church
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Those of you who have followed my writing for a while have either read or endured a few pieces from me about my faith, notably my evangelical upbringing and also more recently my stepping back from going to church. Trying to survive after falling off the evangelical cliff 1000 Days since I last went to…
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I written before that being involved in church as a teenager was a ‘safe place’ for me. It was a place to develop a bit of an identity, a space to have some importance – I was a junior leader, I was in the music group, I was part of the ‘Mens group’ from 18…
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So, I didn’t commit suicide aged 9. But everything was pretty dark. I survived to tell the tale. To tell my story To be my story. What did I do? Age 9, in those dark moments? At the time, I remember thinking that something didn’t sit right. That something was that however ‘normal’ I was…
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Turn up at a church youth group hiding scratch marks under your sleeve, or bruises on your arm, and you are treated as a project, someone who needs attention and even too damaged to be considered useful. Turn up as someone considered ‘mature for their age’, who thinks of others more than themselves, is able…
James Ballantyne 