Valid Faith · First Christian Church Allen
Can I Trust Jesus After Church Hurt?
Church hurt is real. But the failure of Christians is not the same thing as the character of Christ. Explore what Jesus says about hypocrisy, healing, forgiveness, and hope.
An honest question worth investigating
What do you do when the people who were supposed to show you Jesus are the ones who hurt you?
Church hurt can come through hypocrisy, gossip, spiritual abuse, failed leadership, or a church culture that protects its reputation instead of protecting people. Sometimes the wound is public. Sometimes it is deeply personal. Jesus is aware of this. He has addressed it.
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Three core movements
What Jesus does with church hurt
Church hurt is real – and Jesus confronts it.
Jesus confronted religious people who knew the language of faith but neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
Jesus shows us a better way.
Matthew 18 calls us to go directly to one another instead of talking about one another.
Jesus can heal what Christians hurt.
Healing does not mean pretending it never happened. It means bringing the hurt to Jesus, who never failed you.
Hypocrisy
Jesus confronted religious hypocrisy
Jesus did not excuse religious hypocrisy. He confronted the gap between what people claimed to believe and how they actually lived.
Does my life match the God I claim to know?
Truth and character
Can we be right and still misrepresent God?
People can care more about being right theologically than being like Jesus. Calvin and Servetus disagreed over theology, but people who claimed to defend truth became willing to destroy a man made in the image of God. Their actions contradicted the God they claimed to defend.
The historical dispute was complex and involved more than a single theological distinction. The point for us is simpler: you can win the theological argument and still lose the character of Christ.
We can disagree without dishonoring.
A better way
Jesus shows us a better way
Jesus gives us a way to deal with conflict that protects truth and treats people with dignity. It begins with courage, honesty, and direct conversation.
We should not talk about each other. We should talk to each other.
Mark 5
When the people closest to Jesus become the obstacle
The woman has to reach through a crowd to get to Jesus. The obstacles between her and Jesus are the people closest to Jesus.
Followers of Jesus must be careful that our attitude, judgment, gossip, pride, hypocrisy, or need to be right does not make it harder for hurting people to reach Him.
Don’t become the obstacle. Help people get to Jesus.
From hurt to healed
Jesus can heal what Christians hurt
Followers of Jesus should actually exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. When we do not, the answer is not to redefine Jesus by our failure. The answer is to return to Jesus and let Him form His character in us.
It is possible to go from hurt to healed because of Jesus.
Ask Pastor Chris
Questions are welcome.
Chris Fluitt serves as pastor of First Christian Church of Allen. If church hurt is part of your story, I want you to know this: Jesus is still worth reaching for.
We would be glad to listen, answer questions, or simply give you room to process what happened. You do not need to have the question perfectly worded.
Keep investigating
Christians can fail you. Jesus is still worth reaching for.
Valid Faith is built for honest questions. Explore the series, keep asking, and use the free 30 Honest Questions guide to go deeper.
