Demolishing Strongholds was the book Terry Virgo promoted to NFI (newfrontiers churches) in the 1990s to ‘fortify every believer intent on winning the battle.’ These were the group of restorationist (former house churches) I was part of in the latter part of my time at University, and I remain very grateful to the pastor David Coake and the team at City Church Cambridge who modelled for me and taught me so much. (Bizarrely, Dave Devenish also played a significant part in my calling to be an Anglican, but that’s another story, and not one he intended to happen!).

Thirty years on there are elements of it that have dated badly, but it aptly captures a wealth of understanding about spiritual warfare from the 1990s era, while trying hard not to stray into sensationalism. It actively discourages a hero mentality in ‘spiritual battles’ that might lead to ‘needless casualties of war’, and it remains a very helpful resource from an intelligent UK author.

ChatGPT summarised it as a ‘war manual.. that might rewire your spiritual worldview.’

Symptomatic of the era this book on effective strategies for spiritual warfare, carries the 1980s/90s enthusiasm that ‘everyone gets to play’. Devenish is putting this training out for everyone. He wants all believers to get it and join in, which is a challenge for those of us in churches where that is not authorised. As we have developed teaching on deliverance at SOMA we are keen to emphasise that there are four levels of deliverance ministry: 1) what all Christians can do, 2) what all mature Christians can do, 3) what well trained church leadership teams can do, and 4) what should only be done with the help of authorised and equipped teams – the fourth of which should be deployed by someone with the right authority – in Church of England terms that is the Bishop.

Some of the distinction is about language – levels 1 -3 include many things that would simply be termed discipleship (the Lord’s Prayer, Compline, Baptismal Liturgy are all forms of deliverance ministry all believers are invited to take part in. So we daily pray ‘Deliver us from evil’ / [alt. translation ‘the evil one’], and each night we pray, ‘Lighten our darkness, Lord, we pray, and in your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night’, and at our baptism (entry point into the Christian family) we get asked ‘Do you renounce evil?’ before replying, ‘I renounce evil,’ whereupon the congregation reply, ‘Fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ against sin, the world and the devil, and remain faithful to Christ to the end of your life.’ and the priest formalises the deliverance in the words: ‘May almighty God deliver you from the powers of darkness’. But many a church leader or congregation have said such words, not conscious of their authority in Christ and remained bound not free. Devenish is helpful in jarring us into action, realising that this fight is real, and stirring us up to think how we might create and effective counter to an enemy who Jesus himself warned wants to ‘steal from, kill and destroy’ us.

If you’re someone who prefers watching to reading you can view his teaching here in a six part series:

Devenish has decades of practical mission experience, and from that is clear that we are in a real, cosmic, spiritual battle. And the strongholds are not just “out there” in far-flung mission fields—they’re in our churches, our communities, and even in our own hearts.

Like much of the newfrontiers teaching this is a book full of biblical quotations and rooted in an extended discussion on 2 Corinthians 10:1-6. It seeks to show that believers have divine power to demolish strongholds. These strongholds are not merely demonic footholds but ways of thinking, cultural idols, and embedded systems that resist the knowledge of God. The call to demolish them is for every follower of Jesus who wants to live in the fullness of the Kingdom.

Reading the book can make you feel like a recruit turning up to Sandhurst (British Army Training College) 10kg overweight. You realise how flabby your spiritual disciplines have become. But if you follow Devenish you end up feeling equipped. Helpfully, like Jon Thomson, Deliverance he emphasises the interlocking importance of leadership, repentance, inner healing, and community, and that freedom isn’t often not a one-time zap, but a journey of obedience and discipleship.

ChatGPT offered this summary of the book:

In a culture addicted to easy answers, Demolishing Strongholds calls the church back to biblical depth, spiritual authority, and fearless mission. If you’re a church leader, a youth discipler, a spiritual seeker with questions about power and freedom—read it. But don’t just read it. Gather your team, pray it through, and get ready to take some ground.

The strongholds won’t demolish themselves.

The only thing I would add to that is go carefully and go gently. Language of demolishing strongholds, while biblical, can play into hero complex and a desire for sensationalism. Our experience at SOMA is that strongholds get demolished very quietly when we know the authority we have in Christ, and they stay demolished when we live out the repentant holiness we are called as a church to live in.

Find a friend more experienced than you to talk about this with, then find a church leadership you can submit into who can raise you up in your understanding of your spiritual authority in Christ, avoid working with people who take an unhealthy interest in what is wrong or evil, and don’t overstep what the Lord is asking you to do. There is a reason that the Roman Catholics only allow priests of 25 years standing to be the lead person in a deliverance team.

If God is simply wanting to teach you to ‘resist the devil so that he flees from you,’ (James 4:7), don’t start ‘slandering celestial beings’ (2 Peter 2:12; Jude 10), that God never wanted you to get into a conflict with. It’s never a bad thing to ‘go slow, go low, and say NO!’.