The Pastor’s Desk

Grace and peace be with you all!

I wanted to share my panel presentation from Reviving Hope in Our Backyard.

First question was: How does your institution cause harm?

“We use faith tradition and the bible to judge and push people away instead of loving them and welcoming them in.”

3-4 min - Kayla, It really seems as though churches and faith communities probably have one of the greatest opportunities to either deepen shame or create belonging for people who are struggling. What have you learned about intentionally choosing belonging, and what does that actually require from a faith community?

It requires being uncomfortable and being willing to look at the ways the institutional church has caused harm and being intentional about fixing it. We cannot say that we are a welcoming church if we have not done the work to fix the harm that the institutional church has caused. We have been

complicit and in some cases leaders in racism, sexism, homophobia, all the isms and all the phobias. And we have also caused a lot of harm in our treatment of the unhoused and those struggling with addiction because we have created a false narrative of perfection and individualism when the church was never meant to be about individualism but about being community and being community even or most especially to people outside  the walls of the church. We have to be intentional about learning how fix the harm that we have caused or been complicit in. And that means admitting when we have been wrong and when we have caused harm. We are never called to judgement, that’s God’s job. Our job is to be welcomers and in being welcomers we are to be helpers and that means advocating for people who need extra support and help, and it means accepting people who don’t have a picture perfect cookie cutter life. And that is a really uncomfortable thing to do because it forces you to confront your own biases and harmful belief systems. Being a pastor who tries to be very conscious about being truly welcoming and accepting means that I have had to have a lot of uncomfortable learning experiences and conversations that have led to amazing growth for me as a human being but also as a pastoral presence. God has created a beautiful tapestry of people and that tapestry includes people who are similar to me and also my opposite in every single way. When we look at people we need to realize that we never look at someone that has not been created in the image of God and therefore loved by God.

2-3 min- Kayla what do you think it would take for all of the churches in our area to become truly connected, educated, and organized around providing support, guidance, and resources specifically for those seeking recovery?

I have found that when churches try to be leaders in a recovery space that can often cause a lot harm than good when they have no actual training or oversight. They may have experience with addiction and that is a huge resource in peer recovery but that does not negate training or oversight. And I am not talking about the faith based recovery centers that have actual trained staff and know how. I’m talking about the centers that pop up that rely solely on praying the addiction away with no actual resources given. In TN there is what is called Faith-Based Initiative and does an amazing job at educating, training, and empowering faith communities to have a positive impact on those struggling with mental health and addiction, as well as those in recovery. They give churches the ability to provide And I would love to see that or something like that happen here in VA because it has been wildly successful in TN. Churches have a unique advantage of having a built in volunteer base its just figuring out and learning how to utilize our volunteers correctly and in a way that doesn’t burn out one church or one small group of volunteers. Which is why I think Faith Based Initiative is so successful, because its not just on one church. I think all pastors and faith leaders have seen burn out and compassion fatigue in their communities and it why I think it is so important for churches regardless of denomination to work together. As the saying goes many hands make light work and churches working together is what will help us actually succeed in creating positive change in our community. Because no matter the differences we may have I do believe that all of us want to help people and help our community here in Marion to thrive. I think one of the biggest things is that we have to be willing to work together without denominational differences getting in the way. And that may mean putting egos aside for the betterment of our community and not with the goal of filling our pews but with the goal of helping the children of God solely because they are worthy of help and not for what they could do for us and our numbers. I know those of us in faith leadership positions and members of congregations feel anxiety about declining membership, but small churches can still make a huge impact. Which I think is another great thing about Faith-Based Initiative because they help congregations find where they can fit and what they can offer, because every faith community, no matter how small, does have something to offer.