EMO Church Week #1
Look Beneath The Surface
Why EMO Church?
 Oh no.. are we going to get all emotional? Start wearing black clothing,
eyeliner and chains on our wallets?
My Story
 I have always been the guy that has seen the glass half full. I’ve joked that
I see it completely full even if it was only half full.
 A year and a half ago I read a book on anxiety and depression, just to get
a grip on what so many struggle with.
 From there I seemed to personally spin into a really emotional time in my
life
o Growing, busy family (Heath and I had Ava within a year of
marriage) – beautiful
o Some of my own glaring weaknesses really came to the forefront of
my own life
o Planting a church is hard! It’s not easy. Emotional toll. Felt a
profound sense of failure at times.
o With the church, which is beautiful, it has felt over the last year and
a half that we are living in the tension of being called to something
great and not always seeing evidence of that
o There were lots of “are you oks?” from Heather. Normally I was the
one asking everyone “are you ok” but I was in a spot where I was
not. I remember turning over to Heather in bed one night asking her
“do you really know me.”
 It was at or around the same time that a guy name Dave from San
Fransisco was taking his church through a series they called EMO
Church. I was listening through the messages on podcast. They were raw
and real and they used this book that I had heard of but had not read The
Emotionally Healthy Church.
 I read the book and knew that this was the direction we needed to go
because I knew that if I was learning about emotional health that others
would need the same.
 I bought the book for serge and Heidi and felt like this was the direction we
needed to go.
In The Book Pete S. Says
"It is not possible for a Christian to be spiritually mature while remaining
emotionally immature" - Peter Scazzero
 You can be a dynamic, gifted speaker for God in public and be an
unloving spouse and parent at home.
 You can be a church leader (Community Group leader, worship leader,
kids leader, pastor etc.) and be unteachable, insecure and defensive.
 You can memorize entire books of the New Testament and still be
unaware of your depression and anger, even displacing it on other
people.
 You can fast and pray a half-day a week for years as a spiritual
discipline and constantly be critical of others, justifying it as
discernment.
 You can lead hundreds of people in a Christian ministry while driven
by a deep personal need to compensate for a nagging sense of failure
 You can pray for deliverance from the demonic realm when in reality
you are simply avoiding conflict, repeating an unhealthy pattern of
behavior traced back to the home in which you grew up.
 You can be outwardly cooperative at church but unconsciously try to
undercut or defeat your supervisor by coming habitually late,
constantly forgetting meetings, withdrawing and becoming apathetic,
or ignoring the real issue behind why you are hurt and angry.
Wait A Second! I’ve seen this and I don’t want to become this!
 Some of the quote on quote most spiritual people have been the most
emotional unhealthy
 Pastors
 Passionate about evangelism, confronting people everywhere, but
emotionally unstable.
The Gospel
The gospel is the news that God’s Kingdom is at hand! God’s kingdom is here
and breaking into the world! The goods news says we are saved by faith in
Jesus’s redeeming work through his death, burial and resurrection. The good
news is that Jesus is Lord.
So.. We are saved (justified) and we are being saved (sanctification). We are a
process
Next 6 Weeks
Looking Beneath The Surface – February 22nd
Breaking The Power of the Past – March 1st
Living In Brokenness and Vulnerability – March 8th
Receiving The Gift of Limits – March 15th
Embracing Grieving and Loss – March 22nd
Making Incarnation Our Model for Loving Well – March 29th
How Do I Get The Most Out Of This?
 Come to our Sunday Gatherings
 Get In Community
 Read The Book
 Use the resources at www.cityview.cc/emochurch and
www.cityview.cc/blog
Assessment - Inventory
Jesus expressed his emotion with unashamed, unembarrassed freedom:
 He shed tears (Luke 19:41)
 He was filled with joy (Luke 10:21)
 He grieved (14:34)
 He was angry (Mark 3:5)
 Sadness came over him (Matthew 26:37)
 He felt sorrow (Luke 7:13)
 He showed astonishment and wonder (Mark 6:6; Luke 7:9)
 He felt distress (Mark 3:5; Luke 12:50)
Jesus was anything but an emotionally frozen Messiah.
went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit
here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he
began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with
sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
32 They
35 Going
a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour
might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you.
Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:32-36

Here we see a fully human Jesus – emotionally depressed, mentally
confused and spiritually overwhelmed. He is being pushed to the edge of
his human limits.
GOD MADE US AS WHOLE BEINGS
Social
 Community “one anothers”
 Being together
 Accountability
Intellectual
 Bible study
 Theology, doctrine, apologetics
Spiritual
 Prayer, worship, fasting
Physical
 Holiness, care for the body
Emotional
 Neglected
 Emotions are bad
 No dashboard confessional
 You overcome bad emotions with good ones
 It was never something you grew in or developed
It’s Partly Plato’s Fault
 The body is bad, the spirit is good
 A subtle message has filtered into our churches that to be emotional is
less than spiritual
 Even worse is that this unbiblical paradigm has led to an attitude that
regarded feelings and emotions as being opposed to the Spirit.
Ignoring our emotions is turning our back on reality; listening to our emotions
ushers us into reality. And reality is where we meet God…. Emotions are the
language of the soul. They are the cry that gives the heart a voice…. However,
we often turn a deaf ear – through emotional denial, distortion, or
disengagement. We strain out anything disturbing in order to gain tenuous
control of our inner world. We are frightened and ashamed of what leaks into our
consciousness. In neglecting our intense emotions, we are false to ourselves and
lose a wonderful opportunity to know God. We forget that change comes through
brutal honesty and vulnerability before God.
Dan Allender and Tremper Longman – The Cry of the Soul
Jesus – Our Example
Jesus was open about his feelings – vs 34
“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death
Give your feelings to God
Jesus gave his desires to the father – vs 36
“Take this cup from me” – Wrath – take the judgment, pain and suffering that is
going to come
Give your desires to God
Bring God into your desires – not so good things
Jesus trusted his Father – vs 36
“Not I will, but your will”
Give your trust
In emotionally healthy churches, people take a deep, hard look inside their
hearts, asking, “What is going on that Jesus Christ is trying to change?” They
understand that a person’s life is like an iceberg, with the vast majority of who we
are lying deep beneath the surface. They invite God to bring to their awareness
and to transform those beneath-the-surface layers that hinder them from
becoming more like Jesus.