Church Hurt Quotes

“We must never run from the light. Truth is worth the cost.”
― Sarah Hanks, Every Voice Heard: Three Novellas About Church Hurt and Abuse

“Religious sexual harassment and abuse has become an epidemic. Sadly, it's not something new. It's existed since the fall of Adam and Eve. Religion is not exempt. A sacred place meant to be safe and holy has become the breeding ground for violence and evil.”
― Dana Arcuri, Sacred Wandering: Growing Your Faith In The Dark

“In the midst of the emotional and spiritual upset that occurs when a church hurts or disappoints us, we tend to lose sight of the fact that the local church is merely a collection of people on a challenging journey - a group of people that are involved in a long-term transformation process.”
― George Barna

“The confirmation of history is that we are not called despite our wounding and betrayal; we are wounded and betrayed because we are called. And God yearns to make your pain redemptive in your life.”
― Stephen Mansfield, Healing Your Church Hurt: What To Do When You Still Love God But Have Been Wounded by His People

“In our love for our church and our holy regard for those who lead us in the things of God, we forget the nature of humanity. We are not surprised by the evil pressing in from without, but we are blind to the potential for wickedness that slumbers in our own souls. We forget that humans are a combination of greatness and grief, of righteous might and disgusting sin. In our sentimentality about our church and those we love in it, we forget to stand guard against the natural failings of humanity. We turn off our deflector shields and cast aside our filters and begin to ignore the signals our inner radar may be sending.”
― Stephen Mansfield

“And sometimes, God asks us to walk through a trial for someone else's sake.”
― D.T. Powell, Every Voice Heard: Three Novellas About Church Hurt and Abuse

“It is as though there is a splinter working its way to the surface, only this splinter is in your soul. And just as the skin wants a foreign object gone and pushes it out, the soul wants to be healthy and will not leave you in peace until you stop drenching it with the poisons of your feelings about the past.”
― Stephen Mansfield, Healing Your Church Hurt: What To Do When You Still Love God But Have Been Wounded by His People

“You must not think of them [Hebrews 12 Cloud of Witnesses] as perfect saints who never suffered as we do. Instead you must see them as the flawed and the betrayed and the wounded who simply chose to live above the programming of their pain.”
― Stephen Mansfield, Healing Your Church Hurt: What To Do When You Still Love God But Have Been Wounded by His People

“When church becomes for us an anointed have, when the grace is flowing and all is well we become sentimental...we remake people into what we need them to be. We are not wise in our love, prudent in our commitments, knowing in our fellowship. And so the evil comes and we are first amazed and then destroyed and then knocked off our axis as if never to return.”
― Stephen Mansfield, Healing Your Church Hurt: What To Do When You Still Love God But Have Been Wounded by His People

“Jesus would publicly call out people in the faith community who are guilty for hurting/violating others. He wouldn't sit back in silence. He wouldn't bury the evidence. Or cover up abuse. In addition, He would never ignore, condemn, or ostracize those who've suffered trauma. He wouldn't say, “Get over it.”
― Dana Arcuri, Sacred Wandering: Growing Your Faith In The Dark

“Everyone has experienced a measure of pain from attending church because that's the nature of interacting with others.”
― Lecrae Moore, I Am Restored: How I Lost My Religion but Found My Faith

“As I journey further into reconstructing my faith, I have determined that when anger motivates us to move toward liberation, to be more inclusive, to build wider tables, and to love our neihbours better, it is righteous and holy.”
― Robert G. Callahan II, Fire in the Whole: Embracing Our Righteous Anger with White Christianity and Reclaiming Our Wholeness

“The goal is not to tear down the church, but to free you from an imitation of it.”
― Robert G. Callahan II, Fire in the Whole: Embracing Our Righteous Anger with White Christianity and Reclaiming Our Wholeness

“For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Corinthians 4:11 NKJV).”
― Christopher J. Martin, Homosexuality: Can The Penitent Be Healed? My Journey