knew it.

At first, these words were used in ways that felt ordinary. Newcomers heard what they expected to hear, and nothing seemed unusual. Because the vocabulary was familiar, many assumed the underlying meanings were familiar as well.​​

​

​Speaking the Same Words, Meaning Different Things

 

Newcomers to Wellspring often hear Christian language that sounds familiar:​

• "We are born-again Christians."

• "We are a New Testament church."

• "We are saved by faith"

• "We worship in spirit and in truth."

• "We are just a local church."

• "Seek first the kingdom of God."

• "We preach the gospel."

• "We are a spirit-filled church. "

• "God is sovereign." 

• "We believe in God in three Persons."

• "We are rooted in the Word."

• "God has adopted us as sons."

• "We believe in membership commitment."

 

None of these statements would ordinarily raise concern for most Christians. Standing alone, they sound entirely consistent with historic Christian faith. To many Christians, these expressions carry broadly recognized theological meanings. 

​

Within Wellspring, however, many of these familiar expressions carried theological meanings that differed from their ordinary or historic Christian understanding. Because those differences were not always apparent at the outset, newcomers could believe they were speaking the same language as other Christians while actually operating from different definitions.

​

For example, someone hearing "born again" might initially understand it to mean conversion through faith in Christ. Over time, they might learn that the term carries additional requirements within Wellspring's teaching. Likewise, phrases such as "Spirit-filled," "New Testament church," or "local church" may sound familiar while reflecting beliefs that are very different than many visitors or outsiders realize.

​

When familiar words carry specialized meanings that are not immediately apparent, communication can become difficult. People may believe they are in agreement because they are using the same vocabulary, while actually operating from different definitions.

​

When Meanings Quietly Shift

​

The same pattern extended beyond theology. Just as familiar theological terms were given specialized definitions, numerous everyday words gradually acquired meanings that reflected the group's internal framework rather than their ordinary usage. The following examples illustrate only a few of these shifts:​

​

• Family increasingly meant conditional belonging.

• Freedom existed only within narrow, approved limits.

• Discernment became closely associated with agreement with leadership.

• Rebellion could include questioning or disagreeing with leadership.

• Love became closely associated with alignment and compliance.

• Grace increasingly emphasized obedience and submission.

 

People were not typically told that familiar words had acquired specialized meanings. Instead, the new meanings were reinforced through teaching, correction, examples, expectations, and the practical consequences of disagreeing.

​

Jesus consistently emphasized truthful and straightforward speech:

 

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. (Matthew 5:37)

​

Language that requires constant reinterpretation or insider explanation does not bring clarity - it can create confusion and make genuine communication more difficult.

​​​​​​

“We Don’t Shun” - But the Practice Remained

​

One of the clearest examples of language control involves the word shunning.

​

Wellspring leadership has consistently insisted that it does not shun. Members are often instructed not to use the word, and accusations of shunning have historically been met with strong denial and defensiveness. Yet the issue is not the label - it is the practice.

​​

When relationships are reduced, withdrawn, or made conditional through sustained teaching, social pressure, or fear of spiritual consequences, the result matches what most people ordinarily understand as shunning. It is the broad and often indiscriminate loss of meaningful relationships brought about by pressure from leadership or the community.

​

This separation may not always be demanded all at once. It may unfold gradually over time, as teaching, counsel, and social pressure consistently move members toward distancing themselves from family or friends who have left, until separation becomes the expected and normalized outcome.

 

By disputing terminology rather than confronting the behavior itself, the focus shifts away from the harm being done and onto arguments over wording.​​

​

 

Why Language Control Is So Effective

​

When language is controlled, harm becomes difficult to name.

​

People sense that something is wrong, but they lack the words to describe it. Fear feels like conscience. Pressure feels like love. Isolation feels like obedience. Questioning feels sinful.

​

When language minimizes harm, redefines reality, or silences dissent, honest communication becomes increasingly difficult. Scripture calls Christians to speak truthfully with one another:

​

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. (Ephesians 4:25)

 

Scripture reminds us that confusion is not a mark of God’s work:

 

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. (1 Corinthians 14:33)

​

 

C.S. Lewis on "The Death of Words"

​

C.S. Lewis warned in his essay "The Death of Words" that words can gradually lose their meaning when they become detached from their ordinary definitions. As language becomes distorted, clear thinking becomes more difficult. Lewis observed, "Men do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say."

​

His concern extended beyond vocabulary itself. Clear language allows people to reason together, evaluate ideas, and recognize reality honestly. When words become tools of persuasion rather than vehicles of truth, confusion inevitably follows.

​

His observation applies far beyond politics or culture. Any community - including religious communities - should be cautious whenever ordinary words require constant insider interpretation or take on meanings that differ significantly from their common understanding.

​​​​

​

Reclaiming Words Is Part of Healing

​

Healing often begins when people are allowed to use words again - ordinary, honest words.

• To name fear as fear.

• To name control as control.

• To name loss as loss.

 

Jesus connected truth with freedom:

​

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31–32)

​

Truth-telling restores connection. Healing begins when reality can be named honestly, while silence and euphemism often protect systems rather than people.​

 

 

Truth Does Not Fear Being Named

​

Healthy faith does not depend on redefining words or policing language. Love does not need semantic defenses. Truth does not require people to pretend they are free when they are afraid.

 

The apostle Paul described faithful leadership this way:

 

We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2)

​

God invites His people into light, not confusion; into clarity, not double meanings; into love that casts out fear.

 

If you struggled to name what was happening - if conversations felt circular, if objections were dismissed as misunderstandings, if ordinary words seemed to lose their meaning - you are not imagining it.

 

To speak truthfully is to walk in the light of God, who is not a God of confusion but of peace, and whose truth stands without disguise or defense.

​