"Church leaders only care about your money and using you for free labor."
How it sounds in your head: Every sermon somehow ends at tithing. They guilt you into serving, then burn you out. I gave three years on the setup team and never even got a thank you—just asked to do more. It's a business disguised as ministry.
"Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock."
-- 1 Peter 5:2-3Source: Experience with manipulative leadership that prioritized programs over people, mixed with world's transactional view of all relationships.
He has personally experienced church leadership that was more concerned with filling volunteer slots than shepherding souls. Financial appeals felt constant while personal care felt absent, creating legitimate wounds.
Paul was so committed to NOT burdening the Thessalonians that he worked NIGHT AND DAY making tents while preaching the Gospel to them. He loved them so much he would have given not just the Gospel but his own life—the opposite of using people.
I REFUSE the lie that all leaders are manipulative users. IT IS WRITTEN that true shepherds serve willingly, not for dishonest gain, as examples not lords. I will not let wounded experience blind me to God's design for loving leadership. I am called to honor true shepherds and have discernment about false ones. IT IS WRITTEN that God Himself will judge shepherds who scatter the sheep—that's His job, not mine. I stand under the BARAK blessing where God PROTECTED His people even from bad leadership. I am not a resource to be exploited; I am a son being shepherded.
The Father is saying, 'I saw what they did. I saw how they used you and never saw you. That broke My heart because that's not MY heart. Let Me introduce you to leaders who reflect Me—who serve, not take. Your past doesn't have to define your future. Come back to the family; I have true fathers waiting.'