Prophetic voices: Women on the front lines of church and community impact—Brianna Childs

Brianna Childs’ heart beats for women in crisis. She’s met many of them in her still-young career—as chaplain of a Baylor University women’s dorm, pastoral ministry associate in the university’s Spiritual Life program, intern with the Jesus Said Love nonprofit and current pastoral associate at University Baptist Church in Waco.

Childs decided to channel her passion this school year, as she served as an intern in the Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I) in Baylor’s Garland School of Social Work. Childs will receive a Master of Divinity degree from Baylor’s Truett Seminary and a Master of Social Work degree from the Garland School during Baylor’s spring commencement.

Interning through C3I, Childs focused on coordinating monthly training events for congregations on “Trauma and the Church.” 

This year, she planned and implemented trauma-training events alongside C3I staff. She helped identify and secure speakers, provide marketing and advertising, and host each virtual event. 

This spring, she developed a thematic series of trauma trainings centered on “Types of Relationships and Trauma.” The sessions focused on trauma responses amidst collective grief and loss in a community, leaders and boundaries, church staff and power dynamics, and victims of interpersonal violence. 

One of her favorite aspects of coordinating and hosting trauma training is watching pastors and other participants experience “aha!” moments, Childs said. For example, she recalled how, following a training session, a seminary student who had survived abuse expressed surprise and relief to learn someone was paying attention to and talking about this challenge in congregations.

 This year, many training participants were congregational leaders, seminary students and social workers, Childs said. “Some are on the verge of losing hope in congregations, but they stumble into our trauma series and seem to leave encouraged,” she noted. 

Ironically, the pandemic constraints proved beneficial for training, she added: “We have seen an expansion of people attending compared to previous years due to Zoom. Not only have we increased in numbers, but our attendees and speakers are no longer just regional but from all over the nation.” 

In an article Childs wrote for the Baptist Standard, “Caring for others through trauma-sensitive language,” she invited readers to consider the application of Ephesians 4:29: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” 

Congregations and church leaders must consider the weight words carry and how phrases and stories of suffering used in sermons could be triggering and harmful to members carrying deep pain in their lives due to trauma, she noted. 

“It matters how we speak to the people in our congregation, because every human being carries a different story and vastly different experiences,” she wrote. “Being trauma-sensitive is not just about avoiding certain topics or censoring ourselves out of fear. Rather, using trauma-sensitive language comes from a motivation to be well-informed and loving toward the people for whom we care.” 

In addition to C3I’s trauma training, Childs coordinated the center’s monthly student-led Congregational Social Work Initiative events. This year, C3I hosted seven meetings for students, involving such topics as “Church and Advocacy,” “Recovery and the Church,” “Congregational Social Work 101,” “Mental Health, Grief, Loss and the Church” and “Foster Care and the Church,” as well as other panels and events.  

Reflecting on her work with the Congregational Social Work Initiative through C3I, Childs said: “C3I and congregational social work has become this beautiful, perfect fit for me throughout graduate school. When I think about the influence of my family—how I was raised by multiple pastors and social workers in my family—and how it took me a while to recognize their influence and this specific call of God in my life, I’m thankful for the beauty of how these two influences and how C3I has become a home for me to develop the skills for my call and vocation.  

“Congregational social work is this really beautiful union of both church and social work. I know I can do both; it doesn’t have to be an either or for me. I embrace both in my work alongside churches.” 

As she concludes her internship with the C3I and her time as a student, Childs added: “I think the church in America falls into this mindset of tradition. What’s always been done should always be done. Tradition is beautiful, and I appreciate and cherish it. However, we seem to be at this important time when to survive and thrive, the church should be creatively addressing new things and really figuring out how to best be in the community and not be separating from our communities. The C3I knows how to do this and helps congregations thrive, not just survive.

“As an intern of C3I this year, I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity to see how the intersection of congregational ministry and social work can be lived out in many creative ways to strengthen churches and communities. The C3I is not just looking for interns to fit into specific molds, but like with my fellow interns this year and last, the C3I works with what we are passionate about and how we see our future in congregational social work and allows us to embrace both passions and interest in our work alongside them.” 

Childs is one of four Master of Social Work/Master of Divinity students in the Center for Church and Community Impact intern program this year. They comprise the first of at least four cohorts of C3I students whose annual scholarships are made possible by the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation and Fellowship Southwest.