Sometimes in evangelical churches, people are a means to an end.
Pastors approach pastoring from a numbers or “growth” perspective. Instead of a shepherd-who-TAKES-and-NOURISHES-people mentality.
I spent years in a high-demand, high-control church in Kenya (where I’m from), a church plant by an American missionary couple. One thing that has always been lacking in our church has been REST.
Rest and peace are impossible in an ecclesiastical or relational system based on “power,” exploitation, coercion, and as much abuse of power as a leader can get away with.
It’s especially bad when it’s all done in the name of “reaching our city and nation for Jesus.”
Because then people will trade their peace, their dignity, their health, their resources, their very souls – because they think that’s what Jesus wants from them.
When I moved to the US, I discovered that there was finally a playbook. That many evangelical fundamentalist leaders live for the numbers. For power. For everything but the actual human beings they claim to “serve”.
In my new book Courage: Thoughts and Deliverance for the Wounded Soul, that started yesterday, I’m thinking about and sharing religious abuse and trauma.
The drive for “numbers” would (maybe?) be forgivable if human beings really mattered. If everyone had a seat at the table. If there was safety and provision for the bad, the broken, the struggle, the questioning.
But in reality, security and chronic contempt of the other cannot coexist. Prosperity for all and selfish devotion to one person’s agenda cannot coexist.
Contemplation and compassion cannot flourish when a leader believes the gospel is about “whatever the cost…” and thus throws people under the bus to preach said gospel.
I am so grateful to everyone who has already received Courage: Reflections and Liberation for the Hurting Soul (As of this writing, it is the #1 release on Amazon in the “Abuse-Self-Help” category.)
If you haven’t already and can, check out the book on Amazon or in PDF.
Will you help me continue to spread the word this week?
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Let’s spread the word that we deserve dignity – our agency and autonomy are God-given and deserve to be protected. You count.
The gap between what happens to us in relationships and how we have learned to respond is why I wrote Courage: Thoughts and Deliverance for the Wounded Soul, a collection of 28 poems and reflections, offering women language to tend to hurt. reminding us that we deserve dignity and respect and that our agency and autonomy are God-given and worth protecting.
I write these words to those who have been told to take their place in the valley of desolation. Those who thought they were free but still carry the burden of male supremacy and classism on their shoulders. Those hurt by wolves in sheep’s clothing. those who walk through life with a broken, disconnected soul. And those who love them.
You deserve dignity and respect. Your commitment and autonomy are God-given and worth protecting.
