Endorsement from Ed Hague, former PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) pastor:
I am a former PCA pastor who is as neurotic as they come. Covering my issues behind a cloak of perfectionistic spirituality, I spent over 30 years in ministry hiding from God, others and myself. I pretended that I was needy for Christ, but lived out of a false religious self that, in fact, wasn’t.
In the past 2 years, I have seen Karis Fellowships reach people with the gospel in ways that, with great hope, exposes their deep need for Christ and then brings healing to the hidden, dead places of their hearts. It has been astounding for me to observe. So much so, that I’m beginning to see that this ministry is even able to help someone as broken as me.
Pastors are the most neurotic people I know. We live with internal and external expectations that demand that we be “spiritual.” Sadly, this makes us reluctant to do our own inner work. Karis Fellowships requires that we drop our spiritual pretenses and walk toward Jesus broken, honest, and with the only hope in our hearts being the gospel. Nancy and her team are committed to walking beside you.
I endorse this ministry and recommend it to you wholeheartedly.
Ed Hague
Feedback from NHG students & KF members:
Picking up Neurosis and Human Growth was one of the best- and scariest- actions I’ve ever taken. My ‘got-it-together’ life was quickly unraveling and I didn’t have the energy to keep up the facade. So when a friend shared with such peace and clarity about her growth and discoveries through studying NHG, I knew I wanted to give it a try. What did I have to lose?I’ve now been active in this group for 4 years and I’ll tell you what I had to lose: stress and anxiety, double-mindedness, guilt and fear! In their place, I am learning a peace, mindfulness, freedom and courage that are transforming my life, my relationships, and my walk with God.
–30-something mother
While reading NHG, including even the chapter on my neurotic type, I did not experience the self-hate and loathing that I know some other KF members felt when they read their chapter; instead, I often was excited or even relieved to see how things “fell into place” or made sense about why I did the things I did or how the book explained clearly the underpinnings of so much that has gone in my life and my reactions to events around me.
–career Marine officer
Karis Fellowships entails much work, but it is so much more work to stay miserable, holding on to pain, suffering, and anger. This program gave me real steps to freedom.
–woman in Christian ministry for over 40 years
Neurosis and Human Growth explained why my Christian life wasn’t working. I didn’t know how lost I was, but I sure saw the evidence in my life. Karis Fellowships showed me how to look at the source of my pain and anxiety, and dig it out!— 50-something with years in the ministry
Joining KF has helped me envision a true and glorious life in Christ. Before KF, being a Christian seemed pretty bleak, but I didn’t want to go to Hell so I pressed on in hopes that one day I’d die and be free of my ‘sinful self’ and go to Heaven. Now, I see hope in this life, not just the next. I see redemption through real change, not just through forgiveness or the ‘covering’ of my sins. If that sounds like I am reducing the role of Jesus in my salvation I assure you that is not the case. Rather, I see salvation not as simply ‘making it into Heaven,’ but as a continual process of ‘becoming whole’ that begins in this life, making Jesus more real, personal and powerful than I had ever previously imagined.–Peace Corps volunteer
My Karis Fellowship group is the single most supportive, practical, genuinely helpful small group I’ve ever been in. And I’ve been in a lot during my years in the church.
– young married woman
Before the book study in my mind I was doing life perfectly, no flaws. I was a narcissist and proud of it. The book study showed me how weak and ineffective narcissism is, and also by discovering those weaknesses I could start working on it to be truly glorious and build real self-confidence. I came across to others as self-confident, but I was driven by what my audience wanted from me.— 20-something bi-cultural American professional
I used to think that other people were the cause of my pain and that as long as I had to deal with my own and other’s humanity, I couldn’t enjoy a peaceful or happy life. However, the more I utilize the NHG study and KF resources, the more I seem to be growing towards a truly peaceful, loving, and fulfilled life.
— young mother
It really struck me that Karis Fellowships is about self-healing. From the beginning I learned that my healing is my responsibility. That is how I want it. I am ready to learn what I need to do about my own healing, and how I want to get there.
–campus missionary, pastor’s wife, & founder of a Christian school
They diagnosed me with PSTD, a 70% disability. The symptoms have decreased since I have been in KF. Karis has been pivotal in my own personal development. Without it, and the relationships developed through the fellowship, I would not have been able to develop the tools and understanding for my own growth. Taking up this responsibility, and that of my own relationship with God, has been truly transformative. I’m thankful for the fellowship and the opportunities it has afforded me.— Iraqui war veteran
KF has made our marriage. We couldn’t be more grateful for all that you, Alison, and the team have done. You have blessed our marriage enormously. We could talk for hours about how much it’s helped us foster compassion, honesty, and love. So, THANK YOU. The KF ministry has deeply touched our lives and the lives around us as a result!
— MPC (Masters in Professional Counseling)
I wouldn’t be able to survive school without Karis Fellowships. Too much stress, pressure, and expectations. Before KF I would completely lose myself, depending on what others expect. You get punished or rewarded–always the fear of failing. You just dissolve or get miserable. I was in a cage of all the things I had to live up to. It is not a sustainable situation. KF helped me get out.
— veterinary school student
Anxiety. Guilt. Fear. If I could describe my life prior to Karis Fellowships, those would be the words I would choose. I was a successful business consultant who had been a Christian since childhood. On the outside, I looked very put together, but on the inside, I was suffering terribly. Most of my friends would have described me as one of the “sweetest people they knew,” and yet my constant frantic acts of kindness and service were driven by a frightening sense of obligation rather than genuine love. Now, after being introduced to the concepts in Neurosis and Human Growth and after training in Karis Fellowships for just over a year, I have a sense of hope for the very first time. I am successfully working to free myself from the fear and lies that entangled me for so long and to truly love God, myself, and others. As far as tangible evidence, my marriage is more peaceful, I am excited about my growing relationship with God, and I am on the path toward a fulfilling career for the first time. It is so exciting, and I am so grateful for this program.–young professional
I felt like I had a pretty stable faith life and participated in a daily relationship with God, but . . . I felt a strong desire to be set free from what I had come to over the last few years been able to identify as fear based behaviour, which was limiting my ability to fully realize my freedom in Christ and was keeping me from realizing the life God desired for me.
Now I feel like God answered my prayer in such a direct way! Behviours that I had once feared would forever rule my life have slowly but surely been fully identified and worked on, as well as some strongholds in my life that I didn’t even know existed. The life of Peace and calm that I truly never believed would ever be possible for me, because it never had been in the past, is with each day being realized more and more. I am amazed at all the ways God has set me free in the short time I have been in Karis Fellowships, I cannot even begin to imagine the person I will be in a year and so on.
— graduate student
KF has opened a perspective into the truth that I would never have dreamed possible. Humility, hope, rest, acceptance, and trust are some of the words that come to mind when I think of ways that it has helped me.
–thirty-something professional woman
Before KF, I was drowning. I wouldn’t and couldn’t open up and let those around me know how badly I needed help. In college, I had always appeared to be a bright, successful person, but I actually lived in great suffering about my imperfections. My intense desire for God was buffeted by my inability to banish the realization of what a terrible person I truly considered myself to be. Somewhere along the way, I entered a relationship that seemed to offer the salvation I needed from myself. It was great at first, but slowly changed into something that was sucking the very life out of me. I started KF out of complete desperation for something – anything – to give me relief from the quagmire of my life. Change came slowly, but within the first 18 months, I had grown enough to realize that I needed to change that relationship. KF saved my life, and saved the lives of my children. I cannot tell you how thankful I am. Not only did KF give me the strength to see the reality of my situation, it gave me the courage to act when action was needed. KF training uncovered and addressed the reasons that compelled me to get into that relationship in the first place – giving me the skills to avoid those kinds of mistakes in the future. The KF training and community has helped me improve all of my daily interactions and family relationships because KF has changed the way I see myself and others. It has helped me change how I respond to situations in life.
–forty-something mother
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