{"id":32592,"date":"2022-09-10T16:15:35","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/hope-for-the-afflicted-the-church-and-mental-illness\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:15:35","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:15:35","slug":"hope-for-the-afflicted-the-church-and-mental-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/hope-for-the-afflicted-the-church-and-mental-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope for the Afflicted: The Church and Mental Illness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Christine A. Scheller<\/p>\n

Would it surprise you to learn that every fourth person you meet struggles with a mental health challenge? <\/p>\n

Twenty-six percent of American adults experience a diagnosable mental disorder each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Mental illness affects people of all ages, races, and walks of life.<\/p>\n

But many church leaders and churchgoers don\u2019t understand mental illness and don\u2019t know how to support sufferers. A September 2013 Lifeway Research survey found nearly half (48 percent) of evangelicals, fundamentalists, and born-again Christians believe that with prayer and Bible study alone people can overcome serious mental illness.<\/p>\n

Lifeway Research president Ed Stetzer worries that some Christians see mental illness as a character flaw rather than a medical condition.
\u201cThey forget that the key part of mental illness is the word \u2018illness,\u2019\u201d Stetzer says.<\/p>\n

Compassion for the suffering<\/p>\n

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Brad Hoefs understands the issue both as a pastor and a person living with mental illness. Hoefs was senior pastor of a fast-growing Midwestern mega-church when his undiagnosed bipolar disorder led to troubling behavior that landed him in the news.<\/p>\n

The church was in the midst of a complicated and protracted property purchase. It was the stress of this situation that triggered the crisis, said Hoefs.<\/p>\n

The church leadership didn\u2019t know how to respond, however, and Hoefs was let go. A group of 50-to-75 parishioners supported him, paying his salary until he was well enough to return to ministry.<\/p>\n

Today, Hoefs has reconciled with leaders from his former congregation and now pastors Community of Grace in Elkhorn, Nebraska, a church he founded with the group who cared for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe everybody does the best they can in a crisis like that. However, sometimes we\u2019re inadequate in our ability to respond because we don\u2019t understand mental illness,\u201d said Hoefs.<\/p>\n

He compares his manic episodes to being shot up with methamphetamines in the middle of the night: \u201cThe next morning you\u2019re all high and crazy and nobody understands why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accountability has been key to Hoef\u2019s recovery, he said. Both his wife and a small group of friends have his permission to talk to each other and to his doctor about his condition.<\/p>\n

For the past 11 years (ever since a second stress-induced crisis), he has met every other week with this group of friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really helped me know that the people who loved me were not just picking on me with my behavior. When your brain is playing tricks on you, you perceive one thing to be reality and sometimes it\u2019s not accurate,\u201d said Hoefs.<\/p>\n

For Brian Brodersen, senior pastor at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, California, exercise and a strict diet\u2014along with prayer, meditation, and sometimes medication\u2014have helped him manage occasional bouts of depression and anxiety caused by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMany Christians don\u2019t understand the true nature of mental illness,\u201d says Brodersen. \u201cA lot of Christians think it\u2019s just a matter of wrong thinking patterns that need to be corrected by Scripture and prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

While sin and disobedience may be the source of some mental suffering, that is much different from mental illness, he says.<\/p>\n

His task as a pastor is to discern whether symptoms are primarily spiritual or physical in nature, or perhaps a combination of both, and then to respond accordingly.<\/p>\n

After Rick Warren\u2019s son Matthew died by suicide last year, Brodersen published a statement in support of the Warrens and those who suffer from mental illness that affirms medical intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving had just a little taste of the torment myself gives me a great compassion for those whose suffering is, at times, unbearable,\u201d says Brodersen.<\/p>\n

Stigma and misconceptions<\/p>\n

The stigma of mental illness can cause some Christians to suffer in silence, even in church.<\/p>\n

In her book, Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church\u2019s Mission, author Amy Simpson shares her experience of growing up with a schizophrenic mother.<\/p>\n

Asked what has surprised her most as she\u2019s promoted the book, Simpson says it\u2019s the number of people who have said they identify with her story because it mirrors their own in some way.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople really do want to talk about their own stories and haven\u2019t necessarily felt permission to do that before. That\u2019s been true with lay people and it\u2019s been true with church leaders,\u201d says Simpson.<\/p>\n

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Christians\u2019 responses to those with a mental illness reflect a combination of the unique kinds of stigma that show up in churches and ignorance about mental illness, says Simpson.<\/p>\n

The Lifeway survey found that 54 percent of Americans say churches should do more to prevent suicide. But those who never attend church are the least likely to agree that churches welcome those suffering with mental illness, while those who attend weekly view these houses of worship as welcoming.<\/p>\n

Simpson says the big problem is dissonance between the potential and the reality of what churches can offer to those with a mental illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes that gap is also between reality and people\u2019s expectations,\u201d she says. Even people who never attend church expect churches to help.<\/p>\n

A place for caring and support<\/p>\n

A broken mind is different from a broken body and how to heal the mind is still more of a mystery than how to heal the body, says Doug Ronsheim, executive director of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we want to address the most complex issues with the simplest answers, because then we feel we have done something,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, if you prescribe prayer and it doesn\u2019t work, then you\u2019re not praying right. . . . It puts the onus on the person who is coming to you for prayer. But Jesus says, \u2018I\u2019ll walk with you, I\u2019ll talk with you, I\u2019ll be with you in your depths of despair.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronsheim is a board member for Pathways to Promise, an interfaith resource that helps congregations enhance their capacity to respond to mental illness.
\u201cWe really talk about how to be with people, how to be companions with people, not walking behind or walking in front, but how do you walk beside people?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pathways to Promise has developed a model for training congregations and faith leaders to do this and to connect congregants with service providers in their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe congregation becomes a place of caring, support, companionship, but also supports the need for aftercare programs, med visits, all the things that are needed,\u201d says Ronsheim.<\/p>\n

Frustration over not being able to find a faith-based support group specifically geared toward mental illness led Hoefs to found Fresh Hope, a network of support groups grounded in Christian hope and a pursuit of wellness rather than merely coping.<\/p>\n

At Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, plans are underway to launch a support group for both those experiencing mental health challenges and their loved ones, says Brodersen.<\/p>\n

For Simpson, the place for churches to start is with a good theology of suffering, one that includes mental illness as a normal part of the human condition rather than something that happens to other, \u201cscarier\u201d people.<\/p>\n

\u201cA serious study of Scripture will teach us that we should not be surprised by suffering,\u201d says Simpson. \u201cMore churches need to be honest and open about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Churches can and should create boundaries for people whose behavior is disruptive or dangerous, but they should also be consistent, loving, and clear in how that message gets communicated, Simpson says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for churches to think about what they do and do not tolerate, what they are and are not willing to handle within their congregation, and to be reasonable about that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

A mental health diagnosis doesn\u2019t have to mean a person\u2019s life is effectively over or that God can no longer use them, Simpson adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedically speaking, there are many reasons that\u2019s not true. So we, the church, can offer hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christine A. Scheller is a widely published journalist and essayist. She lives with her husband at the Jersey Shore, and in Washington, D.C., where she helps facilitate dialogue between scientific and religious communities.<\/p>\n

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By Christine A. Scheller Would it surprise you to learn that every fourth person you meet struggles with a mental health challenge? Twenty-six percent of American adults experience a diagnosable mental disorder each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Mental illness affects people of all ages, races, and walks of life. But … Continue reading “Hope for the Afflicted: The Church and Mental Illness”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}