The Role of the Church as a Safe and Healing Environment

How can the church support individuals who are dealing with mental health struggles? Millard provides several guiding principles:

1. Responding with support and love. Instead of reacting with shame, avoidance, or gossip, churches need to foster open, supportive dialogue without stigma.
2. Following Scriptural guidance. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 offers three admonitions for helping without judging: comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, and be patient with all.
3. Avoiding Job’s friends syndrome. Job’s friends wrongly judged Job’s suffering as a result of sin. In the same way, churches can tend to oversimplify mental health struggles by attributing them solely to spiritual failings.
4. Offering practical support. Communities can offer practical help such as nutrition, routine, and rest, along with opportunities for spiritual connection.
5. Avoiding judgment. The church ought to be cautious about assuming demonic influence but instead rely on prayer and grace. Medication can be helpful, along with tailoring emotional support to the individual’s needs.

“The Role of the Church as a Safe and Healing Environment” was presented by Millard Martin at Western Fellowship Teachers’ Institute in August of 2024 at Lighthouse Mennonite School in Halsey, Oregon.