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This topic showcase highlights resources to help churches use trauma-informed practices in church worship and congregational life. Faith communities are more effective when they become more aware of adverse childhood experiences, collective trauma, and other tragedy.
Jill M. Hudson was an executive presbyter when a beloved Presbyterian pastor and his wife were murdered in their Indianapolis home in 1996. She wrote because she couldn’t find faith-based resources to help her presbytery's clergy and congregations deal with the pain and loss of the murders. She also gathered church case studies from other tragedies for her book.
This all happened before researchers published findings about (ACEs). Since then, there’s been an explosion of resources dealing with faith, ACEs, and other trauma.
But Hudson’s book still rings true, especially Chapter 6, in which she describes worship as a tool for healing. She writes that worship “provides one with a ‘safe’ space for grieving, remembering, and, later, renewal.” She recognizes that the Holy Spirit, therapists, community support, and time itself help people heal. “Nothing, however, is more important to the person of faith than the powerful resource of worship,” Hudson writes.
Every congregation has people who have experienced or will experience a trauma that lives on in their body, psyche, and emotions. Some traumas are individual, such as adverse childhood experiences or severe accidents. Others are collective, such as poverty, racism, and war. Collective trauma may result from natural disasters or from unnatural disasters such as gun violence or clergy sexual misconduct. People experience secondary trauma when they feel guilty for knowing people whose trauma was even worse.
, by , president of Union Theological Seminary in New York City. The first chapter is based on this about how worship affected a traumatized young woman. The third chapter explains how John Calvin used psalms of deliverance, lament, and healing to help religious refugees in his Genevan congregation. Jones has a gift for combining theology with contemporary stories of trauma.
, by , an Old Testament scholar. In this , Carr explains that the Bible is full of stories about trauma and how God works through traumatized people. He says that pastors should admit to being broken people in need of grace and healing. This vulnerability gives congregants permission to share their suffering.
“Trauma-Informed 91: Address Trauma to Begin Healing.” This feature story describes how Mount Aery Baptist Church has worked to become a trauma-informed congregation. Its worship services are becoming a communal place of healing.
“Seven Self-Care Tips for Clergy Who Engage Trauma.” This article quotes six leaders who practice self-care so they can remain effective in helping those who need to address and heal from trauma.
The American Bible Society’s offers , videos, and in many languages for youth and adults. Its online video Hope Rising (57:09) explains how Bible-based principles and mental health research help heal trauma among worshiping communities affected by war. Its online video Unchained (53:28) does the same for worshiping communities affected by generational trauma handed down by American slavery.
This charts individual, family, and community traits that help people cope, adjust to, or recover from trauma. Here’s how .
Those in helping professions usually hear more about trauma-informed approaches than the average church member does. Chaplain Chris Haughee applies trauma concepts from (SAMHSA) in this .
, by . This book summarizes decades of research on how trauma affects bodies, brains, and psyches. Unresolved trauma often leads to feeling fearful, anxious, stressed, and unsafe and engaging in risky, addictive, and isolating behaviors. Yet what traumatized people often fear most—human connection—is the path to health.
, by Jayneen Sanders. This simple book introduces the idea of body safety in ways that preschoolers and children can understand.
. Faith-based ministries are often to shop this website of affordable books for children in need. Books focus on diversity and inclusion, health and wellness, difficult life experiences, and more. Download a free for book recommendations.
“Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks” is available as an and with an (with DVDs).
Church Health Reader devoted its Fall 2015 issue to . Read the features online for free, including Andrea Blanch’s .
directed two documentaries recommended by churches, schools, and community groups. Both are on Amazon Prime and iTunes. follows a year in the life of a high school that radically changed its student discipline, becoming a model for how to break cycles of poverty, violence, and disease. Download a free for using Paper Tiger.
ڴǰ’s mentions faith as a way to overcome adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress stored in the body. Both documentaries are set in Walla Walla, Washington, home of Community Resilience Institute (CRI). Check out CRI's , , , and
Video clip (5:33): Five young men in Walla Walla share .
In the worship chapter of Jill M. Hudson’s book on congregational trauma, she writes, “We cannot use what’s not already there.” In other words, you need to acknowledge real life tragedy, lament, trauma, and deliverance in today’s worship so your church is ready when trauma engulfs your congregation or community tomorrow.
Theologian Shelly Rambo reminds readers that the resurrected Jesus had scars. She writes that living in and after trauma is “not so much about life overcoming death as it is about life resurrecting amid the ongoingness of death.”
, by .
The author, who teaches preaching, draws on lessons from , often called “dean of the nation’s black preachers.” Alcántara writes that Taylor “preached with a limp.” He preached about, in, and through pain because pain threads through scripture. Small groups will appreciate the discussion questions at the end of each chapter in this very readable book.
(MARC). This learning collaborative of fourteen communities shares solutions for addressing trauma and promoting resilience, such as how in the ACEs and resilience movement.
(01:12:00) is a five-part video series intended to support clergy, laity, social workers, first responders, and other spiritual care providers facing community-level trauma. You can watch each short segment online. Director with Calvin University’s alumni magazine that local faith leaders should build relationships with each other “before tragedy happens so you can help and support each other when it does.”
The , , and explain how natural disasters and climate change affect mental health. Here’s how to .
links to dozens of resources. Browse articles on how trauma and spirituality affect each other and how .
In his book , theologian notes that traumatized people often ask why God allows such pain and suffering. He reframes the discussion by exploring lament, forgiveness, thoughtfulness, and hospitality. These practices can help Christians do what God does—resist and absorb evil and respond faithfully to suffering till Christ returns.
Swinton’s insights can help worship planners reaffirm that nothing can separate us from God’s love.
, edited by and , gathers chapters from ministers, Church World Service staff, and others who’ve experienced natural disasters. Each chapter has discussion questions. The book ends with substantive resources for prayers, communion, sermons, and Bible studies.
by , , and . This handbook notes that after gun violence, clergy sexual misconduct, or other human-caused collective traumas, congregations go through stages. The book explains how worship and congregational care change during each stage. Extensive appendices offer even more worship resources.
. These videos of three lectures by John D. Witvliet will inspire worship planners to shape public worship that addresses trauma while inviting God’s Spirit to bring healing and hope. These worship practices can connect with people living through individual or collective trauma.
Appropriate dates
Depending on the traumas that most affect your congregation, you might choose to observe annual Sundays or months. You can find worship resources for (May); Refugee Sunday (nearest to June 20); and or (Sunday nearest to November 11). have designated an annual Abuse Awareness Sunday, though dates vary.
Churches around the world already designate September 1 through October 4 as the . (Scroll down for optional liturgies related to natural disasters and climate change.)
“91ing Following the Trauma of a School Shooting.” In this audio recording, Bo H. Lim describes planning worship immediately after a shooting at Seattle Pacific University and on subsequent anniversaries of the event.
Sermons
“Anthony L. Bennett on Engaging Trauma in Sermons.” In this edited conversation, an urban pastor tells how his Baptist church gathered its associate ministers monthly to learn about trauma and how to exegete scripture to engage people hungry for healing and justice.
Faith and Health, a nonprofit Christian health ministry in South Carolina, lists dozens of . Faith and Health founder Dale Fletcher created and a to talk about ACEs, spiritual risk factors, and biblical healing and resilience.
Sojourners, a Christian peace and justice movement, has gathered nearly 150 . You can search by location, scripture, or denomination. Ruth Everhart, a Presbyterian pastor, pairs biblical and contemporary stories of violence against women in her book .
These online articles can yield sermon anecdotes and statistics about trauma related to or being an , , or .
Music
Almost all biblical psalms of lament include a turn toward hope in who God is and what God has done or will do. Authentically including trauma in worship means allowing a full spectrum of musical emotion, from grief and lament to hope and thanksgiving. As John D. Witvliet said in his , “Yet the praise of the triune God can also be an anchor in a storm, a vision of light in the shadows, a practice of hope in context of hopelessness. And transfigured praise can also point us to other practices of cruciform engagement with the world’s troubles that many victims of violence and trauma have found to be healing.”
This four-minute video summarizes a scientific study on the .
For songs that describe traumatic emotions or specifically name a contemporary trauma, look to the late , a New Zealand hymnwriter, and , a Presbyterian pastor. Both often set their texts to familiar hymn tunes. Murray’s songs include “,” “,” and “.” Winfrey Gillette’s include “,” “,” and “.”
“,” by , is a good song of confession and is available in . Here’s Argentinian pastor of that song.
For more contemporary songs, consider “,” by David Crowder; “” and “,” by The Porter’s Gate; “,” by Jason Ingram, Jeff Johnson, and Paul Mabury; “ by (musical notation and choral version ); “,” by Chantel Varnado; “,” by Casting Crowns; and “,” by Nigerian gospel artist .
Also check the music sections of 91’s resource lists about Indigenous Christian worship, mental illness and Christian worship, worship resources for creation care, and worship resources that respond to human trafficking.
Prayers, visuals, and other worship elements
, a Uniting Church in Australia minister, maintains a . She continually updates prayers, music, art, reflections, and more related to , such as . You can also by calendar, church year, or parts of worship.
, a Mennonite Brethren pastor and theology professor in Canada, writes prayers and calls to worship for her blog. Many relate to traumas, such as , , , , and .
Christianity Today published tips for .
Reformed Church in America has a and for times of national tragedy.
Download , a 178-page PDF from Uniting Church in Australia. It includes complete service outlines and sermons.
