New research suggests Christians struggle with mental illness and pastors feel unequipped to help.
Recently at LifeWay Research, we’ve been doing an extensive series of studies on mental health and the church. Working with various organizations and churches, our hope is to better equip the people of God to minister to those struggling with mental illness. To download the full research, click here.
This afternoon, Christianity Today reported our new research findings on pastors and mental illness. Sarah Zylstra writes:
Your pastor is just as likely to experience mental illness as any other American, according to a LifeWay Research survey commissioned by Focus on the Family.
Nearly 1 in 4 pastors (23 percent) acknowledge they have “personally struggled with mental illness,” and 12 percent of those pastors said the illness had been diagnosed, according to the poll. One in four U.S. adults experience mental illness in a given year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Recent deaths by suicide of high-profile pastors’ children, including Rick Warren’s son Matthew and Joel Hunter’s son Isaac, have prompted increased attention to mental illness from pastors’ pulpits and pens. Warren launched “The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church” this past spring. High-profile pastors, including NewSpring Church pastor Perry Noble, have publicly documented their struggles with mental illness.
Christians are not exempt from struggling with mental illness. Pastors and church members alike grapple with a variety of mental illnesses, and our new research shows that pastors often feel ill-equipped to help lead other believers through these struggles.
According to pastors, only 27% of churches have a plan to assist families affected by mental illness.
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