Mental illness and the church

In my latest e-Book Is Your Church Ready for Ministry in the Coming Decade? there is a chapter that discusses the church's response to mental illness. The chapter begins with a quote from one who has studied how mental illness is addressed in churches. She writes, "If your church is typical of the US population, on any given Sunday one in four adults and one in five children sitting around you are suffering from a mental illness." That is a startling statistic for many to consider, and some may choose to not believe it could be true of their congregation. That may be a naïve assumption because many struggling with such illnesses often attempt to hide it unsure how the congregation would respond if they knew the challenges the person had.

Some churches do not respond well to those with mental illnesses. Some believe such illness is due to unconfessed sin in the person's life, and they take the attitude that until the person is willing to confess that sin there is nothing the church can do to help them. Other churches believe mental illness is the result of demon possession and want to cast out the demon. Some churches teach that if a person takes medication or seeks counseling for mental illness it is a sign of a lack of faith in God. These churches often do no more than encourage the person with a mental illness to trust in Jesus or spend more time in prayer and Bible reading. Such advice may be beneficial, but it is unlikely to help someone whose mental illness is due to biological or genetic issues or those who have suffered a traumatic event in their lives.

Many church simply choose to pretend that mental illness is not a problem in their church. In one study 98.4 percent of pastors responded admitted they knew persons who had a mental illness. Yet, 12.5 percent said is is rarely discussed in their churches, and 20 percent reported it was never discussed.

As I've shared before in this blog, in the mid-1980s I suffered from clinical depression. For a year I took medicines and saw a counselor each week until the depression left. I have spoken openly about my struggle in numerous churches and leadership conferences I have led. As a result of my openness I have had dozens of church leaders, both pastors and lay, confess to me that they too struggled with depression. After mentioning it in one church a pastor's wife came to me and whispered in my ear, "Thank you."

If the numbers in the earlier quote are correct, mental illness is a serious problem in our society. Personally, I feel the numbers might be a little low as many with such illnesses never seek help. This means there is a large group of people the church is ignoring if it does not speak to this issue and offer help. This includes both persons within our congregations and those in the communities God has given us to serve.

The chapter in the book offers several things churches can do to minister to those dealing with mental illnesses. What we cannot do is continue to ignore the problem or pretend it doesn't exist. The church was always meant to be a place where people could find healing, and this is an area where many are hurting.

When someone asks your church for financial help

 There are times when every church is approached by someone who needs financial assistance. Because the church exists to serve and minister to people's needs, we usually try to provide that assistance. But, what if we are enabling bad behavior? Are there times when it is more compassionate for a church to refuse to provide financial assistance? Would a different response be a better way to meet a person's needs? That is one challenge I address in my new book Is Your Church Ready for Ministry in the Coming Decade?.

Each chapter of the book looks at major challenges the church will face as we continue into the 21st century and some ways to respond to these challenges. Addressing poverty is one such issue, and it's one that every church will deal with many times. It is possible to harm those we seek to help financially, and it's not always easy to know when we are truly helping and when we are doing harm. I believe that chapter in the book helps shed some light on that issue.

Other chapters focus on some of the troubling issues facing people in our congregations and communities, and unless we can address them with compassion and courage we will fail those individuals. For instance, there is much confusion today about sexual issues and gender identification. Church leaders can not ignore these types of issues but need to think through how they will respond when confronted with them. Studies indicate that a significant number of people in our congregations deal with mental health issues or have a history of such illnesses, but what is the church's response to that. Too often, it has been silence.

In the book I also address addiction problems, the growing number of suicides, the racism that continues to exist in our nation, the growing violence in our society and other issues confronting the church. We cannot afford to be silent on these issues. We need to educate ourselves so we can reach out to a hurting world to offer hope, healing and transformation. My prayer is that this book will help church leaders be able to do that.

The book is only available as an eBook for Kindle at this time. You can order it through Amazon by clicking on the link above. I hope you'll check it out.

Covid and the church

When I was editing my book Is Your Church Ready for Ministry in the Coming Decade? Covid seemed to be slowing down and things appeared to be returning to a new normal. The number of new cases had dropped way down, many were getting the vaccine, mask mandates were being dropped in most places. Churches reported that people were starting to return to worship services. I didn't address Covid in the book because I mistakenly thought it would not be one of the major challenges churches would need to face. Obviously, I was premature in that assessment. The numbers are back up, a new variant strain is causing havoc, hospitals in many cities are reporting shortages of beds and Covid is back in the news.

I'm sure many churches will begin to reassess their ministries for the coming months to see what impact Covid will have on those ministries. We must be wise in the decisions we make, and we should not expect a one-size fits all response to the choices we make. It will be important to factor in at least two considerations: the well-being of our current congregations and the ministry needs of our communities. An important task of church leaders is to decide how much weight to give to each consideration.

 One of the chapters in my book addresses how the church ministers to the mental health needs of its congregants and communities. Another chapter addresses the suicide problem in our nation. As we saw in the previous response to Covid where so many people were isolated from one another, the mental health of many were negatively impacted by that isolation. I suppose it is also possible that the isolation resulted in some people taking their lives. If we go into another lockdown, it will be important to remember the mental health needs that some will have.

Even if we do not have a lockdown, those impacted by Covid may struggled emotionally and mentally. I know one mother who has been largely isolated from her family for over two weeks, and she has shared with me how emotionally difficult that has been. Texting and calling people has given her some release, but it has been a very challenging time for her. Many of our churches will have people similarly impacted, and we must be aware of them and continue to minister to them.

Addressing the mental health issues affecting so many people makes up just one chapter in this eBook. Other chapters speak to other ministry needs that are growing greater as we continue into the 21st century. I've written the book to give church leaders insights to how prevalent these problems are and some possible ways to respond to them. I hope you'll check out the book and consider adding it to your library.

My new book is finding readers

 Publishing an eBook is always a scary thing because thousands of them are published every year. It's very easy for a book to get lost among all the books that are released. That's why I'm excited to report that  people are finding and buying my latest book Is Your Church Ready for Ministry in the Coming Decade?.

Churches and pastors are facing growing challenges as we continue into the 21st century. Racism continues to increase as does violence, addictions, suicidal thoughts, sexual and gender confusion, poverty and a host of other challenges that many face today. For too long the church has largely ignored many of these issues, but it cannot afford to do that any longer. These are problems not only found in our communities but within the homes of the members of our congregations. If we are to speak a relevant word to our generation, we must address these issues, not to condemn but to offer hope and healing.

In this book I speak to these issues and more. I try to offer information from studies and thoughts from some of the experts in each area. Most importantly, I bring the Scriptures into the conversation because at the root of each of these problems there is a spiritual element that can only be resolved by the truth of God's Word applied to our lives.

So many who live in pain today do not know where to find the answers to their pain. I wrote this book to help church leaders know how to promote the healing people need and to help the church more effectively minister to their congregations and communities. I invite you to check it out on Amazon.

The loss of a friend and colleague

 Larry Mason served as the Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky until his retirement a few years ago. He was largely responsible for me being selected for the position of Area Minister. He had invited me to serve in the interim role in that capacity while the Region looked for a permanent person, and when that search process began he encouraged me to apply. Frankly, I didn't think I had the normal qualifications for the position, but I was the one the Region Board selected. It was my joy to work alongside Larry until his retirement, and it was during that time together that we became friends. Larry passed away earlier this week.

I often hear bivocational ministers complain that they receive little to no support from their denominational leaders. Many of them have commented that they wished they had the support I had throughout my ministry. One reason I had that support was because of Larry Mason. He recognized that our Region was made up largely of smaller churches that would need bivocational leadership, and he saw the value in such leadership. Although I did not have the usual education and experience other Regions expect of their Area Ministers, I had spent 20 years serving as a bivocational pastor, and Larry wanted that experience on our staff. He wanted our small church leaders to have a voice in our Region, and he allowed me to be that voice.

Over the years I had numerous invitations to speak to various denominational gatherings in the US and Canada. Larry encouraged me to accept all of them. One organization invited me to join their speaker's bureau, and when I talked to Larry about it he encouraged me to do so if I felt inclined. He said to me at the time that there was no one else he knew who was doing the things I was doing, and he was not going to prevent me from doing the ministry God had given me.

When my father passed away Larry was there. When our family had to sell our business at an auction, Larry came down to support me during a very difficult time in my life. Every month we met for lunch so he could see how I was doing. Once or twice a year we played a round of golf together.

Larry was a true gentleman and a man of God. He loved the Lord, and he loved ministry. He encouraged more than one person to consider entering the ministry, and those who listened have enjoyed very productive ministries. He also loved his family and enjoyed spending as much time with them as possible.

I realize that I would not have achieved the things in ministry I have without Larry Mason's support over the years. As the old country saying goes, "If you see a turtle on a fence post you know it didn't get there by itself." Larry helped this old turtle get on the fence post as he did many others. I pray that I can follow his example. He lived a life well-lived and is now enjoying all God has prepared for him.

Is Your Church for Ministry in the Coming Decade?

 It's hardly a secret that many people are facing new challenges and attacks today that threaten to destroy individuals and families. However, if you walk into many churches you never hear anything about these issues. It seems that many churches are willing to keep talking about the same things they've talked about for decades while ignoring the real pain many in their congregations and communities are facing. One of the reasons many have rejected the church is because they believe it is irrelevant to their lives, and much of that irrelevancy comes from the fact that we refuse to address the issues  people in the 21st century face.  This is why I've published my latest book Is Your Church Ready for Ministry in the Coming Decade?

I've written this book to help church leaders have the information and tools they need to address some of the issues people in their congregations and communities are facing. Some of these issues include racism, poverty, violence, addictions, suicide, sexual and gender confusion among others. While these may not be new to the 21st century, they remain subjects many churches seem to avoid, and they are issues that are tearing people's lives apart.

For the past year I've tried to find a publisher for this book. When I wrote my previous books it was relatively easy to find a publisher. If you had good content and a timely subject, someone would be eager to publish it. Today, it seems that without a large social media presence it's hard to find a publisher or even an agent to look at a book. I finally decided to release the book as a eBook on Kindle. Not only can I go ahead and make the book available, I can keep the cost of the book down making it more affordable. It seemed like a win for everyone!

Ministry today is much different than it was when I began my pastoral ministry 40 years ago, and I am convinced it will be even more different, and difficult, in the years to come. So many people are overwhelmed by the challenges they face, and they do not know where to turn for answers. The answers are found in God and His Word, but they will never know that if the church doesn't speak up. My prayer is that this book will help the church find its voice.

A ministry habit that reaps great rewards

Last week I wrote about the value of creating and following good habits for success in life. Today I want to share one habit I began years ago that has provided great rewards for me. As regular readers of this blog know, I read a lot. The shelves in my library are overflowing with books. The problem of reading a lot is remembering what you read and finding it again when needed. As a student at Boyce Bible School in the 1980s a professor taught us a simple trick he followed and which I have followed since then.

When I read a book I keep a highlighter nearby to mark important thoughts. When the book is finished I record those thoughts in my computer in folders I've established. There is a file in my Word program marked "Book Notes." In that file are hundreds of folders with different subject titles. I go through the book I just finished looking for the highlighted items and type those items word for word into the proper folder. At the end of the item I have the identification number for the resource. 

Each book is numbered using the Dewey Decimal System. The book number and page number is placed at the end of the item I just put in the appropriate folder. For instance the ID for that notation might be 231 BIC: 47. I now have the quote, the book number and the page number so I can go immediately to that resource. There's no more trying to remember the exact quote, which book it's in or what page it's on.

Does it take time to do that for each book? It sure does, and there's times I don't want to do it. But over the years I've learned that no matter how much I'm sure I'll remember the quote and where it's at in my library, I won't. Taking the time to record that information makes it much easier to find it later when I'm preparing a sermon or writing a book. The work upfront pays off on the back end. I can give proper recognition to the original work and I don't lose my train of thought searching for the resource.

When one begins his or her ministry it's possible to not have that many books, and you might think you won't need such a filing system. However, it doesn't take long before those book shelves begin to fill up. Without a good retrieval system those quotes you were sure to remember will get lost in the shelves, and you'll spend hours trying to find it. No minister has the time to spend trying to find the information he or she needs to properly prepare the sermon.

Maybe you have a better system, and that's fine. Find one that will work for you and use it faithfully.