Review of The Emotionally Healthy Church

I am glad that I did not read Peter Scazzero's book The Emotionally Healthy Church five years ago.  Having virtually ignored my emotions since childhood, it probably would have only made me mad.  However, after receiving guidance under a mentor and a deep-relationally men's' group (VCC Augusta), I have can now read Scazzero's book in firm agreement.  Emotional health is crucial, if not necessary, to sound discipleship.

Scazerro points out that personal strengths and gifts are insufficient by themselves.  What lies beneath the surface  of a person often has more impact on decision making and outcomes.  

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Scazerro outlines the need for leaders to exemplify the humbling journey of spiritual & emotional formation with six principles:

1. Look Beneath the Surface - As described in the book Truefaced, people feel the need to "have it all together" and will hide behind the masks they believe other people want to see.  Ironically, it is the hidden truth of who somebody really is that people want to see.
2. Break the Power of the Past - We often overlook the homes and culture in which we were raised and how they influence our decision-making.  A Genogram can help map out family strengths & weaknesses and possibly reveal generational sins that may still linger in you.
3. Live in Brokenness and Vulnerability - We are all "broken pots," but The Potter in his infinite wisdom has planned for each our failures and imperfections.  It is only by embracing our thorns in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) that Christ's power will truly rest on us.  "For when I am weak, then I am strong."
4. Receive the Gifts of Limits - Jesus' parable of the talents clearly illustrates that everyone is gifted differently.  Similarly, it is not God's will for every church to be a Mega-Church.  We should learn to embrace limits and limitations as gifts through prayer with God and open communication with others.
5. Embrace Grieving and Loss - Life is painful, but our culture often doesn't normally permit us the necessary time to process loss.  Processing pain is a  normal and a necessary part of life to avoid storing grief within ourselves.
6. Make Incarnation Your Model for Loving Well - There is a difference between hearing and listening, and sadly listening is a lost art.  Simply being there for other people without an agenda or way to fix them can be transformational.  We need to learn to make the time to engage other people's lives.

I would recommend The Emotionally Healthy Church to any pastor or leader.  To a business mind similar like mine it may seem counter-intuitive at first since productivity must make way for personal feelings, but in reality it will turn out as a necessary down payment for long term teamwork and success.