Trauma-Informed Evangelism

Charles Kiser and Elaine A. Heath's Trauma-Informed Evangelism: Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers offers a timely and powerful challenge for churches to focus on healing the wounds caused by the “sinful structures of patriarchy, racism, classism, and other phobias, and exploitative forms of mission and evangelism from within the Christian faith” (61). Leaning on their pastoral experience, Kiser and Heath promote an evangelism informed by the lived experiences of spiritual abuse survivors and focused on healing and “God’s nonviolent love” (165). The book is based on Kiser's dissertation, which later became a collaborative project with Heath (Kiser’s advisor) as it was revised and expanded to become Trauma-Informed Evangelism. During interviews that Kiser conducted, respondents detailed the pain caused by the homophobic, sexist, and racist rhetoric they encountered in some churches. When Kiser had respondents in his community in Dallas, TX, complete a questionnaire, he found that while many of the respondents were not Christians, they nevertheless had experiences with religion or were formerly Christians but had rejected the faith for one reason or another. These findings catalyzed the project, prompting Kiser and Heath to explore how to share the good news of Jesus with those who have been harmed in the name of Jesus (3).

Throughout their book, Kiser and Heath push the church to acknowledge the wounds of Christendom through a trauma-informed lens, with a focus on acknowledging survivors' testimonies. One of the book’s main contributions is its analysis of trauma theory. Spiritual trauma allows leaders to form new theologies and practices that are rooted in a theology that seeks to re-image God not as a punisher, but as one who suffers with us.

By interrogating trauma theory and the stories of survivors of spiritual trauma, Kiser and Heath hope to reinvigorate the church’s theological imagination, one that cultivates a form of Christianity that heals the wounds of the world by “giving up predation posing as mission and evangelism and taking up the way of Jesus'' (68). Kiser and Heath provide a fresh examination of the suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, using this to help congregations imagine new trauma-informed practices centered on welcoming, empathetic, and unconditional love.

The book is structured in three parts. Kiser authors the first three chapters in each section, and Heath authors the fourth. Each chapter ends with questions for the reader to engage on individual and communal levels. The first part outlines the prevalence of trauma and spiritual abuse in the church and examines why people are beginning to leave their respective religious communities. Kiser’s overview of spiritual abuse and trauma emphasizes to leaders that trauma’s effects are longstanding, impacting one’s theology and one’s relationship with institutional religion, community, and God.  In reflecting on his survey results, Kiser found that such normative practices of evangelism—like street preaching and sharing testimonies—tend to exclude others, offer religious platitudes, and ignore the reality of human suffering by encouraging people to focus on having faith in a good, powerful God.

The second part of the book focuses on finding God amidst trauma. The authors weave together the work of many theologians, including feminist, womanist, and Black theologians, to disrupt harmful images of God, guiding the reader to find solidarity in Jesus as a traumatized savior. This reimagining of Christ invites congregations to leave behind old images of God to find restorative images of the divine as a witness to suffering, healing, and hope. Such images serve as an example for pastoral leadership to become welcoming and embrace difference, so that they might become wounded healers like Christ.

Finally, the third section presents the argument that pastoral caregivers should consider the impacts of trauma on their religious community when planning programming or engaging with local communities. They demonstrate the embodied nature of trauma-informed evangelism by encouraging pastors to become an empathetic witness to walk with survivors through the three stages of recovery: establishing safety, witnessing to the trauma, and reconnecting with life (122). The authors offer two healing frameworks evangelists can use: self-awareness and hospitality, which require focusing on loving neighbors like Christ while accompanying people through their healing.

Kiser and Heath provide the foundation for a new evangelism and offer various theological considerations throughout their analysis. However, they only briefly touch on practical strategies a church could use to become trauma-informed. While they aim to provide some practical advice for leaders interested in becoming more radically welcoming and self-aware, their book falls short in this regard. It would have been beneficial to include real-life examples of these practices in a ministry context and to explain how new images of the divine might impact programming, preaching, discipleship, and so on. Furthermore, since this book was created to mainly serve church leaders and those training to be in pastoral ministry, it would have been beneficial to include ethical strategies for implementing the theoretical apparatus ungirding the book. A more practical approach might provide insight for those who lack experience in helping people and communities heal from trauma, helping them understand trauma survivors and the potential impact of their ministry.

Although Kiser and Heath engage deeply with theological and psychological source material, it's important to note that the book does not offer a comprehensive examination of trauma theory or a practical guide on how to become a trauma-informed community. Overall, this book could be a useful tool for seminarians interested in pastoral ministry since it offers an examination of how harmful theologies or improper care negatively impact individuals and communities beyond their initial encounters with church leaders. For pastors and religious educators, the authors invite them into a space of rethinking their hospitality and welcome, providing a new lens for teaching and working with traumatized populations. I recommend this book to practitioners who have been harmed by the church and who desire a new way to evangelize within their community. It is also a valuable resource for any faith community looking to address the wounds left by Christendom by reimagining practices of care and welcome centered on love.

Trisha Jo Cousino is a PhD student in religion and practice at Fordham University.

Trisha Jo Cousino

Date Of Review:

June 12, 2024