Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach [Paperback]

Peter L. Steinke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1996

In this sequel to How Your Church Family Works, Steinke takes readers into a deeper exploration of the congregation as an emotional system. Learn ten principles of health, how congregations can adopt new ways of dealing with stress and anxiety, how spiritually and emotionally healthy leaders influence the emotional system, factors that could put your congregation at risk, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a book for people who want ideas, not directions; hope, not diagrams; and encouragement, not rigid rules." -- Philip H. Young, Synod of the Pacific, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

"This is a user-friendly, theologically grounded guide to congregational wholeness." -- The Rev. Canon Nancy A. Roosevelt, Episcopal Diocese of Rochester

About the Author

Peter L. Steinke, a Lutheran pastor, served for more than 12 years as Director of Clergy Care for Lutheran Social Services of the South in Austin, Texas. He is the developer of Bridgebuilder Ministry, a training program for working with congregations in trouble, and the Healthy Congregation, a training program for lay leaders. He is a licensed professional counselor, the author of nine books, and the editor of the quarterly newsletter New Creations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 118 pages
• Publisher: Alban Inst (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566991730
• ISBN-13: 978-1566991735
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't miss this, August 12, 2006

By 

William Pinches "PC(USA) Pastor" (Mason, MI USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach (Paperback)

Peter Steinke offers a look at what makes for a healthy congregation from the perspective of systems theory. There are other books that, in my opinion, do a much better job articulating just what, exactly, systems theory looks like (especially Peter Senge's book The Fifth Discipline), but this is helpful in applying systems theory specifically to congregations. Steinke identifies what "health" looks like in congregations (it is not the absence of illness, but rather the way the body responds to the illness), and how to promote it.

I was particularly amused by the story of "Mr. Schmidt" on page 18, and particularly helped by the discussion of the functioning of the human brain on pages 64-66. I loved this paragraph on page 70: "How many congregations believe they are in the 'we exist for ourselves' business rather than the 'we are in mission to the community, even the world' business? How many congregations confuse 'the way we have done things for decades' with the 'larger apostolic purposes'? How many congregations mistake the means for the ends?"

But the heart and soul of the book is about creating a healthy congregation, understood as an emotional system. This book, along with Peter Steinke's other book How Your Church Family Works and Edwin Friedman's Generation to Generation, present basic theoretical concepts that every congregational leader ought to absorb if they truly want their congregation (and the people in it) to become healthier.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review, February 16, 2006

By 

Kevin D. Summers - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach (Paperback)

This book is a helpful introduction to the area of systems thinking. It offers a concise picture of how to understand congregational health from an organic perspective. Having little exposure to systems thinking, I found this book enlightening and thought provoking.
A systems approach to church health perceives and evaluates the connectedness between every relational part of the church. The particular case studies provided in each chapter helped illuminate the applicability of systems thinking to congregational life.
The following terms were of benefit and interest to me: reactive behavior, vision, and self-differentiation. Reactive behavior can corrupt the health of a congregation if leaders reciprocate attacks with like responses of anger and hostility. This is a helpful call for leaders to be steady and mature in handling difficult circumstances.
Vision or shared vision is the immune defense system of an institution or church. This concept helps leaders realize the importance of people sharing and owning the vision of the institution or church.
Self-differentiation is concerned with defining what is self or not self. It is focused upon what is native to the system and what is foreign. To differentiate is to stay the course with reactive people and at the same time stay in touch with them even when relationships become difficult.
Beyond finding help from the previous terms, I found a systems approach to be more dialogical and less hierarchical than much of the leadership material commonly found for church leaders. Health, according to systems thinking, is about attitudes, moods, and choices that are managed well by leaders in times of difficulty. A systems approach encourages leaders to be the key stewards of health in the church.
Finally, as I thought about the positive direction and focus of a systems approach to church health, I could not help thinking about Natural Church Development and how it focuses on the `minimum factor' or the problem area. A systems approach, on the other hand, focuses upon strength, options, and resources. I believe leaders using either of these church health philosophies-a systems approach or Natural Church Development-need to keep a balance between realism and idealism and strength and weakness.
A systems approach is a worthwhile study that can lead people into a greater awareness of how to make an organization relationally stronger and healthier.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Healthy Congregations, February 15, 2006

By 

Janet M. Murphy - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach (Paperback)

Steinke, Peter L., Healthy Congregations, Hearndon, Virginia, The Alban Institute, 1996.

Healthy Congregations is an engaging book. The author focuses on the similarities between the physical body and how it functions and the body of Christ and how it functions in relationship systems. Steinke states, "We relate to one another in the ways biological cells respond to one another." In other words, all parts interact and impact each other.

Steinke is concerned with establishing and defining what is responsible and enlightened behavior and how this healthy way of interrelating is the key to good health in a congregation. He sets out to identify those interactions which most empower health and those interactions which most enable the disease process. He concludes that health happens when people take personal responsibility for their own actions and behaviors, as well as for their own health.

His chapter entitled "Infectious Anxiety" is an excellent overview of gossiping, whispering, blaming, faultfinding and triangulation. He states that, "Secrets support immaturity. Underground murmurers in a community are usually insecure, dependent and childish people" (59). He goes on to declare that the leader who remains silent about these behaviors, in essence, enables it. He concludes that, "A healthy congregation is one that actively and responsibly addresses or heals its disturbances, not one with an absence of troubles" (10).

Review the discussion questions at the end of each chapter as they are the practical application of his content. The author had fun writing this book. He gets his message across by way of his analogous insight into the physical body as it parallels with the body of Christ.