Pastor Todd: Church must move beyond 'just pray about it' on trauma

Mike Todd, pastor of Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, spoke about what he sees as the church's inadequate approach to trauma. Todd defined trauma broadly as anything that impacts a person greatly—including success, rejection, and unmet expectations—rather than only tragic events. He criticized the church's tendency to tell people simply to pray about difficulties without offering deeper support or acknowledging that prayer works alongside counseling and other sustained effort. Todd described his own experience with this gap in ministry: he watched teenagers leave altar calls convinced they were permanently changed, when what they needed was ongoing help like therapy. He emphasized that acknowledging one's struggles is the first step to change, and that church communities need not solve people's problems but should point them toward healing resources and professional help. Todd credited four years of counseling with his wife and participation in small groups with his own transformation. He spoke publicly about overcoming a years-long pornography addiction, crediting confession and community accountability with breaking the pattern after years of secrecy. Todd warned that unprocessed trauma gets transferred to others, invoking biblical language about generational sin, and suggested that healing allows people to experience life fully rather than enduring it through sheer willpower.

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Source: Relevant Magazine — https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/weve-done-a-bad-job-of-just-telling-people-to-pray-about-it-mike-todd-on-what-the-church-gets-wrong-about-trauma/