The goal is love in the midst of all the brokenness.

Joseph Black (Onesimus Online) writes:

Jesus has restored our relationship with the Holy Trinity, but he hasn’t made us whole, the rhetoric of popular Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism notwithstanding. Assuming and believing that rhetoric for decades, I personally longed to be made whole. I carried scars from my parents’ divorce, was sexually abused, have struggled in my most important relationships, been stricken with chronic depression, was unfairly removed from my last pastorate, and been overwhelmed by the scope and depth of my own character flaws. I know what it means to be in a world turned black and to cry out to God for help. I have cried out again and again for mercy, help, transformation, healing – to be made whole. I have asked, but the answer has been ‘No’.

I found the emphasis in Evangelical and Pentecostal Protestantism on being made whole increasingly disorienting in the past decade. The rhetoric I was believing, the rhetoric I was singing, the rhetoric I was preaching was not matching the reality I was experiencing and that I was seeing in others. It wasn’t just that I was not experiencing wholeness, nobody else I knew was experiencing wholeness as well. I continue to hear this rhetoric all around me, particularly from the popular preachers and authors. I do not think anybody is being malicious or is intentionally setting out to deceive. But the effect of this one little tiny misstatement is to set Christianity off in a ruinous direction that puts the emphasis on our experience and performance vis a vis the glorious testimony that ‘Jesus made me whole’. Our goal, as I understand the Christian life, is not the experience of wholeness. Instead, our goal is giving and receiving love in the midst of our brokenness and need.

Read the rest of Black's post - it may help you clarify some of your (erroneous) preaching....

Pastoral Restoration

Pastoral Restoration: The Path to Recovery will guide those church leaders faced with facilitating the healing and recovery of a minister and the church from a moral failure.

This new book comes from The Parsonage Site where you can also see the previous books in the series;
Enriching Life in the Fishbowl - provides assistance to congregations in properly caring for a pastor and his family in order to make their lives rich and their ministries effective;
Living in the Pastor's Home is a unique experience. Join four adult PKs as they look back with new insight that would benefit any congregation.;
Working Together to Impact Your Community will direct you in forming a community impact committee to benefit your congregation and pastor alike