Christian author Jen Hatmaker: “I’m out of the church right now”
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
The bestselling Christian author and speaker Jen Hatmaker has recently told Time magazine, “I’m out of the church right now. … I don’t even know what church could or would be for me just as a person.” Even if the church does not disappoint us, God often does. Choosing to trust him when we don’t understand him shows that our trust is not based on our circumstances. This positions us to experience him on a level that changes our lives. Today, we discuss three ways this has been true for Jim personally and encourage you to believe that there is more to your story with God than you can know today.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025. Welcome to the Daily Article podcast from Denison Forum. |
| 0:09.0 | Today's daily article is written by cultural theologian Dr. Jim Denison and narrated by Chris Elkins. |
| 0:16.7 | The best-selling author and speaker, Jen Hatmaker, headlined women's events and conferences |
| 0:23.1 | and was profiled in Christianity today. She and her husband founded a church in Austin. Their |
| 0:29.1 | family was featured in an HG TV series. In 2020, she announced that she and her husband were |
| 0:35.7 | divorcing. In May 2021, she stopped attending church services. |
| 0:41.0 | She has now written a memoir of her experience titled, Awake, and has been interviewed by the New York Times and Time. |
| 0:49.1 | In time, she said, I'm out of the church right now. I don't know that I will ever go back, and I don't know |
| 0:55.9 | that I will never go back. I grew up under the steeples. My dad was a pastor. I married one, and I have |
| 1:02.8 | always been a part of the machine. I was a leader. I was an organizer. I was a pastor. I don't even know |
| 1:09.3 | what church could or would be for me just as a person. |
| 1:13.2 | My lifelong exposure has left me in a place where I know too much. I have been a part of the |
| 1:19.5 | problem, so I need a break from the machine. End quote. I've never met Jen Hatmaker and cannot |
| 1:25.6 | imagine her pain of recent years. But if I had a relationship by which to speak to her about it, I would think with her about her statement, I don't even know what church could or would be for me just as a person. |
| 1:38.7 | As emphatically as possible, I would suggest that the only way to find out is to try. If she chooses to stay away |
| 1:46.3 | from the church, she obviously will not experience how Jesus can work through his body to heal |
| 1:52.3 | and redeem her suffering, referencing 1 Corinthians 12 verse 27. This issue is much larger than |
| 1:58.4 | Jen Hatmaker's story. Clergy abuse has damaged untold numbers of victims, many of them children. |
| 2:04.7 | Many churches in the South were complicit in slavery and Jim Crow racism. |
| 2:09.4 | Many of us have stories of pain resulting from Christians who were far from the character of Christ. |
| 2:15.1 | And even if the church does not disappoint us, God often does. |
| 2:19.9 | My father was very active in his church before he served in World War II and experienced such |
... |
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