Has anyone else been a victim of “Church Hurt”?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
Mar 13, 2024
18
10
3
#1
Has anyone else been a victim of “Church Hurt!” Is “Church Hurt” biblical?
 

ResidentAlien

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2021
7,584
3,166
113
#3
Has anyone else been a victim of “Church Hurt!” Is “Church Hurt” biblical?
I think everyone has been victimized one way or another at some time in their life, including in church. The Bible never promises believers will all be perfect, but it prescribes ways of dealing with problems as they arise. Unfortunately, nowadays, that medicine is hardly ever used; the solution for everything is: just show grace and forgiveness. While that's important, it's just as important to hold victimizers accountable; for a lot of them that's the only way they'll learn and the only way to keep them from victimizing others.
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
13,631
7,659
113
#4
Haven't we all, or at least most?
Some I know claim to be Christian because they attend church, yet the adversary attends every service and with greater regularity.
 

Dino246

Senior Member
Jun 30, 2015
24,699
13,384
113
#5
Has anyone else been a victim of “Church Hurt!” Is “Church Hurt” biblical?
Yes, I have. It's no fun.

Your second question is a bit confusing... is it something that happens in the Bible? There is evidence of strife within the early Church, but "church hurt" (abuse by church leaders) probably wasn't common until the rise of church leaders who weren't Christians. Obviously, it is not something that "should" happen.

It is important to distinguish between "hurt" that is caused by an abuse of church authority, and "hurt" that is caused by godly leaders confronting believers with their sin.
 

Deuteronomy

Well-known member
Jun 11, 2018
3,218
3,546
113
67
#7
Ack! I guess I'm alone in not knowing what was meant by "church hurt".
Nope, you aren't alone brother. I haven't heard the term "church hurt" before, so all I can do is guess at what it actually means.

@GospelScribe, please define what "church hurt" is and/or give us some examples of it (so we can all be on the same page with you). Thank you :)

God bless you!!

~Deuteronomy (David)
 

Gideon300

Well-known member
Mar 18, 2021
4,938
2,862
113
#8
Has anyone else been a victim of “Church Hurt!” Is “Church Hurt” biblical?
The term "church hurt" does not appear in the Bible. Hurtful activity was a problem. The church of Corinth was beset by division. That's never good.

"But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another." Galatians 5:15

This implies that there were serious problems with the Galatians.

I was divorced in 1996. I started to attend a fellowship that considered divorce almost to be the unforgivable sin. It would have been preferable if I'd known that up front. I would not have bothered going. The people were fine, the leaders........ enough said. That fellowship dissolved a few years later.

We may be mistreated by other Christians. However, we must forgive. The people who mistreat us answer to God for their actions and attitudes. We answer for our response. I have a close relative who was offended many years ago. She has a semblance of a Christian life and no more. Her husband is doing a "Jonah" as well. I've not been able to help them.

Unforgiveness is a curse. It can be overcome. https://www.christianlife.org.au/can-you-forgive-from-your-heart
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,956
26,089
113
#9
I haven't heard the term "church hurt" before, so all I can do is guess at what it actually means.
Church hurt sounds a bit like feelings of being abused by the judgmental attitudes of others.
 

MsMediator

Well-known member
Mar 8, 2022
948
608
93
#12
Haven't we all, or at least most?
Some I know claim to be Christian because they attend church, yet the adversary attends every service and with greater regularity.
Wow - I didn't know that the devil went to church.
 

HealthAndHappiness

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2022
8,155
3,387
113
Almost Heaven West Virginia
#15
watched the video.. still don't know what it's all about?
It seems like the artist leaves a lot to read between the lines.

Well, I think everyone who has attended a church very long has been emotionally hurt.
I've gone through all kinds of attacks from within and outside the churches. I have been harmed physically as well. Churches are full of sinners who sometimes act with that nature rather than the new one. Someone said, if you ever find a perfect church, don't go there because it won't be perfect anymore. Lol.
 

Tall_Timbers

Well-known member
Mar 31, 2023
666
686
93
67
Cheyenne WY
christiancommunityforum.com
#16
Well, I think everyone who has attended a church very long has been emotionally hurt.
I guess I haven't been emotionally hurt. Long time church attendee and usually very active in the church body. I guess I just let things that might have been able to cause some emotional distress just roll off my shoulders... I've never met a perfect person and expect things aren't going to go perfectly well, and they don't :)
 

mailmandan

Senior Member
Apr 7, 2014
25,045
13,052
113
58
#17
My wife and I experienced church hurt at the very first church we joined after becoming Christians. At first, the church we were attending seemed great and they boldly preached the gospel, but they were caught up in certain legalistic issues over how to dress at church. Women were encouraged to wear long dresses down to their ankles and men were encouraged to wear suits. It wasn't an absolute must, but you were looked down on if you did not.

The women who attended that church reminded me of the Stepford wives. There were other things as well that I witnessed going on in that church which resulted from legalistic tendencies and favoritism that led me to turn to my wife during a church service one day and I said, "saved or not saved, people are still people!" I expected much more unity there than I was seeing. We left that church after about a year. Probably should have left sooner.
 

Adstar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2016
7,426
3,479
113
#18
It seems like the artist leaves a lot to read between the lines.

Well, I think everyone who has attended a church very long has been emotionally hurt.
I've gone through all kinds of attacks from within and outside the churches. I have been harmed physically as well. Churches are full of sinners who sometimes act with that nature rather than the new one. Someone said, if you ever find a perfect church, don't go there because it won't be perfect anymore. Lol.
Oh ok you're talking about Christians.. Yeah they are human beings and as such they are faulty and Sometimes the fallen flesh they dwell in will sabotage their efforts to be more like Jesus..

I am glad you clarified this.. Because the church could be the church leadership or the church could have been Christianity like the doctrines of the church..

Now no doubt the church leadership can be affected by their sin natures and probably do more damage then faulty church members..
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
13,631
7,659
113
#19
Wow - I didn't know that the devil went to church.
of course he does, that is where church strife originates, is certainly is from the Godhead that requires, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control. It is the adversary that seeks the opposite , every time the Word of God is proclaimed the devil is right there to try to take it away.
 
Dec 29, 2023
1,335
237
63
#20
Ack! I guess I'm alone in not knowing what was meant by "church hurt".

It just means someone at a church you attended did you wrong somehow and you got offended. Or church leadership did you wrong and you got offended

I went to a church as a young Christians that taught false doctrine and when the enemy started trying to drag me back in to my old lifestyle of partying they never called me once and just let me go.

I found out later the 2 lady pastors where wolves who did not meet the qualifications to be in ministry in the first place as the Lord does not anoint women to be pastors. And the men in the church were feminized having submitted to women leadership.

That church is still teaching false doctrine today, such as all your future sins have already been forgiven which is why they have people attending there that engage in sinful behavior.

But, we need to forgive and move on.