When he was younger, Jarrid turned to the church for help and found outdated and spiritualized answers.
“It was as if all the answers I was finding were suggesting that I just needed more faith. Seriously? The last thing someone contemplating suicide wants to here is “just have faith.” I understand that Jesus has the power to conquer anything that comes my way, but please don’t throw Christians clichés at me. I wanted real, authentic and practical information, and I assume there are millions in this world who would want the same. It’s what Jesus would have done.” Jarrid Wilson
Church, Jarrid begged that we get real about mental health issues. And that we do SOMETHING about mental health in the church!
“We NEED the church to step up in its efforts to be more vocal in regard to mental illness. Whether that be through a sermon series, free resources, creating nonprofits or even cultivating a designated year-long ministry. Regardless, the church should be at the front lines of this battle. People need a safe place where they can be honest and transparent with what they are going through.” Jarrid Wilson
And Jarrid wasn’t the only one who was raising a rallying cry for us to wake up.
Leading Pastors Beseech the Church to Wake Up to Mental Health Issues
Rick Warren, pastor of mega-church Saddleback Church in Southern California, knows the pain of losing a loved one to death by suicide. In 2013, he and his wife, Kay, lost their son after he faced a lifetime battle with mental illness.
“Every single one of us knows someone with a mental illness. Yet, for some reason, the stigma surrounding mental illness is profoundly and deeply ingrained in our culture. It’s even in our churches.
Stigmatizing mental illness isn’t just unkind. It can be lethal. Many people believe they have to hide their mental illnesses from their church families, who should be loving and accepting of them. That just makes the problem worse. It leads to despair.” Rick Warren
Warren pinpoints three critical steps we must take related to mental illness in “Why We Must Put an End to the Stigma of Mental Illness.”
- We can constantly tell the stories of how God is using people with mental illnesses.
- As leaders, we must be honest about our own mental health challenges. We struggle with mental health just like anyone else.
- We need to provide a safe place for people to talk about their mental health challenges.
When It Comes to Pastors’ Mental Health
Warren reveals that he struggled with mental health issues early in his ministry. He writes, “Honestly, I was depressed my entire second year as pastor of Saddleback Church. My goal wasn’t, ‘God, build a great church.’ My goal was, ‘God, get me through Sunday.’ ”
As we grieve the havoc that depression and suicide are wreaking in our churches and in our country, let’s take a step back and ask how we are doing at supporting our pastors and other leaders. Do they have trustworthy people they can be vulnerable with? What can we do to help them find those people? What can we do to be those people?
“Good training in mental health/illness is actually pretty uncommon among some sections of evangelicalism,” writes Ed Stetzer. For the sake of our pastors, let’s get that training. Let’s never assume that leaders who appear to be strong and healthy actually are. Even if they are ok, maybe we should provide them with resources and set them up with a Christian psychologist anyway. And if any of our pastors or leaders express that they need to take steps to protect their mental health or to step away from ministry, let us do everything we can to support them in that decision.
And, if dear friend, you are still going to theologize about a person’s eternal destiny related to suicide, please first read Jarrid Wilson’s “Why Suicide Doesn’t Always Lead to Hell.”
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
