how can local churches help trauma victims?

If there is one buzzword that is in widespread use today it is trauma. For some it is almost a badge of honor, while for others it is a cloak of shame. For some it helps to explain current suffering, while for others it becomes an excuse for inexcusable behavior. But everyone, it seems, is talking about trauma.

So what do we mean when we talk about trauma, and what does the church need to understand in order to compassionately and effectively help those who have been through trauma? While there are many helpful definitions out there, and many ways to explain what trauma does, I especially like to use Ed Welch’s description. He says that trauma is when the past intrudes on the present. While there are many more facets of trauma that can be described and examined, in many ways this definition sums it up. A person suffering from trauma is somehow being impacted today by something painful or harmful that happened in the past. 

(It is helpful also to recognize that when we speak of trauma we are usually speaking of a person’s reaction to a traumatic event. Because we are all made uniquely as individuals, no one responds exactly the same way as another person to a traumatic, or even lesser, event. This explains why a terrifying, traumatic event may bring about a traumatic response in one person and not in another.)

Why is it important for the church to understand about trauma? 

First of all, it is important to recognize that a large percentage of our congregations, statistically, have been through some traumatic event in the past which may be intruding into the present. Statistics tell us that in the US one in four women and one in six men have been or will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. In many countries that number may be far higher. In addition, many of our people have suffered in other ways such as car accidents, physical abuse, or natural disasters. Knowing that a significant number of our people are currently suffering as the past intrudes on the present in ways that make life hard to endure, we should be concerned to understand how best to help them.

The second reason is that when the past intrudes on the present it often does so in ways that even the sufferer may not understand or recognize. What makes this particularly difficult is that the kinds of responses people can have to trauma are not necessarily apparent to observers as trauma responses. Instead, they look more like sinful, or irresponsible, behavior. 

To make this more concrete, let’s consider a couple of examples. Suppose there is a woman who was sexually abused by someone in the church. It might even have been in that physical church building. And for a time, for many possible reasons, that fact has not come to light. But when she even thinks about walking into the church building, much less actually walking in, she might have a panic attack or feel like she is actually having a cardiac arrest. At that point, the trauma that she suffered in her body is not merely a bad memory, it is affecting her physically in the present. So she stops gong to church. At that point, the church leadership, and members, might think that she is merely a straying sheep and needs to be exhorted to stop sinning and return to the fellowship. If she continues her absence they might decide to remove her from membership. 

How should a trauma-informed church respond to this woman’s lack of church attendance? Rather than assuming they know what is going on, leaders and members alike should approach her with kindness, compassion, and curiosity to find out how she might be struggling. It may be very hard for her to open up about her struggle, but if she can, or even if she is not able to say much, discerning leaders should be more quick to support her in her struggle than to discipline her for her “sin”.

Another example is a person who was abused, with scripture used to support the abuse. It could be a woman abused by her husband who quoted the Bible’s command to women to submit, or a young (or now older) person who was abused by a parent while being told that God commands parents to discipline their children. At some point this person reacts in church to the reading of scripture, getting up and leaving. Or confesses to a leader that he or she cannot read the Bible. Or, as in the other example, stops coming to church. 

Again, trauma-informed leaders will see red flags, indications that something may be going on besides sinful stubbornness. Rather than zealously going after the straying ones to bring them “back into line”, leaders, and members who know this person, should approach with compassion, seeking to understand what is behind the appearance of indifference or disobedience. Their attitude should first be love, beginning with the assumption that it is an issue of suffering rather than sin. They should seek to come alongside and see what they can do to help alleviate the suffering rather than merely disciplining the sin.

Those two examples may seem extreme, but sadly they are far too common in our churches. But there are many other ways that trauma might intrude into the present. Suppose a person is in a tragic car accident and finds it impossible to even think of getting into any kind of transportation in order to get to church? However, since there may be shame associated with that feeling, he might make up other excuses for not coming. Excuses that sound much more like sin than suffering. Again, leaders and other members should be quick to listen, slow to judge, quick to show compassion, and slow to condemn.

This is not an exhaustive treatise on trauma or church care for those suffering the effects of trauma. But I hope it provides a place for church leaders to start thinking about who might be suffering the results of trauma and how the church can come alongside them, rather than inadvertently increasing their suffering.