A Personal Account

from a former member of Johnson Chapel Church

The following post was shared with me by a former member of Johnson Chapel Church who asked me to post on her behalf.

I was born and raised there, so I know about it. What I experienced was traumatic spiritual abuse.

The church was governed by the Hall family, and they made the decisions while I was there — and they still run it today. The abuse started around age 10 and lasted until I left at 21. I wanted to leave long before I did, but I was taught that if I left, I would likely die in a car wreck and go to hell. That kind of fear is powerful when you are a child trying to find your way.

We were required to wear dresses only, long hair, no makeup. I was bullied at school because of it. I was “turned out” multiple times — sitting on the back pew while people were told not to speak to me, and sometimes placed in a side room where I could see and hear everything but felt completely invisible. I was a child being publicly shamed.

I wasn’t allowed to hunt Easter eggs at church — I had to stand and watch the other children. I couldn’t spend time with my friends. I was cut off from family members who left, including my grandparents and my own brother for years. My parents, who loved each other deeply and were trying to raise six children, were intentionally separated and made to live in different homes.

And this is only the tip of a gigantic iceberg of the abuse I experienced during those 21 years.

It took me years to even step foot inside another church after I left. Not because I stopped believing in God, but because I had to learn that God was not the voice of fear and control that I was taught to hear.

A loving God pursued me anyway.