We caught up with Steve Midgley to discover more about his latest book. Here he answers some questions for us…

1. What’s your latest book about? 

This is a book whose title doesn’t leave much room for the imagination! It’s about Understanding Trauma. I wrote it because it was clear to me just how important a topic trauma had become in our culture and yet how few books there were that were offering a Christian perspective. 

Trauma has been called the word of the decade, yet many of us have only a sketchy understanding of what it means. In some ways that’s not surprising – the term is used in several different ways. Sometimes it describes an event – a terrible road traffic accident is traumatic. More often, though, trauma describes not just an event but also the ongoing impact of that event. A person is said to be suffering from trauma when something they experienced was so distressing that it overwhelmed them and continues to affect them into the present. 

Which all means this book is about the impact of some of the very hardest suffering and how churches can best love and care for those who have experienced such things. 

2. Why do BCUK team members invest time in writing books? 

At BCUK we count it a great privilege to be invited to give talks and seminars on all sorts of pastoral topics. We also love writing blogs and articles – and I hope all of that helps support churches in their ministry. Yet there is only so much you can do with a 45-minute talk or an 800-word blog post. With a book you can explore a topic in much greater depth. 

As I think back over my own Christian life, I can see many times when my thinking, and indeed my relationship with Christ, has been significantly changed because God worked through a book that I was reading. I suppose knowing that God does that encourages us to want to write. 

3. What are you hoping this book in particular will achieve? 

I hope that this introduction to trauma will help our churches do better with those who are struggling as a result of severe suffering. I hope it will get the topic talked about more openly in church. Those affected by trauma often feel isolated and they often experience shame because of what has happened to them. I think getting the topic of trauma on the agenda in our churches will help with that. 

Secular theories about trauma can sound very persuasive and they can also seem to leave very little room for Christ and the church. In the book I try to provide an accessible summary of some of the current thinking around trauma. I think it’s important that we are aware of the ideas that are circulating in our culture. I also believe we should be ready to see what is good in that thinking but also be capable of noticing what is missing and how we might bring a biblical perspective to bear. So often we seem to keep the world’s ideas and Christian thinking in totally separate realms. That means we often don’t have anything to say about a topic like trauma. Or, in some cases, Christians simply speak very negatively about it. I hope what I’ve written helps us arrive at a more considered position. 

In the book I mention two errors that we need to avoid. One is finding trauma so complicated and confusing that we shy away from it altogether. As a result, we do nothing to help those affected. The other error is to be overconfident – and a little simplistic – in our approach to trauma. This can lead us to imagine that because we have Jesus, we should be able to make everything better straight away without ever needing to rely on the expertise of others. Both these views are mistaken. We aren’t likely to be capable of doing everything that someone affected by trauma might need. But doing nothing isn’t an option either. I hope that by helping to demystify trauma, this book will also help provide pointers to some of the very practical things we can do in our churches in order to help. 

4. What was the process of writing the book like? 

I’m still relatively new to the writing process. My two previous efforts were co-authored books and both times with people who were much more experienced authors than me. They were both very patient! Writing this one on my own was rather different. I think one particular challenge was working out when I had done enough background research. So much has been written about trauma that I knew I had to be selective. I’m not an expert in trauma. But I hope that this means I have been able to write in a way that other non-experts will be able to understand. 

A good editor is vital – both in providing the necessary nudges to hold to deadlines and also to help shape the final form of the book by viewing it with a fresh pair of eyes. I’m grateful for the input of just such an expert editor in Carl Laferton. 

5. How can we be praying for you and the book as it launches this month? 

I’m discovering that there seem to be all sorts of radio stations and other publications who are interested in having a little input on the book, so you could pray that I manage to fit all those in. But I’d much rather people were praying for the impact the book might have. I really hope that, by raising the profile of this issue, some in our churches who have struggles that have so far gone unnoticed will get support and help. I hope that people arriving at our churches carrying the impact of severe suffering in their past will receive a welcome that is rich and loving and wise. Because we have a gospel that is founded on the suffering of Christ, we have so much to say to those who have suffered. Do pray that this book would help us to speak the comfort of Christ with greater skill and deeper love.

You can read more about the book here, and it is available to purchase from the Good Book Company