Confessing community

Posted on 07. May, 2009 by in Fresh Ideas, Inspiration, Personal, Technology

The day before I left for Orange, I found something that truly bothered me. I was looking through the people who follow me on Twitter and I found one called secrettweet. It’s a twiiter page that allows anyone to anonymously post a secret. Want to get something off your chest? Tweet your secret at secrettweet. Great idea!

I started reading the tweets and I my heart was saddened. There were some cute and funny tweets, but the overwhelming majority broke my heart. I heard hurting and broken people expressing their pain and frustration. Read the list below. I didn’t have to fish for good ones, I found all of these on the first 3 or 4 pages.

  • my husband left me 7 months ago and i can’t stop using sex to try and get guys to love me.
  • I can’t wait for my children to leave home – then I can leave too
  • I’ve started mainlining heroin again. The thought of it alone makes me cry but I won’t stop.
  • I am a public face of PETA, but I love eating meat every week.
  • I worry that I’m not good enough or pretty enough for my husband. I hope he stays for the kids at least!
  • My girlfriend thinks her dog ran away.I took it to a pet adoption center cause i got tired of it crapping on the floor.
  • I’m 48 and I sleep with a teddy bear – it’s comforting
  • 10 years on and you’re still sleeping next to me but I don’t have a ring on my finger. One more year without it and then I’m leaving.
  • I’m an Evangelist that secretly likes to watch porn.
  • I’ve enrolled in night graduate school partly to spend less time around my wife.
  • when I’m alone in my car, I cry.
  • I graduate from college in 17 days and I’m scared to death… I really just don’t want to fail at life.
  • when i think about my future i can’t see anything…NOTHING AT ALL…which worries me so much
  • some times i just want to disappear
  • I’m 27 and I have three numbers in my cell phone contacts. One of them is myself.
  • I’m going to get my wife some flowers… its been a while.
  • i was happier when i made less money.
  • im really depressed and no one knows. i dont know how to tell my friends and family
  • I started to drink again….I know it will hurt everyone i care for. I do not care
Here’s the deal. Confessing is refreshing. It allows you to get something off your chest. However, if the problem isn’t dealt with, the pain and burden come right back. Here I see the need for a true confessing community where we can confess these pains and burdens to someone who cares and is willing to walk with you until it is gone or dealt with. I belong to a confessing community. Every Thursday I meet with four other guys. I tell them what I’m dealing with. They pray for me, but the do something even better. They ask me about it the next day and then the next.
It’s unfortunate that most people never experience this kind of community. It’s really sad that many Christ followers never experience this kind of community either. If you’re not in a community like this, find one!

Meet Kenny

Kenny Conley has written 1607 posts on CMO.

Kenny Conley is the primary author of Childrens Ministry Online and the NextGen Pastor at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. In addition to creating the Illuminate Conference, a high quality kidmin conference designed specifically for volunteers, Kenny is a published author and speaker. For more biographical info, click here.

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  • http://www.jabberfrog.com gina

    Kenny,
    Thanks for bringing this conversation to the table. Valuable stuff. The amount of people that struggle with things they rarely confess… well, it’s staggering. Sadly church isn’t always known to be a ‘safe’ place to share these struggles.

    I agree with you. Confession has it’s place. But if it isn’t followed with relational mentoring/accountability then healing is less likely. These online confessions should lead to a face-to-face confession. This brings the issue into the light, where God works. Healing and restoration will follow.

  • http://princessjes.wordpress.com princessjes

    I like these thoughts & definitely not surprised, sadly! The world we live in is so far from home & peace…
    I’m curious what others experiences have been in similar communities…It has got to become a reality in our lives!

    princessjes’s last blog post..THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!

  • http://www.childrensministryonline/blog Kenny

    I’ve been a part of “authentic” churches for many years. In some of these churches, “authentic” meant you can come to church with all your junk and you wouldn’t be judged. However, the staff didn’t really live it out. I could be dying on the inside and no one would know.

    I’m a part of a confessing community on my staff. There’s a handful of other guys who know what I’m dealing with, what I’m struggling with and celebrating with me in victories. Although I’ve been a part of authentic “communities” for many years, I feel like I’m finally in a place where I can be authentic and it feels great!