Factfulness: The Fear Instinct

How often do our fears distort our reality and impact our decisions? On this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, we untangle the gripping hold of the fear instinct as discussed in Hans Rosling's "Factfulness." Fear can mislead us, creeping into our church communities and affecting everything from our embrace of traditional values to how we handle internal conflicts. Discover how faith and rational evaluation can provide a pathway out of fear's paralyzing grasp, allowing us to navigate uncertainties with courage and clarity.

Join us as Todd Rhoades dissects the fear instinct and its potent effect on church life. Learn practical strategies to assess risks objectively, face challenges head-on, and leverage reliable information to make informed decisions. We reflect on God's omnipotent presence, reminding ourselves that His power surpasses any obstacle. Equip yourself with insights that will bolster your leadership, foster resilience, and help you lead your community through a world brimming with uncertainties.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi there, welcome to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. My name is Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom, and I'm so glad that you joined us today. We are smack dab in the middle of a series, a two-week series. We started on Monday of this week called Factfulness. It's based on Hans Rosling's I always have trouble saying Hans's name Hans Rosling's newest book called Factfulness, and we are going through each day in each chapter of his book, and we're unpacking a different chapter.

Speaker 1: 0:29

Each day Hans talks about a different instinct that we as human beings have, and so far this week, if you've missed any of these, go back and listen. I think you'll really enjoy and find these to be encouraging and insightful for you. But on Monday of this week we talked about the gap instinct and then on Tuesday we talked about the negativity instinct. Yesterday we talked about the straight line instinct and today we're going to be talking about the fear instinct. And this instinct at its core is our tendency to overestimate risks and dangers, particularly those that trigger some of our primal fears. Now I know you might be saying, todd, how does this relate to the church? And Hans' book is not necessarily written from a Christian perspective, or definitely not a church perspective. So, todd, what does this fear instinct? How does this rear its head into the church? Isn't faith supposed to conquer fear? And yeah, absolutely that's true. But the fear instinct really isn't about a lack of faith. It's more about our human tendency to be drawn to the dramatic and the sensational and the scary.

Speaker 1: 1:40

And in the church contact this can manifest itself in a lot of different ways. We might fear the doctrine or not the doctrine. We fear the decline of traditional values. We might fear the rise of secularism. We might fear the threat of persecution. We might worry about safety in our buildings. We might worry about the impact of negative media. We might even worry about the potential for conflict within our own church. And some of us are really prone to have a lot of fears, and it's understandable. We live in a broken world and some of our churches are not healthy. But while this is understandable, these fears can really distort our perspective and they can hinder our ability to move forward in our faith and in our leadership. It can actually let me put it this way it can be downright paralyzing and it can lead us to risk aversion and a reluctance to try new things or step outside of our comfort zone, risk aversion and a reluctance to try new things or step outside of our comfort zone. It can fuel our anxiety and our division and just bring on a sense of isolation. And when we're driven by fear, when we're driven by fear, we focus on self-preservation rather than on serving others and on fulfilling the mission that God's called us to.

Speaker 1: 3:01

So how do we overcome this fear instinct? Rosalind suggests that we need to calculate the risks. Okay, now, this doesn't mean becoming cold and calculating, but it does mean just take a step back and evaluating situations, not just knee-jerk, but a little bit more objectively. It means looking at the facts. It means considering the likelihood of different outcomes and making informed decisions based on evidence rather than on our fear. And in the church, can I tell you this, and this is hard. This is hard when you're steeped in this fear. It means facing our fears head on. It means having really honest conversations about the challenges that we face. It means that we honest conversations about the challenges that we face. It means that we need to conquer our fears by seeking out some reliable information, and it means developing strategies that help us address these challenges proactively rather than reactively. It also means reminding ourselves that God has promised to be with us, and his presence and his power are there to overcome any fear or any obstacle. Our God is greater than any fear or any obstacle that we see in our way. So here's your bottom line. The fear instinct is a natural part of being human, but it doesn't have to control us, and we can choose to face our fears. We can choose to evaluate risks objectively and to move forward in our faith.

Speaker 1: 4:29

So, as you go through your day today, I want you to think about this. I'm asking you to do every day when you listen. I assume that a lot of you all, guys and gals listen to this podcast earlier in your day, maybe on your way to work or when you get to the office in the morning. Today, I want you to think about this fear instinct. What are you fearful of? Identify those fears and seek out some reliable source of information. Look that fear right in the eye and say, okay, here's how I'm going to handle this fear today.

Speaker 1: 4:56

This fear has had a grip on me for the last week, the last month, the last years. I'm going to develop some strategies, I'm going to be proactive and try to address those, and I'm going to turn this over to God and put my faith and trust in Jesus and remember that he's promised that he's never going to leave us. He's never going to forsake us. He's bigger than any kind of fear or challenge that we have in our personal lives or in our ministry today. Perfect love casts out fear, so let's choose to walk in love and to face our fears with courage and to trust in God's faithfulness. I hope God will bring this word of encouragement and these action steps to your mind often throughout your day as you handle this what Hans Rosling calls the fear instinct.

Speaker 1: 5:44

I hope this has been encouraging to you. I hope you're enjoying this series. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can reach out to me anytime podcast at chemistrystaffingcom and if there's any way that I can help your church or you personally, particularly in the area of staffing, hiring, any kind of staff related consulting, I'd love to hear from you. Just reach out to me anytime podcast at chemistrystaffingcom and I hope you'll join us again tomorrow. We will be here again on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Have a great day.