How to overcome church hurt

You may be asking, what is church hurt? Well, church hurt is basically a situation where you love God but have been wounded by His people. It also refers to the pain inflicted by religious institutions. Church hurt happens to quite a number of people who serve in different capacities in the church. It could also happen to that new member who is not yet grounded in the Word.

In most cases of church hurt, you will find that people in the church have tried to bring you down by saying unkind things to you, spreading false accusations about you, slandering your personality in whichever way they can, and ultimately causing damage to your reputation.

There are those who believe that church hurt is no reason to abandon God, because the church is full of damaged people who are working their salvation with fear and trembling. I can agree to some extent. You should never abandon God, I mean, without Him we’re hopeless.

But where my problem is, is when people use the human factor to justify their actions. So, they say, we’re human, so there’ll definitely be character assassins. Fair enough! But our humanness should not cause us to abandon the very principles God stood for; the basic one being love. We are to love others just as Christ loved the church, and to go into the world to preach the gospel to every creation. The question is, how can we preach a gospel we don’t practice? Is it possible to love God and hate his people at the same time?

It beats my imagination how religious institutions handle individual church members, how individual church members handle their fellows and how new church comers are constantly humiliated.

I had a personal encounter with one pastor’s wife who ridiculed me over some petty issues. I had men of God constantly looking down on me. And there were those that said unkind things to me. They made it a point to treat me like I was insignificant every time I was in their midst. I heard and witnessed similar experiences with others.

Truth is I never for once thought of abandoning God because I was wounded by His people, but I know many who did.

So I’ll share with you a few tips on how to overcome church hurt.

First off, understand that it’s not worth it. I know how it feels to be hurt by the church. I know what it feels to have that one place you find solace bring you so much pain. But the truth is, none of it matters in the end. Salvation is not communal. It is a personal choice. God will not ask you why your friends refused to accept Him as Lord and Personal Saviour, each one will give an account of himself. So, know God for yourself and know peace. Don’t stick in a toxic environment that doesn’t glorify God. God is everywhere.

Secondly, understand that it’s part of your growth! I can’t begin to tell you the damage church hurt has caused the few people I know. I mean it literally turned them into atheists. They were literally struggling in the world and yet to find their feet in the Word, but the church took all the hope left away. They treated them with scorn and really did a lot to their self-image. I wish it wasn’t part of the growth process but sadly it is. Rejection has caused many to go deeper in search for the truth and that helps them build a better relationship with God.

Contributor: Brenda Lutterodt