Well, that’s brave.

Hebrews 10:25 says, “This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.”

We have been talking about how being “church hurt” is not a good enough excuse to not go back to church. I am not saying if you were abused in any way, you are to go back to that same church and just forgive them, it’s all good. No. Abuse is never okay in any form. We forgive, yes. We speak up and report what needs to be reported, yes. Christianity is never about sweeping things under the rug and pretending they didn’t happen. We looked at Genesis and at how God confronted and dealt with sin right from the beginning of time. He hasn’t changed. Keeping things in the dark and concealing evil is never God’s way. But posting about it all over TikTok and Instagram may not be the way either depending on the situation. We have to operate in godly wisdom at all times.

Once we have done what we know to do, we don’t sit at home and say “I was hurt by the church so I am never going back.” It is a dangerous place to be when you feel entitled to point at your pain every time when you are confronted with God’s truth. How long are you going to let what they did to you define you? That’s not how God sees you. God does not see us through the lens of what happened to us. He wants to restore us to fullness and wholeness in Him but that’s not going to happen if you enjoy using your pain as a crutch. So, you were hurt by people at a church. I am fairly certain, that church is not the last church on earth. Find a God honoring church and plug in.

I remember one time I went to a restaurant near my office. I ordered eggs benedict and it was so delicious until I found a hair in my food. Wasn’t my hair. Yeah, I know. Gag. On a different occasion, the owner was promoting this new dessert they were making. It was some custard pastry and I loooove desserts. He offered me some, I took it and ate it. It was delicious… until I got gastro the next day. I am talking, stuff coming out of both ends. I mean, I could not keep anything down, not even a sip of water. It was terrible. (Ok, I am starting to think I overshare with you guys a little bit. That’s ok, sometimes one has to paint a picture, its all love! Haha!)

It was the worst 48 hours I tell you, but I survived. Do I still eat at that restaurant? Not really, I decided to air on the side of caution. Did I stop eating altogether? No. Did I swear off custard pastries? Nope! I love my desserts, I’ll just go buy them somewhere else! So why is it that in life we are happy to go to a different restaurant or the same restaurant chain but in a different location, or even just stick to the same one that gets our order wrong every time, but when it comes to church, we cancel all churches altogether? Doesn’t that seem a bit drastic?

Am I saying if you have been hurt you need to ignore your feelings? Nope, but you can’t let your feelings dictate how you live. Jesus was hurt by the church. Yes, some of you will come at me that there was no “church” until after Jesus died and what not. I am talking about the religious leaders at the time. The Jews had been trusted with the word of God up to that point. They had carried the prophesies of the coming Messiah. They knew a Saviour would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem. Yet, when He came, they rejected Him. More than that, they tortured and killed Him.

Look, if you are reading this it means you are not dead yet. Which means, so far, you are doing better than Jesus. If Jesus could be hurt by people and still love people… If Jesus could be hurt by the most revered religious leaders at the time and still love the Church and choose to die for the Church, what gives us the right to walk away from the Church? We act like Jesus does not understand what we are going through, no He gets it. He went through worse for us! Churches are full of people, they are going to hurt us at some point. They are going to disappoint us at some point. People be people.

Our job is not to sit on the sidelines and point at all the problems in the Church. The Church is Jesus’ Bride. You want to talk smack about the Bride of Christ? Well, that’s brave. Everybody has been hurt on some level by someone in the Church. We don’t get to compare our stories and sit on the sidelines licking our wounds. No. We jump back into the Church because we know that’s where we will find the Healer. We jump back in, if for nothing else, for our love for Jesus. Let our love for Jesus speak louder than our pain. Let our gratitude for what Jesus did and endured for us speak louder than the wounds of our past.

You think not going to church is not a big deal? It is to Jesus. He said this in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into heaven’s kingdom. It is only those who persist in doing the will of my heavenly Father. On the day of judgment many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, don’t you remember us? Didn’t we prophesy  in your name? Didn’t we cast out demons and do many miracles in your name?’ But I will have to say to them, ‘Go away from me, you lawless rebels! I’ve never been joined to you!”

Key words, “persist in doing the will of my heavenly Father” and “I’ve never been joined to you!” What is the will of God? Hebrews 10:25 tells us that “This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together…” It is God’s will that we meet together. It is the will of God that we be part of the Church. That we be part of a church community.

In relation to the second part, how are Christians joined to Christ? Firstly by doing the will of the Father so we are not “lawless rebels”. Secondly, Colossians 1:17-18 gives us a clue, it says, “He existed before anything was made, and now everything finds completion in him. He is the Head of his body, which is the church.” If Christ is the Head of the body, and that body is the Church. If you are not part of the Church, what part do you have with Christ? And no, don’t come at me with the whole, “the church is not a building it is people”. Yes it is, but not just people sitting at home doing their own thing. The word “church” is the Greek word, “ekklesia” which means “an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting or the whole body of Christians throughout the earth”. There is a togetherness, unity, many people coming together in one accord.

Jesus is the Head and we are the body. Are we individually the body? No. The Church is His body and it is made of many parts, many churches and denominations. Are you joined to Christ? Or are you out on a solo mission? Because Jesus is coming back for the Church not lone rangers. Get back in the Church. If for no other reason, do it because you love Jesus. Nothing is worth being separated from Jesus.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.