The Body of Christ Keeps the Score
Trauma is an embodied suffering. It lives in your bones, in your gut, in your nervous system. It is not simply all in your head. Trauma therapist Bessel van der Kolk made this abundantly clear in his text, The Body Keeps the Score. As I read this text, I could not help but ask myself, “how does the body of Christ keep the score?”
Trauma does not only happen to individuals, it also happens to communities. Congregations are not immune to this collective trauma. The imagery of the church as the body of Christ, and Kolk’s reminder to us that the body is marked by trauma, helps us understand how collective trauma impacts the life of the church. It is not merely all in the heads of the individuals. It does not easily pass. When a congregation does not take the proper time and steps to heal from experiences of collective trauma, it will continue to live on in the body of Christ. The effects of the trauma will be present in the church’s behaviors, values, and responses to conflict. Just like the smell of smoke can cause violent flashbacks to flood the mind of a fire survivor, particular hymns, phrases, or sights and sounds within a church building can cause a wounded congregation to relive trauma in such a way that they are unable to live out the mission and vision God has for them. This is not because they are sinful, not because they do not love Jesus, and not because they have lost sight of God’s mission for them. Rather, this can happen because there is trauma in their body and without healing, it will continue to shape their story as a congregation.
Maybe you’re a pastor reading this and you’ve been leading a church that seems stuck. No matter how many vision sermons you preach or mission events you hold, no matter how well you follow the leadership and revitalization books, nothing seems to generate movement. You’re beginning to wonder if the people you’re leading love Jesus at all. Can I ask you a question? Have you paused and looked for signs of wounding? Are the people you are leading still bleeding from a church split, past clergy abuse, a natural disaster that struck their neighborhoods? Have they lost a matriarch or patriarch who used to christen the altar each Sunday with tearful prayers for everyone’s children but whose absence now leaves a gaping hole on the altar marked only by well worn patches where those saintly knees once knelt?
Congregational trauma can come in all shapes and sizes and far too many churches are being asked to push forward into mission and vision without ever being presented with the opportunity to heal. The tragedy of congregational trauma is that the body of Christ is keeping the score all while seeking to follow the only one who can bind up their wounds.
If you are a pastor or church leader I want to invite you to do the following three things this week. I ask that you do these even if your church seems to be thriving.
Be Honest: Take an honest survey of your church’s history. Look over the past 15 years. Did you congregation walk through any point of great suffering? If you were not the pastor at the time, look at church records, ask members of the congregation to tell you the story of the church. Is there heartache there? What did COVID look like for your church? Was it a time of loss? A time of division? A time of anxiety? Be honest. In your honesty, ask yourself, how is your particular body of Christ keeping the score of this collective trauma?
Believe in a New Story: Believe your church can live out a new story. Believe that their trauma can be healed by Jesus. Believe that the answer to how your church can live out its mission and vision may lie in the healing of past traumas, even if that trauma took place over a decade ago. Believe and cling to hope, a hope your congregation may not even know they need.
Walk Towards a New Story: Once you have been honest with yourself regarding the history of your congregation and once you have chosen to believe in a new story, begin walking towards it. Walk, don’t run. Recognize that to walk towards that new story you will need to walk with your congregation, you will need to walk them through healing by constantly walking them to the Healer. This is not a task you ought to do alone. If you are at a place where you are ready to walk your congregation towards healing, we would love to partner with you. We are trained in addressing collective, congregational trauma. We believe in the radical hope and healing of Jesus and can slowly walk your faith community through healing that it might fully embody the mission God has for it.
