The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives, P. Scazzero and W. Bird 

“Emotionally healthy people understand the limits God has given them. They joyfully receive the one, two, seven or ten talents God has graciously distributed. As a result, they are not frenzied and covetous, trying to live a life as God never intended. They are marked by contentment and joy”. Emotionally healthy churches also embrace their limits with the same joy and contentment, not attempting to be like another church. They have a confident sense of God’s “good hand” on their church “for such a time as this”’ (Esther 4:11-14) (p.137).

As we live in brokenness and vulnerability (as we studied last week), we become increasingly aware of our limits. And yet the limits that God places on our lives – restrictions of who we can be and what we can do — are a gift from our loving Father.

Do you often, sometimes or rarely …

• Have too little time and too much to do?
• Feel pressured and trapped in your schedule?
• Break promises of quality time with friends and family?
• Never feel finished with work?
• Resent some of your commitments and projects?
• Feel guilty if you say No?

Jesus modeled a life lived within his Father’s limits. He fully accepted his humanity and graciously received all the limitations that came with it. He bought food, traveled, rested and slept the human way. Furthermore, although his heart was to reach the world, Jesus honored the God-given limits of his mission and ministry.  Consequently, he did not fulfill every need during his short earthly life. He disappointed the crowds’ expectations of who he should be. Yet he lived a full life, true and faithful to who he was. He was able to say to his Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). That is God’s call to each of us (p. 45 workbook). Continue Reading…

The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives, P. Scazzero and W.Bird

[BEFORE STARTING THIS MESSAGE
PLEASE COMPLETE THIS ASSESSMENT <<CLICK HERE>>]

Chapter 4: Interpretation Guide

The diagnostic tool that you hopefully completed before church is an Emotional/Spiritual Health Inventory.  The purpose of this inventory is to get an idea of where you are as a disciple and where we are as a church.  The goal is not to label or critique anyone, but rather for each of us to see ourselves more as God sees us.  He is well aware of our weaknesses and areas for growth.  The best way to take the inventory is to first pray that “God will guide your responses and to remember that you can afford to be honest because God loves you dearly without condition” (p.60). Continue Reading…

A message series by Alethea Thomas based on the book -
The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives (2010), by Peter Scazzero  (pastor New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, New York)

Chapter 2:“Something is desperately wrong with most churches today.  We have many people who are passionate for God and his work, yet who remain disconnected from their own emotions or those around them” (p.38).   As an illustration the author retells the story of Sonny in the 1997 movie “The Apostle”.  Sonny is a complicated man — a zealous, committed evangelist and yet a man of untamed passions. Sonny’s sinful outbursts of rage and jealousy present a stark contrast to his passion for reaching the lost. He compartmentalized his faith from the rest of his life without recognizing how it damaged his service to God. Where had the church that discipled Sonny gone wrong?  Had they taught him “to sin so that grace may abound” (Rom 6:1) or had they ignored the need to help him address his anger, fear and jealousy?   What do you think is more likely?   What were you taught to do with your ‘difficult” emotions from the church you grew up in?   

This illustration brings to mind Paul’s words in Rom. 7:15, 18, 19, 24, and 25:

“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… for I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want is what I keep doing…. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Is Paul ‘on guard’ in this passage – presenting the best view of himself or does Paul feel ‘safe’ writing to this group of believers? How does being genuine contribute to discipleship? Continue Reading…

A message series by Alethea Thomas based on the book -
The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives (2010), by Peter Scazzero  (pastor New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, New York)

Scazzero was pastoring a growing church when he experienced a deep emptiness and crisis in his relationships.  He was disciplined in his spiritual life, his physical health, and his intellectual growth in order to serve his flock. However, as life crumbled around him, it became clear that his emotional well-being was anemic. Through the crisis he came to know God in a deeper way and realized his problem: “Emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature”.

We find evidence in Scripture of the emotional component of our personalities.  We see the ups and downs of life with real characters: Joseph’s brothers exemplify sibling rivalry, Moses displays rage and impulsiveness, Paul writes of his longing for a visit from Timothy, Jesus experiences grief and fear in the garden, and there are many others.  Can you name a few?

 Scazzero invites believers to slow down, examine their spiritual habits, realize and accept their limits, learn to grieve (and move on), understand what their emotions are telling them, and look to Jesus as our model for loving well. He emphasizes that this is not some quick fix for spiritual dryness, but a lasting change in the way one lives out their faith and relationships.  A good analogy is the difference in the results of a fad diet versus a long-term change in eating habits.  (What is the difference between a fad diet and a long-term change in eating?) Continue Reading…