Why The Church Community Should Engage In A Ministry Of Mental Health.

I grew up in the church. Much of what I learned was about the task of doing better or being better. I was a sinner, and I needed to be better and I never thought much of it. I just tried to do better. The goal—we were told—was to go beyond avoiding sinful behavior. Instead, we were supposed to avoid anything that might lead us to think about the idea of what it might mean to engage in sinful behavior. In other words, the less you know, the better. Ignorance was the key.

But when high school and college rolled around, a new reality emerged. Social pressures, temptations, peer influence, and the formation of my own unique thoughts began to tug and shape my worldview. But as I struggled and navigated my own sin nature attempting to draw near to Christ, I, like everyone, failed time and again. 

But through my journey, I began to wonder about the journey of others. What about those who struggle with mental illness? What about those who feel perpetually alone despite God's unrelenting presence in our lives? What about those haunted daily by thoughts of suicide, despite the relentless pursuit of prayer? What about the guy who suffers from a constant state of addiction because his brain is genetically prewired to addiction? Or the mom, who, no matter how much she is loved, feels unloved and worthless and can’t stop comparing herself to others. 

Do these people just love Jesus less? Has sin affected them more? Why isn’t prayer working more? Why can’t they just do better? It wouldn’t be long before I encountered my own mental health struggles, leading me to ask those same questions about my own life. The most common pastoral response was to pray more, read my Bible more, and have more faith. 

Yeah, that didn’t work. 

While I continue to believe that the church as a whole has the best of intentions in pointing people to Jesus as the primary means of helping their minds achieve a more healthy state. But the reality is that the church is woefully underprepared and ill-equipped to handle the challenge and the stigma people experience every day. This is especially true in youth and family ministries. Youth pastors are simply not equipped to adequately address our youth's mental health challenges. 

We can no longer afford to ignore the reality of the mental health crisis teenagers in the United States are experiencing. The CDC has reported that from 2009 to 2014, the number of students who feel hopeless, depressed, and perpetually sad has doubled—the highest ever recorded. In 2021 nearly a quarter of teen girls said they had thoughts of suicide. 

“Outwardly, teens are growing up slower; but online, they’re growing up faster. The internet exposes teenagers not only to supportive friendships but also to bullying, threats, despairing conversations about mental health, and a slurry of unsolvable global problems—a carnival of negativity.”

 - The Atlantic

You can blame social media, the pandemic, the extreme shifts in culture, sexual confusion, or the increased stress levels on our students. Pick one. All of them have contributed to the problem. But what are faith communities doing?

The kids are not all right, and the church doesn’t know what to do. 

Youth pastors are not prepared, parents are not up to speed, and ministry efforts are not designed to handle mental health issues. The church was intentionally designed to be a place of healing for the broken, but can we compassionately point people to Jesus when we simply don’t understand the complexity of their suffering?

But that doesn’t mean we throw our hands up in frustration or change the youth ministry paradigm altogether. It means that we invest in our youth leaders—paid and volunteer. It means that mental health awareness and training are needed on an ongoing basis for anyone that works with youth. Want a good place to start? Contact RemedyLIVE, and we can help equip your church to have a greater impact in ministering to the next generation. 

The world is broken, which means we are too. 

But we are being renewed day by day. A foundational principle of the Christian worldview is that paradise has been lost. Humanity messed up big time and brought sin into the world, infecting everything. This includes our minds. 

The way we see the world, see other people, and receive information, interpret, and react are all prone to sinful behaviors. Our minds are broken because the world is broken. Broken, but not beyond repair. In fact, that’s what is so great about the hope of Jesus. The more we become like him, the more we are being remade in his likeness—and once again, that includes the renewing of our minds. 

“…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” - Romans 12:2

Despite the flaws, we have been created with the ability to physically alter our thought processes and reroute neurological pathways that change thinking and behavior. Paul called it the renewing of our minds in his letter to the Romans. Science calls it neuroplasticity.

“Thoughts are real, physical things that occupy mental real estate. Moment by moment, every day, you are changing the structure of your brain through your thinking. When we hope, it is an activity of the mind that changes the structure of our brain in a positive and normal direction.”

-Caroline Leaf

So yes, from a scientific perspective and a spiritual one, renewing and changing your mind is possible. But there is work to be done. And that work involves removing the stigma around mental illness. 

Click Here to Learn More About Reducing Mental Health Stigma

You’re not alone. In fact, you’re in greater company than you think.

It’s one of the greatest barriers to mental wellness, and it persists everywhere. It prevents us from speaking out, being honest, and getting help. It traps us in our own minds and creates an overwhelming sense of loneliness—sending us deeper into a depressive state, making anxiety worse, and even amplifying thoughts of suicide. 

The stigma we place on mental illness has created a dangerous false reality. It feeds us false information about who we are and how others perceive mental health issues. The stigma tells us that we ought to be ashamed, that we are weak and undeserving of help. And in the church world, the stigma is translated as a spiritual ineptness that drastically and deeply impacts our relationship with Jesus. 

You can see where this is going. And it’s not healthy. But what happens if we have honest, meaningful conversations? What happens when we properly teach and encourage people to share their secret struggles? It’s simple, really. People quickly realize they are not alone in their struggle. They realize they aren’t weak, and there is no place for shame. Starting the conversation places anyone struggling on the road toward hope and healing. 

And this is precisely the design of the RemedyLIVE programs. Remove the stigma by starting a conversation and creating educational opportunities. We do this through our interactive and anonymous polling—giving people a safe environment to come face-to-face with their struggles and connect with a network of care. 

Click Here to Learn More About Reducing the Stigma Behind Suicidal Ideation