The Systems Approach

According to systems theory, if one can change the system, individuals in the system will change their behavior. Murray Bowen has greatly influenced systems theory and its application to family therapy. For him, systems theory provided ways to describe how—and why—families behave as they do. Bowen suggests his family systems theory offers a "way of thinking that may help bridge the compartmentalization of knowledge that presently exists."⁶

Bowen deviated from the mainstream of psychiatric thinking of the 1940s and 1950s in two important ways: First, his theory was developed on the assumption that an understanding of man’s emotional functioning must extend beyond psychological constructs to recognize the human’s relatedness to all life, and second, his theory assumed that an adequate understanding of human behavior must rest on a foundation that went beyond the study of the individual to include the relationship system. In essence, Bowen proposed that the family operated in ways that were consistent with its being a system and that the system’s principles of operation were rooted in nature.⁷

Which theoretical perspective—the psychological or systems view—is correct? There appears to be truth in both. For leaders, an important task is discerning what truths psychology and systems theory apply to dealing with congregational anxiety.

Five Roles in Systems

It is this balance between a systems approach and an individual psychological approach that is necessary to best understand congregational anxiety. This balance recognizes that individuals can and do determine their own behaviors. At the same time, however, individuals will be affected by an ongoing interrelatedness with the system in which they live and function. This interrelatedness between the individual and the system occurs at innumerable levels, both seen and unseen.

An examination of how families maintain equilibrium provides one example of how individual behavior and the influence of systems interrelate. Typical families assign a role to each of their members. The most commonly identified five roles are "scapegoat," "mascot," "hero," "spiritual leader," and "lost child." Families that can perpetuate each of these roles will be considered "successful" insofar as they are able to maintain their equilibrium.

Whether this equilibrium is healthy or unhealthy is not the family’s primary concern. Instead, its overriding concern is to perpetuate the status quo by maintaining and perpetuating these roles. For this reason, even unhealthy families will tend to perpetuate their unhealthy, dysfunctional existence, and healthy families will tend to perpetuate their healthy function. As each family member plays out his or her assigned role in the expected manner, each family member contributes to the maintenance and perpetuation of the family equilibrium…for better or worse.

Churches are like families in that they utilize these same roles for the same purpose: to maintain equilibrium. This can be seen in healthy churches that are remarkably charitable, forgiving, supportive, and excited about their leaders. It can also be seen in churches that repeatedly force out their pastors.

In churches with a pattern of removing their pastors, the five roles mentioned above are assigned in a way that guarantees the ultimate removal of each new pastor. For instance, the system might assign the pastor the role of "scapegoat" and the role of "hero" to the head antagonist. The "lost child" role might then be assigned to those who might otherwise intervene, rendering them powerless. As the system determines, such individuals will be reduced to simply praying and watching helplessly on the sidelines as the scapegoated pastor is attacked and discarded.

The system may also repeatedly assign the role of spiritual leader to a congregational patriarch or matriarch. Whether leading, participating in, or enabling the dismissal, the spiritual leader will struggle to keep faith alive within the congregation. Sooner or later, this individual may also emerge to encourage healing and promote peace through Bible studies, worship, or other activities. Individuals who assume the mascot role will attempt to provide relief from tension through humor, fun, or spontaneity.

What is important to notice in this example is that each of these roles complements and is interconnected with all the others. The resulting effect is simple. Equilibrium is maintained and the same healthy—or unhealthy—dynamics are perpetuated.

These roles are present in virtually all human relationship systems—including families and churches. Though largely unseen or unnoticed, the degree to which each of these roles is operative—and who fills these roles (or combination of roles) —has an enormous bearing on the family (or congregational) system’s nature, identity, behavior, and function.

Internationally known consultant Lyle Schaller confirms that these roles are in the church. In his book, The Middle-Sized Church: Problems and Prescriptions, Schaller describes six congregational roles. In Looking in the Mirror: Self-Appraisal in the Local Church, he adds that one can expect to find these roles in the church in broadly similar proportions to those found in the general population.

When individuals begin to understand the interaction of roles within family or congregational systems, they start to gain important insights into the wide range of emotional responses that occur in organizations and individuals.

6. Bowen and Kerr, Family Evaluation (New York: Norton Publications, 1988), 28.


7. Bowen and Kerr, Family Evaluation, 24–25.