When the Church Wounds

When the Church Wounds: Moral Injury, Confession, and the Work of Repair examines the hidden spiritual and moral damage that occurs when churches, pastors, and religious institutions become sources of betrayal rather than places of healing. Drawing from pastoral experience, disaster spiritual care, theology, and lived stories, the book explores how moral injury develops when people are forced to carry the weight of silence, institutional protection, spiritual manipulation, exclusion, or unresolved harm within faith communities. Rather than offering simplistic answers or institutional defense, this book invites the church into honest confession and courageous self-examination. It argues that repair begins not with image management but with truth-telling, accountability, lament, and the recovery of human dignity. The purpose of the book is both pastoral and prophetic: to help wounded individuals name what has happened to them, while also challenging congregations and leaders to become communities capable of repentance, humility, and restoration. Ultimately, this work asks whether the church can still become a place where wounded souls are not hidden but genuinely seen, heard, and healed.