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Out into the Desert: Thriving Outside Organized Religion

Out into the Desert: Thriving Outside Organized Religion

Last updated on: February 14, 2021 at 6:20 am by Karl J. Forehand

Out into the Desert: Thriving Outside Organized Religion 2021-02-14T06:20:07-06:00 Karl J. Forehand

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Over a year ago, we stopped attending church. After our deconstruction, we immediately started attending a large church. It was a good church, but after about 2 years, we made a conscious decision to step away. There were too many triggers and we realized we had internal work to do and we both agreed to first go to a smaller church, then to stop attending all together.

We were not angry at the church, we didn’t want to punish it, we were just very disappointed in what happened in our 20+ years of ministry and were hoping to have a discussion about what we saw and experienced. But, every time we tried to discuss this inside the walls of organized religion, we met resistance and defensiveness.

So, shortly after leaving the church, we began to write down our thoughts. We began to think about the validity of the church as it stands now. The first part of our writing is our analysis after 20 years of ministry. We detail much of our pain while we pastored in 3 different churches.

The second part the book is our attempt to adapt and refocus outside the walls of organized religion. For some reason, we took a fresh look at the Beatitudes and it led us to some of the areas we were rebuilding like: Finding our Voice, Finding our Vision, and Finding Community. We found 12 areas that we are rebuilding.

Karl and Laura Forehand

We weren’t trying to bash the church. We were just offering our assessment of the current state of religion to hopefully start some discussion or give others some language for what they are feeling. If organized religion is working for you, I would first encourage you to take an honest look at whether it is really working. If it is, then we are happy for you. If it is not, then I hope you can give yourself permission to take a break and examine things.

It really is easier to get perspective from the outside.

We were going to publish the book, Out into the Desert, with Quoir. But, with all the other projects we have going, and because people need a break during Covid, we decided to release the E-book for FREE. We hope that people will digest this book and give us some good feedback. Maybe it will start some discussion in your circles so that we can move toward a better solution.

We are being very vulnerable by releasing our story and feelings, so please be kind in your criticism.

You are allowed to feel how you want to feel about this topic, but I hope you will give us a few minutes to share ours.

Be where you are, be who you are, be at peace.

Karl and Laura Forehand

Click here to download the book – please consider subscribing as you go there!

Support us on Patreon * The Desert Sanctuary Website

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart and the soon-to-be released Tea Shop. He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary and Too Many Podcasters podcasts. He is married to his wife Laura of 32 years and has one dog named Winston. His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply!

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