Here is the big question: What is the very best way to develop a church into a healing community? That is a question I pursued on my Doctorate after I heard a famous agnostic Psychologist say something so profound I have never forgotten it. The early Christian Churches were the most powerful healing communities that the world has ever seen. (O.H. Mowrer, 1969)
I returned from the University of Illinois conference dedicated to do everything I could to help contemporary churches once again become healing communities. The following comes from our book, Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty that is available from the Sweeten Life Bookstore.
We are committed to
the necessity of equipping and releasing the gifts of all the people into a supernaturally natural environment of
healing and growth. We have seen several churches develop communities of love,
power and truth so it can be done. Lay members with different gifts of helps,
healing, teaching, etc were equipped to care, pray and counsel. Each
congregation grew to be greater than the sum of the parts and built itself
up in love. Eph 4:16
There
are two aspects of a healing community. The first is called grace and truth to outsiders and
the second, healing flow for
insiders. Both point to the importance of our attitudes and behavior toward
people in pain. An attitude of grace and truth toward all persons outside the
group is the first essential. In Alcoholics Anonymous, it is the attitude of
the sober members toward those who
have not yet reached or sought sobriety. In church it is the attitude of the saints toward sinners, the insiders' view of those outside the
fold. It is the counselor's view of
those unable to help themselves that offers grace to the people most in need of
it. Healing congregations do not hoard their grace but lavish it on people in
the world.
When those who have been touched by God's
grace extend it to those outside, the fellowship is prepared to care and cure.
When those who have been personally loved with an everlasting love, show the
same kind of acceptance to the undeserving, there is movement toward becoming a
source of health. When sinners are
accepted, as they are, warts, struggles and failures intact, we can see a
family that will heal the broken hearted and set the captives free. This is the
grace-applied part of a healing community.
There is a second and important aspect of entering the fellowship. Along with an
attitude that accepts people with grace is an expectation that the wounded,
sinful, powerless person will not stay that way. A good hospital accepts sick
and hopeless patients but is never satisfied to leave them that way. Its health
care team has a better way. The doctors, nurses, aides and leaders are fully
committed to wellness but accomplish it by accepting the dying. If they succeed
only in acceptance but fail as healers their promises are empty lies.
The same is true for the church. Acceptance
is essential but not enough. Many loving
congregations fail to fully restore those who come. Love alone does bring some
healing. However, when we add His truth and power the healing is greater and
lasts longer. A church is different from
a club that requires standards of wealth, dress, and status to join. While
attending the Master's Golf Tournament in 1999, we found that entry to some of
the venues was open to only a few who wore specially colored badges. Only the
well connected were welcome. Scripture expressly prohibits that in church for
to make such distinctions violates the law of love as described in James 2:12.
On the other hand, we are not to be so
naive as to believe that all that come to our fellowship are without weakness,
sin, problems and immaturity. St. Paul makes it plain that spiritual leaders
are to restore those who are caught up in
trespasses and sins (Gal 6:14)
and equip those who are immature (Eph
4:11-25). For the church to refuse to mend the broken and restore sinners would
be like physicians and nurses who refuse medicine to the sick or teachers who
withhold knowledge from unlearned students. The most natural act of the church
is equipping the saints who are not yet “sainted”.
From
him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Eph. 4:16
In summary, the best way to heal hurting hearts is to equip the church members to love, care and encourage each other. More healing and growth come from family and friends who love and care for each other than from counseling and miracles.
We can call it Psycho/Spiritual/Relational equipping. It includes both Theory and Practice. Our books and video tapes were written to serve as equipping manuals at church. When we raise the level of healthy relationships at home, work and church the weak will become stronger ad the sick will be released from bondage.(See the free You Tube video by Steve Griebling on relating with the GREW Skills and my You Tube videos at Sweeten Life.)
2 comments:
Gary,
I hear you. But what I think the Church is not answering is how it goes about meeting this standard when the typical household consists of a mom and dad that both work outside the home, their work week hours continuing to expand, their commutes increasing in length and time, and their companies expecting them to constantly be connected to work through laptops and cell phones.
Back in 2005, many of the households of peers with whom we fellowshipped regularly were single income. Now, I don't know that any are. In fact, those that were most vehemently against becoming dual income were some of the first that had to relent to going that direction.
The Church in America is failing to address this issue while at the same time it talks about how the Church can achieve this goal or that, goals based on the availability of people who, for the most part, are not available because they have to live in an economy that assumes both parents work outside the home and has ramped up its demands to meet that new standard, pushing a single-income household closer to extinction.
Unless we find a radical way to deal with the typical work lives of men and women in the American Church, all these brave ideas and improved ideological standards will remain theoretical and unachievable.
The Church as a healing community sounds wonderful. Now if we could just get people to show up to do the healing.
Your points are well taken and I have seen the same movement away from marginal time to be involved with growth experiences. I will respond in a stream of extroverted ideas. 1. Set the goals to build relationships not just build knowledge. The current focus is data not life change. 2. Go with the people that are available and showing up. Some will remember my little reminder to "Go with those who want to grow and bless the rest". 3. Start small. 4. Build again and again. Do not change the topics so often.
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