Mental Illness and the Church | The Exchange
Being able to talk about mental illness is essential. Furthermore, it is essential for pastors to partner with mental health professionals in their church and community. That will be a theme in my radio show (Ed Stetzer Live), where Kay Warren will be my guest and we will be live from the campus of Saddleback Church.
But let me talk a bit about why it matters that pastors, churches, and mental health professionals should partner together. For the past several years I have spoken to the American Association of Christian Counselors summits and conferences and I encourage other pastors and church leaders to attend as well. I’ve written about the issues frequently here at The Exchange and I’ve shared at churches about the topic.
Why? Because, unfortunately, the fact of the matter is there is still a stigma in our culture. People are getting better at talking about mental illness, but many are still uncomfortable – many pastors and church leaders included.
If pastors and church leaders are often the first responders to a mental health crisis, which they often are, then it is essential that they be equipped and prepared.
A personal connection
When I planted my first church in the inner city of Buffalo, New York, I had basically no education pertient to the field. I had a degree in biology and chemistry and had never been to seminary. I don’t recall having taken a single course in psychology, counseling, etc.
And here I was, planting a church among the urban poor. In urban contexts and contexts of poverty there tends to be disproportionately high numbers of untreated mentally ill individuals.
Our church began to grow and suddenly I was dealing with issues I was completely unprepared for. Some of our members had PTSD or other mental health issues. We had members who had been assaulted, members who wrestled with powerful addictions, members who had been homeless.
I had really jumped into the deep end.
I was doing my best to be a pastoral presence in the lives of these people. In the midst of this, a man named Jim came along. Jim came to our church and it was like a pastor’s dream. I have never seen somebody as committed as Jim. He was reading the Bible every day, memorizing chapters of scripture, praying all night at times. He was eagerly asking what he could do and how he could do it. Jim was all in.
And then he crashed. There was a darkness in him that he did not know how to deal with and that I did not know how to address. I was 22 with a biology and chemistry degree and no pastoral training or education in psychology whatsoever. I didn’t even know who to send him to for help addressing it.
Through a series of circumstances, we did end up getting him medical intervention and he was diagnosed and treated.
In his most manic phases, Jim loved God so much. He would get up and pray and read the Psalms all night. Then, days later, he would despair of life. He lost the will to live and eventually took his own life.
That was a shaping moment for me. I couldn’t understand how someone could love God so intensely and then so rapidly fall into such deep despair, even though he was heavily engaged in treatment. (I wrote about the experience at CNN.)
The events with Jim burdened my heart. I had tried to be a good pastoral presence in his life and sit with him and pray with him. But I wanted to know how I could do more. What were the best ways for me, as a pastor, to respond to a mental health crisis? What were the best resources to connect my congregants with?
The importance of training
This kind of training is actually pretty uncommon among some sections of evangelicalism. Oftentimes, the more conservative your school is, the less training you generally receive in mental health. But it’s the conservative side of evangelical Christianity that’s actually the largest, so in some ways these are the people who most need the training.
Whether you are in a context where people are walking into your church openly talking to themselves or you’re in the suburbs where it’s often shinier, prettier, and ultimately more deeply hidden, mental health is a relevant topic for your church.
These issues can feel overwhelming, but they are an important part of loving the people we serve well. We should be committed to seeking out the best training we have access to so that we may love people in truth.
Let’s intentionally seek out ways we can be more effective hands and feet to those struggling with mental illness in our communities. Join me this Saturday at 12n, 11c, 10m, 9a and I will talk more with Kay Warren about this and other topics.
Ed Stetzer holds the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College, serves as Dean of the School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership at Wheaton College, is executive director of the Billy Graham Center, and publishes church leadership resources through Mission Group.
