Thinking about so many in our community who have been hurt by churches…  

Though we’re all imperfect & mistakes are made, I’ve heard a whole lot of people make the statement, “I used to go to that church, but they hurt me so I left.”

Without getting into semantics, I think it’s huge to realize when someone says, I was hurt by that church, what they are actually saying is one of a few things:

That didn’t go exactly the way I thought it should; I’m hurt.

My expectations/needs were definitely not met there; I’m hurt.

This person was not appreciative of my work; I’m hurt.

I am overworked and feel burnt out; I’m hurt.

These things usually end up resulting in someone leaving their church.

I think that’s sad.

Here’s why:

It means we aren’t healthy and secure enough to have continual open dialogue about expectations and feelings.

And when we are, and the dialogue doesn’t go the way we thought it should, we still leave, and that may be healthy or it may not.

It’s healthy if, we placed our personal agenda aside and have sought what is best for the entire church but simply believe that we could participate in helping another local church grow with our gifts.

It is NOT healthy, if we leave upset because our personal goals or desires aren’t met.

Either way, if we leave, headed out on our own thinking that we can do it better all alone; we’ve missed the boat.

The key is understanding that churches don’t hurt people.

People hurt people.