An Open Letter to the Church I Grew Up In

Part 1: Leadership Hierarchies and Identity Erasure

Image via Unsplash - Keith Hardy
Image via Unsplash — Keith Hardy
  • Pastors and leaders are not held accountable for the advice they give, despite their lack of qualification to give that advice at all.
  • Pastors and leaders are not held accountable for the culture they create, despite the ways that it traumatises and damages people.
  • Pastors and leaders are not held accountable for the way they erase individual identities in order to form a collective sense of safety, a collective “we are like this, and this is what is okay”, their own definition of “good”.
  • Pastors and leaders are not held accountable for the build up of stress and burnout that occurs when they force individuals into volunteering roles, leadership roles, week-in-week-out, because it serves them and their vision.
  • Pastors and leaders are not held accountable for their relationship advice, which often ignores serious issues in marriages and relationships and encourages people to “just pray” as though this will solve deep trauma or situations of abuse.

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I write about love, being human, and deconstruction. Advocate for self-love & embodiment. Hype gal for creatives. @existingwithjasmine on the gram.

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Jasmine Johnston

I write about love, being human, and deconstruction. Advocate for self-love & embodiment. Hype gal for creatives. @existingwithjasmine on the gram.