The Return

Review: Healing Your Church Hurt Stephen Mansfield Barna 2012 Mansfield wrote this book out of need he saw among those that had experienced a church hurt. The need as the title suggests is healing. He is no stranger to the hurt he writes about here and does not dance the around the deep wounds that he received from a congregation that he had pastored for several years. In fact, he is brutally honest in some instances. What he has to say is not new territory or a magic bullet that will fix everyone and everything. So if that’s what you are hoping for from him, don’t’ say I didn’t warn you up front. What he does have to say is how to actually do the things that will lead to your healing. The ideas are not novel. They are biblical. The same stuff you have read over and over again but tried to find a way around, especially the forgiveness thing. What he does is to help guide you through that process drawing from his own experiences, failures, and finally healing. His sec...

Rechurch Stephen Mansfield 2010 BarnaBooks, an imprint of Tyndale House Publishers If you have been burned or otherwise suffered a church hurt and if you like the pain and suffering you’ve been experiencing don’t bother with this particular book. If on the other hand you want to be whole again and able to rejoin the people of God without looking over your shoulder all the time this book can help you immensely. The author is firm in his approach. Sometimes he comes across a bit more strongly than most of us are used to hearing. Keep going, though. He uses examples from his own experience, which could not have been easy for him, and people from history, some of whom surprised me. Even the “super saints” dealt with the church hurt issues. Throughout the book the author provides various exercises to work through that pave the way to the following steps and eventually to healing and finally wholeness. I especially appreciated some of the discussion related to forgiveness. I thought...