Evangelical Burnout? It’s Not You And It’s Not God: An Anthem to Present & Future Clients
The story goes that a public sinner was excommunicated and forbidden entry to the church. He took his woes to God. 'They won't let me in, Lord, because I am a sinner.'
'What are you complaining about?' said God. 'They won't let Me in either.’’
If hearing this resonates with you, I think you might have evangelical burnout. How about this?
Early Christians won converts by their action not by their arguments.
Ok, ok, last one. Here it goes:
Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrongdoing there is a field; I will meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.
All in all, the crowd I want to work with, the people I see myself working with primarily in my private practice, are those with whom these quotes resonate at a soul level.
And you’re not alone. Following Christ ain’t like what it used to be, circa pre Constantine times.
The modern cost of admission, the weariness, the polarization, the confusion of wondering whether you do indeed have to be ideologically conservative to be theologically Christian. I’m the guy. Extending a hand out to you.
Will you work with me?
A hero of mine that led me down this path toward those on the margins of faith and doubt is Brennan Manning. That quote of the top is of his from his most famous book, the Ragamuffin Gospel. As such, maybe I’'ll brand myself the Ragamuffin Therapist. See in the 1990s, Manning himself was alarmed at the graceless contexts of so many evangelical contexts he attended to. He was deeply concerned over how so many in the Christian fold said the right things, believed the right things, yet at their core still didn’t believe in the love of God.
Fast forward 30 years, and I still think his underlying premise is true.
The chaos of a Trump voting, MAGA endorsing, morally bankrupt and Pharasaical generation of platformed believers is still wreaking havoc and will continue to do so for generations to come. And to be clear, I’m by no means endorsing the political left; I’m just indicting the political right for its cutthroat hold over my faith community.
See the toll of evangelical burnout is something we are only starting to experience now. Nones in the religious column are rising and dones with them. Prior to some in the evangelical world claiming it’s due to it being “sexy to quit religion” or that people “never had faith to begin with,” the truth is that people are jumping ship because the new one, although having issues, isn’t on fire and presently sinking.
The “try harder” form of Protestantism isn’t working now and wasn’t working then. Fear does work for a season but never thoroughly and never past the storms of life. And while many of those dones and nones have said no to church, I’m not convinced they’re saying no to Jesus or genuine encounter with God.
Those finding themselves saying no to church but maybe to Jesus and God?
My desire is to work with you. Unpack with you. “Deconstruct” and (likely) “reconstruct” with you.
This burnout you feel toward issues of faith isn’t a moral weakness. Doesn’t mean you’re doing your morning time or scripture reading wrong. If anything, this burnout you feel is a sign that what the modern church model claimed it could heal can’t actually heal.
I don’t have a notion of proselytizing you to faith nor to burning the whole thing down either. I just want to meet you in the middle, toward that place in between right and wrong like that above quote mentioned.
In that space, I believe we can find healing. In that space, I believe we can come closer to discovering spiritual redemption.