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FLN Inside Out: After Church Hurt - 07/01/2026
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">Church hurt is a deep hurt, like betrayal.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">“There’s these layers and these waves of pain that come, not only from the direct wound from being sinned against, but the fact that it’s not addressed, and in the end you end up really</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">losing your community. And you’re in a place of, honestly, deep despair and confusion,” says church counseling pastor Timothy St. John.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">St. John serves as counseling pastor at Lighthouse Community Church in Torrance, California and is the author of the new book <em>After Church Hurt: Healing in the Care of the Good Shepherd</em>.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">“The way I define ‘church hurt’ is any unrepentant sin that is minimized, normalized, or promoted by a church culture and its leadership,” he says. “And I say, ‘church culture and its leadership’ because if the leader or the church body was willing to address the wrong,</span></p>
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