posted 04-05-2001 08:04 PM            

Dr Drayton's question "How do we communicate with the 'withheld self '? " seems to me to be a key issue as I look at the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of the christian church (at least in New Zealand, where I live). He writes, "…..the experience of being loved by God by opening oneself to God…..poses a tremendous threat to the withdrawn self……." I think the question then is, how do we create an environment that is caring and safe enough for people to be encouraged to pass through that threat and open their real selves to God?

I note that the abstract posted on the Zadok web site, interprets the 'withheld self ' as the 'spiritual self '. I think that this hides the issue, spiritualising a practical matter. Feeling 'threatened' is an emotion. The 'threat to the withdrawn self ' is a matter of the emotions. It seems to me that until more christians recognise that God has emotions, and until the form of our churching enables and in fact motivates us to be real about our emotional lives as well as our cognitive functioning, and to learn how to handle our emotions constructively and christianly, the roadblock to revival will remain.

There is much talk today about the need for relationship, and this is good. I have found that the route to relationship is shared feelings. It seems to me that the presently accepted forms of Sunday church do not often encourage or even allow me to share real emotions. Relationship growth is inhibited. If I relied only on what I see in church on Sunday, I would have to conclude that God is rather impersonal. It seems to me that like the 'withheld self ', the form of our churching is a practical matter, not only a spiritual one.

How long will the roadblock remain? Zadok first published Dr Drayton's paper in 1981. The revised version was published in 1991. It is now 2001. When will we hear?