Dr Chala Baker

Church hurt is real.

Recently, a pastor at a medium-sized congregation in our area with multiple campuses was caught commenting on a FB reel about church hurt being fake. "Appalled" does not even begin to capture my emotions. Such beliefs from our very leadership shows where the toxicity in the organization have come from.

Some people weren’t just “offended.”
They were mishandled.
Overlooked.
Manipulated.
Spoken to in ways that never should have come from people representing Jesus.
I'm so sorry if that has been you, because it has also been me.

To pretend otherwise is to continue to perpetuate the abuses happening in our churches. In fact, churches with leadership that think and behave like this are where abuses take place most easily.

Scripture never tells you to deny what happened. In fact, it’s brutally honest about human failure—even inside the people of God. Psalms is full of cries from wounded hearts. Acts of the Apostles doesn’t hide conflict in the early Church. And Jesus Christ Himself had His harshest words for religious leaders who misused their authority.

Healing doesn’t come from pretending it didn’t hurt.
It comes from bringing that hurt into the presence of the One who doesn’t wound like that.

Let's stand up to leaders like this who don't want to take responsibility for the pain they caused, all while bringing our *very real* pain to Christ Himself.

Christians don't always embrace or act out their identity, but Christ always does! Praise God!
Wishing you all God's love and smiles.