I found these comments by Erika Haub on a blog. Powerful.
A few years back, the church I was serving held a series of mid-week gathering times where a series of individuals in our church shared stories of their personal growth and struggle with sin, and the ways that God was at work in their lives (past and present) to heal them. It included one of our elders who stood up front and shared openly with us about regularly having sex with his wife before marriage, meanwhile serving as the perfect “leader” in the church throughout the entire time. It included a layperson’s testimony of infidelity and homosexual encounters over many years, meanwhile serving as a leader and mentor in a large parachurch ministry. We also heard from both of these men’s wives, and others in our church family. Their testimonies were followed by time in small groups where we could pray and share with one another. One night in particular stands out for me, and is relevant to this discussion here: we ended our time together with worship through singing, and the members of the team who had been giving testimonies, as well as some other leaders, stood at different points around the room and we were invited to go to them and to confess whatever sins we needed to share. After we confessed, they prayed for us and anointed our heads with oil.
I was stunned by the hunger I saw, in myself and in those around me, for this kind of practice, and for the way it opened up doors to healing that otherwise would have remained tightly shut.
This was not only a transformative worship experience in the moment; it taught me something powerful about the need in the church for places and times like this, and the desperation so many of us feel for an environment that is safe and honest where we can confess and be administered grace by our brothers and sister, in the name of Jesus.
Without practicing confession, I do not see how any of us can survive the journey of faith we are called to by Jesus. Those of us who are pastors need to think seriously about how to model and invite this kind of corporate life of grace to thrive in our families of faith.
