Chelsea - you had me in tears as I read this post. I want to encourage you to keep writing on this topic. Be brave and keep doing it, it needs to be brought to light. We are still sitting in the aftermath of abuse from the church, our lives forever changed because of it but yet the Lord keeps calling us back while I’m still looking for every reason to leave. 💗 Tara
Something I'm grateful for as I try to figure out how church might be a part of my life now in an extremely different way - like crossing the big schism here - is that the experience in That One Place has given me some immunity against certain kinds of groupthink. No matter your location or denomination it helps to be able to clock fairly quickly whether too much focus in a church is on pride, in emphasizing superiority, negations over anything generative, or if there seems to be a cultish attachment to one leader/group of leaders in the congregation.
I know it gets old being told you're resilient - we would all like to be good at more than surviving, but I think we both have gotten a lot out of learning some things the hard way.
Chelsey, I really resonated with this. I’m entering the world of ministry, as I work through seminary and a pastoral residency. I’m preaching my third sermon ever next weekend, and will be sharing the story of Hagar, reflecting on some of these themes of church hurt. Your writing here gives me a boost of encouragement to speak into the joy and hope that are still found in the church. I’m so glad this came across my feed!
Chelsea - you had me in tears as I read this post. I want to encourage you to keep writing on this topic. Be brave and keep doing it, it needs to be brought to light. We are still sitting in the aftermath of abuse from the church, our lives forever changed because of it but yet the Lord keeps calling us back while I’m still looking for every reason to leave. 💗 Tara
Something I'm grateful for as I try to figure out how church might be a part of my life now in an extremely different way - like crossing the big schism here - is that the experience in That One Place has given me some immunity against certain kinds of groupthink. No matter your location or denomination it helps to be able to clock fairly quickly whether too much focus in a church is on pride, in emphasizing superiority, negations over anything generative, or if there seems to be a cultish attachment to one leader/group of leaders in the congregation.
I know it gets old being told you're resilient - we would all like to be good at more than surviving, but I think we both have gotten a lot out of learning some things the hard way.
I think you're right. I feel like our experience there gave me a baseline for a healthy church vs. unhealthy church.
Chelsey, I really resonated with this. I’m entering the world of ministry, as I work through seminary and a pastoral residency. I’m preaching my third sermon ever next weekend, and will be sharing the story of Hagar, reflecting on some of these themes of church hurt. Your writing here gives me a boost of encouragement to speak into the joy and hope that are still found in the church. I’m so glad this came across my feed!
Thank you so much! Where are you in seminary? If I can ever be of help, please let me know… the church world is small.
Thank you!! And Kairos University - an online seminary based out of South Dakota.
I’m new to Substack, but I will give you a follow and will definitely reach out if anything comes up!