Mental Illiness in the Church~

   I am sorry readers that I have been not blogging as much as before. Lot has been going on in my life right now, but I really want to get back into blogging on a weekly basis! Tonight topic is “Mental Health in the Church “This is such a crucial issue that needs to be addressed and not pushed aside. This is coming from someone who has suffered with depression and someone who husband is pastor in our church.  Over the years, I have seen this happen many times at the different churches that I have gone to through the years.

   Church is a place for the broken, were all broken in some form from experiences we have gone through, or pain that we have endured. Mental health does not discriminate against those who go to church. Mental illness can touch anybody, Male or female, old or young.

  Therefore, what can the church in general do to Educate and raise awareness as well as approach this issue with understanding, and compassion. First off, those who suffer with this disease if they share their stories will allow others to open up their hearts and share their pain, so the church family can come alongside them and help them bear this load.

 Secondly, those in leadership need to be trained in this area; I do not think this kind of training should be isolated to those who work in the mental health field. More and more this issue is coming up with pastors and churches. After the tragic deaths of two prominent Pastors, sons ended their lives, mental health and Suicide prevention came up more to the forefront. Both the pastors openly spoke about their pain, of their families.  How their son’s suicides affected them, their church families, and the communities as a whole.

   When I heard about both these suicides, my heart broke.  Both pastors spoke out about the importance of prevention., About mental illness, what it is and how can the Church play the vital role they need to be in .I strongly believe pastors need to preach from the pulpit about mental health, it’s a topic a lot of pastors don’t want to even address.

   When my husband and I worked with teens at our old church, the youth pastor at the time did a lesson on depression and he asked me to speak about my experiences because he knew there was a lot about depression he did not understand. We need to speak in love and not be judgmental. a lot of  so called Christians judge others within the church, who suffer in silence with depression, this is heartbreaking to me .

      Because I’ve gone through this depression. I do all I can to speak out about depression and show those who need that genuine Christian love with no judgments, just compassion and understanding. There is still much that need to be done in raising mental health awareness, especially in the church. Start by not being afraid to share with one another, make sure it’s a safe place for those that need to share can and educate and train those who will be counseling others! The leadership need to lead by example.