Trauma in the Pews

Summary: A guide to understanding spiritual development and practices with a trauma-informed lens. 

As a spiritual director, I have been thinking about the role of trauma regarding spiritual direction. My training included a whole class on psychology and spiritual formation, primarily focused on ways to avoid moving into counseling or understanding our limits regarding addiction or other mental health issues. But there was no training directly about the role of trauma.

My wife is a teacher and has participated in training with the Attachment and Trauma Network (ATN), a non-profit that attempts to support families, schools, and communities to become trauma-informed. The president of ATN, Janyne McConnaughey, spoke at an online conference on religious trauma last spring, and I finally got around to watching her session. That session led to watching a podcast, where I saw that Dr. McConnaughey had a book designed to help churches and church leaders become trauma aware. My wife has read a couple of Dr. McConnaughey's books, so I had context for Trauma in the Pews.

Trauma in the Pews has three parts. First, there is a brief introduction to trauma and its prevalence in church settings. The second and the most extended section interacts with Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline and addresses 12 spiritual disciplines impacted by trauma. The final section is an introduction to how a church can become more responsive to ministering to, and with, those with a trauma background.

I have already purchased four copies of the book and given them away. I will recommend it to the group of spiritual directors I meet with for peer supervision. And I plan on buying more copies to give to friends working in church settings. I very much recommend the book. There are books on trauma that are more focused on introducing the concepts or discussing healing. But I am unaware of other books about the spiritual formation and development of those impacted by trauma. I am not unaware of trauma as a concept, but Trauma in the Pews was very helpful at thinking through ways that churches can unintentionally harm and push away people that ideally they want to help.

The book is very readable with lots of stories and illustrations. Every chapter has good questions that help you to process and would work with a discussion group. The chapters are relatively short and have a clear point.

I have three main takeaways regarding spiritual formation and trauma. First, trauma, especially trauma during the ages of most developmental growth, can often be misunderstood as sin. And some things traditionally considered a sin may be a survivor's best attempt at self-protection or addressing the trauma alone. Second, some trauma survivors' behaviors may seem aggressive or oppositional. But probably more likely for victims of developmental trauma are behaviors oriented toward getting along well. So trauma survivors may overcommit, do the tasks that no one else is willing to, or have inadequate boundaries, which Christians may significantly misunderstand as maturity or “a heart for service” instead of a trauma reaction. Third, we must address trauma, leadership development/training, and spiritual abuse as a preventative, not just after problems arise.

There were other points that Trauma in the Pews helped to confirm. For instance, as a concept, forgiveness is often misused in trauma situations. And people's image of God and their ability to receive love is often impacted by their family and social history, including trauma. And intention does not supersede the result; wanting to do right by someone does not mean they will receive your efforts as the right thing. And hurt people often hurt people. Of course, that does not excuse victims of trauma from victimizing others. But it gives context and why we need to help support healing.

I have about fifteen pages of notes and highlights that you can see here.

Overall, I highly recommend Trauma in the Pews. My only real complaints are about things where I wanted more. No one book can address everything. For instance, I think this article on Moral Injury in the church is helpful. And there are more details of trauma and the different types of trauma that could be helpful. For instance, this podcast on Betrayal Trauma gave me some additional context that is particularly useful in understanding trauma in systems like the church. Trauma in the Pews is primarily focused on developmental trauma, which is the expertise and experience of Dr. McConnaughey. Still, I want to explore and see if I can find more about how adult trauma may impact spiritual formation differently. Trauma in the Pews is a book that I hope will be more widely read and applied so that churches can become more trauma-informed and places of natural healing.