What is and What is Not Church Trauma?

Until relatively recently, there was very little if any discussion of church trauma. Now there is a lot of discussion on this topic, often from two very different perspectives.

Is trauma real?

There are those who see church trauma everywhere. The truth is if you are looking for signs of church trauma, you are going to find it. This is especially true if trauma is not carefully defined. If it has a wide definition, you will see signs of it in most churches.

There are those who dismiss claims of church trauma. These accusations are just thin skinned people whose feelings are easily hurt. If people would just toughen up and not get so offended, all this trauma talk would disappear.

I have problems with both of these positions.

What is church trauma?

I do believe that church trauma is a real thing but I don’t think that every experience of being offended or of having conflict is church trauma.

One definition taken from Julia Schwab Therapy defines religious trauma is this:

Religious trauma is the result of different experiences that occur in a religious community, within a church, or spiritual community that exposes the members to indoctrination messages, coercion, humiliation, embarrassment, and abuse.

There is some truth to this definition but there are problems as well. A person who leaves a faith community and no longer holds to the central tenets of that community may see their experience in that community as trauma. But is it?

The APA defines trauma as:

Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, or natural disaster.

This brings us to the question of whether trauma is just in the eye of the victim. That is, is trauma something that exists in reality or is it just how an individual might experience some random event?

The traditional understanding of trauma, as defined by the APA, is that the response is based on a real event and that trauma is what a typical person would experience going through that. A victim of a rape experiences trauma, not because they are being too sensitive, but because rape is a traumatizing event.

How does this fit with church trauma? People are always going to find things they do not like from leadership. I have had people complain about the direction I am taking a church. That may be stressful for the member, but that is not trauma.

Church trauma is real

But there are things that happen in churches that is real trauma. An obvious case is that of the rampant sexual abuse by pastors and other leaders. Not just the sexual abuse, but the abuse of power that is used to keep victims quiet. This can be done by the larger leadership who may be afraid of what revelations of sexual abuse will do to givings.

However, there are other cases that have nothing to do with sexual abuse. Power structures that are put into place to keep people under control and to reward unquestioning obedience. Mark Dricscoll’s leadership at Mars Hill is an example of this.

What about theological teachings? If someone disagrees with the theology that is being preached, is it trauma? Just disagreeing over theology is not trauma but theology can be used to traumatize. Some examples include the ways some churches have used the doctrine of hell or rapture theology to create a climate of fear in which they can maintain control of their people.

Personal thoughts

Have I experienced church trauma?

I would not consider myself a victim of church trauma. I have had interactions with pastors with unhealthy leadership styles that were very difficult and created anxiety for me. But that was not trauma.

However, I have talked to enough people who have experienced trauma to understand that it is a real thing. Even if people are wrongly describing some experiences as trauma, we should not use that as an excuse to dismiss church trauma.

When there are claims of trauma, they should be investigated. If there has been wrongdoing, it should be corrected. Victims should be treated with compassion and joined in their journey of healing.

We are in a season in which those who once ruled their congregations with no accountability are being brought into the open. As pastors and other leaders are no longer untouchable, there will be people will want to label their bad church experiences as trauma. That is part of the process of moving toward more healthy leadership and church structures.