Oh gosh. I know this wasn’t easy to write. I hope you know there is so much grace for being young and still learning. I also left some people behind due to depression and lack of understanding about how to ask for help and name emotions. God bless you for writing about this topic, which is not often talked about in our churches.
Wow, sobering and heart wrenching look at both sides of ministry life . Beauty mangles with the ugly. I've been one of these few staff in my church who have been there 20 years, feeling like the one left behind while still understanding the magic, and watching the brokenhearted was detaching trust and cynicsm around church leadership as those remaining or new coming in pickbup the pieces.
Thanking you for putting words this...you've given me much to contemplate.
This was beautiful to read. I was left behind by 8 different youth pastors from the time I was in middle school through high school. Their abandonment produced in me such a resentment and distrust for church leadership as a whole. But even as a child, I knew why they left… I just wished someone would stay long enough to change things. But even I could see the toxicity and brokenness our church was turning a blind eye to. As always, I love your commitment to raw and courageous honesty.
Oh gosh. I know this wasn’t easy to write. I hope you know there is so much grace for being young and still learning. I also left some people behind due to depression and lack of understanding about how to ask for help and name emotions. God bless you for writing about this topic, which is not often talked about in our churches.
The overspiritualizing of decisions… outsourcing any responsibility and therefore any accountability to God… wow, this is good.
💗
This one has hit me the most. Thank you for sharing.
Wow, sobering and heart wrenching look at both sides of ministry life . Beauty mangles with the ugly. I've been one of these few staff in my church who have been there 20 years, feeling like the one left behind while still understanding the magic, and watching the brokenhearted was detaching trust and cynicsm around church leadership as those remaining or new coming in pickbup the pieces.
Thanking you for putting words this...you've given me much to contemplate.
This was beautiful to read. I was left behind by 8 different youth pastors from the time I was in middle school through high school. Their abandonment produced in me such a resentment and distrust for church leadership as a whole. But even as a child, I knew why they left… I just wished someone would stay long enough to change things. But even I could see the toxicity and brokenness our church was turning a blind eye to. As always, I love your commitment to raw and courageous honesty.
“God told me to.” Oh, the empires raised and lives crushed under this banner. Thank you for this. ♥️
So brave, you are ♥️💪