About this episode

Michael interviews Tim St. John about rebuilding healthy churches after experiencing church hurt.

Michael interviews Tim St. John about his “Freedom in Christ” session, “Building Churches that Honor and Protect,” concluding a hidden abuse track focused on identifying abuse in churches and then rebuilding healthy culture. Using a termite-damage metaphor, St. John explains that removing abuse isn’t enough; churches must reinstall “beams” like sound theology of suffering and identity in Christ to promote healing and exalt Christ. He defines church hurt as unrepentant sin normalized or protected by leadership and describes three waves of pain: the direct wound, failure to address it, and loss of community. Discussing his book After Church Hurt, he addresses both sheep hurt and shepherd hurt, urges looking to Christ as the Good Shepherd, and offers practical steps including diagnosing what happened, seeking legal counsel when crimes are involved, finding experienced counseling, easing back into church, planning conversations, and evaluating church accountability and culture. 00:00 Conference Intro 00:41 Meet Tim St John 01:24 Workshop Overview 03:11 Church Hurt Defined 06:11 Three Waves of Pain 08:16 After Church Hurt Book 08:34 Sheep and Shepherd Hurt 11:30 Hope in the Good…

People in this episode

Host: Michael

Guest: Tim St. John

Topics covered

• church hurt
• rebuilding churches
• abuse in churches
• healing
• Christian counseling
• theology of suffering

Keywords

• church hurt
• abuse
• healing
• counseling
• Christianity
• leadership
• community

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Association of Biblical Counselors

Books & works: After Church Hurt

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• EP. 219 Counseling Through Colossians: Living a Christ-Ruled Life W/Nathan Scroggins · July 10, 2026 · 34 min
• EP. 218 Biblicare: Everything You Need to Run Your Counseling Ministry W/Founder Dr. Bob Olender · July 3, 2026 · 30 min
• EP. 217 Recognizing Bitterness: When Pain Turns to Resentment W/Author & Biblical Counselor Shannon McCoy · June 29, 2026 · 27 min

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