I Wish My Church Knew...

Recently Her.meneutics asked people to enter a summer writing contest addressing what they wished their church knew. More than 150 women with ages ranging from 16 to 70+ responded from across the world. Here is the list of topics they submitted. "I wish my church knew . . ."the pain of miscarriagethe importance of female pastors as role modelsthat we don't have all the answersthat singles need ministry toothat we can learn something from the LGBT communitythe demands of women who workthe pervasiveness of mental illnessto teach us how to arguethe forgotten power of reciting the psalmsto stop looking for the next big thingthe needs of rural womenwhat it's like to be an evangelical introverthow to talk about addictionthe ministry opportunities for adults with disabilitieshow to make disciples out of senior citizenswhat it's really like to be a pastor's kidthe pain of domestic violence victimsthe effectiveness of intergenerational ministryto value preschoolers for their sake, not to reach their parentsthe struggles of chronic illnessthe practice of healing confessionwhat it's like to walk into a barthe dangers of being middle classhow many of us are dealing with depressionthat Christians don't need to mourn the loss of Christian Americathat worship isn't about usthat I love the church just the way it isthe place for stillness in the churchnot to pretend to be perfecthow to feel like familyThe editor wrote, "Some of these topics came up over and over again, especially ones related to mental illness, singleness, and introversion. The church isn't just for happy and healthy married extroverts. . . . "Here is one of the first essays, which comes from a single mom.How would you answer the question?