To all of my friends/acquaintances who have been hurt by the church,
Your family was falling apart. The church did nothing.
You were struggling with your identity. The church laughed at you.
You needed help financially. The church didn't try to help.
You had questions. The church didn't try to answer them.
You needed love. The church didn't give you any.
You were different from everyone else. The church didn't include you.
You gave into temptation. The church called you names.
You needed truth. The church didn't teach it.
You needed Jesus. The church didn't share Him with you.
You got fed up and left. The church didn't run after you.
This is the sad truth for all of you. Today, I truly see and read ALL of the things you post on Facebook and Instagram. It breaks my heart to see you still struggling. I wish that had never happened to you.
You may not ever want to go to a church again. You've been hurt so badly and have been so impacted by what happened, that you would never put yourself in that position again. Never again would you put your heart out there for people to tear apart again.
You know what? I was deeply hurt by a church, too. Several, in fact.
There are a lot of churches out there that don't show Christ's love and don't teach about the true Gospel. Most of the time, church is just a place where people tell you what to do and not to do; it teaches of moralism or is so watered down and wishy-washy that there is no truth at all. It has not done its job in helping broken people and reaching out to those who need it most.
However, I have found a few churches who have welcomed me in, who teach the truth of the Gospel, and also share the love of Christ with everyone who comes in. Their aim is to actually teach the Bible, to grow in Godliness, and to reach out to broken people. By the way, EVERYONE is broken. We all need Jesus to change our lives.
That's another thing too: you've probably gone to church your whole life and have been taught what to do and what not to do. That is moralism. That is NOT Christianity. That is only changing what's on the outside. It does not change your heart. Everyone sins; everyone does/thinks/says something that breaks God's heart. We all go astray. We all deserve eternal punishment. None of us are good enough in our actions/thoughts/etc. to earn our way into heaven. We have all broken the first two of the 10 Commandments: we make other gods besides the true God and we make idols out of so many things: our friends, money, tv shows, our boyfriend/girlfriend, etc. God is so holy that He can't be in the presence of sin.
But, that's NOT the end of the story.
Christ radically changes your heart for the better. Having a relationship with Jesus is the greatest thing in the world! He WANTS you. He wants a relationship with you! He LOVES you! He provided a way for us to be able to be with God forever in heaven someday! How totally awesome is that?! I sure don't deserve that. None of us do. But He humbled himself and died on a cross, which by the way was the lowest possible way to die, to be saved from sin. He did that because He loves us!!! Oh, friend, if you don't have this very great and amazing relationship with Jesus, please come to Him. He is ALWAYS ready and waiting for you to come to Him!
To sum up: I am sorry. I am sorry for what you have experienced in church before that has driven you away. The true Gospel of Christ IS somewhat offensive, because it shows that we all sin and that we are not good people. [Yes, we are able to do good things, but we are not good enough to earn our way to heaven.] However, if you have been driven away because of how the people within the church have treated you, I am sincerely sorry. The church's job is to help you through whatever problem you have in your life and in whatever sin you are struggling with. Instead, we form Christian cliques and exclude people who are not like us. We're uncomfortable with the idea of sharing Christ with others. We fear what people think of us.
Christians don't necessarily have it all figured out. We have problems, too. We're not perfect in the least. And being a follower of Christ is NOT easy. At all. It's pretty freaking hard. But compared to what Jesus has done for us, what we have to go through in order to stand up for Him and become more like Him is like nothing.
I would love to talk with any of you on any of what I just rambled on about. Seriously! If you want to talk and have been hurt by the church before, have never been to church before, or have never even read the Bible yourself, PLEASE message me, call me, text, whatever it takes! We are supposed to help each other, to bear one another's burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).
I love you all very much. I am praying for each of you.
~Lauren
