Mental Health

The believers the church has often considered disqualified are the ones the church most needs to lead. The risen Christ kept his wounds. The scars are the credential. Part five of Radical Hospitality: Creating Room for Mental Wellness.

Many Christians with mental illness carry a quiet equation — this is happening because I have done something wrong. The Bible refuses that equation. Jesus refused it. Part four of Radical Hospitality: Creating Room for Mental Wellness.

There is a person in your church who is no longer in your church. They have not left the faith. They have left the building. These are not the same thing. Part three of Radical Hospitality: Creating Room for Mental Wellness.

The meal train ends. The depression does not. Isaiah does not say send them food. He says bring them in. Part two of Radical Hospitality: Creating Room for Mental Wellness.

The hungry in your congregation are not always the ones with empty plates. The Lord's first instruction in Isaiah 58:7 is not fix their hunger. It is share your bread. Part one of Radical Hospitality: Creating Room for Mental Wellness.

You used to feel things. Now you feel nothing. You have not lost your faith. You have lost your feelings. These are not the same thing — and the church has, for a long time, taught us they were.

God won't give you more than you can handle. Everything happens for a reason. They meant well. The sentence sat in your chest for the rest of the afternoon, doing a quiet damage you could not name. The problem is not your faith.

Resilience a good quality. But somewhere along the way it became something you were supposed to have — and the moment it became a demand, the person who could not bounce back fast enough became, by definition, deficient.

You want to help. Someone you love has gone somewhere inside themselves that you cannot follow. Your instinct is to fix. Yet this is often the least useful in the room with depression.