Living Out Freedom Conference

Why is beEmboldened creating a conference?

Since beEmboldened was founded in 2020, it has been deeply encouraging to see an increasing number of resources popping up within the context of spiritual abuse throughout the United States and beyond.

As we’ve had the privilege to engage with various support options, we’ve noticed an empty space that we’re hoping to fill: a space for empathy and strengthening in both trauma and in knowledge of the Christian faith. An intersection of the two.

• Who is God, really, and how can we know?
• How does the Holy Spirit interact with us?
• How do I read my Bible…when I’ve been beaten over the head with it?
• Is there room for mental health in Christianity?
• Can doctrine be right, but the approach be wrong, and if so, can I be upset about it?
• Where on God’s green earth is there a healthy church and what does that even look like?
• What’s up with all this forgiveness stuff, because I’m still suffocating over here?

Yes, we have experienced trauma, and yes, we need to talk about how that affects our bodies, our lives, and our relationships. beEmboldened loves these topics–our first ever digital course expands on them in detail and we have related conversations most days of the week. We are committed to continuing to bring awareness and understanding to this area, while coupling these topics with the big questions we tend to have about God and the Christian faith.

Practical, important questions that are not starting off on a clean slate by any means. No, instead that slate has been shattered and we’re staring at the shards in our skin wondering how to move in any direction without bleeding out. So, we want to talk about this, too. We want to provide a place to talk about these questions, coming from within the context of spiritual abuse. Because spiritual abuse changes these questions…they sound like the same questions, but they’re not. They’re loaded now. They’re pain-filled. And they matter in a new way–a deep way, sometimes a desperate way.

The Living Out Freedom Conference is for these questions, posed from this background. Whether you’re a survivor yourself, you love someone who has suffered, you’re a leader desiring to come alongside others, or you want to prevent spiritual abuse: this event has been designed for you.