Review & Expositor

Pastors and church leaders are increasingly using family systems theory as a way to understand normal relationship processes in their churches and to learn how to function within them. The theory helps us to see more clearly how we are emotionally interconnected with one another and the ways this can manifest either for greater personal and congregational health or greater difficulties. This article shows some of the relevance to church ministry of the eight primary concepts in Bowen family systems theory.

This article introduces Edwin H. Freeman, a key shaper of Family Systems Theory, in the context of his personal and professional life. It focuses on four nodal events: the death of his father, the death of his mother, and the entrance to and exit from his first and second congregations. A concluding section describes Friedman's use of Bowen Family Systems Theory in the management of his own health and his leadership within the mental health and religious professions.

Assuming that theological reflection is an integral dimension of the decision making process involved in shaping acts of pastoral ministry, this article explores Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST) as a resource for ministers engaged in such reflection. A case study of a ministry situation of a pastor in a heterogeneous inner city congregation serves to illustrate the dual contribution BFST can make to a minister's ability to do this essential work. In the first place, the theory serves as a personal resource for the minister seeking to assume the non-reactive stance necessary for any attempt to understand more clearly the dynamics involved in a ministry situation. Closely related to this is the capacity of the theory's conceptual framework to provide an accurate and in-depth understanding of the often unrecognized but always determinative emotional process present in a situation. Enabling ministers to “see” these systemic dynamics is the unique contribution BFST can make to the first step, description, in John Macquarrie's three-dimensional methodology for doing theological reflection and, therefore, to the last two steps, interpretation and application. All three dimensions of Macquarrie's methodology are identified. The article also examines some of the possible causes for the frequent absence of theological reflection from the practice of ministry.

Factual evidence indicates that contemporary society is in a period of rapid change, perhaps a crisis. Bowen Family Systems Theory contains within it a concept that describes, broadly, periods of regression in society. Many factors may have contributed to this situation. The theory also suggests ways for leaders to think about the regression and their own functioning at all times but especially in times of increased anxiety. It is important for the clergy to understand this theory since it clarifies what is meant by high level leadership that is based on and guided by principles. Examples of such leaders in times of societal regression are provided by John Wesley and Increase Mather.

Bowen Family Systems Theory is a beneficial lens through which the minister may see his or her own life, and how that life interfaces with the life of the congregation. In addition, upon seeing the layered landscape of family and congregation, the minister may better understand his or her role as a pastor and as a leader. The article supports this thesis through personal and parish examples of how the author attempts to “live the theory.” These “system snapshots” are explored within the four basic components of the theory: The Emotional Triangle, Self-Differentiation, The Emotional Field, and Multi-Generational Transmission. The article opens with the story of the healing of a cut-off in the author's own family. As this healing was taking place, a parallel process was occurring in the church he led as the congregation dealt with a cut-off regarding its founding minister. These interlocking stories of reconnection illustrate the power and beauty of Bowen Family Systems Theory in a parish setting. Thus, the author concludes: “The greatest laboratory in which to practice this type of alchemy is the local congregation. Amid its problems and possibilities, its exasperations and epiphanies, is the strange chemistry of grace.”

“My impression is that in controversies in the church that get the pastor in trouble, controversies about theology and ethics, that is, controversies about interpretation, we usually assume two parties in the quarrel, pastor and people (or some people). Given two parties, controversies predictably lead to -win/lose situations. What has happened in many such situations is that the text has disappeared as a live, vocal partner in the conversation.”