Yes, it is sad that John left TLS. You can read his goodbye here. This sentence sums it up:
“I am just in a place now where I want silence when it comes to the subject of church, Christianity and spirituality.”
I said a similar thing myself in a post the same day. Perhaps I provoked him. I know others have also said the same thing: “I’m tired of talking about it.”
Let me describe the TLS I’m trying to build, with your help:
- A safe place to deconstruct.
- A fun place to make new friendships.
- A resourceful place to grow with other spiritual pilgrims.
The thing is, we can make TLS whatever we want it to be. It’s our space, and we can renovate and decorate however we want. I definitely want it to be a safe place for us to deconstruct and rant about it because many of us haven’t been able to safely without being judged. But I also want it to be a place where we can be happy and share our lives together. I’m making good friends here, friends for life, and I want this place to be a safe place for us to meet up. I’m also passionate about spirituality, theology and philosophy. I’m interested in trying to make sense of all this and helping others to do the same.
It reminds me of when I pastored the church here. Some people who came loved it because they got it. Others came and would exclaim, “Wow! You have a lot of hurting people here!” I would immediately correct them: “We’re no different than anybody else. Every church has hurting people. These people just feel free to talk about it.” I saw it with my own eyes… when people are given a space to process their stuff, they become healthy and strong.
Yes, we had very intense processes going on. But we also had great fun and parties and friendships. I saw amazing and measurable growth. In my opinion, that makes for a well-rounded life.
This is what I feel TLS is.