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 Posted June 29th, 2009 by Pete Scazzero
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These are my further reflections , and changes, on the theological underpinnings and foundations for what it means to integrate emotionally healthy spirituality into our lives and the people we serve. It is much more than simply doing the small group material, Daily Offices, or the church-wide initiative. That is simply a beginning.
A larger, more expansive training along the lines of the twelve points listed below. Over the next few weeks, I will blog on each and their implications for us.
1. Theology- We must root our lives and churches in the living Jesus who is God Almighty as revealed in Scripture by the Holy Spirit. We are first and foremost about practices biblically rooted. We take seriously the model of the early church fathers (e.g. Ignatius of Antioch, Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria, Basil, Gregory the Great, Augustine, Iraneus and others) who were leaders of local churches or bishops, theologians who studied Scripture seriously as they engaged culture, and monastics who prayed their theology. They didn’t simply, for example, articulate our present understanding of the Trinity intellectually. They sought to live in communion with the Trinity. We are not CEO’s, psychologists, social workers or orators. Rather we seek to be men and women who lead our churches from deep, experiential knowledge of God’s Word.
2. A Humble Spirit to Learn from the Whole Church – We affirm our evangelical roots and, at the same time, learn from the larger, global church. We are part of a church family that goes back to Pentecost and the early church, anchoring ourselves in the Nicene Creed of 325 AD that reminds us, that we are part of “one, holy, catholic (i.e. universal) and apostolic church.” God calls us to advance His kingdom and be generous towards those streams in the church that are different from ours –- Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, or Pentecostal.
3. A Sense of Global Church History– EHS requires a basic understanding of church history. This includes the early heresies out of which our faith was forged (e.g. gnosticism, the nature of Christ, Trinitarian theology), splits through church history (East and West in 1054 AD, the Reformation, Anglican, Protestantism), and the many hard lessons learned through the hard lessons of history.
4. Contemplative, Monastic Spirituality – The worldliness that dominates the church today parallels that of the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th century. Following the example of Moses, Elijah, John the Baptism and Jesus, the desert fathers fled to the desert to seek God, we too must find our deserts in the midst of our activity for Christ. We can learn a great deal from the contemplative, monastic tradition as we seek to remain rooted as we engage the world with the gospel. In our day, we need to develop rhythms and a deep spirituality from which we can hear God clearly and identify the idols both around and in us.
5. Integrity in Our Leadership – Church transformation and growth begins with the integrity of ourselves as pastors and leaders. As goes the leader, so goes the church. We must help one another, and our churches to be truth tellers – to ourselves and others. It means a refusal to lie, exaggerate or use the ministry to bolster a false sense of self. We must also call one another to summon the courage to actually lead our churches to maturity and fruitfulness regardless of the personal cost to us. �
6. Emotionally Healthy Practices – Leading a healthy community requires mastering new practices out of which people can now relate, in Christ, in a way different than their family of origin. Clean fighting, clarifying expectations, learning to speak clearly, directly, honestly and respectfully, listening fully like Christ, exploring our icebergs, for example, are new skills we bring to our boards, staff teams, small groups and communities.
7. The Marriage Covenant– Focusing on marriage as central to our spiritual formation is rarely talked about at seminaries or pastoral leadership conferences. This tragedy is unbiblical (1 Tim. 3:6-7) and an “elephant in the room” of our churches. If we as leaders cannot work out the power of the gospel in our own homes first, we will not be able to bring that power to our churches. For leaders who are married, this is our first priority after Christ. We receive this limit as God’s gift to us who are married. For this reason, a strong marriage and family ministry is a natural outgrowth for emotionally healthy churches.
8. Sexuality – Discipleship in our sexuality is central to our following of Christ. Sexuality is no longer a side issue. Learning to commune and connect with our spouses, distinguishing sensuality and sexuality, and understanding sexuality as a pointer to our marriage with Christ that will culminate in union and oneness, are all examples of the kind of gifts we now bring into our homes and churches.
9. Calling, Life and Work –A biblical theology eliminates the sacred/secular divide in our lives. Every Christian is called (not simply pastors and missionaries). That calling extends to every part of our lives, be it home, work, church, neighborhood, or our prayer life. Part of emotionally healthy spirituality leads to equipping our people in a theology of work. We equip and commission our people to create and shape for Christ in their workplace, push back the chaotic forces of the evil one, and build community in those places.
10. Preaching and Teaching – The most important element for pastors/leaders to become better preachers is to continue working on our own spiritual formation. Our preaching now flows out of a contemplative life. We pray deeply over the Word we teach, now taking the time to allow truth to gestate and be birthed through us. This is a new way of leading the church, requiring study, time, reflection and, most importantly, a life of communion with God.
11. Bringing Christ to Culture (Contextualization) — We are deeply committed to lead people to a deep, personal relationship with Jesus. Our challenge today is to adapt our structures and ways of doing church to best communicate Him in our rapidly changing culture. In a world of twitter, blogs and YouTube, along with increased globalization, what will it mean for us to preach Jesus effectively in our generation? How can we be rooted in our rich, ancient past, while at the same time, break new ground in contextualizing the gospel in our cultures?
12. Bridging Racial, Cultural, Economic and Gender Barriers – A critical issue for the church in the 21st century is the development of leadership and churches that can bridge racial, cultural and economic barriers. The principles around emotional health, over the last 13 years, were developed around this commitment and vision. We seek to apply the power of the gospel, as seen in the book of Acts and Ephesians, to break down the dividing walls that continue to keep the 21st century church segregated by race, culture and class.
What do you think is missing? What might you delete? What are the challenges you see with this list?
Tags: church history and evangelicals, sexuality and leadership, Theological Foundations
I appreciate your list. My first impression was that you simply gathered up a collection of hot button issues for evangelicals. As I reflected further, however, it struck me that all of these topics relate to expressing our love for God and for people. Maybe it would be helpful to relate these points to those commands. I would also add something about living in community. It seems to me that many of us live very isolated lives. Doesn’t the pursuit of EHS require us to move beyond shallow relationships to experience a depth of community? I look forward to reading your posts on this.
Posted by: Bryan // June 30th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
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Posted by: HopeForYourFamily » Emotionally Healthy Spirituality // July 2nd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
I agree about the need for depth in relationships. I think we have become so “busy” with life that family, friends, and fellow Christians become lost in our lives. But, that leaves a void in ourselves that nothing else can fill, be it food, money, sex, or whatever we become adicted to.
Posted by: Evelyn // July 3rd, 2009 at 12:27 am
Bryan,
We are called to Christ first, community with others out of that relationship to Him, and finally, to mission to and in the world. I have been pastoring and leading our NLF church community for almost 22 years. That Benedictine “stability” has been an enormous gift. (Like marriage it has brought out my immaturities and been a source of profound transformation). I think EHS offers an “alone/together” community that does not diminish people but rather enables us to appreciate our differences. It also calls people to authenticity, integrity and truth-telling. Yesterday, a leader in a neighboring church shared with me that she did not think it would be a good idea if their church did the EHS church-wide initiative because it would cause people to get real about what was going on inside them. And they weren’t ready for that kind of church at this point. I didn’t quite know what to say.
Nonetheless, EHS assumes community, but I may now add it under one of my 12 points to ensure that it is clear.
Posted by: Pete Scazzero // July 6th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
hai Pete, recently i hear your message at eagle conference s’pore.actually my question is; is it making our family genogram is a way to be free fr generational curse/bad habits?thanks so much for bringing us back to true spirituality by monastic life.bryan-indonesia
Posted by: bryan // July 25th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Hi Pete,
In this article, you’ve addressed both contemplative, monastic spirituality and emotionally healthy practices to be exercised in a community. However, I’m finding it impossible to practice both simultaneously – how do you strike this balance?
Jeanne
Posted by: Jeanne // July 27th, 2009 at 6:18 am
I am currently reading your book, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality”. There are striking truths and spiritual realities in what you present. What’s interesting to me is Tenant #2 that you present above: A Humble Spirit to Learn the WHole Church. Now that’s a challenge and a half. Your book is challenging me. I’ve recently experienced some powerful breakthroughs in my understanding and walk with Christ through a teacher who I formerly rejected because of what I perceived as “a lack of love and compassion” from those who referred me to his ministry. That was seven years ago. The Holy SPirit has since used this man’s ministry to enlighten me to God’s true nature, the grace and power of GOd contained in the gospel, and many other truths that I’ve talked about or been “on the brink” of experiencing for years, but not knowing how to access them.
I still feel as though I’m at the door, possibly in the process of stepping through the threshhold, but it’s different this time. THis man comes from a tradition and a circle in the church that many reject because it is hard to grasp without revelation knowledge and in some views this “branch” of the Church is heretical. In fact, there are things you say in your book, that appear almost completely opposite to what I’ve been learning through this ministry. HOWEVER, I cannot easily dismiss them. I almost feel like I can distinguish some of what you’re saying as being different from what the Lord has been teaching me over the past year or so about Himself, BUT I cannot divorce it or discount it as non-essential to allowing God to truly penetrate my entire being and transform my life. The two perspectives seem to be in some respects polar opposites, yet I feel like the Lord is telling me that they are both His; that they must be married. This marriage and all that it entails, I believe, could be a huge key, to walking out that abundant life that He has promised. Hard to elaborate on that in this space right now, but if you look at what marriage is, the different design of a man and woman, and their respective roles in light of Scripture, and then apply to two “nearly opposite” theologies, becoming one, that kind of paints a picture of what I’m trying to communicate.
I was speaking about this with My wife and she seemed to bear witness with what I was sharing with her. I can’t really expound too much on it though b/c it’s brand new to me.
On a different but related note, we just finished a 5 week vacation (not as much of a sabattical as you referred to in one of your posts) and I was extremely challenged to worship in at lest three settings which were very different than mine. Parts of these experiences were dreadful yet I could glean something positive from each of them. Humility is key…walking that out without casting judgement on those who differ in their tradition of worship and even in their interpretation of the Scripture is not an easy thing for me!!!
Posted by: Sean // August 19th, 2009 at 6:09 am
I’m so glad I found this site…Keep up the good work
Posted by: Bill Bartmann // September 2nd, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Sorry it has taken so long to get back to me on your comments!
Bryan from Indonesia –Yes I believe doing a genogram can be one tool to break the negative power of our families of origin and cultures. There are other ways. The key is awareness of sinful patterns and behaviors in us as a result of our families, repentance and then putting on the new in Christ. It is solid discipleship as Jesus refers to it in Lk. 9:23.
Sean. Your journey and struggle sounds much like mine was a number of years ago. I recommend you get your hands on a good church history book. Many abound. It will broaden and enlarge your heart and perspective.
Posted by: Pete Scazzero // September 9th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I would like to express my admiration for your tenet 4. This emphasizes an aspect of Christianity that, as you say, the modern world desperately needs but woefully lacks. The importance of the Desert Fathers in this tradition cannot be exaggerated. Yet how many Christians nowadays have ever heard of them, or really know and understand how they lived and why?
With the express purpose of bringing these pioneers of true Christianity to the attention of today’s believers (and unbelievers!) I decided to present them in fictional form. Now the first part of my three-part novel “The Commandment”, entitled “The Desert and the City” has just been published and can be found at http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TheDesertandtheCity.html. The first pages can be read at http://www.thecommandment.blogspot.com. I feel certain that this is a book you and anyone who feels the same way about contemplative spirituality will really enjoy.
Posted by: Derek Bickerton // September 23rd, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I am very encouraged by these tenets, as they simply seem to arise from personal and corporate humility and all seem designed to lead to equality of welfare in the body of Christ. And that is what Christ taught, and Paul elaborated on, as the goal of our giving and our leadership.
I read a great book by Dr. Henry Cloud called “Boundaries” that taught how the Word of God contains all the teachings that indicate emotionally healthy ways of conducting relationships with others. It was amazing to see so many verses, read before, and have my eyes opened to the wisdom of them for honoring both others and myself in relationships. These tenets seem to reflect a similar depth of understanding of the Word of God.
As a newcomer to your church, I am very encouraged by these principles for church community. They are the kind of things that earn my trust, in a world where not everyone who says “Lord, Lord…” can be trusted.
Posted by: Christina Park // October 8th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I agree with the person who proposed that community life was important. I think it would be helpful to encourage people to live together in extended family type situations, in group homes, in living close together in a neighborhood and develop co-housing as well. All these situations can help people to save time,build relationships, encourage each other in their walk with Christ, save money, help those who have limited resources and everything else that comes with community life.
I have been very disillusioned with the church ever since I left it at age sixteen, and even now returning thirty years later. I think your book will help immensely.
Posted by: Patricia Mikkelson // November 19th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Hi Patricia,
As one who spent the early years of NLF living in close community here in Queens, I can only say that is it is much more costly than people realize. Without good leadership and a healthy understanding of emotional health, I would go very slowly.
Pete
Posted by: Pete Scazzero // November 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 am
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