Trauma in the Pews 2.0

A community series originally published during the summer of 2024.

As is explained in Trauma in the Pews: The Impact on Faith and Spiritual Practices, traditional practices are often inaccessible to those who have trauma backgrounds—for many reasons. Post-traumatic spiritual growth—the basis for these newsletters—lies in the space between “I should” and “I can’t” and builds on the strengths of survivors.

The posts for Trauma in the Pews 2.0 are a combination of material available to free subscribers and paid subscriber-only content. You need to scroll to the bottom and read backward to follow the book in the correct order. This content was developed for a paid subscriber community during the summer of 2024 and included rich discussions—not visible to free subscribers.

If you are a paid subscriber and would like to comment, please feel free to do so! I will respond even though the series has ended. The next installment (the last part of the book) will arrive in 2025.

If you missed the Introduction to TITP 2.0 read it here!

And more information here!

Below is a preview and questions for Chapter One!

Chapter One

What If Your Struggles Aren't Spiritual?
Is the Impact of Childhood Adversity Causing the Struggles?

Personal Reflection Questions

1. Several questions were posed at the beginning of the chapter. Have you asked any of those questions? With what answers?

2. Have you ever connected the dots between your childhood trauma and some of your behaviors that seem to repeat no matter how you try to control them? What are examples of that? What do you wish you understood better?

3. When reading about what some may call “struggles of faith” not being spiritual problems, what were your thoughts?

4. Have you ever experienced or been diagnosed with symptoms similar to the description of PTSD? If so, can you see how this may have affected your spiritual life and participation in the church?

5. As you read the chapter, did knowing the struggles are trauma-related, not spiritual, give you hope for healing?

Chapter Two

Can Understanding Trauma Help You Grow Closer To God?
What Do We Need to Understand about Trauma?

Personal Reflection Questions

1. Were you familiar with the different types of trauma? How does this help you understand how your experiences and the age at the time impacted you?

2. Bessel van der Kolk in the Body Keeps the Score, when referring to behavior, stated, “Their behaviors are not the result of moral failings or signs of lack of willpower or bad character—they are caused by actual changes in the brain.” What are your thoughts about the quote?

3. Do you have a tragic event that still feels very current even though it happened in the past? How can understanding trauma explain why this might be happening?

4. Have you ever said, “What were they thinking?” about someone’s actions—or your own? How does understanding trauma help you to consider this more compassionately?

5. How can trauma triggers be defined? If it feels safe, can you be curious about the source of phobias or triggers that may have seemed disconnected?

Chapter Three

What if Your Story Includes Religious Trauma?

Personal Reflection Questions

(There are links in the article above that will be helpful as you answer these questions!)

1. How would you define religious trauma? Does this seem relevant to some of your experiences in the church? Have you ever diminished the harm?

2. Have you been harmed or disappointed by ministry leaders who taught you to follow spiritual practices? How has this affected your spiritual life?

3. How can acknowledging the physical aspect of religious trauma or spiritual abuse help you to be more compassionate to yourself or others? 

4. How might a previous experience of religious trauma be impacting you in your current faith community? Do you think these fears are currently relevant? Does your body agree?

Introduction to Part Two

Supporting Your Healing of Trauma with Spiritual Practices

1. Do you struggle to feel God’s presence? What practices have you tried to draw closer to God? Were any of these effective? If not, what did you believe was the problem?

2. What resources have you used to become more familiar with spiritual practices? Did you find these resources helpful? In what way? (It is important to know what things did seem to work!)

3. Have you tried to force (control) yourself to do a spiritual practice? What was the result?

This catches us up! From here on, the chapters will be posted along with the questions. Stay tuned for more!