Program
Doctor of Ministry
Number of Pages
201
Year Approved
2024
First Advisor
Parolini, Jeanine
Second Reader
Julie Berndt; Katie Friesen Smith
Abstract
Abuse is an intentional attempt to cause harm to others. Within any environment there is the possibility of abuse; abuse can be physical, sexual, psychological, and more. This project addressed the phenomena of psychological safety in the church to reduce psychological abuse. Psychological abuse, also referred to as emotional abuse, is a form of abuse that induces fear and intentionally affects one’s emotional health. Psychological safety in the church is a phenomenon that needs to be addressed. This project examined biblical and psychological resources to gain a better understanding on how to create psychologically safe environments that will discourage emotional abuse and encourage psychological safety. Psychological safety refers to an environment characterized by its safeness in taking interpersonal risk. These types of environments encourage trust and create a perspective in which one knows that the people in their group are on their side and desire what is best for them. In a psychologically safe environment, abuse is not tolerated and inappropriate speech and actions are addressed. Through the awareness of psychological safety and the intentional creation of psychologically safe environments, psychological abuse can be exposed and even prevented in the church. The researcher conducted a survey on psychological safety in which she was able to examine how people define psychological safety, how people are affected by emotional abuse, and what characteristic people expect to find in a psychologically safe person or environment. In response to the need to address psychological safety in the church, the qualitative research methodology, with an emphasis on the phenomenological approach, was used to obtain an understanding of the perspectives of the participants in this study about psychological safety in the church. The researcher believes that the church has an obligation to be proactive by encouraging psychological safety in the church.
Degree Name
Doctor of Ministry
Document Type
Doctoral thesis
Recommended Citation
Jones, G. S. (2024). The Role of a Leader: Establishing Psychological Safety in the Church [Doctoral thesis, Bethel University]. Spark Repository. https://spark.bethel.edu/etd/1113
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