When people hear my story, they often ask me why I stayed in church, and I rarely have a concise or coherent answer. All week, in preparation for this post, I have been trying to articulate my thoughts and feelings about why I kept going to church after being hurt deeply by the church. The truth is that it’s puzzling. I was wounded, and I kept going back for more. Then I helped start a church. It really doesn’t make... Read more
I asked a local seminarian and active pastor this week what his thoughts were about all that is happening in Ferguson, MO right now. He responded: “It’s not my issue to speak into as a white man.” I’ve never experienced more apathy in regards to racial injustice than when I’m around white American [mainline or evangelical] pastors. I scoured the internet attempting to locate and find words or a call to action from an evangelical leader or institution on the issue... Read more
As I’m on the journey of “de-Christianizing” myself I’ve openly challenged the idea of sexual morality found within conservative evangelicalism. I’ve written a couple times on the “issue(s)” of pre-marital sex, masturbation, and the devastating effects of shame and guilt perpetuated within a Christian culture of purity. The question I’m asking is, “Is it possible to find a Christian/biblical understanding of sexual morality that leads to the acknowledgement of our innately and biologically given sexual predisposition allowing for both healthier lives and... Read more
I’m not sure anyone else within white Americanized Christianity, is saying it so I will: The predominantly white Christian institution is terrifyingly bigoted. Within the Church racial caste has not come to an end; it has only been redesigned. Unfortunately, many will selfishly be taken back by this statement, offended by my blunt acknowledgement of racism within white privileged churches. Inevitably, I will be accused of furthering division, being a reverse racist, and many other things in which I can’t yet fathom until... Read more
In the wake of both Robin William’s and Philip Seymore Hoffman’s passing many of us in 2014 have been left in shock, and utterly speechless. These two men, were undoubtedly creative genius’ but I believe what made them so creative and so genius was their ability to connect with the normal, ordinary, person struggling and battling through this thing we call life. We loved watching them because they made us feel as if we weren’t alone. They had the gift... Read more
I’m not Catholic, I’m barely protestant these days, and I don’t really ever plan on being confirmed/ordained, or highly involved with any form of institutionalized religion, ever again. Although if I would ever reconsider it would be because of Pope Francis, a.k.a. “The Most Down to Earth Pope Leader Ever!” The status quo of the Pope has usually been one of, as Stuart Heritage says: A gimlet-eyed dictatorial convinced of his own towering superiority over everyone else. To issue several unrealistic demands to... Read more
Spoiler Alert: Mark Driscoll is losing. I don’t have a TV – but after a bit of googling and searching around, I haven’t found much about Pastor Mark outside of the Internet. It seems now that every week, Mark Driscoll is apologizing. There was his open letter apology that went viral on reddit, there was a nuanced sort of apology in a sermon, the recent video in which was his most straight forward apology. Oh and then there’s the plagiarizing debacle, the... Read more
I think there is the widespread assumption that I left the Church because I, personally, was so hurt by it. I want to be clear, I didn’t leave because of my personal hurt or pain, I left because too many others were being hurt and had been pained by the sect of Christianity/Church I was involved in and benefitting off of. Ethically/morally speaking my conscious would not allow me to continue to benefit from this form of “Church” while so... Read more
The question is valid, “How much more do we have to take from the church until we have had enough?” The odd part of this question is that many of those asking this are Christian’s. It seems they’re tired of distorted images defining who and what they are, and deciding how the world views them. Too many Christian’s are becoming fed up with Fox News or Pat Robertson and his 700 Club being the face of Christianity. This age of information has informed it’s constituents... Read more
[It took me a while to write this, as I thought I’d have a post up last Wednesday on “How to get millennials to come back to Church.” It took so long because, well I didn’t want to agree with my conclusion… but as I expound on in the article below saying that “When it feels as if we are constantly having to defend the humanity of our friends because of their sexuality, you know it’s time to just shake hands,... Read more
Andy Gill
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