Virgil Tanner leads an international missions teams whose workers operate largely in central Asia, behind what is called the “Muslim Curtain”. Difficulties and dangers abound for his team. A few years before the Covid pandemic struck, Tanner became burdened with how many in his network were struggling and overwhelmed by their challenging surroundings. Then his wife Joy succumbed to a complete breakdown which took six months to recover from. Tanner himself found himself buckling under the pressure.
His prayers and study became riveted on how he and his people could not just survive, but thrive, in their circumstances. Jesus promises us joy in suffering and peace in storms, so how do we experience this? he asked himself. The early church thrived under persecution and stress, why can’t we?
Community-Care and Self-Care
Part of the answer that the Lord gave to Tanner came down to two things – first, his people had to learn the art of “Community-Care” where they would learn how to support each other whenever anyone felt life starting to crush them. The Christlike love which congregations in the early church showed each other was one reason they could flourish under pressure.
The Lord also showed him that his people had to learn the art of “Self-Care”, where group members would learn skills related to biblical self-examination. For it was better to learn to recognize trouble brewing inside their own hearts, rather than waiting for everything to blow up around them. Tanner writes in his book Soul Tending, “Our staff would have to understand that their work includes self-care. They have to assume the responsibility of investing in their own vibrancy…Perhaps a better term would be self-leadership.”
As I read this, I immediately thought of what the apostle Paul said in Galatians 6:2-5:“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work…For each will have to bear his own load.” Paul says we have to bear one another’s burdens (i.e. Community-Care). But also we have to bear our own loads (i.e. Self-Care).
How can we tell the difference between these burdens? The great preacher Chuck Swindoll describes the loads we’re to carry on our own as backpacks, while the burdens we’re to help one another bear are like barbells. I’ve found that distinction highly useful over the years in church life.
The key though for a healthy congregation is to do both. Many Christians haven’t a clue how to practice biblical self-examination. They do a spot-check in the mirror and say, “Welp, nothing to see here!”, meanwhile their soul is wheezing and kicking out black smoke like an engine about to blow. Then there are countless other Christians who are accountable to no one but themselves, who loathe the thought of letting anyone else come alongside of them to help.
Soul Tending is an invaluable resource for pastors, leaders, and disciple-makers who want to help their people overcome these destructive blindspots and learn to thrive when life is pressing hard on them. Tanner isn’t just a theoretician. His book is filled with training resources that provide practical instruction in the disciplines of Community-Care and Soul-Care. We’ll share one of these in our next post. For now, we encourage you to think through the following questions.
Three Questions To Wrestle With
- How would you assess BridgeWay’s “Community-Care” capacity at present?
- How would you assess your participation in helping provide “Community-Care” to the wider church family?
- How would you assess your willingness to participate regularly in a “Community-Care” interaction (like a triad)? Are you willing to allow others to help bear your burdens?