Churches, like families, instinctively resist change even when it's healthy because systems naturally seek stability—even dysfunctional stability.

• Family systems theory provides powerful insights for understanding church dynamics
• Western individualism misses our design for relationship and community
• Eastern collectivism correctly values community but can suppress healthy differentiation
• Jesus modeled perfect differentiation—maintaining values while staying connected
• Identity and acceptance cannot be self-manufactured but must be received
• When we try to work for acceptance rather than receive it, we create dysfunction
• The gospel uniquely addresses fear, guilt, and shame in church systems
• Church renewal requires addressing processes, not just content
• Self-differentiation means maintaining values while staying emotionally connected
• Healthy churches reflect both biblical authority and biblical acceptance

If you'd like to learn more about church renewal through a family systems approach, visit flourishcoaching.org or email [email protected]. We appreciate when you like, subscribe, rate or review our show, and please share this episode with someone who might benefit!

• The Bible (Luke’s genealogy)
  Luke 3:23–38 — “…Adam, the son of God”
  Read on Bible Gateway
• C.S. Lewis – The Great Divorce
  Analogy of hell as isolation and distance.
  Amazon link | Free text at Internet Archive
• Ron Rhodes – The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations
  Reference to denominational history (Puritans → Congregationalists → Unitarian Universalists).
  Amazon link
• Edwin H. Friedman
   
  • Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue
    Amazon link
•  
  • A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix
    Amazon link
•  
• R. Robert Creech – Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Leadership Model for Church Leaders
  (Connected to the “Jesus as the most differentiated person” discussion, recurring theme across early episodes.)
  Publisher link
• Peter Scazzero – Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
  Referenced in discussion of love as the true mark of maturity.
  Amazon link

Support the show

Please connect with us at our Website, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
If you'd like to support the work of Flourish Coaching you can click here to make a donation.

Connect with Jeremy to discuss podcasting.