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Help Give Healing
To the Suffering
Within beEmboldened, we continue to launch new services that best help those suffering from religious harm and abuse. Our new sponsorship program is a huge move toward healing and rebuilding for those who have wrongfully suffered in this way!
Will you help us help them by giving to their financial need in the midst of their healing and rebuilding journey? We don't want resources to be the reason they don't get the support they have finally found.
Help Us Help Them
bE Testimonial
Working with beEmboldened and seeing God providing every step of the way gave me and my family hope in the midst of our darkest and most agonizing experience, when we felt as if our world had been flipped upside down. beEmboldened was, in every sense, a God-send to us, and now a part of this incredible story of God's power to work miracles and bring light in darkness.
bE Testimonial
Working with beEmboldened has been incredibly validating and healing. Religious conditioning can be invisible and run deep, even when we think we've left it behind.
bE Testimonial
I have so much gratitude for what you all have done and have been tearing up each time I think about writing this all and trying to summarize it. We got our loved one back. How can I express what this means?
bE Testimonial
Choosing to speak up, to ask for help, to seek counsel, has been one of the few sensible choices I have ever made in my life. And I thank God it happened. I have been speaking with beEmboldened only for a few months, and yet I can already see a difference.
What Sets Us Apart
beEmboldened exists to provide support in the prevention of and healing from harmful religious experiences.
The world of cults and religious abuse is messy. Good information and support can be hard to find, but this doesn't have to remain true. We are committed to offering you a trustworthy organization to serve as your hub for awareness, resources, training, and support. We want to be the place you know you can go for accurate information, helpful tools, and well-equipped support professionals throughout the world.
Through the years, we have developed a growing list of resources to help make all the difference for those suffering from religious abuse. And we are committed to continuing to do so.
Thank you for helping this dream become a reality for countless individuals and families who have been manipulated and exploited in the name of Christ!
100% of Donation Go Directly to Supporting Real People
100% of your donation goes directly to their support services. Any potential leftover funds will be reallocated to another individual's need for support services.
Tax Deductible Giving
beEmboldened is a 501(c)(3), so your donation to their healing and support is tax-deductible
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Why is Sponsorship Essential?
Financial exploitation is often part of someone's religious abuse story, and we need to do something about this. Currently, we have individuals who were tragically impacted by harmful religious leadership and are in need of support services, but they don't have the resources.
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Need: $920/month (Group, 6 Months)
Funded: 20%
Age: Group
Gender: Males & Females
Hobbies: n/a
“‘Church’ fits the exact same example of a bully pulpit. Our pastor shamed us, guilted us from the pulpit, and made us question God’s love for us. Being on staff has given us a deeper look into the extremely unhealthy foundations our church was built upon. We have longed for the day that our church could function with a gentle and loving shepherd, not someone who makes you dread coming to church every time. We are thankful to know the Lord, but the toll it has taken on us mentally to try to be a truth seeker in a toxic environment has become a burden that has become more than we can bear.”
One of them, a relative of the pastor at “Church,” has this to share:
“This is a new term for me; calling what we have been through spiritual abuse is hard. Even though I know it checks all of the boxes of church abuse, it’s hard to use such strong terminology. Unfortunately, the term is one I am familiar with and have been most of my life.
This is deep and I don’t know how to accurately put the depths of it all into writing in such few words when there have been so many words spoken. My pastor also happens to be a relative, which makes it a very complicated abuse and a complex grieving to get over it. We have been there a long time, all of my Christian walk, and I don’t know anything else. Because of that, my experience with spiritual abuse has been lengthy. It’s hard to believe all that has happened is not my fault.”
As a group, the individuals at “Church” hope to gain the following through mentorship with beEmboldened:
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To feel loved by God again.
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To work through the deep shame they feel.
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Knowledge on how to guide their children toward healing and a healthy view of God.
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To know God again and His character. “I can’t seem to see Him past this block/wall and I don’t know what the block is. I would like to gain knowledge on how to move forward and find healing in this.”
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How to talk about their experiences and how that may have affected/continue to affect their relationships with God.
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Learn tools for how to choose a healthy church moving forward. “Talking about choosing a church right now seems overwhelmingly scary.”
Program: Because of your generosity, "Church" will receive a combination of 1:1 and group mentoring support for the duration of their program. In addition, they will have the opportunity to participate in a beEmboldened course of their choosing.
"Church" Group
Meet Our Sponsees
*Names of Sponsees have been changed to proect their identity.
Change is happening, but they still need your help!
Sponsorship candidates are vetted by the bE team for need, and are required to contribute what they are able toward their services. Your support fills in the gap that stands in the way of them moving forward toward healing and rebuilding.
Need: $590/month
Funded: 34%
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Hobbies: "I love to sing!"
"Working as a nurse through Covid, I had a mental crisis. This led to me leaving my job to follow two friends from my town's music scene to live in a commune. In retrospect, it turned out that I was being stalked by a cult network, who capitalized on my struggle to recruit me. The group had satanic overtones and the members were heinous. I fled for my life and received multiple death threats from unfamiliar faces across state lines. This is also how I came to faith, though. I believe Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he helped me to escape."
Program: Because of your generosity, Asa will receive weekly 1:1 mentoring support for the duration of his program. In addition, he will have the opportunity to participate in a weekly support group, facilitated by the bE team, as soon as the necessary funding is available to him.
Asa
Need: $0
Funded: 100%
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Hobbies: Family, Coffee, Reading
A message from Rachel:
"I'd like to thank you for helping me in my healing. The mentoring I have received has made a huge impact in my life, and I don't know how I would have left the harmful situation I was in without it. Thank you so much for your compassion and generosity! From the bottom of my heart, God bless you."
Program: Rachel received weekly 1:1 mentoring support, as well as participated in our seasonal curriculum offerings.
Rachel has graduated!
Need: $500/month
Funded: 20%
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Hobbies: Creating, writing, biking, climbing
"At 13, a 'brother' in my community preached a sermon that God gave last chances while people were living and salvation would forever be cut off from a person if they didn’t accept salvation in that moment. I had been led to believe that experiencing sexual desire crossed my name out of the 'lamb's book of life', though, so as a new teenager, I was lost forever. It was this moment that I started self-harming and experiencing intense existential fits of despair. This culminated in my running away from home, being tricked into coming back, then being grilled by my whole family, violated, then 'exorcised.' This was my first out-of-body traumatic experience.
When I started getting better, I started working hard at music and achieving at it. I made the front page of the newspaper, and was quickly after rebuked by the church, removed from the prayer list, and my parents lost their church positions. When the church assassinated my character and rebuked my family for playing music, my relationship to music became complex. As a career musician, this has altered my ability to do what I do. Before I left the cult, I expected to be raptured before I saw adulthood. In adulthood outside of my ex-cult group, my under-preparedness for 'the world' has made simple things unnavigable and completely overwhelming."
Program: Because of your generosity, Jack will receive weekly 1:1 mentoring support for the duration of his program. In addition, he will have the opportunity to participate in a weekly support group, facilitated by the bE team, as soon as the necessary funding is available to him.
Jack
