Book Review: The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero

In The Emotionally Healthy Church, Christian author and pastor Peter Scazzero explains how church leaders and congregants can become self-aware, learn how to deal with emotions, and change harmful behaviors. He describes an ideal church in which people seek to better understand each other by better understanding themselves. Reality falls so short of this ideal, says Scazzero, because church leaders lack emotional health.

Having learned this the hard way, Scazzero begins by explaining what prompted him to cultivate emotional health in his own church. He was caught off guard when, after eight years of marriage, his wife called his ministry into question and threatened separation. Fed up with her husband's inability to address problems in their congregation, she no longer respected his leadership skills and didn't want to be involved with the church. Struggling to save his marriage and ministry, Scazzero was forced to reexamine his attitudes and habits.

It took a crisis for Scazzero to acknowledge the problems in his church. He confesses that he was often too busy, doled out unhelpful advice, and failed to actively listen to the problems of his congregants. He also had personal conflicts with other church leaders that resulted in people leaving the church. It was only when Scazzero learned to acknowledge his personal shortcomings that things began to change in his ministry.

Scazzero explains how many of the problems that plagued his own church also plague churches all over. He paints a grim portrait of the church in general, perhaps embellishing the crisis at times to strengthen his argument. He writes of evangelists who neglect their own families and church leaders who are habitually dishonest about their weaknesses. Scazzero's thesis is that such problems can be remedied only if church leaders learn to tend to their emotional health.

Just how is emotional health measured and attained? Chapter four of this book includes a checklist to help readers examine where they stand with God, gauge how well they are able to discern their emotions, and understand how events in their upbringing may have shaped their habits in an unhealthy way. Scazzero then recommends several actions that will lead to greater emotional health, focusing on areas like humility and defensiveness.

To illustrate his point, the author describes several members in his own congregation who were spiritually immature and saddled with seemingly complex problems. Each finally addresses his or her problems by opening up to others, embracing weaknesses, and breaking free of past behaviors. Some of the examples were helpful, though at times they seemed oversimplified.

The best part of this book is not the illustrations, but the chapters in the middle that deal with accepting limits and learning how to grieve loss. Both topics are so foreign to most Americans that Christians and non-Christians alike would find these chapters helpful.

If you pick up this book, skim the first few chapters; the best part lies in the middle. The emotional health self assessment, as well as the chapters on breaking free from the past, dealing with limits, and learning how to grieve loss, would be helpful to anyone concerned with their emotional health. Though not a light read, this book contains much helpful advice for those hoping to minister to others and improve relationships with fellow Christians.