When you would like to know why I no longer trust the Church of the Nazarene USA/Canada, when you wonder why my children are not allowed to be overseen by almost anyone just because the church was deemed “safe,” if anyone would like to know why I will not stop and will not be quiet when people like Keven Wentworth on the North/East Texas District Church of the Nazarene and Eddie Estep on the Kansas City District Church of the Nazarene tell me to be.
How long will we hide these things by maneuvering people like Jim Bond into places like the Oklahoma District Church of the Nazarene? How long will Michael Thompson guide the pastors to allow and enable harms to be done to protect the establishment of what is no longer a church. I hope the denomination pays for the advice that has been distributed on their behalf. I pray that they finally learn the true cost of being more concerned about liability than humanity.
You are not the church if you sacrifice children for dollars. You are not a church if you refuse to acknowledge when you are using shame to control people. You are not a church. Period.
Quit deflecting. Quit hiding behind arguments about issues that you deem “more important,” like how to exclude LGBT people and those who love them.
Get off the pinnacle, out of your ivory tower, return to your senses. This is not holiness.
I followed my call, the God given call to relationship and love, right out of the Church of the Nazarene (Official). I knew it was coming. I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to stay if I didn’t comply, and I knew I would not be complicit in this story any longer. But as I told Kendall Franklin when we moved to the Kansas District Church of the Nazarene… I will be here for those who are waking up to these realities. I will do my own work so that I am able to support the pastors and spouses and those harmed by the enabling of perpetual abuse by this denomination.
Four generations of my family have trusted you, served as many ways as possible, given until it hurts... It stops with me. No more.
If you have encountered these kinds of situations, if the denomination has dismissed or threatened or discarded you in response… I see you. You are not alone.
If you have been struggling with addiction that has led you farther than you know how to admit and you need support to move into healthier patterns… I see you. You are not alone.
If you have been screaming into the inky blackness of the void that is the heart of this denomination for so long that you are work out and your voice is gone… I see you. You are not alone.
Check in. Reach out. There is hope beyond the breaking hearts we should all have at this news.
I love you, all. And I’m calling those of you who are offended by this message to do better…
Comments
Post a Comment