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WORK TITLE: Healing Spiritual Wounds
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.carolhowardmerritt.org/
CITY: Chattanooga
STATE: TN
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.carolhowardmerritt.org/about.html * https://www.christiancentury.org/About%20Carol%20Howard%20Merritt * https://www.faithandleadership.com/carol-howard-merritt
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married Brian Merritt (a pastor and activist); children: Calla.
EDUCATION:Attended Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Minister, writer, and educator. Presbyterian minister, served in various congregations, including in Louisiana, Rhode Island, and Washington, DC; University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Dubuque, IW, adjunct faculty member; Center for Progressive Renewal, Atlanta, GA, senior consultant; UNCO, Conroe, TX, founder and host, beginning c. 2011. Also co-hosts the podcast, God Complex Radio; served as Moderator of the Special General Assembly Committee on the Nature of the Church in the 21st Century, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
WRITINGS
Contributor to books, including Banned Questions about Christians, Chalice Press (St. Louis, MO), 2013. Contributor to websites, magazines, and journals.
SIDELIGHTS
Carol Howard Merritt is a minister and a keynote speaker focusing primarily on ministering in a new generation. Raised a conservative Baptist, Merritt attended a fundamentalist Bible college and then went on to serve several congregations as a Presbyterian minister, from Louisiana to Rhode Island. She is also founder of UNCO, which describes itself as an an open-space “unconference” for all denominations of church leaders. In addition she cohosts the God Complex podcast.
Tribal Church
Merritt is also a contributor to books and periodicals and author or coauthor of books, beginning with Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation. The book focuses on how churches can approach young adults in a more relatable way. Merritt discusses the numerous influences on modern young adults, including social, familial, and financial situations. She then provides her thoughts on how to develop a place that fosters intergenerational connections, which she sees as vital to churches approaching young adults in their efforts to nurture spiritual growth .
“Her ideas are not intended as theoretical constructs, but as a flexible working model based on her experiences in ministry,” wrote a So What Faith website contributor. Anthony B. Robinson, writing for the Christian Century, recommended the book to pastors wondering “where Generation X has gone.” Merritt’s next book, Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation, continued her discussion of ministering to a modern generation.
Healing Spiritual Wounds
In Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a Loving God after Experiencing a Hurtful Church, Merritt examines how churches have hurt people and how they can help renew their sense of faith. Merritt writes about how she relates through experience, noting her conservative Baptist upbringing and abusive father. Then, when she attended Bible college, she could not identify with the fundamentalist philosophy of a wrathful god.
Merritt goes on to point out the many ways peoples’ experiences with church and organized religious organizations can be harmful. She points to sexism and homophobia and delves into religious politics. As a result, Merritt believes many of these churches and organizations failed to provide refuge and actually turned people away from god. “People have suffered religious abuse, which can be different from physical injury or psychological trauma,” Merritt writes in Healing Spiritual Wounds.
Merritt also addresses why she believes it its important for people to heal their spiritual wounds. She points out that many people have spiritual beliefs and orientations. As a result, denying them the benefits that can be had from such beliefs, especially the idea of a relationship with god, is damaging and amends need to be made. Drawing from scripture, prayers, and stories, Merritt guides readers through a path to potential healing.
“This book is joyful, but it’s also sobering, for it’s a reminder of how deeply religious practices can wound the spirit,” wrote Katherine Drury Wagner in Spirituality & Health Magazine. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted “Merritt’s tender prose, interesting stories, and practical, workbook-based approach.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Christian Century, October 21, 2008, Anthony B. Robinson, review of Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation, p. 29.
Publishers Weekly, December 12, 2016, review of Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a Loving God After Experiencing a Hurtful Church, p. 142.
Spirituality & Health Magazine, March-April, 2017, Katherine Drury Wagner, review of Healing Spiritual Wounds, p. 73.
ONLINE
Carol Howard Merritt Website, http://www.carolhowardmerritt.org (October 25, 2017).
Christian Century Online, https://www.christiancentury.org/ (October 25, 2017), brief author profile.
Faith and Leadership, https://www.faithandleadership.com/ (October 25, 2017), brief author profile.
So What Faith, http://sowhatfaith.com/ (April 9, 2014), review of Tribal Church.
Carol Howard Merritt
MINISTER, WRITER, TEACHER
Carol Howard Merritt is a minister, writer and teacher. Merritt has served Presbyterian (USA) churches in Louisiana, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. Her committee and board work with the church includes serving as Moderator of the Special General Assembly Committee on the Nature of the Church in the 21st Century. She is the author of the book "Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation" (Alban) and is a regular contributer to Christian Century, where she blogs at tribalchurch.org. In addition she is a founder and host of UNCO, an open-space “unconference” for church leaders.
About Carol Howard Merritt
photo of Carol Howard Merritt
The Rev. Carol Howard Merritt (@CarolHoward) is an award-winning author, speaker, and minister. Carol is the author of Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a Loving God After Experiencing a Hurtful Church (HarperOne, February 2017), Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation (Alban), and Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation (Alban). She is a regular columnist at the Christian Century.
Carol is a senior consultant at the Center for Progressive Renewal. A founder and host of UNCO, an open-space “unconference” that attracts church leaders across denominations, Carol is also known for co-hosting a thought-provoking podcast, God Complex Radio, with the Rev. Derrick Weston.
About
Picture
Rev. Carol Howard Merritt (@CarolHoward) is a minister whose writing, speaking, and teaching is anchored in theological wisdom and sociological insight. She’s a sought-after keynote speaker, especially on the topic of ministering in a new generation.
After being raised as a conservative Baptist and attending a fundamentalist Bible college, Carol studied at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Texas and became a Presbyterian (USA) Minister. She’s known for serving growing Presbyterian (USA) churches, especially those with a deep commitment to serving the poor and disenfranchised.
A pastor for almost two decades, Carol has served Presbyterian (USA) churches in the swamps of Cajun Louisiana, a bayside village in Rhode Island, and an urban neighborhood of Washington, DC. Her committee and board work with the church includes serving as Moderator of the Special General Assembly Committee on the Nature of the Church in the 21st Century. This breadth and depth of practical experience informs her consultations with denominational governing bodies, seminaries, and local churches.
The award-winning author of Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation, Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation, and Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a Loving God After Experiencing a Hurtful Church. Carol is a frequent contributor to books, websites, magazines, and journals. She is a regular writer at the Christian Century where her blog is hosted.
Carol is an Adjunct Faculty member at Dubuque Theological Seminary and a Senior Consultant at Center for Progressive Renewal. She is a founder and host of UNCO, an open-space “unconference” that attracts church leaders across denominations and generations. Since 2011, a growing community of participants meets to generate ideas and develop plans for ministry. She co-hosts the thought-provoking podcast, God Complex Radio, with Rev. Derrick Weston.
When not at a podium, pulpit, or an airport, Carol can be found in Chattanooga, Tennessee with her pastor-activist husband, Brian Merritt, and their daughter, Calla.
Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a
Loving God after Experiencing a Hurtful Church
Katherine Drury Wagner
Spirituality & Health Magazine.
20.2 (March-April 2017): p73.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Spirituality & Health Magazine
http://www.spirituality-health.com/spirit/
Full Text:
Healing Spiritual Wounds
Reconnecting with a Loving God after Experiencing a Hurtful Church
By Carol Howard Merritt
HARPERONE
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
MANY OF US turn away from organized religion--even God--so hurt are we by encounters we've had with a faith's
sexism, homophobia, abuse, oppression, emotional manipulation, egomaniacal leadership.... I'm probably leaving
something off the list here. In her new book, the Rev. Carol Howard Merritt sees this painful schism and acknowledges
it, yet shares a healing path back to spirituality. It's a path she knows well herself: she survived a conservative Baptist
upbringing, abusive father, and wrathful fundamentalist Bible college before deciding, hey, there's a better way, and a
loving God. She's now a Presbyterian minister known for her work among the poor and disenfranchised, and the awardwinning
author of Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation and Refraining Hope: Vital Ministry in a New
Generation. She is also a cohost of the podcast "God Complex Radio."
So why bother? Why pick up the shards and reconnect with a spiritual practice? Because many people, Merritt notes,
"have a spiritual or theological orientation, and to eschew that would make us incomplete.... We've found that we need
to make amends with our past rather than severing it." In her book, she provides exercises for doing just that, for
reclaiming God, and hope, maybe even being "born again," again. She provides scriptural context, prayers, stories, and
ways to build community--all provide salve for old, toxic messages and tender places, leading the reader into a sense of
liberation and wholeness. This book is joyful, but it's also sobering, for it's a reminder of how deeply religious practices
can wound the spirit, and just how many people are still out there, right now, being pierced by cruelty in the name of
God.--KDW
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Wagner, Katherine Drury. "Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a Loving God after Experiencing a Hurtful
Church." Spirituality & Health Magazine, Mar.-Apr. 2017, p. 73. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA484460392&it=r&asid=473efe56c719cbc9135f0bebea5ab9b0.
Accessed 30 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A484460392
9/30/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a
Loving God After Experiencing a Hurtful Church
Publishers Weekly.
263.51 (Dec. 12, 2016): p142.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a Loving God After Experiencing a Hurtful Church
Carol Howard Merritt. HarperOne, $25.99
(240p) ISBN 978-0-06-239227-5
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Merritt (Tribal Church) soothes the sin-sick soul with religious balm. Having grown up in a violent household and
attended a fundamentalist church, she writes with startling honesty about the war that raged inside her childhood home
with the full complicity of church elders. Eventually she escaped to college, only to learn that the Moody Bible
Institute, a fundamentalist school in Chicago, was prepared to inflict the religious lash once again, its force multiplied
by sexism. After putting up with misogynistic treatment for years, Merritt decided to join the Presbyterian Church,
where she became a pastor. She now leads retreats for the religiously wounded that create safe places to discuss "all the
bitterness caused by the church ... while finding a way to hold on to the sweetness and wholeness and healing the
spiritual life can bring." The first step in healing, she writes, is to separate God from the wounds inflicted in his name.
The next step requires a process of repairing the results when people or communities violate the commandments to love
God, self, and neighbor. Merritt's tender prose, interesting stories, and practical, workbook-based approach make this
book invaluable for those working in what Pope Francis calls "the field hospital" of the church. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a Loving God After Experiencing a Hurtful Church." Publishers
Weekly, 12 Dec. 2016, p. 142. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475225114&it=r&asid=edf34268943adfed49cabb94e2012b2f.
Accessed 30 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475225114
9/30/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1506818301056 3/3
Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing
Generation
Anthony B. Robinson
The Christian Century.
125.21 (Oct. 21, 2008): p29.
COPYRIGHT 2008 The Christian Century Foundation
http://www.christiancentury.org
Full Text:
Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation. By Carol Howard Merritt. (Alban Institute, 208 pp., $17.00
paper back.) Pastors and congregations trying to figure out where Generation X has gone will find Merritt's book
extremely helpful. Merritt writes from inside the Gen X postmodern experience and as a mainline pastor.
Selected by Anthony B. Robinson, who teaches leadership at Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto and is the
author of Leadership for Vital Congregation.
Robinson, Anthony B.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Robinson, Anthony B. "Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation." The Christian Century, vol. 125, no. 21,
2008, p. 29. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA187694250&it=r&asid=84647c528f604be84d8379b4c6502b25.
Accessed 30 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A187694250
Review of Tribal Church
2010/04/09 By Greg 3 Comments
Merritt, Carol Howard. Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation. The Alban Institute, 2007.
Carol H MerrittMeet the Author
Rev. Merritt is an ordained Presbyterian Church, USA pastor. She has served congregations in Louisiana and Rhode Island. Currently she serves Western Presbyterian Church – an intergenerational church in Washington D.C. She and Bruce Reyes-Chow co-host the Internet talk radio show The God Complex. Tribal Church is Merritt’s first book and the basis of her blog.
Book BasicsTribal Church
Many young adults want to connect with communities of faith with rich traditions and are not at all inclined to attend contemporary worship or other services or programs aimed exclusively at their age group. The Tribal Church is Merritt’s proposal for how mainline congregations can reach out to younger adults, which she calls the missing generation. Her ideas are not intended as theoretical constructs, but as a flexible working model based on her experiences in ministry. Writing as both as a young adult and one with a proven record of ministry that is effective to incorporating increasing numbers of young adults, she suggests six strategies: intergenerational relationships, economic understanding, unambiguous inclusion, affirming traditions, shared leadership, and spiritual community.
So What?
Most mainline congregations are aging. Spiritual community is richest and strongest when all ages participate.
What have you done to reach out to young adults in their 20s and 30s in the last three years? What do you plan to do in the next three years?
Are Merritt’s six guidelines reflected in your attempts? If not, how might these be helpful constructs for future planning?
If you have had success in reaching young adults, what has worked for you? Share your story! Perhaps your challenge is to attract a different age group that is currently underrepresented in your congregation.