Do you ever get the sense that God is nudging you to do more to share His love with individuals or families in your church, your workplace or your community, who are experiencing mental health-related challenges? If so, we suspect He may be calling you to join us this coming September 26th and 27th for Mental Health and the Church, Key Ministry’s national mental health ministry conference.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last five years, you’re aware that our culture is experiencing an unprecedented mental health crisis. For those of us who make sense of events through our Christian faith, the case for the church to step up to respond to the need for care, community, support and most of all—the need for JESUS among persons with mental health struggles—appears unequivocal. So why isn’t the church doing more?
If you’ve spent much time in church and have an interest in mental health, you probably appreciate the “complicated” history the church in America has with the concept of mental illness, and demonstrating compassion with affected individuals and their families. Most mental health professionals don’t share our faith, and the leaders of the organizations that define and characterize mental illness are, for the most part, floridly hostile to Christian anthropology, Christian worldview and Christian perspectives on moral issues. But the hostility of the professional community responsible for defining mental illness doesn’t absolve us as the Church for our responsibility to share the love of Christ or the message of the Gospel with them.
As a result, a lot of churches that should be at the forefront of the mental health ministry movement, who are otherwise passionate about evangelism and outreach, are sitting on the sidelines. It appears more and more that the mental health ministry movement will not be one primarily led by senior pastors and denominations. It’s going to be a movement led by the people of the church. While we’d like mental health ministry to be done in the context of a local church—and will have some phenomenal resources for churches seeking to start or grow their capacities for mental health care, support and outreach at the Mental Health and the Church conference—we recognize at this time there are lots of churches where that’s not going to happen.
There’s very much a place in the mental health ministry movement for God’s people to do God’s work outside of the organizational structure of the local church. How we think about “church” may need to change; the “church” is wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name. We think God may be opening doors for those who sense a calling to minister to those with mental health concerns, but don’t experience lots of support for such a calling within the churches they attend. Your calling to mental health ministry is not necessarily conditional upon having an opportunity to to ministry within the organizational structure of a local church.
If you come to #MHATC2024, I think your next steps in ministry are likely to become more clear. Here are some of the opportunities for impactful ministry you’ll likely experience at our event:
You’ll meet representatives from multiple ministry organizations who can train and resource you to start a Biblically-based mental health support group.
You’ll meet ministry leaders who can resource you to provide impactful peer support.
You’ll have many opportunities to expand your capacity to provide informed care and support with children and adults who have experienced trauma.
You’ll have opportunities to learn strategies for developing relationships with community mental health agencies.
You’ll get networked with others doing this work or pursuing interest in this work, and discover lots of like-minded people with shared passions and calling.
If you sense God calling you to do more to care for and witness with individuals and families impacted by mental health concerns, we want you to come and be part of Mental Health and the Church. You’ll find encouragement. You’ll get resourced. You’ll get networked. You may very well get inspired. You’ll find community for the journey, if you’re open to community. You may lack a supportive church for your mental health ministry, but you have a ministry and fellow Christians eager to come alongside you for your journey.
Register here for Mental Health and the Church, September 26th and 27th at Bay Presbyterian Church in suburban Cleveland, Ohio.
