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christian counseling today
Vol. 21 no. 2
recognize a mental health problem in a congre-
gant, and even fewer have relationships with mental
healthcare providers within their communities to
which they are willing to make a referral.
4
Thus,
when presented with a mentally ill congregant,
pastors provide temporary comfort and spiritual
guidance, but fail to recognize the more significant
and complex underlying mental health issues. As
a result, treatment is often delayed, perpetuating
suffering and shame both for the individual and his
or her family.
Because of the power of Christ within His
people, our churches can be sanctuaries for the
suffering. 1 Peter 3:8 says,
“Finally, all of you, be
like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be
compassionate and humble.”
God is sending those
broken by mental illness to us so they might receive
hope and healing. Mental health is the great mission
field of the 21st century, and it is time the Church
recognized its God-given role. The involvement of
the Church in mental health is the missing piece
necessary to transform our broken system, making it
accessible and even more effective.
Faith communities offer the mental health-
care system four elements it presently lacks: 1) a
hope that transcends circumstances; 2) a holistic
perspective; 3) accessibility; and 4) the support of
a caring community. Hope is the fuel that drives
the engine of mental health recovery. As long as
one has hope, there is motivation and opportunity
for change. Hopeless people too often just give up.
Historically, severe mental illness has been concep-
tualized as a chronic medical condition in which
stability is the best possible outcome for treatment.
The hope offered by the mental healthcare system
is symptom reduction and illness management. The
Church, however, understands that hope is more
than a feeling; hope is a person, Jesus Christ. Hope
in Christ transcends circumstances and sustains
us when the world around us sees the situation as
hopeless.
Second, the person struggling with a mental
health problem needs a holistic approach to “treat-
ment” that takes into account all aspects of his or
her being: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual
and relational. Treatments and interventions that
focus solely on a single aspect of a person’s being can
bring limited relief at best. A holistic mental health
approach, however, is comprehensive, addressing the
whole individual: physical needs (e.g., sleeping well,
medication, relaxation, nutrition, and exercise),
mental needs (e.g., healthy thinking, coping with
In the United States, nearly one out of every
five adults (18.6%) struggles with a mental
disorder in a given year. The annual prevalence
of mental illness in adolescents 13-18 years old
is even greater, at 21.4%.