Open Wounds - Overcoming church-hurt
1 FollowerOpen Wounds will be a journey that my audience, my guests, and I will take together. The topic is church-hurt. The reason I felt led to start this podcast is, I have heard a number of stories about some of the damage local churches have caused in the lives of believers and non-believers alike. I personally have suffered church-hurt. It's a part of my testimony, a part of who I have become as a dad, a husband, a friend and as a pastor. In many cases, just like any other abusive situation, the victim is blamed. It's not uncommon to hear others say, "he brought it upon himself", or "his hurt is self-inflicted", or "he just needs to get over it". These statements, tragically, come from those who profess to be followers of Jesus. As we proclaim the grace and humility of Jesus, we can quickly forget that we, as His children, are commanded to be just like Him. We are to love each other just as He loves us. In fact, the Apostle John writes that loving one another as Christ loves us is how others will know we are His disciples. However, as Christians we fall short of this command. Even those Christians we are supposed to trust the most. Our ministry leaders, our deacons, our elders and even our pastors can easily fall into the trap of pride and self-righteousness which inevitably can and does lead to hurting members of the flock. The Good News is, God allows us to go through situations in life, both good and bad, to make us into the people we need to be in order to fulfill His will. After all, faith is trusting God's will over our own. Again, Open Wounds is a journey we will take together. I'll be talking with people who have suffered church hurt and discussing what they experienced and how they have or are coping with it. I hope you will join us. I pray this podcast will be used by God to be a source of inspiration and healing for those who have been hurt by the people we're supposed to trust the most. After all, Jesus is our Savior, Sanctifier, HEALER, and Coming King.