How can the church help persons with mental illness?

Members of the congregation can be a friend.

Long-term mental illness tends to isolate people. Be a friend to those who may have no other friends or support systems.

• Be accepting, friendly, understanding, and genuine.
• Write, send a card.
• Telephone to keep in contact.
• Talk with the person, listen to the person.
• Make visitations.
• Encourage the person to work with their strengths, with their gifts.
• Help set realistic goals.
• Be a resource for information and referral.
• Avoid implying that if the person can "get things right with God" or "confess" that the person will be cured

Members of the congregation can let the person know he/she is not alone.

• Welcome the person into the church community.
• Recognize the need for spiritual healing, without focusing on the "cure" for the illness.
• Always reassure the person that God loves and cares for him/her.  
• Remember that this is not a punishment from God or caused by demons or the devil.
• Encourage the person to join a support group, social club and/or advocacy group.

The congregation can open the church to:

• Hosting a group of people who have a mental illness from a community facility.
• Sponsoring a support group for persons who are ill or family members.
• Sponsoring a social club or drop-in center.
• Offering employment, such as secretarial, using artistic talents, janitorial, maintenance, food preparation, etc.
• Initiating a visitation program.

Used by permission of PCUSA.org

A congregation can play a significant role in the lives of those with a mental illness and their families. In Galatians chapter 6, verse 2 the Apostle Paul admonishes us to "Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

Ministering with those who, at no fault of their own, have a serious mental illness is a wonderful opportunity.  In order to do so, we don’t need to be a psychiatrist, psychologist or theologian. We just need to be a friend.

Those with a serious mental illness have an irregularity in the transmission of nerve impulses in part of their brain. They have a brain defect, which makes their illness considerably more incapacitating than short-term depression or anxiety of the "worried well."

Just as a person with diabetes usually requires daily insulin in order to function normally, so do almost all persons with a mental illness require a daily medication. During the past 10 years, psychiatric medications have been highly successful, particularly when started early in the course of these brain disorders.

The primary factor in the development of these neurobiological disorders in almost all cases is in the genes that are received from parents. A factor in some cases is injury to the brain, particularly injuries resulting from certain viral infections during the second trimester of pregnancy.

Mental illness is not a result of a lack of character or poor parenting.

Although sometimes the signs and symptoms of mental illness are present in childhood, they usually aren’t apparent until the late teens or early 20s and sometimes not until much later in life.

I would like to emphasize the importance for all of us, whether or not mental illness is part of our lives, to seek education concerning these disorders. I am not aware of anything that gives a greater feeling of inner peace than serving others, especially those who by virtue of their mental illness have been pushed to the margins of our society. I invite you to participate in this opportunity. I assure you that you will receive far more than you are able to give.

Copyright Susan Christiansen, Trinity United Presbyterian Church, Santa Ana, CA. Used by permission.