A Danger to Those in Their Flock Struggling With Mental Health
Social stigma has long surrounded issues of mental health, preventing myriad people from getting the help they need. Thankfully, much of this stigma has begun to melt away in recent years, as many organizations and individuals have worked tirelessly to normalize mental health practices such as going to therapy.
However, in the midst of that progress, some pastors and church leaders have sought to reintroduce stigma, heaping shame on those who struggle with their mental health and accusing them of having weak faith or unconfessed sin.
This kind of rhetoric binds the consciences of everyday Christians and keeps them from taking steps to get healthy. For some, this causes them to reach a point where their mental illness can quite literally become life-threatening.
According to data from 2020, one person in America dies by suicide every 11.5 minutes. There were 45,979 suicide deaths in America in 2020 alone.
As foundational as the Bible is to the faith and life of every Christian, merely quoting Bible verses to people in the midst of a mental health crisis is not enough to address this epidemic. If it were, Instagram would have solved it years ago.
People need help from trained mental health professionals. Many of them need ongoing therapy. Shaming Christians for seeking potentially life-saving treatment is fundamentally at odds with the responsibilities of a pastor.
A Danger to Our Witness
Jesus once said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Through the millennia, Christians have taken deep solace in these words. Jesus presents himself as the ultimate place of comfort and safety to people walking through the darkest moments of their lives.
Conversely, some pastors, by their embittered rejection and ridicule of basic mental health practices like therapy, present themselves and their churches as fundamentally unsafe and unkind.
Yes, Jesus is the answer. Yes, Scripture offers wisdom and comfort to people who are struggling with mental health. But God has also given us common grace. As a result, we have available to us trained mental health professionals who are passionate about helping people become and stay healthy.
To reject this grace is itself ungracious. And it does not model the heart of Jesus to our churches or to the world.
