Do No Harm
Trauma Informed Ministry
Proverbs reminds us that a pastoral best practice is silence.
Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent. (Proverbs 17:28)
Admittedly, that is a snarky proverb, but the point is made. Sometimes the wisest thing we can do in tough situations is to be quiet. I was with a mother one morning whose eight year old child had just died of leukemia. The body was still in the bedroom as others gathered to give the bereaved mom comfort. A well-meaning neighbor kept talking, and this mom finally asked him to leave. She did not need words; words were of no comfort. Others of us were just present. Watching, listening, and, I at least, praying that the Holy Spirit would give me words to say if words needed saying or keep me quiet if that would be the best pathway. I wanted to do good; I feared doing harm.
It’s with the hope that pastors do no harm that I had a conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Pennock, the Director of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. Dr. Pennock’s expertise is on trauma-informed ministry, and her heart’s desire is that people who have faced trauma find a safe and understanding place in the church for their healing. She wants, in other words, to help pastors to do good rather than harm, and to help them create such a culture in their churches. It is so very necessary to learn what she has to say.
Our conversation was wide-ranging over a deep and involved topic, and even though we could only touch on the surface, Dr. Pennock’s insights here are helpful and wise. I hope you are able to listen, and to encourage others to do so as well.
Our calling leads us into the lives of those who suffer trauma, whether we are aware of it or not. It behooves us to learn what we can so, not that we fools can be considered wise, but that we can become the genuinely wise whom the traumatized can trust.