A Door Set Open, by Peter Steinke

Chapter 2 – Emotional Systems & the New Anxiety

1.  Boy, am I ever familiar with this chapter’s material!  And if you’ve spent some portion of your adult life ensconced in church life (i.e., politics), chances are, you are, too.  We’re right at home with this discussion involving emotions and anxiety.  Steinke describes congregations as “emotional systems”…quite prepared to engage in self-deceit, when threatened.

“When the challenge of change confronts a congregation, members’ survival brains surely will excite their emotional forces. Supervised by the amygdala (the anxiety alarm in the brain), a rapid line of defense takes over in threatening situations. The amygdala functions to protect an organism by:

• appraising danger and acting faster than consciousness,

• operating apart from awareness,

• eliminating any set of options that might delay action,

• generalizing for rapid reaction,

• pairing an outside threat with any previous thought, feeling, or prior experience.”

What situations or circumstances might evoke such responses?

2.  Steinke then discusses homeostasis, “to function in the same way,” hanging on to the familiar.  Must be a Lutheran thing!  This “persistence of form,” as Friedman defines it, can be explained by: A) emotional barriers, B) imaginative gridlock, and C) resistance.  (My, my, my…where should we begin?)

A.  “An artificial limit born of mythology and preserved by anxiety.”  Why are churches susceptible to emotional barriers?    What promotes their popularity and duration?

B.  “Friedman’s second concept involves human survival instincts. During anxious periods, what is most needed—imagination—is most unavailable. Reacting supersedes thoughtfulness. Anxiety locks up the imagination and misplaces the key.”  Again, what are some examples that come to mind?

C.  “Emotional resistance to change is powerful. In our minds is this formula: Stability equals safety. The amygdala is keyed to suddenness and newness, for either could be threatening. Since the amygdala is ready to react if something is strange, new, or novel, resistance serves as a defensive action, usually apparent in sabotaging behavior. Friedman called dealing with resistance ‘the key to the kingdom.’ Minimal reaction to the resisting positions of others, whether exhibited in apathy or aggression, is “the key.

If the leader stays the course without compromising, abandoning, or corrupting the goal, good outcomes, though not guaranteed, are more apt to happen.”

Where have you seen such leadership demonstrated wisely and effectively for the good of the congregation?

3.  “A natural response of any emotional system is to return to its previous state when challenged and strained. After the initial steps toward change, a leader will therefore encounter resistance, mostly from those who are emotionally invested. As Friedman noted, such resistance is predictable: ‘Most theories of leadership recognize the problem of mistakes, but there is a deeper systemic phenomenon that occurs when leaders do precisely what they are supposed to do—lead.’ People who can differentiate well—act maturely—will arouse anxiety in less mature people.

“The ensuing sabotage is sometimes organized and sometimes just mindless opposition. The challenge to the leader is to self-regulate in the midst of anxious reactivity. Being focused on principle and direction, the leader does not get caught up on rash behaviors or cruel comments. As a last resort, reactors will demonize the leader.”  (Would this a good time to recruit new Council members?!) 

Like every pastor of 30 years in the trenches, I could write a book on this subject…and it’s not pretty.  I see and hear efforts of sabotage all the time…some of it unintentional, and much of it quite intentional (but never admitted).

How can pastors & congregations work to counter sabotage?