Growin Up Church

Sometimes in life ordinary objects can come to represent something more. I know from experience. In this episode I share why throwing away a worn and holy washcloth and towel has been especially challenging for me at this time in my life.

In this episode I decided to share something that I am learning in this season of my life and that is doing the hard work. I have wanted to quit so bad in this chapter of my life. I am not where I wanna be, not doing what I want to do and not really enjoying the process. But in spite of what I'm feeling and how it looks like and where I am. I know that I am doing the hard work.

If I could describe my relationship with the Lord these past few years it's that I've not lost my belief in God's existence. However, I do or have struggled to understand what it means to put my hope in God, especially when life hasn't turned out the way I expected it to.

Growing up in church for some, felt like having religion shoved down their throat. My older sister didn't grow up in church like my other siblings and I. She came to church and Christianity a little later in her childhood. And with that I could see how she could feel like her experience growing up felt forced. So we talked about it. And try to answer the question, what's the difference between growing up in a religious environment vs having religion forced on you?

In this episode, I talk about why there hasn't been any new episodes of the podcast for about a year and also why I created Growing Up Church and my initial vision for the podcast.

“What benefits do you find in belonging to Jesus?” This is a question a friend of mine and listener of the show asked if I could answer on the podcast. But I struggled to answer the question of belonging because I realized I didn't feel like I belonged. And that realization led me to ask myself “What does it mean to belong to Jesus?”. So to help me answer this question I invited two other friends of mine to help me answer this question. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Deconstructing one's faith is a process that I have started to become more aware about through various podcasts and social media posts but also something I know very little about. So in this episode I decided to invite my good friend Grace, co-host of the podcast Graced With Questions, to help me define what it means to deconstruct your faith along with why we don't talk about that in church. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this episode I reflect on what I learned about myself this year and how I plan on moving into 2022, Lord willing! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

I invited my good friend Lydia back to the GUC podcast to talk about her experience abroad in Bible college and how that has changed or even enlightened her personal relationship with God. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

On this episode of Growing Up Church my guest Lauren uses Facebook to have conversations about issues within the Christian church. So in this episode we're going to talk a little about her decision to have these conversations as well as have her share about her own growing up church experiences. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Minnie, Melody and Chrissy were guests on GUC last season for the Black Joy episode. In this episode they join me as we revisit that conversation and talk about how walking out their own faith looks like now. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this episode I reflect on the events of 2020 and how that has shaped my relationship with church now while also sharing how I’m moving forward in 2021.

In the final episode of season 1 of GUC I thought I would switch-gears and share a positive and uplifting story of a few black women finding some joy in the midst of the chaotic world around them.

The number of non-black people speaking up and speaking out against police brutality and racism in this country is more than we’ve seen in the past few years. So I spoke to two friends of mine, Jocelyn and Laura about their response as an ally and what you can or should do to be an ally right now.

Growing up in a predominantly black church I don’t remember many discussions about racism even though it was definitely happening and we were all talking about it outside of church. In this episode, my play cousin Chris Francois and I talk about the impact the killings of Ahmad Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd have had on us personally as well as grappling with our blackness and our Christian beliefs in this country.

Not all churches across the U. S. accepted not being able to have service during the pandemic. So in this episode my good friend Craig Fontes and Pastor Helene Robinson of Life Worship Center take a look at the cases some churches have made to justify staying open as well as what that says about “The Church” and where we are.

How do I show people that I’m a Christian? What does that look like? Those were such major questions for me growing up in church. And in this episode I invited my good friend Lydia back to discuss how we attempted to answer these questions in our youth and how we feel about these questions and our answers to them now as adults.

This is a special episode where I share with you the listener about how the idea originated and why it’s taken me so long to post another episode since the podcast debuted in October 2019.

In this episode my good friend Lydia and I discuss our relationship with church versus our relationship with God and the difference between the two.

A new a podcast about growing up in church and growing up churched hosted by me Trish_Pluggedn. Join me and my guests as we share our stories on our church experiences as well as our perspectives and observations about church culture and our spirituality. Coming this August.