Healing From Abuse Part II

One of the things that is super important when healing from any type of dysfunction is finding "healthy."  If you've found yourself in an unhealthy church, it's highly likely that you harken from an unhealthy family.  It's key to, since you don't know because of your upbringing, find out what is normal, healthy, etc.

There are lots of good resources to accomplish this goal.  I have some favorites.  For general dysfunctional family understanding, I recommend the following books:

Book 1

and

Book 2

In these works you will find great information about what healthy, functional relationships look like.

I also highly recommend family systems therapy which differs substantially from "talk therapy" or pastoral counseling.  My favorite family systems therapist actually has a variety of Youtube videos.  Here is an introductory video for him.  I suggest watching all of his videos.  Simply doing this will help.

I also highly recommend anything and everything by counselor, pastor, and author Danny Silk.  The following book focuses specifically on what healthy church relationships look like.  I personally love to hear Mr. Silk talk about authority relationships.  His take is so very different than a condemning, shaming, discipleship movement paradigm.

Amazon Link Here

Here's a brief video that really shows the heart of Pastor Silk's teaching:

Now that you've begun to understand your part, it's time to begin to explore why you played that part in the first place.  The resources I've listed here were hugely helpful in my healing journey.  I pray that they are equally helpful in yours.