How to Navigate Real Church Life With Honesty and HumorSýnishorn

Your Mental Health Is Important Too

Growing up in a conservative church in the 90s had its perks, like the homemade baked mac-n-cheese with an obnoxious amount of stringy-cheesy goodness served at Sunday potlucks, for starters. Memories of all-nighter lock-ins, teary campfire testimonies, and teen-led Sunday services give us all the nostalgia. But as with all good things in life, there were a few things we’d love to forget from that time.

Mental health was a shunned topic. If someone struggled with depression, then they were encouraged to trust in the Lord and accept the joy He provides. If anxiety plagued you, you needed to give your “worries” to the Lord. Plenty of Scripture was quoted, but practical application was lacking. Many churches believed spiritual flaws caused mental health issues, and this thinking still plagues plenty of churches.

Thankfully, more believers are speaking out on this topic and are listening and learning more than reprimanding those who struggle with their mental health. Church leaders have gotten better at helping others, but what happens when you, the church leader, are the one whose mental health is declining? It takes a toll when you shoulder the burdens of so many others.

There is no shame in admitting you need help. Proverbs 1:5 is for us, too: “Let a wise person listen and increase learning, and let a discerning person obtain guidance.” A wise leader recognizes their need for guidance and seeks it out.

Sometimes, “increased learning” and “guidance” come through therapy/counseling. Other times, they come in the form of mental health education, diagnoses, and medication. At different times, they arrive in the form of asking for time off, saying no to a few activities, and sitting in the presence of God while praising Him and thanking Him in your despair. David did the latter often. He was both a man after God’s own heart and an imperfect leader who felt deeply the pangs of depression. He recognized his pain, sat with it, felt it, and praised God through it: “Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God. I am deeply depressed; therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar” (Psalm 42:5-6).

David clung to what he knew to be true of God. He remembered what He had seen God do in the past while permitting himself to feel every heart-wrenching emotion in his present. We can do the same.

As leaders in the church, none of us are perfect. All of us falter. And not one of us is immune to mental illness. Don’t try to hide what God sees clearly. Admit you need help. Seek wise counsel. Accept the guidance. And praise God even when nothing makes sense. You can find help for mental illness, too.