Author Confessions: The Church Matters Even in Fiction

When I started writing my Orchard Hill Church series, I intentionally wanted a church to be the backdrop for all the main characters in the story because the church matters, even in fiction. The underlying connection in the Orchard Hill stories all comes back to the church. Why?

First of all,  the church is like a family in many ways, and to those who are devoted to following Jesus, the church is a foundational meeting place. Not all of them are safe places, or emotionally healthy, or possibly not theologically sound. I wanted to write about a church that could be the spiritually and emotionally healthy place for people to come. Because even if someone has had a negative experience with a local church, I wanted to make a fictional one where people could come and find a place to grow and belong regardless of life circumstances. Not as a substitute for the real church, but hopefully a template for someone to seek out in real life.

Secondly, accountability can play an important role in spiritual and emotional growth and maturity. In Pesto and Potholes, the first in that series, I wanted the church to be a safe place for Renata to find healing. She’d  been given bad information in a previous church (which does happen). Between help from a Women’s Ministry Director who guides Renata through her pain and a group of men who hold Tony accountable, the church played a vital role, not only in the emotional and spiritual growth of a couple but also their romance–but all in a way that honors God, not hormones.

Thirdly, I treasure the community of believers. While made of imperfect people, leaders and members alike, the church can and should be a force for good in our lives. Even writing Bratwurst and Bridges, where the main character was a pastor struggling with grief and identity I hoped to show that the church was made of fallible, struggling people, who sometimes fail. In Salsa and Speed Bumps – believers engage in judgement and condemnation without verifying the truth which has a painful consequence to our main characters, Stephanie and Roberto.

I’ve been wounded by people in the church. I’ve also experienced God using me in ways I never expected, by serving in the church and trusting healthy leadership. I’ve also had church leaders betray me and lie. Life is complicated and none of us are free from the impact of sin, or the tendency to sin or be influenced by toxic family histories. Even when things got tough, a former, no deceased pastor, had the axiom, “stay engaged through the pain.”

In a toxic church environment, people who are seeking truth and healing sometimes need to leave. We finally left a church where I walked away with some scars. We left more because we moved, but what should have been a much harder grief, instead brought relief. I’m grateful for the space of time in our new church which has restored my faith in the community of faith and where due to this season in my life, I can’t officially serve except to encourage people. No official ministry slot as I wait on God and test out the health of this community of flawed people. And it’s OK to be serving moment by moment as God puts me in a position to encourage or share truth from Scripture. I didn’t realize how much time I needed for healing.

Often in my stories characters will go to church and something, usually in a message, will spur them on to deeper faith and wiser choices in their walk to faith, or their walk of faith. I’ve tried writing without any faith line and failed. It didn’t work for me. The reality is, my faith is central to who I am. It is at my core and has to be expressed in my writing. And no matter how individuals at churches over the years have wounded me, I have used those moments to grow deeper in my faith with God, and thankfully, my love for the church at large.

The church matters, even in fiction, because faith is core to who we are as human beings, even if we don’t want to recognize the importance of the Creator who give us our next breath. It is always my hope that the stories will point to Jesus and that the Holy Spirit can draw them to Himself. Ultimately, my writing is an act of worship as I hope to encourage people to seek God or go deeper in their faith with him, all the while being entertained by a great story.

How do you view the church? Is it family to you? Or are you still finding that family? I’d love to hear about it and pray you find a place where you can be yourself as you grow in your relationship with God.