I have been hurt by the church . . . and I am a pastor and chaplain.

Religious trauma is now a clinical diagnosis.

If it had not been for a trip back to Nashville this past summer, attending a conference with 400 other lonely and hurting pastors, reconnecting and healing with/by my home church, Nashville First Church of the Nazarene, I would have lost complete faith in my denomination and quit.

Had it not been for Community Bible Church in San Antonio, I may have left organized religion altogether.

However, because I now know I am not alone and that the problem is not Christianity or “the church” . . . that the problem is not Jesus . . . but flawed human beings in church and leadership roles who sometimes fail to act in a Christlike way, I can continue to stand strong and stay the course. As one of my favorite scriptures say, “The Lord will fight for you [me, us] as you [I, we] remain silent.” Exodus 14:14

This is not to say that God expects us to do nothing, but He does expect us to act in discernment. I read recently that discernment “is a reminder that while we may all agree on what is right and wrong in our assessment of our environment, we will not all be called to respond in the same way.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of my Christian heroes, stood up and spoke out against passivist German Christianity during the Nazi regime. His involvement got him killed. He did not, however, expect everyone to act as he acted. (pg. 206 from The Voice of Jesus by Gordon T. Smith)

I am facing my own discernment right now concerning how to respond to #ChurchHurt . . . both mine and others. We are in the process of praying and waiting, knowing the fallacy of acting on pure emotion. The head and the heart must work together so as not to create more harm. The Voice of Jesus uses the example of pro-life activists who kill doctors who perform abortions. Sin for sin is not justice. It is not Biblical. It is sin. It is evil.

What we say and do matters.

Anyway, there is so much more I can say, but there is no point when Pastor Ed Newton from Community Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas captured it so perfectly. I am not a member of his church, but I watch CBC almost weekly and I refer people to CBC (and their small groups) all the time. When it comes to mental health and meeting the mental health needs of the entire community, no one does it better.

Facing mental health issues or church hurt? Watch these videos from CBC:

Church Hurt.

Do You Mind?