{"id":7007,"date":"2017-09-03T04:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-09-03T10:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equipmagazine.org\/?p=1908"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:21:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:21:21","slug":"5-things-small-churches-need-to-know-about-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/5-things-small-churches-need-to-know-about-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things Churches Need to Know About Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
One area in which churches could be more informed and proactive is relating to individuals who have mental health concerns. Oftentimes, people who feel isolated and hopeless because of mental health issues don\u2019t find the support and care they need from the church.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t have to be this way.<\/i><\/p>\n
Churches\u2014particularly small churches\u2014can serve as healing communities for people with mental health concerns. In order to do this, some basics need to be understood. Let\u2019s look at five things small churches need to know about mental health in order to be a healing community:<\/p>\n
Despite the incredible shift in societal awareness and attitudes, there are still those who think mental illness isn\u2019t real. They think people who are depressed are just sad, people who suffer from anxiety just worry too much, people with ADHD just need more discipline, or people with PTSD just need to \u201cget over it\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sadly, these ideas persist in many churches as well.<\/p>\n
But mental illness is very real and efforts to address it through motivational speeches, spiritual platitudes, punishment or conventional behavior modification fall far short of helping those who suffer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMental illness\u201d is a phrase used by modern psychologists and psychiatrists to describe a group of conditions and it\u2019s true that the phrase is not found in the Bible. However, when we consider what \u201cmental illness\u201d means we see evidence of it in Scripture. Dr. Matthew Stanford, a Christian professor of psychology, neuroscience and biomedical studies at Baylor University, describes mental illness like this:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026a disorder of the brain resulting in the disruption of a person\u2019s thoughts, feelings, moods and ability to relate to others that is severe enough to require psychological or psychiatric intervention\u2026a debilitating experience in which the person is simply unable to function normally over an extended period of time<\/i>.\u201d[ref]Matthew S. Stanford, Grace for the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness <\/i>(Downer\u2019s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008) 43-44.[\/ref]<\/p>\n
While we can\u2019t \u201cdiagnose\u201d people in Scripture with specific disorders, we can observe mental health problems long before modern psychology. In Scripture we see evidence of:<\/p>\n
Mental health problems are not the invention of modern psychology. Rather, they are part of the human condition. Sin and death wreak havoc on our brains as well as the rest of our bodies.<\/p>\n
Not only are mental health problems real, they are prevalent. The statistics are shocking:<\/p>\n
This is only a sampling of statistics gathered by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.[ref]http:\/\/www2.nami.org\/factsheets\/mentalillness_factsheet.pdf<\/a>[\/ref]\u00a0They represent real people in our churches, many of them suffering in silence. The church must acknowledge and address mental health concerns in our shared-life and ministries.<\/p>\n One of the major shortcomings in the way the church has treated mental health problems is to ignore their physical\/biological components. Because mental health relates to thought, will and emotion, many Christians think of these issues as \u201csoul problems\u201d that can only be addressed through spiritual disciplines or divine intervention.<\/p>\n\n