Whats the "In transition" of community?
Listening to a pastor preach, engaging in corporate worship together and hearing the stories of others has us feel like we know our leaders and feeling like Yes, church is a "safe place" to bring our most intimate, heart level relational wounds.
My story... When I was troubled and angery at Religion and expecially Christians...
It was a community of faith (a church of all places) that listened to and unexpectedly (despite my lack of faith, pointing out contradictions and discrepancies in the Bible and my abundant vocabulary of swear words) these people Loved and even excepted me. It was pre Mars Hill but thats another story.
The fall of Mars Hill Church in Seattle has had a lot of people scratching their heads in "How could this happen" conundrums of thought.
My name is Russ Shaw and I am an optimistic realist. Doing some research into my own walk of faith in community. I decided, as uncomfortable as it my be, too have some conversations out of curiosity and research into other peoples history and the impact of the collapse of Mars Hill Church on their own very personal journey of faith.
I'll be honest it's an intense paradigm to wade into but an important one as a person whose done some volunteer work as a voice for the broken in the area of addiction and sexual dysfunction.
This is not and will not be an attack or exercise of scapegoating Mark Driscoll. Mark Driscoll is like every single one of us (in my worldview) A sinner who desperately needs a Savior.
Mark Driscoll convicted my heart and becoming a member of Mars Hill Church changed my life. The Ruth series Mark preached, God used to help save our marriage. And the groups that I was involved in at Mars Hill helped me walk through some of the most difficult heart wrenching times of my life. Coming to terms with my own childhood sexual abuse.
I love Mark Driscoll and pray for him and his family regularly.
People were hurt, hearts were broken and that's not something I will shy away from talking about. But this series of podcasts will not be to demonize Mark Driscoll. It will be a dialogue to search out and come to terms with our own definitions of spiritual authority, Christian leaders and what it means to have trust in this social construct known as the western evangelical Church.
With the hope of doing some healing and trust building via exposing the courage it takes to seek help outside of oneself in the midst of hardship or relational tragedy. I wanted to start a conversation about rebuilding trust in our communities of faith.
A conversation about restoring some heart level trust in communities of faith.