“The church is people. It isn’t a system. It isn’t an organization. It isn’t a business. It’s the bride of Christ. A living, breathing, organism made up of people.
Being hurt at the hands of a body of believers or by a person with authority in the church derails your entire life. It ruins marriages. It affects children for the rest of their lives. It isn’t something that a few words are going to fix. When the body of Christ fails one of us, it fails all of us.
These people who are wounded aren’t trying to be bitter or destroy the church. They’re looking for one, singular reason to stick with Jesus. And everywhere they look for help they’re being dismissed. Rebuke and challenge, rarely love.
Why is it so hard to offer compassion to those who have been wounded? Why do we look at people as cogs in a Kingdom wheel instead of individuals who are loved by Jesus, reflect the image of God, and are worthy of dignity and respect? We allow social media posts to inform our narratives about individuals instead of giving them the charity of our time and relationship.
“The church didn’t hurt you, people did” is little more than a Christian “gotcha” phrase. It’s hurtful, unbiblical, and unnecessary. If the church isn’t people, what is it? If you say “it was just one person!” What do you with the verses that call us “one body”. How can you separate the church from PEOPLE? What do you actually believe about the church? Perhaps a re-examining of your ecclesiology is in order.
When you say something like that, you get to detach from the responsibility you have as a brother or sister in Christ in helping that hurting person find healing and wholeness. You can say, ‘Well it wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!” And if you didn’t do it, then you don’t have to fix it. But that isn’t how this family works. We have a Christ given responsibility to each other. We don’t get to separate ourselves from the harm done by “some”. We are the some. Because we’re one.
What are you doing to help those who are hurting at the hands of our brothers and sisters in Christ heal?
If you don’t know where to start, start with this :
The church hurt you, and I’m sorry.”
-Kristen LaValley
I would agree woth Kristen who wrote this and would say I’m sorry too. Perhaps many of the churches have lost its focus. It’s not about Big business, numbers, merchandising. nor entertainment. It’s about ministers and people who care as Christ cares without any hidden motives or agenda. May we find reconciliation and forgives in Christ during this season.
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Published by Andy
Greetings! My name is Andy Provitola and I live in New England on the South Shore between Boston and the beautiful Cape Cod region.
The purpose of my blogging and writing is to encourage you in your journey here on planet earth. Life is full of pressing issues and problems and my desire is to discover a place for peace, hope, healing, and contentment. I am a follower of Jesus Christ – God’s one and only Son and I discovered these truths along my own personal journey.
Having discovered a personal relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ does not mean I have to be religious to attain the rewards of heaven. The fact is God provides grace for us and accepts us as we are in His image. In other words, we cannot attain heaven or life eternal on our own, but by God’s loving grace and no merit of our own. Simply by accepting Him by faith and believing.
My goal is to continue to find a balance of life from a spiritual and practical perspective with a purpose to please and glorify God in all that I do because of His ‘Gift of Grace’.
God is not transcendent and so far away that he is out of reach with humanity. God desires that His presence lives within us and not just in the galaxies and the universe. Experiencing the unconditional love of God has been so rewarding and while discovering the truth and purpose for my life. Moving forward in this life is not a sprint, but a marathon when it comes to this race here on earth.
I am blogging because I find it is a good way to connect in a much more effective and efficient way when it comes to communicating and interacting with people that I know or do not know. Blogging and writing challenges me and also stretches me specifically in my thoughts, my mind, my emotions, and my spiritual life. To live a vertical relation with God and a horizontal relationship with others.
There will be a variety of topics and subjects to address including youth, young adults, family, singles, seniors, relationships, etc. Some of the topics will include God’s creation and power, depression, loneliness, suicide, hope, healing, setbacks, financial matters, business, stress, anxiety, care, encouragement, and so much more.
I would like to connect with all walks of life, ethnicity, culturally, other religions, socio-economics, and in so many more ways.
I am currently writing a book and several memoirs about my own life and journey . The journey begins at a young age growing up in Malden, Massachusetts, specifically Maplewood Square to where I am today. I became paralyzed from the waist down as a senior in high school and I share how my life changed for the better!
“But I do not consider my life as something of value or dear to me, so that I may [with joy] finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus. To testify faithfully of the good news of God’s [precious undeserved] grace [which makes us free of guilt of sin and grants us eternal life]. Acts 20:24 Amplified Version
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