"The lingo. The urgency. The emotional intensity." Those words you wrote hit the nail on the head. I am still at an evangelical church culturally-speaking (Reformed Church of America), and many of my family members are pretty entrenched in evangelical culture. And when I tell you they are EXHAUSTED from the heaviness of it all...!!! Sometimes I just want to say "you need to take a nap or watch a good movie." You really captured something in this essay I haven't been able to articulate about why I don't feel at home in the evangelical church. I don't think my nervous system can take it 😅
Oh man. I’m glad that my words connected with your experience and resonated. I love that you said “you need to take a nap” because honestly that’s how I felt so so often. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. Blessings to you on your faith journey, Janie! 😊
Great post, Beau. Early when we left evangelicalism, in what turned out to be an eight year hiatus from any church, I had a friend in the business world, at a breakfast together, invite me to his megachurch. I declined...so he tried to convince me. I declined again...and he started pressuring me hard. I summarily (and probably angrily) rejected him, and started having a panic attack. That moment crystallized how much damage had been done to me (an ordained SBC minister BTW) over the years. I love my Anglican experience now. For me, there's no going back into my former world.
What a powerful story, Greg. I’m glad this resonated. I’m passionate that we can learn from each other as hard as it might be. Thanks for reading along. 😊
Thanks for sharing your journey with us. I live in a small town in Kansas, and attend the largest Evangelical church. When we moved here from California five years ago I had decided to not look for a church home; instead my wife and I would walk with Jesus alone. A year later we started attending the children I mentioned and thought we had found a home. Now neither of feel like we fit there, and will likely leave this year unless Jesus tells us to stay. The undertone of certainty based on their “inspired” interpretation of inspired scripture is suffocating.
That’s so hard. Thanks for sharing that! The language you used of “suffocating” is so accurate. I would describe my experience the same way. God is with you in this season my friend. Hang in there.
Thank you for sharing this. I grew up in the Baptist/Evangelical church, and I'm still there. I share many of the misgivings and my sould aches at the lack of commitment to "social justice." My best friend in college, the best man at my wedding, son of a Baptist pastor, is now an Episcopalian priest/pastor in Texas.
I'm blessed to be presently part of a congregation where the pastor sometimes says, "I don't know. What do you thin?" And then he listens to the answer. He often speaks of the mysteries of the faith. He entertains questions, even my sometimes somewhat challenging questions. His response has been, "I enjoy this. It's like going back to seminary." But our congregational mindset is that we've got the truth and others don't. The pastor recently said from the pulpit that we are not in competition with other churches in town, that we are partners working together for the glory of God. Not all the congregation really accepted that. Dismissively saying that the other, larger, churches were preaching "gospel light."
I feel at home here, but it's like I can't find my favorite chair. I do enjoy being involved the recovery ministry of the church.
Thanks again. Your post disturbed me--probably a good thing.
Hey David! Thanks for sharing your story. Your church sounds awesome. I know not all evangelical churches are the same. And recovery ministries are so important! Thanks for reading along and sharing it out. I’m grateful. Blessings to you!!
"The lingo. The urgency. The emotional intensity." Those words you wrote hit the nail on the head. I am still at an evangelical church culturally-speaking (Reformed Church of America), and many of my family members are pretty entrenched in evangelical culture. And when I tell you they are EXHAUSTED from the heaviness of it all...!!! Sometimes I just want to say "you need to take a nap or watch a good movie." You really captured something in this essay I haven't been able to articulate about why I don't feel at home in the evangelical church. I don't think my nervous system can take it 😅
Oh man. I’m glad that my words connected with your experience and resonated. I love that you said “you need to take a nap” because honestly that’s how I felt so so often. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. Blessings to you on your faith journey, Janie! 😊
Great post, Beau. Early when we left evangelicalism, in what turned out to be an eight year hiatus from any church, I had a friend in the business world, at a breakfast together, invite me to his megachurch. I declined...so he tried to convince me. I declined again...and he started pressuring me hard. I summarily (and probably angrily) rejected him, and started having a panic attack. That moment crystallized how much damage had been done to me (an ordained SBC minister BTW) over the years. I love my Anglican experience now. For me, there's no going back into my former world.
What a powerful story, Greg. I’m glad this resonated. I’m passionate that we can learn from each other as hard as it might be. Thanks for reading along. 😊
Thanks for sharing your journey with us. I live in a small town in Kansas, and attend the largest Evangelical church. When we moved here from California five years ago I had decided to not look for a church home; instead my wife and I would walk with Jesus alone. A year later we started attending the children I mentioned and thought we had found a home. Now neither of feel like we fit there, and will likely leave this year unless Jesus tells us to stay. The undertone of certainty based on their “inspired” interpretation of inspired scripture is suffocating.
That’s so hard. Thanks for sharing that! The language you used of “suffocating” is so accurate. I would describe my experience the same way. God is with you in this season my friend. Hang in there.
Thank you for sharing this. I grew up in the Baptist/Evangelical church, and I'm still there. I share many of the misgivings and my sould aches at the lack of commitment to "social justice." My best friend in college, the best man at my wedding, son of a Baptist pastor, is now an Episcopalian priest/pastor in Texas.
I'm blessed to be presently part of a congregation where the pastor sometimes says, "I don't know. What do you thin?" And then he listens to the answer. He often speaks of the mysteries of the faith. He entertains questions, even my sometimes somewhat challenging questions. His response has been, "I enjoy this. It's like going back to seminary." But our congregational mindset is that we've got the truth and others don't. The pastor recently said from the pulpit that we are not in competition with other churches in town, that we are partners working together for the glory of God. Not all the congregation really accepted that. Dismissively saying that the other, larger, churches were preaching "gospel light."
I feel at home here, but it's like I can't find my favorite chair. I do enjoy being involved the recovery ministry of the church.
Thanks again. Your post disturbed me--probably a good thing.
Hey David! Thanks for sharing your story. Your church sounds awesome. I know not all evangelical churches are the same. And recovery ministries are so important! Thanks for reading along and sharing it out. I’m grateful. Blessings to you!!
@Amanda Knotts