MINISTERING TO THE MENTALLY ILLEveryone has a Divine Purpose to FulfillNJITS – Chaplain Mark H. Stevens

ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS…

• 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 THE CHURCH MUST REMEMBER

• We 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; mental illness can be genetic, from emotional trauma, or from a traumatic injury.

THE MENTALLY ILL ARE NOT LESS THAN US!

• We believe that all members of the human race, the chronically mentally ill are not less than others, We believe that all people, including the chronically mentally ill, welcome them into the community of faith We recognize that the local congregation is a community of God's people, one of whose hallmarks is mutual care and support.

FACTS ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS

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.• 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.

• Conventional spiritual care is on occasion distorted and disconnected from its Gospel content by the mentally ill person.

CONSEQUENCEOF NEGLECT

• Communication is broken off; ministry and relationship, while desired, appear beyond reach.• In the absence of the new knowledge of mental

illness as brain disease, older theories: the family's emotional climate, parental relationships, or inheritance persist.• The mentally ill are identified by their disease -

he is a schizophrenic; she is manic-depressive--in the minds of congregation members. People do not recognize their talents, accomplishments, or the family name.

MY STRUGGLE

• Inspiration• Having been in the depths of depression, I know that a mental

illness strikes at the very core of our being.   • Mental illness is like a thief in the night.   It can steal our sense of

self worth and our hopes and dreams for the future.   Sometimes we feel alienated from God.   We often feel alone, helpless and hopeless in the dark night of despair of our illness.

• The most important gift that our faith communities can provide is the gift of hope.   Our communities of faith can be a container of hope to remind us that we are loved as a child of God...just as we are.

• It is my hope and prayer that this Inspiration section might bring you some comfort and hope for recovery and wholeness of mind, body and spirit.

SCRIPTURAL HELP

• "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:"(1PETER 4:12 KING JAMES VERSION)

• "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"(2 CORINTHIANS 10:3-5 KJV)

• "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."(1 PETER 5:6-8 NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION)

• "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;"(EPHESIANS 6:10-17 KJV)

YES CHRISTIANS GET DEPRESSED

• "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."(PSALM 42:11 KJV)

• "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;"(2 CORINTHIANS 4:8-9 KJV)

• "These thing I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."(JOHN 16:33 KJV)

• "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."(3 JOHN 1:2 KJV)

• "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."(2 TIMOTHY 1:7 KJV)

• "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."(LUKE 1O:19 KJV)

CONCLUSION – ANYONE CAN BE DEPRESSED!

• David – Psalm 13

• Elijah after calling down fire from heaven

• Jeremiah after being left in a “septic tank” to die!

• Judas after betraying Jesus

• Jesus in the Garden and on the cross

• Paul in the jail cell

• Jesus after John the Baptist died