The Emotionally Healthy Church

by Peter Scazzero. 2003.

Scazzero is pastor of new Life Fellowship Church in Queens, NY. He also works with Keller at the City Seminary, and has worked with Rob Bell at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids on developing a Daily Office for that church.

Excellent. Highly recommend. One of the few books that I read almost every word. This book contains much of what I learned in CPE, but in a totally different format. He uses enough illustrations that I connected well. Here is a structural summary:

Premise of the book -- you cannot grow spiritually beyond your emotional maturity. Or, more clearly, emotional maturity and spiritual maturity are linked. I believe this to be true.

Six principles of an emotionally healthy church:
1. Look beneath the surface. Your emotions run deep, lots of "subconcious" stuff going on.
2. Break the power of the past. Your history has great power (family secrets, genograms, etc.).
3. Live in brokenness and vulnerability. Defensive postures and lack of approachability are signs of great emotional immaturity.
4. Receive the gift of limits. Learning to say, "no."
5. Embrace grieving and loss. The road to peace always goes through the land of pain.
6. Make incarnation your model for loving well. Jesus models for us the concept of entering into the other person's world to listen first, than help them where they need.

Very practical but not paternalistic. I wish he had more biblical references.
I'm going to read his follow-up book next. Wait for it . . .