Emotional Formation

Emotional formation is a process that begins with bringing the emotional parts of one’s being into conscious awareness and focus. This process is sometimes described as bringing issues that have been hidden in darkness out into the light. It is also an ongoing process of involving these issues in the same type of formational process that takes place in spiritual formation. This includes aspects such as feelings, thoughts, addictions, pathologies, and family-of-origin issues.

Emotions should not be underestimated. An excellent description of the importance of emotional formation is given by Dr. Frank Green: “Emotions form an essential part of life and are the most important building blocks out of which happiness and enjoyment of life are built. To avoid feeling is to avoid life and causes us to lose touch with what really makes us tick. On the other hand, to feel too much and allow those feelings to control our lives has the potential of destroying our lives.”

In the mid-1990s, greater attention began being paid to emotions with the release of the best-selling book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, and its sequel Working with Emotional Intelligence. Goleman asserts that a view of human nature that ignores the power of emotions is sadly shortsighted. Self-awareness, or the ability to be aware of both mood and thoughts about one’s mood, becomes as essential as (and in some circumstances even more so) than intellectual intelligence. This skill is not something that is natural or even learned by most spiritual leaders, even though these leaders must daily confront issues that invoke an emotional reaction within them, not to mention the emotions of those they lead. Realities and feelings such as criticism, loneliness, fear of failure, bitterness, fear of rejection, and self-pity are a daily occurrence.

In The Emotionally Healthy Church, Pastor Peter Scazzero calls emotional health “discipleship’s next frontier.” He states: “Despite all the emphasis today on spiritual formation, church leaders rarely address what spiritual maturity looks like as it relates to emotional health, especially as it relates to how we love other people.” He describes how churches are characterized by an imbalanced spirituality, where people may present themselves as spiritually mature, but are stuck at a stage of spiritual immaturity that current models of discipleship have not addressed. Scazzero further shows how the roots of the problem lie in a faulty spirituality that stems from a faulty biblical theology.

A lack or weakness in the area of emotional formation tends to surface during times of crisis. Personal crises, marital tensions, family problems, and ministry conflicts all can lead one into a process that opens up new and significant opportunities for emotional formation. This formation can be prompted and moved along by personal evaluation, therapy, a process of inner healing, or even contemplation.

It is a sad reality that most ministry training either ignores or circumvents emotional formation. This can be the result of generational dynamics, such as people in authority whose generational tendency was to either ignore or bury emotional issues. It can also result from the stoic influence in certain church traditions. It can even result from distrust or suspicion of emotions often characteristic of fundamentalist or ultra-conservative leanings. Compared with spiritual formation, there have also been very few books and resources written that encourage a biblical understanding of the emotional aspects of life.

For further reading, check out the Emotional Formation section in the SOULeader Bookstore.
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Also Read:
Emotional Formation - The Most Neglected Area of Growth
Michael Bischof
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