Christian Counseling Today Vol. 21, Iss. 2

christian counseling today

Vol. 21 no. 2

remember when I first entered

the mental health field the big

push was for the “integration” of

psychology and theology. There

was a significant divide in the Church

when it came to an understanding of

why people hurt and what to do about

it. There were some who said, “If you

are depressed, it’s because you have a

spiritual issue before God, and you need

to get right before Him.” The next step

would then be for those who suffer to

find the sin in their lives—or the weak-

ness in their relationships with God—or

spend more time in the Word, prayer or

seek deliverance. In other words, “Get

right with God and you will be well.”

There is a measure of truth in this state-

ment, as certainly our spiritual lives can

affect well-being, thriving, and even

“mental health” issues.

However, the Church was divided

because the missing component in this

formula was that people also hurt, just

as the Bible clearly teaches, because they

have been oppressed, brokenhearted,

and mistreated… or, living in a fallen

world has caused incredible heartache to

come their way. They have lost people

to death and have been widowed,

orphaned, or even unloved by the very

people who were supposed to take care

of them. They have been abused… and

to merely infer these people need to

“get their spiritual acts together” falls

way, way short of God’s healing power.

We see this in the Lord’s rebuke of Job’s

friends, as their simple answers to his

pain were inadequate and, perhaps,

insensitive.

So, the answer for many seemed to

be in the “integration” of the spiritual

disciplines, God’s Word, theology and

biblical principles, and the research

findings from the clinical world that

could also help the suffering. The

problem with that line of thinking, at

least for me, is that when I read the

Bible, I do not see any division between

the two… there is no division in the

Bible that needs to be integrated. It all

seemed to be there… both “spiritual and

emotional.” When people say, “That is

not a spiritual problem, it’s an emotional

one,” a division like that makes no

sense to me. Isn’t God a Spirit? Doesn’t

He have emotions? And when we have

“emotional” problems, like depres-

sion, isn’t it because of the spiritual

brokenness of creation and the losses,

separation, and oppression that occurs

as a result?

There was one Creation, one Fall,

and one Redemption. We do not have

two sets of problems—spiritual and

emotional or spiritual and psychological.

We have one fallen creation, and God’s

answers to that problem will affect all

of our issues, whether we call them

spiritual or psychological. Furthermore,

His answers will work… no matter if

they come from a pulpit or a Christian

psychologist’s treatment plan. They are

still His ways—and that is what we need

to continually remember.

This, I think, is a big calling for

church leaders today. In my experience,

the best leadership within churches

and ministries involves men and

women who do not divide the world

into “spiritual work” and “emotional

or psychological work.” They realize

they are one and the same. There is an

understanding that spiritual develop-

ment should affect our emotional and

psychological well-being. These individ-

uals also lead their ministries to ensure

preaching and teaching are done in a

manner that reaches the heart of people’s

real lives, their pain and need to thrive,

as well as the other areas of theology.

They are aligned with Scriptures in this

calling, for when Moses was asked why

we have all of God’s teachings in the first

place, he replied, “… so that we might

always prosper and be kept alive…”

(Deuteronomy 6:24). The Word of God

and truth it contains should make us

healthier. It should lead to thriving and

healing. So, leaders who are attuned to

the needs of their stakeholders inform

themselves about the spiritual issues that

affect well-being.

In my thinking, if ministry leaders

are aware of the spiritual principles

impacting almost all mental health

problems and make sure they are

appropriately addressed in teaching

and the ways their faith communities

and programs are being designed, the

Church would go a long way in effec-

tively attending to these issues. Think

what the Body of Christ would look like

if leaders incorporated the following:

Henry Cloud, Ph.D.

leadership psyc

Leading the Church into Mental Health

In my experience, the best

leadership within churches and

ministries involves men and

women who do not divide the

world into “spiritual work” and

“emotional or psychological

work.” They realize they are one

and the same.