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.