Ministering to The Mentally Ill

Ministering to The Mentally Ill and

Emotionally Damaged The magnitude of mental illness in this country is

staggering. According to the Surgeon General, one in every five Americans experiences a mental disorder in any given year and half of all Americans have such disorders at some time in their lives. These illnesses of the brain affect all of us, regardless of age, gender, economic status or ethnicity. Nearly every person sitting in the pews has been touched in some way by mental illness. And yet individuals and families continue to suffer in silence or stop coming to their faith community because they are not receiving the support they so desperately need. They become detached from their faith community and their spirituality, which is an important source of healing, wholeness and hope in times of personal darkness. THERE IS HOPE!

What Must The Church Do?

The Church MUST remember these things about the mentally Ill:

Welcome the chronically mentally ill into the life of the local congregation. God CAN use the mentally ill, everyone has a divine purpose!

Support the families of the chronically mentally ill in ways that alleviate their heavy burdens of care. Often they are treated with equal distain.

Enhance the skills of congregational caregivers in their ministry to the chronically mentally ill.

Mental Illness is as much a disease as a physical illness; only in rare cases is demon possession the problem, mental illness can be genetic, from emotional trauma, or from a traumatic injury.

How do I Know It’s My Calling?

Our Ministry Arises Out of Our Faith:

We believe that all members of the human race, the chronically mentally ill are not less than others, they have been redeemed by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We invite them into the fellowship of faith with us.

We believe that all people, including the chronically mentally ill, baptized into the community of faith, need to be nurtured by the Gospel within the framework of their special needs.

We recognize that the local congregation is a community of God's people, one of whose hallmarks is mutual care and support.

Data About Mental Illness

Facts About Mental Illness and Resources For Ministering to the Mentally Ill

Numbers

Mental illness (brain disorders) strikes one in five families in the United States, according to estimates of the National Institutes of Mental Health. This estimate will tell you the probable number of mental illness cases in your church.

Care Ministry

Ministry to the mentally ill is generally less intentional and consistent than care for physical illness. Remember mental illness can strike ANYONE at anytime!

How to Communicate

Communication

It is not easy to read the thought world of the

mentally ill when loose thought association

moves the speaker from one subject to another

without logical connection.

Delusions, inner voices, deep withdrawal can

make conversation and relationships all but

impossible.

What if it is ME?

If you are a Christian and you are suffering with an illness (Mental or Physical) of some kind be encouraged. God has not forsaken you. I know it may feel like it but He hasn’t. I have received great comfort from Psalm 13, a Psalm of David. This Psalm has taught me that one of the major problems with suffering is dealing with anger and bitter feelings towards God Himself. We have been taught the new wave message of “positive confession”, but what God really desires from us is an honest confession. Out of all the books in the Bible, the one that has delivered me the most is the Psalms. To many believers Psalms is just a collection of praise song. Many theologians look at Psalms, Proverbs, and especially Ecclesiastes as books without much doctrinal weight or value. How wrong they are! Through all of my trials and tribulations, I have been able to find a point of contact and understanding by reading Psalms. My favorite Psalm is Psalm 13.

David and Psalm 13

After you read it you may wonder, “How can this depressing psalm be someone’s favorite?” This is the most honest prayer in the scriptures. David asked God a question, “How long will you forget me Lord?” This honesty in prayer helped me realize that God wants to hear everything we have to say, the good and the bad. David felt abandoned by God. I can identify with this feeling. For the last three years I have been battling sickness. I have been poked, prodded, and examined. I have had Scarlet Fever. I have been misdiagnosed with Osteomylitis (bone infection). I was on an IV for 8 weeks; my lungs were scanned and X-rayed to find growths. I have granulomas (lesions) in different parts of my body that causes severe pain in my joints and my eyes, and the cause of all of this is an incurable illness called Sarcoidosis. I began to recite Psalm 13 as though I wrote it. The good news is found in the 5th and 6th verses. David obviously recalled how the Lord had been merciful and kind to him in the past. David’s was to continue to trust in the mercy of God and hope in the loving-kindness of the Lord. I feel that many of our prayers go unanswered because we are not honest with God. However David felt, that what he expressed to the Master. This is one of the keys to being a man after God’s own heart.”

PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder may affect survivors of such traumatic events as sexual or physical assault, war, torture, a natural disaster or an airplane crash.

Post-traumatic stress disorder also can affect rescue workers at the site of mass casualties or other tragedies. These kinds of events may cause intense fear,

helplessness or horror.