How to heal a wounded church (or other messed-up organization) Part 1

For several years, a number of people who came to visit or spent time at St. John’s church (not its real name) would say, “There’s something wrong there. The energy is all off.” And those who feel affinity for the land said, “It’s like there is some ancient energy there that is clouding everything.”

The minister and someone with regional oversight of the congregation tried several times to hire someone to clear the land and the buildings, but something got in the way each time. Finally, they came to me, and I partnered with them over the course of about a year.  

Two of my favorite aspects of my distance Weaving Webs work is collaborating with churches who need healing, and work with the land. Usually the church is in between ministers and there is always something that needs to be healed from previous ministers/pastors/priests.  

Underlying trauma

Often there is trauma under the surface.

This church had it all:

✦ a senior minister who never really left, and was still, knowingly or unknowingly, holding the reins more than a decade after he retired;

✦ an administrator who had been there 15 years and finally just retired, but who had been essentially running the church;

✦ a more recent former minister who had been removed for clergy misconduct, but whose actions were swept under the carpet, not allowing for the healing that needed to happen;

✦ lots of unhealed pain and dis-ease that had festered ever since the removal of the clergy person;

✦ the resulting masculine/feminine divides, which were also under the surface, but which were getting in the way of any kind of progress toward finding a new minister;

✦ groups that did not work together, or who appeared to be ok on the surface, but never accomplished anything, including a previous failed search for a new minister;

✦ a congregation that had no real coherence.

I always follow Spirit’s priority in what to tackle first, second, third, and so on.

Clearing the land

The first priority was clearing the land and the ancient energy that was overshadowing everything else. Using the simple and safe clearing procedure that I teach in my Weaving Webs course, I facilitated the clearing of the land and buildings as well as the removal and transmutation of that ancient energy. Those who are attuned to energy immediately noticed a difference.

Who’s in charge?

One of the biggest events in the church’s history was a renovation that created the opening for this ancient energy to enter the church and land. The minister who oversaw the renovation is much beloved in congregational memory. He also retired in the area and continues to attend the church. As I began working with the congregation, it became clear that this minister was actually the behind-the-scenes web keeper (my term for the person who is the energetic navigator of the system or web).

No wonder the interim minister was facing challenges in every direction! Interim ministers go in to congregations whose full-time minister has left. They do the healing work necessary to help the congregation grieve and let the past go, and to be ready for a new person to come in.

Changing the web keeper

Working with this dynamic was the second priority: I dissolved the former minister’s web keeper relationship with the congregation. At the same time, I made the interim minister, who should hold that role, the web-keeper. A day later, I received word from people attending the church that they noticed two things: the interim minister the energetic center of the worship service for the first time. And second, the former minister who had been holding that role was no longer the focal point of energy and attention. He had become simply a member of the congregation.

The energy shifted

Even the interim minister herself, who said she doesn’t feel energy very strongly, felt a palpable shift. From then on she felt that she had the power and space to do the work that was needed.

Of course, with some of the underlying issues resolved, all the under-the-surface unhealed wounds began to surface — everywhere! That is the focus of my blog on the next stages of the web reweaving process.

Trauma and dysfunction are intergenerational

In the meantime, all of this illustrates two things I’m becoming more and more aware of in my web work. First, trauma and dysfunction are usually intergenerational.

I’ve seen this dynamic over and over again, for instance, where a client with a huge amount of anxiety had an alcoholic ancestor a generation or two back, or some other traumatic event that influenced how their parents raised them, and so forth.  When you are healing trauma, you end up dealing with the whole family web.  

Similarly, in an institution, like this church, you are dealing with the whole web, including its history. Generations, in this case, could be measured by the tenures of each minister.  

We carry intergenerational wisdom

And second, as Kazu Hag, a Kingian nonviolence trainer, and founder and coordinator of the Eastpoint Peace Academy, says, “If we carry intergenerational trauma (and we do), then we ALSO carry intergenerational wisdom. It’s in our genes and in our DNA.”

I have been working with this reality in my Weaving Webs course and individual sessions for a long time. My clients who experience their own family trauma, have found that energetically (re)connecting with their full lineage can be life-changing.  While they may have a painful relationship with their immediate family, connecting with their intergenerational wisdom provides a stability, grounding, and strength that brings deep healing.

Drawing on intergenerational wisdom

As my work with this congregation continued, we began drawing on the intergenerational wisdom of the larger denomination, and the times when they were healthy in the past. This work itself is so awe-inspiring that I developed the Weaving Webs course to teach others how to do it too. My next course is starting in November, 2021. Never has our world needed this work more. If you are interested in learning about this opportunity, check it out here.  

In the meantime, I encourage you to look beyond your immediate ancestors, whether the relationships are painful or life-giving, and connect with the intergenerational wisdom that is in your lineage. Here is a simple practice to start with. 

Connecting with your intergenerational wisdom

Try this:

📖 Think about the ancestors that you know (the non-traumatic ones!). Are there any sayings that have been passed down from generation to generation? Any bits of wisdom or life advice? Or maybe a joke or some funny story?

⏳ Spend a bit of time remembering — you might want to write down what comes to you, or draw, or find some object that reminds you of the saying or story.

🙏🏽 Thank them for their wisdom: you can simply say a prayer of thanks for what they have brought to you and/or your family; you can find an object that reminds you of them and hold it or place it where it will remind you of their wisdom, or some other gesture of thanksgiving and love.

And please let me know about your experience in the comments below!  

PS: If you have family trauma and want to heal your intergenerational trauma and access your intergenerational wisdom, I have some spots open for individual work.  Check it out here. or book a Discovery Call so we can explore how I might serve you!