Story Time: How I experienced healing from being in a bad church experience.
**change of name of church involved and people in this story for privacy reasons
How it began:
I was 15 when I started to attend this church called Lifeview** Christian Church. I loved it, being a new-ish Christian I was thrilled to be involved with a church so close to my house and surrounding myself with people that loved me and Christ. I was a normal teenager, going to high school and you know dealing with the pressures of that. I got involved with the youth group and made friends there, even though that was a little hard because I am not the most outgoing person on the planet, especially then. I loved my friends and looked up to one in particular, her name was Sasha**. She was one of the leaders and always gave good Biblical advice and gave me one of her devotionals, she was awesome and I grew because God brought her into my life. I enjoyed the pastor's sermons on Sunday morning. I loved the people who were older at the church, and how wise they were and good it was to see them every Sunday! I loved it there, that is until 2013.
The experience:
In 2013 the churches' pastors family had sickness and so they ended up moving to be with the family. It was strange because I've been there so long and it would be weird having a different pastor, but anyway. We also ended up moving buildings that year. So, not only 1 pastor came in, but 2 new pastors were coming in from California, shocking, "how does a church have two pastors, and one being a woman!!" So I continued to attend church and they were ordained and easily accepted into the church's family.
In the beginning of 2014, the small little church ended up moving into a huge old Luthern church with stained glass and needing a lot of refurbishing. A few months later they started pastoral business and yeah. I built relationships with both the husband pastor and wife pastors! I noticed certain people that have been going to church a long while started to leave. I wanted to know why. So I asked a few of them why and they told me that the pastors' were not teaching I local stuff.
The pastors were preaching new age stuff like gold specks from God were falling from the ceiling and that it was a sign from God. (That's nowhere in the Bible!) A lot of extra-Biblical stuff - stuff not in the Bible at all!
So, I asked the one pastor and she explained to me that it wasn't real and they weren't doing that. I prayed and asked God wisdom about it and was lead to 2 Timothy 4:3-- "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." I was like ,"hmm I wonder what this means." So I always kept that in the back of my head. When services were being preached as I learned to, check what the preacher/pastor was saying to the Word. Well one day I was doing a devotion and that same verse came back to me! Then a third time, I got the same verse and I realized how blind I was! How far away from I would be if I kept going in that direction. I needed sound doctrine, I long and longed for sound doctrine, so I left! It hurt many people who said they loved me and who were friends. I asked the Lord to forgive me of staying at the church and thanked Him for getting me out of there! I don't seek to glorify anyone other than God who deserves all the glory!! After I left I was basically castrized for leaving and no one wanted to keep in contact and or even hold regular casual conversation. It honestly hurt me because I spent years getting to know these people and have relationships with them.
How I was healed:
A year later I was still feeling bitererness in my heart and so I asked the Lord to heal that part of me that was still hurt, to let go of the people in that church and that they may see the Truth! It took me awhile but everyday I prayed this and God is faithful and heard my prayer and I forgave them and was able to move on.
If you have any past hurts with a church you went to pray!!! Pray that God can heal your heart. Pray that God will open their eyes to the offense and mend broken relationships. He is faithful and will answer if you ask! Not all churches are the same, I go to a wonderful church now and I'm blessed with a great pastor who preaches the Word, blessed with amazing friends who love the Lord and seek Him as I! I think that when people are hurt by churches, it's harder to trust and feel like going to a new church. Have you had any hurt feelings from a church? How did you heal
