Healing Your Church Hurt
by Stephen Mansfield
Reviewed by Randa Chance, LPC Associate, LMFT Associate
Ever found yourself reeling from the blow of an unexpected church situation? Healing Your Church Hurt: What To Do When You Still Love God But Have Been Wounded by His People offers hope and specific direction for finding healing. After pastoring for over 20 years and personally experiencing church hurt, bestselling author Stephen Mansfield provides firsthand knowledge of the human emotions he faced, the recovery he achieved, and how he got there.
George Barna (The Barna Group) presents a transparent foreword that relates his own experiences at several churches. He sets the stage for Mansfield’s text and normalizes the existence of church hurt at all levels and in every denomination. Mansfield shares his own story from a perspective of humility with frequent flashes of laugh-out-loud humor that help dissipate the tension created in facing a difficult subject. While acknowledging the life-altering pain he suffered, Mansfield also avoids depicting a victim mentality. Instead, he takes responsibility for his own flaws and shares frank recollections of his journey so others can find healing.
Mansfield never pats the reader on the back and says, “You poor thing.” Instead, he shares, “I’m not your counselor. I’m your coach. If you want to sit around discussing the psychology of spiritual abuse there are plenty of books on the subject, but this isn’t one of them… I want to show you how to get clean and free from what you have done to yourself in your church hurt. That’s it… I’m trying to get you to fix what you can in you, so that God can fix the rest and get you back into the fold.”
Mansfield takes a straightforward approach to a subject avoided by many. His refreshing perspective is what makes this a recommended book to read aloud with a friend or spouse and discuss on long road trips. He encourages the reader to get out of the emotional weeds, take an objective look at the situation, and use targeted strategies to step onto a path of healing and purpose.
Audience:
Individuals and couples; great for people involved in ministry
Usefulness Rating:
Excellent (and rare) resource for recovering from church/religious wounds
Entertainment Value:
Not intended for entertainment
Good For Groups:
Could be used for groups. Provides some specific recovery strategies and great discussion points.
Guest Contributor
Randa Chance, LPC Associate, LMFT Associate
Randa and her husband, Shane, have served in ministry roles for the past 24 years. Randa has a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling and is licensed in Texas as an LPC Associate and LMFT Associate and is a Board-certified teletherapy provider. She is the owner of Kainos, PLLC, a counseling practice providing therapy for individuals, couples and families. Randa presents workshops on topics such as emotional health, life and ministry balance and marriage enrichment, and is a frequent speaker at community events, churches and conferences. She has a passion for coming alongside people to provide a safe place for healing, empowerment and developing new skills for living an abundant life. She believes healthy families result in stronger churches, and stronger churches are empowered to bring greater change to their communities and world.
Randa is the author of Of Cabbages & Kings, and has published numerous articles. She is a worship leader at her local church and loves writing, singing and cooking.
For more information about this book or other reading suggestions, feel free to contact me directly.
