Church & Trauma Assessment
The growing understanding of the impact of trauma on those in the pews!
This series of posts is a gathering of resources for Trauma in the Pews: The Impact on Faith and Spiritual Practices that will hopefully be helpful in encouraging ministry leaders to become trauma-informed/sensitive/responsive.
Introduction to Trauma in the Pews Resource Content
Trauma in the Pews Resource Index
Christian Heritage Church & Trauma Assessment
Several years ago, I was contacted by James Pruch, Marketing and Development Director for Christian Heritage, the leading Christian child welfare organization in the state of Nebraska for over forty years. James asked if I would be willing to talk with staff members as part of their efforts to learn more about becoming trauma-informed. At that time, I was in the process of writing Trauma in the Pews, and after reading the book, James graciously offered the following endorsement:
Trauma in the Pews is the book that I needed when I was in seminary. My ministry training did not adequately prepare me to care for people who had experienced trauma. Most of my ability to listen, empathize, and walk slowly with people who had experienced profound suffering came on the fly. I wish that hadn’t been the case. Janyne’s book is a gift to a new generation of ministers who are primed and ready to be more equipped than I was. At the same time, to those of us who have been in ministry for a while, it provides a much-needed course correction. The only way God’s church will relate to and serve vulnerable people in the coming decades is if we grow corporately in our understanding of trauma, how it affects people, and how to respond to it in compassionate, gentle, Jesus-like ways. Janyne’s book will help you and your church do that. —James Pruch, Marketing and Development Director at Christian Heritage, Former Pastor
I enthusiastically supported the idea of the Christian Heritage team developing a Church & Trauma Assessment based on the content of in Trauma in the Pews. I could not be any more honored to have been part of this project and know that many are being impacted by their work.
You can learn more about and access the assessment on the Christian Heritage Website.
Additional information about the Assessment and the Church & Trauma Summit
Listen to my guest podcast with Christian Heritage CEO, Roy Baldwin and James Pruch: Trauma and the Church
“Church leaders are increasingly recognizing the impact of trauma on those themselves and those they serve. A crucial part of becoming a trauma-responsive ministry is initiating conversations about what that means and how it is accomplished. For most churches, this will require an honest assessment. The Church & Trauma Assessment will enable ministry leaders to determine the degree to which their congregants understand the impact of trauma and map a path toward better serving those impacted by trauma.” —Janyne McConnaughey
I reached out to this group... I would be interested in how their training might be able to help our young church become trauma-responsive and truly support our single mothers and kids without dads. (I realize there are other scenarios where families need support, but I'm up to my ears with this specific scenario -- both literally and figuratively 😇)
It takes way more (and different things) than most church folks imagine to meet the true needs of these desperate families -- and a very different understanding of what they truly need to make it out of survival-mode and into thriving. Even more important and difficult is understanding how faulty church doctrine has not only been a significant source of the original trauma, but how it actually actively interferes with true and lasting healing and the development of healthy growth -- physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.
Thanks for all the ways you encourage us in the process.