CoExist

Hello everyone,

I am a thirty-something kindergarten teacher from Germany who has always struggled with faith and has always had a complicated relationship with her own faith. I have always been curious and open about Christianity, but ever since I was a teenager I have been bumping into walls.  This has really stalled my growth as a person and even hurt it.

For the longest time I thought something was wrong with me and my character and my beliefs. Everybody else seemed to have a completely opposite idea of what Christianity was, and we could only find common ground when it came to Jesus - and here not even in all aspects.

I have struggled with fundamental Christians and their ideas, with prosperity-gospel Christians, and with ideas that made me go "if THIS is what Jesus taught, I guess I am not a follower." I felt completely shattered, lost, and alone.

Since I had rarely found inclusive Christians, I thought they rarely existed.  I still believed something was wrong with me. But a while ago I first heard the term "progressive Christianity" and I stumbled over the 8 Points that define it. I was sitting at my desk and I was just laughing. This was it. This was me. People like me. Incredible. So, safe to say, I am immensely happy to have found this place.

Finally I can continue to grow in my spiritual journey, and that is such a gift. I am like a sponge these days, on fire for God like I used to be when I was younger. I am seeking and reaching out, enlarging my faith, and I find so much joy in doing so.

Thanks for being a part of my journey.

I would personally like to progress toward a more inclusive behavior towards others, and would like for Christians in general to do the same. But I can only change myself, so there goes.

Today I am glad to find this board and I am also grateful for coffee.