Renaissance Church, Providence RI
Dear Father,
I thank You for leading Renaissance Church of Providence RI to share the text about “raw honesty” on their website:
We frequently hear from people who dropped out of churches due to the plastic nature of the relationships. The pressure to be happy and “spiritual” 24-7 was exhausting. The atmosphere did not welcome doubts or deep questions or even dark nights of the soul. In this environment the great temptation is to be fake. We refuse to do that. We are bent on being real. From pastor to pew we have come to realize life is way too short to pretend. We are not afraid of showing our flaws and admitting our failures. We are comfortable being who we are. We know that we are weak – works in progress – and far from perfect. So we do our best to provide an atmosphere where broken people can come to be healed. And it’s happening all the time!
If there was ever a paragraph that screamed for the publishing of testimonies, this was it! Father, I ask that the value system that Renaissance Church has shared in this paragraph will be the value system that churches around the US adopt. May such a call for “raw honesty” in churches lead to the sharing of stories of how You bring hope and healing to people who have messed up their lives. Help us to live lives of raw honesty with the hurting in our communities who search online for relief!
In Jesus name,
Amen