Emotionally Healthy Church Critique - Book Report/Review Example

? Religion and Theology Topic: The Emotionally Healthy Church Introduction Christ in the heart is more important than cross on the neck. Cross should not be a cover for the negativities within the heart, rather it needs to be the symbol of nobility of an individual. The book, “Emotionally Healthy Church” by Peter Scazzero (2003), goes to the roots of the problems confronting the administration of the Churches, and advocates the churning process that is needed to understand the vitals of Christianity. He argues, “Defensiveness, judgementalism, pride, arrogance, stubbornness, hypocrisy and compulsiveness” (p.27) have been the stumbling blocks in the administration of the Churches and instead of service, they render disservice to Christians in particular and humankind in general. The arguments and conclusions of the author are bold and beautiful. The role of emotional care in religious resolutions is of utmost importance. One of the cultural aspects that are sweeping all segments of life is religious adaption and interpretation of the basic tenets. The author has attempted to answer on this subject with remarkable insight. The new millennium church demands thorough knowledge of the religious texts (most importantly Bible) and skills and resources are needed to practice Pastoral Care. A vision that emanates from purity of heart and positive thinking are essential to do great works for God. Double standards and hypocrisy are least desired in religious practices. Magnificent mansions of the churches alone do not contribute to true spirituality. To lead the congregation in a church through the clear path of religion needs lots of study, internal discipline, depth of understanding and spiritual maturity. Parrot-like repetition of the sermons will soon turn the congregation lethargic and uninterested. New insights, interpretation of the revelations in tune with the changing circumstances without compromise on the fundamentals, are challenging tasks. Present state of affairs in the Churches: Scuzzero sees serious problems with the administration of the churches both from the spiritual and secular points of views. Implementation of the biblical virtues in the day to day activities is the real test of an individual. Unless one experiences spirituality and translates it into action in secular dealings, such scriptural revelations will turn out to parrot-like repetitions only. They will not contribute to the inner growth and spiritual advancement. An individual is the basic unit of the society. The deliverer of the sermons must possess the intrinsic spiritual dynamism to transform the attendees in the congregation. As the wise saying goes, when the thought process of an individual changes, the mind is changed; when the mind is changed, the man is changed; when the man is changed, he/she contribute to overall societal well-being. Unfortunately, according to the author, the churches have become the conflict-zones instead of being the conflict resolution centers. Truth undoubtedly has the capacity to liberate men from negativities, but superficial, cosmetic treatment in the name of truth will encourage wrong values. Spiritual maturity is not an instant process, but one’s practice has to be regular with reference to a particular goal. Its ultimate objective is to transcend the personal limitations and to understand the true import of universal brotherhood. During this journey, one has to forget past wounds, sins and failures, treat grief and loss as pairs of opposites of the same truth, alternative beats of the same heart, and thus make incarnation the model to truly love others. Scuzzero, besides being a spiritual minister, in secular terms he is the management expert. The arrangement of the topics in the books is done with managerial expertise. It is prudent to follow him in the order of the chapters in the book that will provide answer to the doubts of most of the church goers and make them aware of the true purpose of attending the church regularly to grasp the essence of the sermons. 1: When an individual is betrayed by the people upon whom one reposes trust, one turns cynical. Scazzero’s personal life was problematic due to broken relationships. He devoted his life in total to the service of the church to the point of neglecting his family. His marriage was on the verge of crumbling. He had fancy notions as to how Christians should react to conflict, and he did not challenge the troublesome people in his ministry well in time. As a result, much negativity crept into his ministry, and the overall image of his administration suffered. After true self-introspection and reposing total reliance on God, he began to live honestly, asserting his authority in the ministry wherever and whenever needed with a disciplined approach. This shift paid rich dividends and his lifestyle was adopted as a role model by others who ministered along with him. He was accepted as a leader worthy of emulation by others. This indicates that the impact of the actions is more than the influence of oratorical skills of a minister with those who attend sermons in the church. 2:In the true spiritual sense, family life and spiritual life are like the scale of justice. Both arms of the scale are equally important. God will certainly not expect of his devotee to serve his cause at the cost of causing suffering to the family. In the initial stages Scazzero had the same problem. That over-indulgence in the work of the ministry at the cost of the welfare of the family was like setting a wrong precedent to those Christians who visited his ministry regularly. Scazzereo was soon able to correct his emotional imbalance on that count and set a model to others. He taught them by example how emotional health was important to attain spiritual maturity in the real sense of the term. When the inner world of an individual is imbalanced, it can never be the abode of true spirituality and contribute to the growth of one’s personality. The internal tensions, will adversely impact the actions. 3: In this chapter, Scazzero is not afraid to tell the truth, that emotional health of the minister and responsibilities towards the members of his family are as important as the duties of the Church. Torturing one’s emotional health in the name of religious practices does not amount to rendering true service to Christ. Ministers will have to strike a careful balance and discharge their functions well as to create harmony and not acrimony. Family is the basic unit of the society. If there is no harmony in the family how societal well-being can be achieved? By creating stress to the mental health, by suppression of emotions and desires, one cannot be happy in the true sense of the term, nor does such an individual have authority to give sermons as to how to achieve happiness in life. An emotionally deviant mind will fail to attain spiritual progress. 4: Scazzero has authored this chapter as if it is the final testing ground for his intended change in the perspective in his life as a minister of the church. The word change is easiest of the one to pronounce but it can be achieved through difficult process. It consists of several milestones and many segments in life. Scazzero argues “True spirituality …takes us to the very heart of spirituality and discipleship- - breaking free from the destructive sinful patterns of our pasts to live the life of love God intends” (93). One has the load of past experiences to encounter that are not too glorious. Accept one’s limitations in life as per level of current spiritual progression from which the goal of change has to be launched. Understand grief and loss in their true perspective and to make incarnation as the Model to be followed with total obedience. Inspiration to progress has to be achieved by transgressing many limitations and hurdles. Normally an individual functions at two levels of his personality. The genuine one which the individual only knows ,and the other which he presents before different types of people. Once an individual decides to make the incarnation as the Model, the counterfeit aspect of the personality has to gradually disappear and the real one has to take proper shape. This process involves breaking the power of the past impressions in the mind, knowing the limitations gifted by God, taking the grief and loss in their proper perspective, and making sincere efforts to love all. When one decides to speak the truth without fear or favor, criticisms will follow and to accept such criticisms is the acid test to one’s functioning. It is normal for a minister in the church to expect approval of his congregation. Scazzero mentions about experience of going through such a test. He was to deliver a sermon for Homiletics class. Notwithstanding his newfound approach, he wished that he should not be criticized and must get approbation from the class. The difference this time was internally he was not afraid of the criticism, as it would not change his values. Nevertheless he desired appreciation for his sermon. He was aware of this inner turmoil, and sought the mercy of God to provide him with adequate spiritual and emotional strength to overcome the challenge. 5: In this chapter Scazzero further examines the process of transformation of the individual. To highlight the process, he mentions about the book “Glittering Images” by Susan Howatch, about an individual who has designed a framework of his image to be presented before the people. It has been polished well, so that others can appreciate it. The concerned individual is careful enough to guard the secrets of his real personality so that the others will not discover it. Thus, with the skill in the art of presentation an individual will not be able to achieve emotional growth. To beat the “glittering image,” one needs the grace of Jesus, so that internal changes in the personality occur and this is a tough and painful process. Scezzero argues, “Many people around us would like to fix, save, set us straight into becoming the people they would like” (85) but calls Christians to “live faithful to our true self by differentiation, i.e., defining one’s own life goals and values [from God] apart from the pressures of those around us” (82).One has to constantly chisel the negativities embedded in the inner being to attain perfection. 6: In this chapter Scazzero highlights and role and importance of the family. The family, in which one is born, is beyond one’s individual control, God’s grace plays the role in this area. An individual is the moot witness whether he is born into a healthiest, wealthiest or the poorest family. The emotional and spiritual journey has to commence from the given point, and one must transcend the inferiority complexes related to the family of birth. Some of the top most achievers are from the poorest families. In Church, irrespective of the status of an individual, all are brothers and sisters. The so-called identifications, that are parts of the ego, need to be surrendered before Jesus, who takes charge of the inner world of all the believers. It is to be noted that this is not the abject surrender of a weak personality. This is the dynamic surrender of a true believer in Christ. 7: Nobody should think of taking bath in the river, when all the waves are over. That situation will never come. The waves shall always be there and one has to challenge them and swim. The normal tendency of a human being is to wait, avoid or flee from the challenges and pain associated with any activity. We are angry sometimes that our prayers are not answered the way we requested God and instead he awarded us difficulties. We think that we are perfect and fault lies with the way God administers the world. We only expect success after success to be awarded to us and are not willing to tolerate failures. The corrective perspective is God makes us do great things through our weakness; in every weakness and failure God has plans to plant a seedling of success for us. He will use out talents and expertise in his overall plan to further the functioning of his Kingdom. He will mend the broken places and use them at the right time. He knows what is right for us and the right time of its deliverance. A leader needs to highlight this aspect and lead by example. He has to be honest in dealings and should not be a time-server. 8: To know one’s limitations and act within those limitations is the wisest and appropriate thing to do. These limitations mainly are in the area of age, health, intellect, wealth and children. One needs to estimate the level of progression in life and act within those limitations. This is the practical example one has to learn from the life of Jesus. He had ample opportunities to proclaim who he was but he waited for the appropriate time. He withstood the temptations of the Satan to rule the world, but he respected God’s plans to serve the humankind and adopted the noble and correct path of spirituality. 9: One has to treat grief and loss as the assets of life not liabilities. Understand them in the proper perspective and move beyond to grow. That is the will of God for the purpose of one’s existence. This is not to say that one should hide or suppress one’s emotions. That would be damaging one’s psyche unnecessarily. The bottom-line is, according to Suzzero, to allow the grief to take its normal course, without subduing the core of the personality of the individual. God will use the process of one’s grief for his overall cause. The persons, who have gone through the process of grief can help others facing similar contingencies in their lives. 10: Scazzero excels as a magnificent management consultant in this chapter. George Barna in his book, “Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of Christ,” argues, “Because Churches would be made up not merely members but of true disciples—men, women, boys and girls committed to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and growing daily in their knowledge, love and service to Him.”(6)Noble ideas merit a welcome acceptance, irrespective of the person from whom they have originated. Everyone has something tangible to contribute to life. Scazzero highlights the merits of listening and eulogizes it as a great art. He advises us to listen to others without being judgmental about the views articulated by the concerned individual. An individual may be right in his assessment, and on the basis of his viewpoints one may think to take the corrective measures. Act thus when it is necessary and do not act when it is not necessary, but give a patient hearing to the concerned individual. If that is not done, the complainant may avoid confronting us with his views. Strengths and Weakness of the Book Scazzero writes with conviction. His sincerity and passion for initiating tangible improvements in the administration of the churches is unquestionable. To drive home his points he has utilized every available writing tool, like spotlights on key points, questions for discussion, real-life examples of people at New Life after adopting the principles enunciated in the book in their practical life and the gainful change they are able to achieve, how churches can contribute to spiritual maturity of the people etc. Every issue taken up by him has been argued well, and concern and sincerity sprout forth from the bottom of his heart and he intensely desires the reformation process within the mindset of the ministers who are in charge of their Churches. I am unable to find any weak spots in his arguments. He has gone through the mill of administering the Church, and as such his arguments and conclusions have the validity of a research scholar. Being a spiritual individual, what he has articulated is believable. His suggestions for transformation of ministers are realistic. Conclusion Scazzero highlights the importation of emotional health of the individual that will lead to the societal transformation. This is the purpose for which the Churches have been established; the true message of God as transmitted through the incarnation of Christ mean, emotional health and spiritual health are alternative beats of the same heart. One is not complete without the other, and in the absence of emotional health, spiritual path will go haywire. An individual will be directionless and destination less, and full of selfishness and ego. Understand the deep love for us in Christ and shape your actions accordingly and then take things as they come, without worrying about the consequences. Treat the people in the same way you would have treated yourself in similar circumstances. Address your primary concerns well, for achieving true progress in the path of spirituality. Be true to your feelings and never try to manipulate them to your advantage. That temporary gain may be disadvantageous in the long run. Assess your strength, weaknesses and make a periodic review of your achievements and failures. Take lessons from your failures, and never get disappointed. God has a definite purpose in everything that he does for you. Outer embellishments and superficial changes in the management procedures cannot be of much use to transformation needed in the Churches. Beyond the outer changes, what is needed is the depth of the inner life of every Christian. That is to say, Christ in the heart is more important than cross on the neck. To achieve this transformation, the structural change in the entire pattern of life is needed, and Scazzero’s paradigm elucidates how a common Christian can achieve the goal of authentic transformation, which is the beginning of the spiritual progress. He has argued the present state of Christianity as propagated through the Churches at present, on the basis of two premises. Firstly, the need for every Christian to have a contemplative life by cultivating deep personal relationship with Christ. This means Christ is the centre of all the socio-spiritual activities. Secondly, to achieve the level of emotional maturity, which is complimentaty to achieving spiritual maturity. The latter will never be perfect before achieving the former. An emotionally immature individual cannot be truly spiritual. Mastering Bible and other spiritual texts, is but the beginning. That is not the hallmark of one’s spiritual level. An intellectually driven man need not be spiritual. Clever and interesting sermons will not make a man spiritual. Sitting at the feet of Jesus in contemplation will! Bibliography Barna, George. Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of Christ: WaterBrook Press, 2001, Print. Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives: Zondervan, 2003,Print Read More