Shouldn’t the Brokenness Bring us Hope?

Have you been hurt by the church?

Chances are, if you didn’t answer ‘yes’ to that question it’s because you simply haven’t been around the church long enough. Maybe you are a new believer who is on fire for the LORD and you haven’t yet experienced the brokenness of God’s people in a way to cause hurt. Or perhaps you haven’t let yourself get close enough to the people of the church to be hurt. But many, dare I say most of us can say, ‘yes’, to some degree or another, through one circumstance or another. We have been hurt by people within this God ordained institution called “The Church”.

I was recently speaking to a friend who has been through deep hurt at the hands of church leadership. She said something so insightful, “I haven’t been hurt by the church, I’ve been hurt by people in the church.”

This distinction is so important, because the moment we blame the hurt on the institution itself, is the moment we can start to condemn it. It’s not a long journey from there before we start turning our backs on the institution altogether. Many people leave churches because they have been hurt by church leadership. Yet, God calls us in Hebrews to not forsake the gathering of ourselves together.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

So in today’s culture where we are encouraged to cut people out of our lives at the first sign of a negative experience, how do we obey the command of the LORD to not neglect this institution that has facilitated deep hurt for so many of us?

My friend continued to speak and I listened as she shared of the deep hurt her situation had caused her. I saw in her eyes the pain that cut so deep as she spoke of her struggle to trust church leadership after what she had been through.

My heart broke with her as I recalled the hurt and brokenness I struggled through in my own experiences of being hurt by people who love God and are ordained by God to serve Him through church leadership. I know the brokenness one can feel over relationships with church leaders that just couldn’t seem to repair no matter how much we pray and how hard we seek to obey the LORD.

Through the hurt, I’ve come to realize

that sometimes God uses our brokenness

to guide us in a new direction.

Sometimes God takes brokenness and uses it start something new, something we would have never done if the LORD hadn’t allowed us to be hurt. (You can read all about how God did this very thing in the lives of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:36-41.)

I’m sure if we swapped stories, our experiences would be very different from each other. Some of us may have been hurt by pastors or leaders who claimed to love Christ but have absolutely no fruit or evidence of salvation in their lives at all. The Bible would call these people 'wolves in sheep's clothing'. (Matthew 7:15) And others, like me, have been hurt by people we know are saved, people we know to be anointed by God, and yet for some reason the circumstances we were in just didn’t have the fruit of the Love of Christ.

Many of us have been hurt by the brokenness of our church leader.

And yet, through the hurt and brokenness, there is something Christ has shown me that I rejoice in continually. And as I see my friend, broken and raw over the hurt and pain church leadership has caused her, this question rings in my heart and mind yet again.

“Shouldn’t the brokenness bring us hope?”

Bear with me here, I know this isn’t the first place most of our hearts go when a pastor or church leader treats us in a way that isn’t in line with the nature of Jesus. But this is the truest thing I know of anyone and everyone who calls the church their home, let alone is called to lead it.

We are all desperately broken...even pastors.

Solomon says it perfectly in Ecclesiastes...

Ecclesiastes ‭7:20‬ Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

‭‭

Every one of us who loves Christ and knows Christ is still intrinsically broken.

True, some men hold the position and title of Pastor and have no saving faith in Christ, however, I would guess that the majority of us have been under Church leaders who DO love Christ, who DO love people, who are just desperately broken like us...

Who like us, still need Jesus, even after we are saved. Paul, a man who traveled the known world spreading the gospel and planting churches and who is credited with writing 75% of the New Testament says in Romans...

Romans‬ ‭7:18‬ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Even Paul, arguably one of the most righteous men to have ever lived, knew he was depraved. He knew he was wicked at base. We all know that we need Christ. It is our sorrow over our brokenness that lead us to salvation in Christ in the first place. As Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians...

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

So when Christians mess up...

When Church leaders cause hurt...

When Believers don't apologize...

When Brothers & Sisters in Christ don't recognize the hurt they have caused...

Take heart, for God's grace is deeper still.

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Even in the darkest of places, Christ is working. Even when your hurt goes so deep you can't imagine ever healing. He is working something for good. You see, when the brokenness of church leadership exposes itself, it is evidence of the incredible Grace we have in Christ!

Their brokenness should bring us hope!

Hope, that if God can use someone who is still capable of sin and hurt, that He can use us too! Hope that Christ died for sinners, of whom WE ARE FOREMOST! Hope that Christ is the one who saves us, not our own efforts or abilities.

We are not saved by our abilities to resolve conflict.

We are not saved by our abilities to love people.

We are not saved by our abilities to prevent hurt in a broken world.

We are saved by faith in Christ ALONE.

So next time you are experiencing hurt at the hands of a believer, or even a church leader, remember - if God can use them, in all their brokenness, then He can use you too.

Let their brokenness bring you hope...

Author: Abigail Escobedo