The Journal ofFamily and Community Ministries 2015, Volume 28(1)

G e n e r a t io n s t o C o m e :
T he F u t u r e oe B o w e n F a m il a S y s t e m s T h e o r y
AND C o n g r e g a t io n a l M in ist r y
R. Robert Creech

The .!()¡¡¡‫׳‬nal ofF am ily and Community Ministries, Volume 28

[KEYWORDS: HOWEN FAMILY SYSTEMS THEORY,

CONGREGATIONAL HEALTH, SELF CARE, FASTORAE CARE]

ABSTRACT: Bowen Family Systems Theory has valuable application for

pastoral care and congregational health. Bowen Theory bases its paradigm on the
idea that individuals can only be understood in the context of their nuclear and
extended families, which function as interlocking “emotional units.” The health of
these networks affects how individuals and groups respond to anxieties:
instinctively or rationally. Many writers have explored the applicability of Bowen
Theory to congregations. This article, in particular, calls for increased awareness
of Bowen Theory among clergy, as they grapple with the personal, famiiiai, and
congregational anxieties that the challenges of the 21st century will bring.
Hopefully, pastors will continue to explore the resources ofB ow en Theory
through seminary education, continuing education programs, and personal study.

The Confliet at College Avenue

Richard had served at College Avenue Church for 30 of the congregation’s 32
years. Along the way he had worn every hat except that of senior pastor. Tim, the
senior pastor, was ten years R ch ard ’sjunior. Tim had worked with him for
fifteen years while Richard had served as worship pastor and church
administrator. The partnership had been a good one. Now Richard had announced
that he would retire at the end of his thirtieth year.

For more than ten years Tim had been a student ofBow en Family Systems
Theory. Initially it had been a source of wisdom and guidance to address issues in
his own family, ©ver time he had discovered that the theory offered help in
understanding his role as pastor and the tasks of leadership in the congregation.
Learning to see the congregation as an emotional system had frequently provided
the insight he needed to offer both pastoral care and leadership more effectively.
As Richard’s retirement approached, Tim began to wonder how the loss of such a
key figure in the congregation’s life and history might affect the emotional system
of College Avenue. He was fairly certain that effects would show up; hejust
could not predict where and how. But as that time drew near, he attempted to be
aware of the evidence of rising anxiety in the congregation.

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Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

Besides his official positions, Richard had oeeupied an informal role in the
church’s life. He had been with most of their senior adults for more than three
decades. They were all in their thirties or forties when the ehureh was started.
They trusted Richard deeply. During the past fifteen years or so of Tim’s tenure,
the church had engaged significant changes in size, worship style, structures, and
facilities. On oeeasion some of those senior adults had gotten nervous about all
the changes. Knowing that Richard was there, that he was in the staff meetings
and planning sessions, had usually exerted a calming effect on them, however. He
could represent leadership decisions to them and could listen sympathetically.

One Monday morning Bob called and asked to meet with Tim. He sounded
anxious. Bob was one of those senior adults. He, however, had not always been in
the church. He had come to faith late in his life and had worked tbrougb his faith
questions with Tim and another of the church’s pastors. The senior adults in the
congregation were his friends. In fact, he had known most of them in the
community for many years. But he was still somewhat new to the church. His
“loyalties” were about equally divided between his peers and the pastors on the
staff. He came to see Tim to give him fair warning about trouble brewing among
the seniors.

As Bob explained the kinds of rumors circulating in the Sunday School

department the previous weekend, Tim grew thoughtful. The rumors had to do
with Tim’s theology. People were talking about a comment Tim had made in a
recent sermon, twisting it to mean that Tim hardly believed in lesus any longer.
Tim recognized this as an anxious reaction that had nothing to do with the sermon
or his theology. He began to consider how all this might be related to Richard’s
departure and how he might best offer pastoral care to these anxious people.

Bowen Theory and Congregational Life

For more than thirty years men and women who serve as clergy in both Christian
churches and lewish synagogues have found the ideas of Dr. Murray Bowen
foundational for their own thinking about ministry and leadership in
congregational tiff. The connection between the concepts of a ciinicai psychiatrist
and the practice of ministry was made initiaiiy by one of Bowen’s students, Rabbi
Edwin H. Friedman, in his book Generation to Generation: Family Process in
Church and Synagogue (1985). Friedman found Bowen’s “new way of thinking”
about human behavior and relationships particularly applicable to the work they
were doing on a daily basis. The influence of Bowen’s ideas have since spread
among clergy, finding their way into a growing bibliography, multiple training
programs, and the curriculum of many seminaries. What is “Bowen Family
Systems Theory,” and why has it proved to he so attractive to those in
congregational ministry? Does this thinking have a future in a rapidly changing
cultural and congregational landscape?

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Bowen Family Systems Theory

Following his return to ^ychiatric practice after serving as an Army physician in
World War 11, □ ٢. Murray Bowen began to engage research in the field of
schizophrenia. His worl< at both the Menninger Clinic (1946-54) and at the
National Institute ofM entai Health (1954-59) led him to observations about the
ways in which the schizophrenic patients reacted to his or her family and how in
turn they reacted to the impaired family member. Bowen began to think of the
family as an “emotional unit” and to provide treatment that took the entire family
and its functioning into account.

Between 1960 and 1965 Bowen articulated in detail six interlocking theoretical
concepts that he believed described human behavior in scientific terms, something
he thought that other schools of psychiatry had failed to do adequately. His goal
was to understand emotional illness as a product o fth at part of the human that is
shared with other forms of life as a result of the evolutionary process (Bowen,
1994, p. xiv). By 1974 Bowen had added two additional concepts to the theory.
Although the family movement in psychiatry had begun in the late 1940s,
independent thinkers and practitioners who were working in tbe field first began
to share their work in tbe mid 1950s. During the 1960s, Don Jackson, Tbeodore
Lidz, Nathan Akerman, Virginia Satir, and others were also working on
approaches to family therapy. The terms “ Systems Theory” and “Family Systems
Therapy” were being used to refer to a wide variety of theoretical and therapeutic
approaches. Bowen, wanting to distinguish his thinking from others, attached his
name to his theory in 1974. “Bowen Family Systems Theory” or “Bowen Theory”
denotes a particular set of concepts Bowen observed to be present in exaggerated
and more easily observable form in families with a G izo p h ren ic member and
which, he came to believe, could be also observed in all other human families and
emotional systems (Bowen, 1994, p. xiv).

Bowen’s concepts may be summarized in the following statements.

1. The emotional triangle.

A two-person system Is the most unstable human relationship, since rising anxiety
in either of the two can disturb it. Bowen observed that when anxiety rises
between two people, they automatically seek to bring in a third person, forming
an “emotional triangle.” The emotional triangle, the smallest stable human
system, is what Bowen called “the molecule” of an emotional system (Bowen,
1994, p. 174). Each triangle interlocks with others to make up the larger system.
Anxiety can easily pass through the system via this network of connections.

2. Seale of differentiation of self.

Bowen observed that individuals and families differ in their capacity to manage
anxiety. The same issues or circumstances that might result in one family’s
Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

collapse would he experienced simply as a challenge to another. Feople, he

observed, differ in their ability to remain thoughtful in the presence of threats, real
or perceived. They differ in the degree to which they are fused dependency on
one another in a system. This variation he called “differentiation of self.” He also
refers to this difference in capacity at times as “emotional maturity.” His “scale”
is a hypothetical continuum of 0-100 on which one’s level of differentiation might
he represented. Although Bowen offered no instrument to measure this quality, he
attempted to describe what life would he l‫؛‬l<e for people in various quarters of the
scale. Most people, he believed, would fall below 50. (Bowen 1994, pp. 161-64).

3. Family einotional proeess.

Bowen noted that human beings possess a limited repertoire of four automatic,
instinctual responses to rising anxiety: conflict, distancing, over/under-
functioning (sometimes called “the symptomatic spouse”), and projection (also
known as “tri angling”) (Bowen 1994, p. 377). Operating out of the automatic
functions of the brain, humans respond with these patterns in the face of anxiety.
Bowen believed that human beings most often used their “intellectual” system
after the fact, to create rational explanations for their automatic behavior (Bowen
1994, p. 272).

4. M ultgenerational transmission process.

Bowen observed that each nuclear family is the product of sixty-two nuclear
families in the five generations that precede it, and of over a thousand nuclear
families in the nine generations that precede it. He explored the ways in which
emotional maturity and family attitudes, beliefs, values, and emotional process are
transmitted between these generations over time. Bowen found that knowing
one’s own family bistory in some detail and working on one’s relationships with
extended family members also provided a means to work on differentiating a self,
or growing in emotional maturity (Bowen 1994, pp. 168-69).

5. Family projection process.

Bowen wondered how to account for the phenomenon of two children from the
same family emotional system and the same gene pool emerging with radically
different levels of emotional maturity. How is that one becomes highly impaired
and another functions well in lito? He saw the solution in the experience of
“projection,” that he had identified as one of the four automatic responses in the
family emotional process. As one child, for any number of reasons, becomes the
anxious focus of his or her parents, that child grows up with a greater emotional
dependency on one or both of them. That is, foe child grows up with a lower level
of differentiation. The parents manage foe anxiety between them by anxiously
focusing, or projecting it, on the child. The greater foe intensity o fth at anxiety
and, thus, ofthat focus, foe more impaired foe child is Ifoely to be in one way or
another. This happens to some degree in all families, Bowen thought (Bowen
1994, pp. 127-31).

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6. Sibling position.
Bowen admired the worl< of Walter Toman, whose research into sibling position
was published in his book Family Constellations. Bowen found that Toman’s
thinking explained much about how one learns to relate to others of both the same
and opposite gender and to otbers in relationship to power and authority by means
of tbe unique place one holds in the “family constellation.” Toman identified ten
profiles of sibling position that offer an understanding of human behavior and
personality. Position (oldest/youngest) and gender (brother/sister) clashes or
complementary relationships, for example, sbow up in marriages. Two “oldests”
being married migbt anticipate a “clash” as tbey vie for power. In complementary
fasbion, an “oldest sister of brothers” migbt bave learned along the way to be tbc
autbority and/or caretaker of the men in her life, and ber “younger brother of
sisters” busband m ightjust let her do so. Bowen adopted Toman’s thinking
unmodified as one of the concepts of bis theory (Bowen 1994, pp. 169-70).1

7. Einotional cut-off.
Emotional cut-off, an extreme form of the family emotional process of
“distancing,” occurs between generations. When the emotional intensity is so
great tbat tbc child cannot witbstand it, he or sbe may “cut-off’ from the parent(s).
This may be done geographically, as in a move across the country, but physical
distance is not required. It can be accomplished while still living in the parents’
home. Once cut-off bas occurred in a family it is transmitted between the
generations, so that entire “branches” of the family tree are often unknown to
otbers in the family. The process sets up those wbo cut-off to experience a
vulnerability to an even more intense relationship witb tbeir own offspring
(Bowen 1994, pp. 382-84).

8. Societal emotional process.

The last concept Bowen added to his theory is tbc result of his observation that
tbc same behaviors occurring in the nuclear family in the face of anxiety occur
also in society at large. Bowen believed that human society cycled tbrougb
periods of “ societal regression” during which a bigb degree of emotional
reactivity resulted in symptoms at a social level, such as family disintegration,
violence, erosion of moral and etbical standards, and a failure of leadership to act
out of principles. He believed that human society, especially in North America,
had entered sucb a regressive time shortly after World W ar II, at least by tbc
1960s. He predicted in the mid-1970s, ratber accurately, tbc way in wbicb
symptoms would emerge and tbc ways society would anxiously attempt to deal
witb them, anticipating that tbc regression would continue well into the middle of
tbc 21st century. The source of the rising anxiety in the last half of the 20th
century, be ^pothesized, was ultimately environmental - the increased
disconnection between human beings and nature (Bowen 1994, pp. 269-82, 413-
50).

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Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

These eight concepts, gradually accumulated through observation and testing over
several decades, formed the eore ofB ow en’s partieularway of understanding and
explaining human behavior as seientifieahy as he was able. Near the end of his
life Bowen began to think about the question of what role beliefin the
supernatural played in human functioning. This question is sometimes referred to
as “the ninth concept,” but It was not one that Bowen himself developed.

Bowen Theory Meets Congregational Life (1985-2015)

Since Friedman published Generation to Generation many clergy men and
women have discovered that the eight concepts of Bowen Family Systems Theory
provide a useful lens through which to understand their own lives and families as
well as those of their flock. Friedman, a student of Murray Bowen at the
Georgetown Family Center, demonstrated how toe emotional system of the
clergy’s own family, nuclear and extended, interconnects with the emotional
systems of the families of the congregation as well as with the emotional system
of the congregation itself Friedman’s application of Bowen Theory made sense to
many who were engaging congregational life daily. He became toe initial conduit
bringing application ofB ow en’s theory to clergy and congregations.

Clergy training programs in Bowen Theory soon spawned across North America,
Beginning with Friedman’s own program in Bethesda, Maryland in 1990 (The
Center for Family Process), training centers multiplied. Larry M athew's’
Teadership in Ministry workshops, □ ٢. Roberta Gilbert’s Center for the Study of
Human Systems, Peter Steinke’s Healthy Congregations, toe Clergy Clinics at the
Lombard Mennonite Peace Center in Chicago, and Doug Hester’s Ministry
Leadership Concepts are a handful of the better known programs designed to train
clergy in Bowen’s concepts.

Other congregational leaders turned to toe resources of scores of educational

programs not specifically designed for clergy, such as toe post-graduate program
of the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family in Washington, DC and others.
Therapists, organizational leaders, nurses, educators, clergy, and others have
taken advantage of programs providing training in Bowen Tbeory across North
America. Many seminaries include at least some exposure to toe theory as part of
theological education. Clinical Pastoral Education programs in hospitals often
incorporate the theory in their training regimen as well.

In addition, a modest bibliography has developed as practitioners and scholars

have engaged toe intersection ofB ow en’s theory and toe life and ministry of the
clergy. Writers such as Roberta Gilbert, Israel Galindo, Peter Steinke, Ron
Richardson, Margaret Marcuson, R. Paul Stevens and lim Herrington, Trisha
Taylor, and I have addressed aspects of clergy leadership, congregational
emotional systems, and toe clergy family. For more than three decades Bowen’s

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thinking has influenced the way many clergy function in proclamation, pastoral
care, and leadership

Why the Popularity of Bowen Theory Amoug Clergy?

Why have congregational leaders found this theory so attractive? No quantitative,
scientific survey of clergy responses to that question exists. However, based on
observations from personal engagement with the theory as a pastor and from
working with scores of students and fellow pastors in classes and workshops, 1
offer the following suggestions:

1. Thanks to the programs and bibliography mentioned earlier, the theory

is readily available to clergy with direct application to their work.

2. Tbe theory is understandable. It can be learned and practiced.

3. The theory is compatible with the biblical perspectives and theological

categories held by mainline religious traditions. It is not a philosophy,
theology, or ideology, but an attempt to explain human functioning.

4. The theory helps clergy focus on sel)', rather than on others whom they
cannot control, removing the “victim” mentality that can too easily plague
one in a powerless position.

5. The theory provides ways for clergy to think holistically about a variety
of issues in the congregation, without having to develop expertise in
counseling, management, conflict resolution, and other fields.

6. Clergy daily encounter /،//??//)' and congregational relational issues.

Bowen Theory applies directly to questions they face in the course of
ordinary ministry.

7. Clergy find that the theory provides a way of thinking about life in
congregations and families that makes a practical difference.

During the same period that saw the introduction of clergy to Bowen’s thinking
(1985- present), clergy of every tradition witnessed seismic changes in
denominations, congregations, and society. Technological, geo-political,
environmental, moral/ethical, and economic issues have rocked tbe world in the
past thirty years and the church has not been spared the consequences.

Bowen’s theory has provided clergy a map for negotiating the treacherous terrain
of social change. Thoughtful practitioners have engaged the theory to manage
themselves in the midst of the anxiety this turmoil has generated in society,
families, and congregations. Teadership during anxious times requires a way of

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Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

thinking both about the world and about oneself, and Bowen Theory has offered a
way forward. In fact, it may he that the very eoineidenee of Friedman’s offering
the theory to fellow congregational leaders and the onslaught ofsueh challenging
times is what has made the theory so attraetive to elergy.

The Confliet at College Avenue Continued

Bob had caught Tim on a good day. He had been thinking about tbe impaet of
Richard’s departure and was alert to the possible eonneetion between the senior
adults’ concern for his orthodoxy and the retirement of the staff member they had
depended on for so long. Tim asked Bob, “Who else knows you have come to talk
to me about this?” Bob replied that he had only told his wife. “Tet’s keep it to
ourselves, then,” Tim suggested, “and try an experiment.”

Tim explained to Bob that it was possible that the eoneern of his friends for the
pastor’s theology may have been more about their sense of anxiety over Riehard’s
no longer being there for them. They may fear that they had lost the only one who
cared about their eoneems. Tim suggested that over the next few weeks he would
stop by the senior adults gathering place between worship services and visit with
them - not about theology, but about life. He would increase his eontaet with
them and express his genuine care for them. They were his friends, too. They had,
after all, managed to serve and work togetber for fifteen years. He hypothesized
that his orthodoxy would improve signifieantly before long.

Tim did authentically eare for these people. Had he been attempting to manipulate
them, his plan likely would have failed miserably. As it turned out, the content of
their complaint was not the real issue. Rather, it was the emotional process that
Tim had begun to better understand was impacting the ehureh in this case. Had he
simply responded to the content and protested his orthodoxy or eonfronted people
with the “sin of gossip,” the emotional process would likely have continued
unabated. Tim’s capacity to “think systems and observe process” enabled him to
he a better leader and a more understanding and caring pastor. Stories lil<e this can
he heard repeatedly from pastors who have seriously attempted to engage Bowen
Theory in the everyday work of their ministry over the past thirty years. Will the
theory continue to be of use to ministers in the rapidly changing world of the 21st
Century?

Bowen Theory, Congregations, and the Future

Given scenarios of a surging world population, the growth of megacities, and the
potential ecological crises we will face in the next forty years, how important
might Bowen Theory he for pastoral leaders in the mid-21st century^ The changes
and challenges that lie before the North American church tower over those it has
faced so far. What will the world of 2050 look like? To what will congregations
and their leaders have to adapt?

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The technology that will be part of tbat world is unimaginable. Who can 1001c
forty years ahead in a world where knowledge is doubling every 1.5-5 years,
depending upon the field and whom you believe^ Clearly, however, technological
cbange will be a factor in shaping the future of ministry.

Some aspects ofthat future are more predictable, such as demographics and
ecology.

• 7 hiltion people now oeeup^om world.

billion (some say 10 or 11).
٠ The U.S. population of 310 million will swell to 420 million.

Wbere will tbese 9 billion people world-wide, 420 million Americans live? In
cities. In huge, overcrowded cities.

٠ In 1900 only ٧ ٠ million people in the world lived in cities. In 2 7 ‫ ﻫﻪ‬,

for the first time, tbc world had more urban people tban rural, witb
more than 3 billion. In 2 ‫ ه‬5‫ ه‬, more than 6 billion people, 7 of 1‫ ه‬on the
planet will live in huge cities under unimaginably crowded conditions.
The number of cities of more than a million has exploded over the past
century, from a mere dozen in 19‫ ﻫﻪ‬, to 83 in 195‫ ه‬, to more than 4 ‫ﻫﻪ‬
today. Eighteen “megacities” now bave populations over ten million.

The factors that go witb urban crowding are not mysterious. Crime, disease,
quality of life, transportation, food supply, waste management, energy demands
and other social problems will grow exponentially. Most of those serving as
clergy in 2050 will be doing so in a large, densely populated, urban setting.

Property will be scarce and therefore expensive in these cities. Models of church
life that depend on real estate and facilities may no longer be sustainable. Should
an increasing secular culture decide that the potential tax revenue available from
church property is duly owed to the local and state governments, owning property
may become too burdensome financially for many congregations.
Add to the issue of population growth the environmental concerns that lie abead
in the next two generations. Adequate clean water worldwide is an increasingly
serious problem. With the growtb of the cities, it becomes more so. Food supply
systems that depend on cheap oil for transportation leave large cities vulnerable.
Global climate change remains a wild card for coastal cities. With up to seventy-
percent of the world crowded into cities, living in a world surrounded by asphalt,
concrete, and glass, people will be increasingly alienated from Creation and from
each other. If Murray Bowen was right about the way in which that disconnection
generates increasing anxiety, then one migbt expect tbc regressive spiral to
continue downward (Bowen 1994, p. 272).

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Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

This part of the future is predictable. Those who lead congregations through sueh
times will require a way of thinking that helps them keep their head amid the
swirl of reactivity, anxiety, and fear such changes inevitably generate. Bowen
Family Systems Theory ean beeome an increasingly valuable and useful tool for
congregational ministry and leadership in a world that is likely to grow
progressively anxious.

A practicing knowledge of Bowen theory will beeome a valuable asset for elcrgy
as the church moves into the mid-21st century,///·.s7, because the theory describes
“human ” behavior that is not limited to time and culture. Approaches to ministry
and leadership arise quiekly and disappear just as qu‫؛‬el<ly in an anxious and
leaderless environment such as ours. The pressure to develop and employ “c!uiel<-
fixes” that are relatively painless generates leadership snal<e-oil by the train load,
and congregational leaders, like other anxious men and women, often eagerly pay
for a bottle of the latest brew. Simply entering the term “leadership” on an
Internet search engine will produce nearly haft'a billion hits. A search of
Amazon.corn’s book list using tbe term will generate more than 130,000 titles.
During times of leadership defieit, books and programs sell well. But the sheer
multiplicity of them bears witness to their ineffeetiveness. If we knew how to fix
the problem, we would have done it a long time ago.

To await anxiously and dependency for the next new thing to surfaee in the
leadership market leaves congregational ministers without a way of anticipating
the future, thinking tbeir way into it, or learning tbeir way through it. They are
constantly taken by surprise as the latest fad that appeared to work in one plaee
does not seem to fit in tbeirs. ©٢ the approach they were once employing
effectively has become anemic, limp, and useless. Dependency on leadership
gurus leaves them vulnerable in such times.

Bowen Theory is not a leadership theory, per se. Bowen attempted to study and
describe “human” behavior scientifically, and so did not limit his thinking to a
current pltiio^phicai theory or perspective. His eight concepts can be illustrated
in the stories found in ancient bibiicai texts as well as in contemporary human
experience across cultures. Bowen focused on instinctual reactions hardwired into
the human brain that are not acquired in a given culture or developed in a specific
moment in history. These emotional processes are rather the product of tens of
thousands of years of evolutionary development that belong to the human as
human, a process buried “deep in the phylogenetic past and . . . much older than
the intellectual system” (Bowen, 1994, p. 305). Bowen theory holds foe potential
of being one of the few aspects ofciergy training that will accompany them into
foe future of the church and society in which they serve. Church structures and
practices will certainly change in the next forty years, but human reactivity and
emotional processes likely will not. A working understanding ofB ow en Theory
will remain a valuable asset for those women and men serving and leading

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congregations into the middle of this interesting century. The perspective of

theory will continue to offer them an accurate way to understand themselves and
those they lead and serve despite radical contextual changes.

Second, the more rapid and radical the changes around us, the greater the
anxiety that society w ill experience, Bowen Theory provides clergy with a way of
thinking about and understanding that anxiety. Congregations with such high-
functioning leaders stand a better chance of thriving despite the anxious
environment.

Bowen himself anticipated such times and incorporated them into his theory.
“ Societal regression” was the term Bowen applied to these periods of history.
Like toe rodents in Jack Calhoun’s NIMH experiments, human beings
overpopulating their environment and, sensing the threat that creates, are already
crowding together into densely packed cities (Ramsden, 2 0 1 1). Bowen spoke
about toe likelihood of such a response and said,

I believe man is moving into crises of unparalleled proportions, that the

crises will he different than those he has faced before, that they will come
with increasing frequency for several decades, that he will go as far as he
can in dealing symptomatically with each crisis, and that a final major
crisis will come as soon as toe middle of next century. The type of man
who survives that will he one who can live in better harmony with nature.

He goes on:

This prediction is based on knowledge about the nature of man as an

instinctual being, and on stretcbing existing thinking as far as it can go.
There are many questions about what man can do about his environmental
crisis. The thesis here is that he might modify his future course if he can
gain some control over his reaction to anxiety and his 'instinctual'
emotional reactiveness, and begin taking constructive action based on his
fund of knowledge and on logical thinking. (Bowen, 1994, p. 281)

Bowen tbeory offers a way of thinking about the crisis itself, about the anxiety it
generates, and about managing oneself as a leader in the face of such regressive
times.

Third, Bowen Theory provides a way ofthinking about thefuture that w ill help
discerning men andw om en respond to and adapt to the changes about them
rather than merely reacting instinctively. These will he vital skills for
congregational leaders in a rapidly changing world.

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Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

Teadership is inherently about the future. Teaders have been described as

“midwives” helping others give birth to their future. Congregations that do well
through the next forty years, who learn to funetion at a high level in the face of
the changes and challenges about them, who manage to make it through these
times without destructive eonfliet, clergy moral failure, or simple disintegration,
will he those who have learned to respond to their environment rather than reaet.
They will require leaders who ean help them understand their unique calling,
access their faith traditions, think and pray together about their future, hold on to
their values, and remain faithful to their identity.

Teaders who are learning to work on tbemselves in tbese areas, defining a self,
managing tbeir own reaetivity, knowing tbeir own values and faith, thinking and
praying tbrougb their challenges, will he in a better position to assist
congregations give birth to their future in troubled times. Understanding the world
and themselves through the lens of Bowen theory and then moving those ideas
into action in their lives will put clergy in a position to function well as leaders in
the first half of the 21st eentury.

The Future of Bowen Theory and Clergy, Congregations, and Religion

And what of the future ofB ow en Theory itself in its application to the work of
clergy and congregations? What unanswered questions and unexplored issues
remain? Further research and thinking in four specific areas may assist
congregational leaders in their appropriation ofB ow en’s thinking.

Religion and human functioning

The Christian Century reported on a conversation being held among theologians
and evolutionary biologists regarding religion as adaptive behavior. New Atheism
writers like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett have argued for
religion as maladaptive behavior, but alternative conclusions are now being drawn
by other evolutionary scientists and theologians such as Dominic Johnson, Jan-
Olav Henriksen, Jeffrey Schloss, Ai<u Visala, Cecelia Deane-Drummond, Robert
Song, Conor Cunningham, and fe e Croni< (Dominic Johnson et 2 0 ‫ ﺗﺎ‬, p . 4 ‫)ت‬,
suggesting that religion offers adaptive benefits for human life. These questions
touch on those raised by Murray Bowen near the end of his life and may shape an
understanding of the so-called “ninth concept” ofB ow en’s theory — the
relationship of religion and spirituality to human functioning. This will remain
one of the horizons for further research and thinking among clergy, theologians,
and scientists as well.

Clergy training
Bowen Family Systems Theory is showing up with some frequency as a
component in seminary courses and Clinical Pastorai Education programs, just as
it does in a variety of marriage and famiiy counseling programs and schools of
social work. In many of tbese contexts, Bowen Theory is one perspective offered

78
 The Journal ofFamily and Community Ministries 2015, Volume 28(1)

among many, encouraging a distortion of the theory or a syncretistic approach.

Required reading in Bowen Theory is seldom taken from Bowen’s writing. At
best, students read others who are applying Bowen’s thinking, while Bowen
himself is usually absent from the academic classroom.

?rograms dedicated to training clergy from the distinctA'e perspective of Bowen

Theory developed outside institutional academic curriculum. Victoria Harrison’s
survey of training programs found that this was true notjust of clergy-focused
programs but of training in Bowen Theory generally (Harrison 1999). This
trajectory will likely continue. Tew theological schools have faculty in place in
pastoral care or leadership who work exclusively from a perspective in Bowen
Tbeory. Tor the most part, clergy who desire training in the theory will continue
to find that in dedicated stand-alone programs.

I do not see this as a problem. I continue to wonder whether Bowen Theory can
he successfully taught as an academic subject, although I make that effort every
semester. My hope is that exposure to the theory will provide students with
resources to pursue further investigation later in ministry if they become so
motivated. Like most sources of wisdom, Bowen Tbeory becomes most valuable
when one turns to it out of personal need. Crises in family or congregation often
make for more highly motivated students. Consequently, easily accessible, well-
developed programs for clergy that are deeply rooted in theory and that have a
coaching component will continue to fill an important niche in clergy training for
those who are motivated to deepen their understanding of theory and its
application to life and ministry.

The ideas of Bowen Theory are easily grasped Intellectually, but they are engaged
in practice only with great effort over time. This is why training programs,
particularly those employing an element of personal coaching, are valuable
resources. Clergy, just like their parishioners, are reactive human beings operating
with a level of emotional maturity that makes tbem susceptible to emotional
process when anxiety rises. The work on differentiation of self is not easy, but it
is worthwhile. To become a less anxious pastor is to offer a resource to the people
one serves.

Clergy sustainability
Theological educators, denominational leaders, and pastors themselves wring
their hands over the issue of clergy sustainability. The reported number of cases
of “clergy burnout” continues to increase. H. B. London reports survey data
indicating that 40 percent of pastors say they had considered leaving their
pastorates in the past three months (London & Wiseman, 2003, p. 25), A variety
of remedies have been suggested and tried, many of which, I suspect have
provided some relief and support for men and women in pastoral leadership.
Learning to think in terms of anxiety, reactivity, triangles, one’s own family’s

79
Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

emotional process, and differentiation o fselfean help reclaim those who have
experienced some form of burnout. In this effort, Bowen Family Systems Theory
offers both an immediate and a long-term approaeh.

The bigger question lies in working to prevent clergy moral, personal, and
professional failure. Having aeeess to a way of thinking that allows one to see the
emotional systems one is part of (family, congregation, families in the
congregation) may offer the ounee of prevention that is needed. Friedman claims
that it is not over-work, but one’s place in the anxious system that affeets elergy
burnout (Friedman 1985). To know one’s part in those systems, to reeognize the
symptoms of rising anxiety in oneself and others, to have ways of managing one’s
own reactivity, and to he working on differentiation of self would help ground toe
work ot'elergy in a more sustainable process. The relationship of this work to
classical practices of spiritual discipline (prayer, contemplation, worship,
meditation) and to toe clergy’s commitment to physical wellness should continue
to he an area of research and exploration.

High-functioning congregations
Congregational health is another topic that frequently surfaces in the
conversations and literature of church lito these days. Congregations themselves
appear to range from the mature to toe immature, toe effective to toe ineffective.
Many are threatened by toe changes about them and succumb to those threats by
an anxious huddling together that results in their inevitable death. Others see toe
changes as challenges and worl< to adapt to them as best they can. Some
congregations fight and divide as their anxiety rises; others can negotiate serious
differences among themselves and still manage to stay connected. Some
congregations have a history of doing in their leaders or their members and others
offer experiences of community in which leaders and members appear to thrive.

In Bowen Family Systems Theory, the question of what it means for a family
emotional system to function at a higher level during times of increased anxiety
moves beyond toe metaphor o f “heahh,” which has a tendency toward diagnosis
and blame. Is it possible to define what a ltigtyfunctiontog congregation would
look like? What would he required of the leader who would want to see a
congregation grow forward in its capacity to manage its reactivity in a highly
anxious environment amid rapid social changes? Can a congregation worl< on
being more fully (hfferentiateto In a future marked by heightened anxiety, rapid
change, and life-threatening challenges, congregations that can think and work in
these terms might find themselves better equipped to thrive in the chaos.

Conelusion
Men and women who can apply toe concept of Murray Bowen’s theory to their
lives as clergy, as pastoral leaders, to their own families, and to toe emotional
system of their congregations, may he better equipped than most to see their

80
 The Journal ofFamily and Community Ministries 2015, Volume 28(1)

congregations engage the uncertainty of their future. How might one learn to
work from such a perspective^ Here are some practical steps to bet started.

Reading
The accompanying bibliography offers solid resources dealing specifically with
the application of Bowen Theory to congregational life. Roberta Gilbert often
says, “If you know theory, you can use theory. If you don’t know theory you can’t
use theory (Gilbert, 2006). One who desires to he able to see the emotional
processes in his or her own family and congregation can make a good start by
learning the terms and concepts of the theory and by attending to the examples
and applications offered in these resources.

Training
Find one of the many programs a‫ ؟‬ailable around the country and engage in
training with others who are attempting to apply theory to their own worl< in
ministry. Locating a program that includes an element of coaching with someone
versed in the theory would he most beneficial.

Working on Differentiation
Fractice spiritual disciplines such as prayer, silence, solitude, and meditation.
Learn to be a calmer presence out of your relationship with God. Develop a
family diagram of four to seven generations, learning the facts and stories of the
family from which you have come. Grow personal one-on-one relationships with
people in your extended family. Learn to know them as individuals. Choose to he
an important person to your family. Show up for l<ey events - weddings, funerals,
reunions, and holidays. Challenge yourself Lean into difficult relationships rather
than avoiding them. The goal is to he able to he more fully present with people
(your family or your congregation) when anxiety is high without getting caught
up in the reactivity yourself. Friedman called this a “non-anxious presence.” Since
non-anxious people probably do not exist, a “less anxious presence” might be a
more reasonable goal for most of us.

Reflective Practice
Learn to reflect on experiences in family and congregational life from the
perspective of the theory. Observe emotional processes and reactivity in yourself
and in others. Asl<, “Why is this symptom showing up now? What has changed?”
“What is my contribution to toe situation and how can I change that?” W ork on
containing your own emotional reactivity. Engage in increased contact with your
extended family. Bowen Family Systems Theory is not a bag of tricks or
techniques to use to manipulate others. It is a way of learning to grow oneself
emotionally and spiritually. That requires reflective practice.

SI
Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

References

Bowen, M. (1994). Family Therapy in Clinical Practice (1st ed.). lason Aronson.

Damian, R. I., & Roberts, B. w. (2015). The associations of birth order with
personality and intelligence in a representatrt'e sample of u s. high school
students. Journal o f Research in Personality, 58, 96-105.
htt^//doi.org/10.1016/j.j^2015.05.005

Dominic Johnson et al. (2013, February 20). Adaptive Faith: Religion in

Evolutionary Perspeetive. The Christian ('en¡¡¡¡■}’, 730(4), 34-39.

Gilbert, R. M. (^006). Extraordinary Leadership: Thinking Systems, M aking a

Difference (1st ed.). Eeading Systems Press.

London, H. B., Jr., & Wiseman, N. B. (2003). Pastors ‫ ص‬Greater Risk (Revised).
Regal.

Ramsden, B. E. (201 1). From Rodent Utopia to Urban Ueh: Population,

Pathology, and the Crowded Rats ofNIM H. Isis, 102(4), 659-688,
http://doi.org/10.1086/663598.

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 The Journal ofFamily and Community Ministries 2015, Volume 28(1)

B o w e n F a m i l y S y s t e m s T h e o r y a n d C o n g r e g a t i o n a l Tt e e !
a B ib l io g r a p h y

Armour, M. C., & Browning, □ (2000). Systems-Sensitive Leadership:

Empowering Diversity Without Polarizing the Church (2nd ed.). College
?٢ Pub Co.

Beal, E. w . (2005). A Relrospective: Edwin Eriedman, His Life and Work.

Review & Expositor, 102(3), 407-424.

Blessing, K. (2004a), Differentiation in the Family ofFaith: The Prodigal Son and
Galatians 1-2. In j. H. Ellens & w . G. Rollins (Eds.), Psychology and the
Bible: A New Way to Read the Scriptures.From Gospel to Gnostics (Vol.
3). Westport, Conn.: Praeger.

Blessing, K. (2004b). Family Systems Psychology as Hermeneutic. In Psychology

and the Bible 1, From Freud to Kohut (pp. 185-207). Westport, Conn:
Praeger.

Blessing, K. (2010). Families o fth e Bible: A New Perspective. Santa Barbara,

Calif: Praeger.

Farreh, B. D. (1996). After the Church Split, M oving Forward the Family ofF aith
[microform]: An Application ()]Seven Principles ofP eter Steinke.

Foster, Larry, (n.d.). Clergyseminars - W riting^Challenges. Retrieved January

22, 2013, from http://www.clergyseminars.net/writings-appeals.html

Friedman, E. H. (1985). Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church

and Synagogue. New Vorlc Guilford Press.

Gilbert, R. M. (2005). Societal Regression and the Clergy. Review & Expositor,
102(3), 445-459.

Gilbert, R. M. (^006). Extraordinary Leadership: Thinking Systems, Making a

Difference (1st ed.). Leading Systems Press.

Gilbert, R. M. (2008). The Cornerstone Concept (1st ed.). Eeading Systems Press.

Harding, E. s. (1985). The Atonement and Family Therapy. Anglican Theological

Review, 67( 1), 46-57.

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Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

Herrington ,‫ ل‬., Creech, R., & Taylor, T. L. (2003). The Leader ’s Journey:
Accepting the ( '¿¡‫اا‬to Personal and Congregational Transformation (1st
ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Hunt, E. N. (1998, March). The Church as Extended Family. ProQuest

Information & Learning, us.

Jensen, c. A. (2003). Toward Pastoral Counseling Integration: One Bowen

Oriented Approaeh. Journal o f Pastoral Care & Counseling, 57(2), 117-
129.

Lamkin, 1, E. (2005). Systems Theory and Congregational Leadership: Leaves

from an Alehemist’s Journal. Review & Expositor, 102(3), 461-489.

Matthews, L. E. (2005). Bowen Family Systems Theory: A Resource for Pastoral

Theologians. Review & Expositor, 102(3), 425-444.

Nicholson, R. s. (1998). Temporary Shepherds: A Congregational Handbook fo r

Interim Ministry. Bethesda, Md.: Alban Institute.

Nyengele, M. F. (2002). Family Systems Theory and the Concerns of African

Women Theologians: Pastoral Theological Refleetions. Africa Theological
Journal, 25(2), 71-98.

Ott, E. (^007). Leaving as Proeess: Toward Differentiation of Self in Pastoral

Transitions. Trinity Seminary Review, 25(1), 21-28.

Richardson, R. w . (1996). Creating a Healthier Church: Family Systems Theory,

Leadership and Congregational Life. Fortress Press.

Richardson, R. w . (2004). Becoming a Healthier Pastor. Fortress Press.

Richardson, R. w . (2005). Bowen Family Systems Theory and Congregational

Lito. Review d' Expos'¡¡()¡379-402 ,(3)102 ,‫׳‬.

Royer, K. (^007). Clergy Clinic in Emotional Process Family Systems Therapy.

In Foundation theology 2007 (pp. I I I- I2 I). South Bend, Ind: Cloverdale.

Shapiro, T. (2010). Thinking About Congregations: Using Bowen Family

Systems Theory. Congregations, 37(2), 27-28.

Steinke, p. L. (1996). Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach. Bethesda,

Md.: Alban Institute.

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Steinke, p. L. (2006a). Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm

and Courageous No Matter What. Herndon, ٧ ^.: Alban Institute.

Steinke, p. L. (2006b). How Your Church Family Works: Understanding

Congregations as Emotional Systems. Herndon, Va.: Alban Institute.

Steinke, p. L. (2010). A I)()()¡‫ ׳‬Set ()yen: Grounding Change in Mission andHope.

Herndon, Va.: Alban Institute.

Stevens, R. p., & Collins, p. (1993). The Equipping Pastor : A Systems Approach
to Congregational Leadership. W ashin^on, DC: Alban Institute.

Victoria Harrison. (1999a). Educational Pro^am s in Bowen Theory: Part One.

Family Systems Forum, 7(1), 1-3.

Victoria Harrison. (1999b). Educational Pro^am s in Bowen Theory: Part Two.

Family Systems Forum, 7(2), 1-3.

Endnotes

1Birth order remains a topic of interest in psychology. A recent study at the

University of Illinois at E rban^C ham pa^n investigated the impact of birth order
on intelligence and a set of personality traits, but found no correlation. Toman
(and Bowen) were interested in the ways in which birth order shaped gender
relationships. (Damian & Roberts, 2015)

R. Robert Creech is the Hubert H. and Gladys s. Raborn

Professor of Pastoral Teadership at Baylor University’s George
w. Truett Theological Seminary, He c o ^ th o re d The Leader 's
Journey: Accepting the ( 'all to Personal and Congregational

mÊk Transformation in 2003, applying Bowen fam ily Systems

Theory to the role of congregational leadership.

R. Robert Creech, Ph.D.

Hubert H. and Gladys s. Raborn Professor of Pastoral Teadership and Director of
Pastoral Ministries
Baylor University’s George w. Truett Theological Seminary
One Bear Place #91726
Waco, TX 76798
RobertCreech@ baylor.edu

85
Generati©ns to Come: The Future of Bowen Family Systems Theory
and Congregational Ministry

C h r is t ia n L e a d e r s Su m m a r y
R. Robert Creech

For more than thirty years clergy have found the ideas of Dr. Murray Bowen
foundational for their own thinking about ministry and leadership in
congregational life. As a praetieing psyehiatrist, Bowen focused not on
individuals in isolation, but as parts of families. To treat anxiety and destructive
behavior, Bowen realized that one must see the family as an “emotional unit” and
provide treatment that takes the entire family and its funetioning into aeeount.

In 1985, a student of Bowen, E.H. Friedman, published Generation ‫؛‬٠

Generation. This book introduced many clergy to tbe eoneepts ofB ow en Family
Systems Theory, and the useful lens these concepts provide for understanding
their own lives and families, as well as those of their flock. For more than three
decades Bowen’s thinking has influenced the way many clergy function in
proclamation, pastoral care, and leadership. Why have congregational leaders
found this theory so attractive?

1. The theory is readily available to clergy with direct application to their

work.
2. The theory is understandable. It can be learned and practiced.
3. The theory is compatible with the biblical perspectives and theological
categories held by mainline religious traditions.
4. The theory helps clergy focus on self, rather than on others whom they
cannot control, removing the “victim” mentality that can too easily
plague one in a powerless position.
5. The theory provides ways for clergy to think holistically about a variety
of issues in tbe congregation, without having to develop expertise in
counseling, management, conflict resolution, and other fields.
6. Bowen Theory applies directly to thefam ily and congregational
relational issues clergy face in the course of ordinary ministry.
7. The theory provides a way of thinking about life in congregations and
families that makes a practical difference.

Bowen Tbeory promises to he a vital resource for pastoral leaders in the years to
come. Why^ First, because the theory describes “human” behavior that is not
limited to time and culture. Second, the more rapid and radical the changes
around us, the greater the anxiety that society will experience. Bowen Theory
provides clergy with a way of thinking about and understanding tbat anxiety.
Third, Bowen Theory provides a way of thinking about tbe future that will help
discerning men and women respond to and adapt to the changes about them rather
than merely reacting instinctively. In a future marked by heightened anxiety, rapid
change, and iife-threatening challenges, congregations that can think and work in
these terms might find themselves better equipped to thrive in the chaos.

86
 ‫آلﻣﺂورلم؛‬

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