Anxiety in the church

When anxiety is high, resilience is low. Behaviors are extreme and rigid; thoughts are unclear and disjointed. Anxious people speak harsh words or cut themselves off from others through silence. To manage their threatening situation, people hurry to localize their anxiety. They blame and criticize. Yet it is one thing for a system to be shattered by shocking events and another to be shackled by its own reactive tremors. Once a system fortifies its stability by its reactivity, it cannot get what it needs most: time and distance, calm and objectivity, clarity and imagination. It is caught in its own automatic processes. But a relationship system does not live by reaction alone but by every resource at its disposal. Therefore a system that maintains its stability by reactivity alone will not be stable in the long run. Continuous reactivity creates three processes that prevent the system from being resourceful and flexible—a shrinking of perspective, a tightening of the circle, and a shifting of the burden. Consequently it is not apt to repair itself, plan for the future, and find a new direction.

Peter L Steinke, How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations As Emotional Systems