I’ve been thinking a lot about soul hunger these days.
What is it this over-stretched world of ours needs in order to feed soul? For many, that answer lies in church buildings and pews and the community we call “church”.
Others have been put off by the organization calling itself church. For years they have heard words of condemnation emanating out of organized Christian outposts and they want none of it. Rather than do the hard work of interpreting long-used language in order for it to be meaningful in ways life-giving, many don’t even try to find soul food in church.
I smart about that. I want to argue. I want to say that “we aren’t like that here!”. We welcome all, we seek to see the Christ in all, we want people to know the glory of their messy humanity and the power of joining together with other imperfects and we want to learn and work together in such a way that our lives and our world are transformed.
But how to get past the barbed-wire of unsafe many have put around the thing called “church”?
I’d welcome your thoughts on that.
Living Waters 
I agree – in my situation many of the people that I “associate” with on the internet on an ex-witness website have gone from being fully engaged in that religion and all it’s beliefs including believing in a loving god, to being atheists. I have written many times about finding this church and how the god we were taught about doesn’t exist and the rules & regulations are just a witness burden. Suffice it to say – they are so turned off by religion that they’re not willing to give anything else a try. Perhaps in time….
What I keep thinking about is how to keep the doors open until the “perhaps in time” time is right. Thanks for hanging in there………..
My first thoughts were … hmmmmmm!! Not profound. But I think that the feelings about being put off by church are not really new … when I was growing up and in high school through just out of college … I was “in church and singing in the choir” however “church was not in me” so to speak. I was only physically there and not spiritually. I did not think that church spoke to me … it did not feed my soul hunger. I was then invited to serve the church in some volunteer roles so I tiptoed in.
So how to engage people until the soul time is right feels crucial. in a culture where so many don’t experience church while growing up, what are the “choirs’ we can offer. thank goodness you Hung in! Thanks for sharing your insight. e