healthy church
In Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (EHS), Peter Scazzero shares how understanding the connection between spiritual and emotional health made a radical transformation in both his personal life and ministry. The paradigm shift is:
“emotional health and spiritual health are inseparable. It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature” (19).
In examining his personal life and faith, Scazzero notes how emotional health was never discussed in relation to spirituality. He says emotional health “seemed to belong in a professional counselor’s vocabulary, not the vocabulary of the church” (15). He comments, “while I sincerely loved Jesus Christ and believed many truths about him, I was an emotional infant unwilling to look at my immaturity….my biblical knowledge, leadership positions, seminary training, experience, and skills had not changed that embarrassing reality” (19).
In reflecting on his ministry, Scazzero was frustrated by the lack of change in his congregation through the first seventeen years of his pastoral ministry. He tried every discipleship technique from Bible study, community building, prayer, worship, etc. to engage the congregation and it did not work. He emphasizes how contemporary spiritual formation and discipleship do not go deep enough; they provide a glimpse of spiritual growth without making lasting change.
The problem, according to Scazerro, was not understanding the connection between spiritual and emotional health. We, human beings, are created in God’s image with different components of who we are as people social, intellectual, spiritual, physical, and emotional; however, “human beings have an uncanny ability to live compartmentalized lives” (20). He notes how, “it’s so easy to compartmentalize God, relegating him to ‘Christian activities’ around church and our spiritual disciplines without thinking of him in the way we navigate our marriages, disciple our children, spend our money, enjoy our recreation, or even study for exams” (20). One of the signs of primary signs of emotional unhealth he discusses is “dividing life into “secular” and “sacred” components” (28).
The same is true for churches. Just as there is a connection between spiritual and emotional health, there is an inseparable connection between spiritual and administrative health. It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining administratively immature.
God created the church with different components: discipleship, evangelism, teaching, administration, etc. Unfortunately, sometimes for church leaders there is a tendency to compartmentalize the different elements of church life. Church leaders often treat ‘spiritual’ work as ‘sacred’ and ‘administrative’ work as ‘secular.’ Here are some of the thoughts I hear:
“I am not good at administration. I want to do ‘hands-on’ ministry.”
“I don’t have time for administrative work. Ministry is more important.”
“Administration is too complicated. Let someone else handle it.”
“When I talk about administration, I get overwhelmed and become disorganized because I do not know what to do next.”
However, Scazzero argues that “ignoring any aspect of who we are as men and women made in God’s image always results in destructive consequences” (20). Similarly, ignoring the administrative life of the church will result in destructive consequences.
In EHS, Scazzero outlines the top ten symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality. There are five similar symptoms of administratively unhealthy spirituality:
Dividing ministry into ‘secular’ and ‘sacred’. As mentioned, sometimes church leaders treat ‘spiritual’ work as ‘sacred’ and ‘administrative’ work as ‘secular’ as a justification to prioritize ‘spiritual’ work over ‘administrative’ work. Most, though not all, church leaders like leading Bible studies more than they like balancing budgets. But in doing so we put God in a box, limiting where He works in the life of the church. God does not fit into our categories; He is present and active in all areas of church life, including church administration. He can and does use it to build His Kingdom. As I have said before, ministry encompasses all the church does to serve the congregation and the community and that includes administration.
Using God to avoid governance. Unfortunately, there are church leaders who use God or Scripture or the Holy Spirit to try to justify their decision making. Scazzero describes it this way, “[church leaders make] pronouncements like, “The Lord told me I should do this,” when the truth is, “I think the Lord told me to do this” (23). The church needs governance and accountability because we live in a fallen world. Using God or Scripture as a ‘spiritual authority’ to avoid accountability, being challenged, or answering questions is a clear sign of spiritual and administrative unhealth.
Neglecting or delegating administrative responsibilities. Often church leaders who are overwhelmed by administrative responsibilities will either neglect administrative tasks or delegate them to staff, interns, or volunteers. They may even hire an executive pastor with a lot of business experience. While executive pastors can serve a vital role for the church (I love and deeply respect the executive pastor at our church), what makes someone a good businessperson may not make them a good church leader because there is a difference between leading a church and managing a business.
Being unwilling to admit failure - Nothing goes exactly according to plan. Everyone makes mistakes, including church leaders. Sadly, in an effort to maintain appearances church leaders often lack transparency. They hide mistakes, blame others, or only selectively share information with the congregation. Trust, transparency, vulnerability, and accountability are important components of church leadership (acknowledging that as Andy Crouch points in Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk, and True Flourishing, transparency may not always be vulnerability but rather calculated manipulation but more on that in a later post).
Over-spiritualizing challenges or conflict - Challenges and conflict whether spiritual, financial, personal, or administrative are an inevitable part of leading a church. But nobody likes conflict because conflict is hard. Sometimes as church leaders, there is a tendency to avoid conflict, particularly administrative conflict, by sweeping things under the rug. They may say things like, “do not worry about the details, God will provide” or “let’s take a week to pray about and rediscuss” with the hope that it will not be brought up again. That is not spiritual health; it is avoiding administrative responsibilities by over-spiritualizing conflict. There is a perspective that over-planning is the opposite of faithfulness but is not true; it is possible to be both faithful and prepared. Being a church leader requires engaging conflict and getting into the administrative weeds sometimes.
As a church leader, it is important to understand the relationship between the spiritual and administrative life of the church because just as it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature, it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining administratively immature.
There is a quote from Scazzero that resonates when looked at from a different perspective. In the book, Scazerro writes,
“It is true that some Christians live in the extreme of following their feelings in an unhealthy, unbiblical way. It is more common, however, to encounter Christians who do not believe they have permission to admit their feelings or express them openly. This applies especially to such “difficult” feelings such as fear, sadness, shame, anger, hurt, and pain…to feel is to be human. To minimize or deny what we feel is a distortion of what it means to be image bearers of God. To the degree that we are unable to express our emotions, we remain impaired in our ability to love God, others, and ourselves well…because our feelings are a components of what it means to be made in the image of God” (24).
Looking at it from a different perspective,
It is true that some Christians live in the extreme of administration in an unhealthy, unbiblical way. But it is more common to encounter Christians who do not believe they have permission to prioritize administration. To minimize or deny administration is a distortion of what it means to be image bearers of God. To the degree we are unable to talk about administration, we remain impaired in our ability to love God, others, and ourselves well…because administration is a component of what it means to be made in the image of God.
References
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero
Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk, and True Flourishing by Andy Crouch
