Mental Health

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, 
and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Mental Health
Along with a couple of others from the church family, I recently attended the Biblical Counselling UK conference entitled Gospel, Church and Mental Health: Bringing Christ’s comfort to troubled souls.  (You can view the resources from the conference at https://www.biblicalcounselling.org.uk/gospel-church-mental-health-resources/).

One of the messages of the conference was that, while there is clearly a vital role for mental health professionals, the church can go a long way to helping people who struggle with mental health issues. 

There was a revealing quotation from American neuroscientist Tom Insel, who is not a Christian, who said that “What (people) really need is community, sanctuary and a sense of purpose.”  Wow!  Aren’t those three things – community, sanctuary and a sense of purpose – among the blessings we have in Jesus?  In Christ, we find community with God himself and with his people.  We also find sanctuary from guilt and the fear of judgment.  And we are given a sense of purpose: we now have someone and something worth giving our lives to.

That doesn’t mean that church is the answer to all our mental health struggles, but it may well be that we have more of an answer than we had realised.  Perhaps it’s our feeling that we won’t know what to say, along with fearing that we might do terrible and irreparable damage that stops us talking about these issue.  But they will still get talked about; it’s just that other voices will now be providing the answers.

I certainly found it hard to admit to the struggles I was having at the end of 2021 (and I still do).  A friend in church sent me a ‘burnout survey’ with 15 questions, each scored from 1-5.  I scored somewhere over 65 out of 75!  I was clearly in trouble.  And yet I felt I had to be strong, or at least appear to be strong – until I couldn’t hide it any longer.

I clearly still have a lot to learn, and I suspect I’m not the only one, given that Jesus seems to care so much about those who are “weary and burdened.”  Perhaps it’s a particular danger for a church like ours where we value things being done well? 

Lord, we thank you for the community, sanctuary and sense of purpose that Jesus gives us; may our church family be a place where these things are real and experienced.  Amen.

Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)