Can I Pastor the Traumatized? Four Features of Christ-Centered Care

ABSTRACT: How might pastors begin to care for Christians who have experienced real trauma? Trauma literature generally outlines four features of care: know the person, reclaim the body, retell the story, and offer help to live in the present. Pastors and other leaders in a church might usefully apply this framework in their own ministry to sufferers, even as they fill each step with Christ and his word. In the end, common yet profound words from Christ, offered skillfully over time, can uniquely