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Churches typically begin to put an emphasis on helping those with mental illness after the pastor is directly impacted by mental illness: a family or friend of the pastor, a church staff member or one of their immediate members, or a key leader.

It’s proximity. It’s one of those things that even though the pastor may counsel people or address it, when it becomes something the pastor leads the church to understand and work towards body it’s typically because they’ve experienced it through a significant personal encounter.

Be sure to Tweet your questions and comments to us: @LifewayResearch and individually: @smcconn, @statsguycasey, and @lizettebeard. Join us next time for another edition of Keep Asking.

Additional resources:

• Study of Acute Mental Illness and Christian Faith – Lifeway Research
• Mental Illness Remains Taboo Topic for Many Pastors by Lifeway Research
• Mental Health Resources – Focus on the Family