10 Ways the Church Creates Poor Environments for Mental Health

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1. Relational distancing from people who have a mental illness.

Labels like bipolar disorder or clinical depression help therapists and patients identify and address their mental health issues, but they often distance people from a larger community that should support them. We can better understand and support one another if we are all humble and vulnerable enough to share their needs or confusion. Churches should support counseling and have resources available to recommend to those with significant mental health issues. “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

2. Segregating addicts from the larger community.

The Church has already embraced many rehab programs to give individuals a safe place to overcome their addictions. In addition to these critical programs, churches should establish on-roads for addicts to be accepted and admitted into the whole congregation, even while they are learning to navigate recovery. Struggling and recovering addicts need invitations to dinner, to join small groups, to serve, and to grow alongside congregants who haven’t experienced the same kinds of struggles. Hospitality generates true compassion and inclusion. There are plenty of closet addicts or relatives of addicts who will find courage and hope when they experience a community of active love. “Confess your faults and pray one for another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

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3. Ignoring harmful personal lifestyle choices.

These can include overeating, homosexuality, vaping, or non-marital sex. As sins become culturally accepted, the Church has backed away from exhortation about these issues. Preaching against complex issues like same-sex attraction can feel judgmental and harsh, so pastors don’t often talk about it. However, personal relationships provide space to process the struggles around these topics. In the context of relationship, we have the freedom to exhort about God’s loving design for our health and wellness. “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17).

4. Stigmatizing singlehood, divorce, and widowhood.

In teaching about marriage and family, the Church can easily make the mistake of elevating marriage and children as the spiritual and relational goal for everyone, thus demeaning those adults who are not married or don’t have children. “Single” and “single-again” church groups can be helpful or harmful, depending on their leadership and mission. Grouping people by marital status may isolate and stigmatize people into subcultures, so it’s important to make space for singles, who make up more than half of all church congregations. “For your Maker is your husband—the Lord Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth” (Isaiah 54:4).

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5. Stereotyping based on race, culture, or economic status.

COVID uncovered the racial divides hiding in our congregations. How the Church responds to immigrants (legal or not), cultural preferences, and economic variances reveals its true heart for people. Changing a church’s DNA to become more diverse and inclusive requires an intergenerational approach. While multiculturalism implies that we all attend and worship together regardless of our race and wealth, intergenerationalism demonstrates walking together as equals. Our church cultures and programs must reflect the backgrounds and perspectives of all our congregants; this approach demands internal changes from the top down—it means making intentional choices about the representation of all demographics among leaders and programs. When leaders do not prioritize equal representation, they cause mental, emotional, and spiritual damage in their people. God loves diversity. “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9).

6. Programmatic approach to walking with our widows and orphans.

All of Scripture instructs God’s people to establish systems that enable single mothers and their children to flourish. In the male-dominant cultures of the Bible, these instructions carry even more weight than they do today. The Bible contains more than 75 explicit instructions about caring for widows and orphans (not including foreigners), and entire sections of laws to protect these categories from abuse, neglect, and poverty. Single parents fit the category of “widows,” and children separated from one or both parents, even if those parents are living, fit the category of “orphans.” 23% of American children live in single-parent households or households with no adults present. A quarter of mothers are unmarried; single mothers suffer from depression three times more than married moms. When the Church (and its people) ignore single families’ physical and emotional needs, they subject this at-risk demographic to mental health hardships. (mentalhealthamerica) “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).

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7. Overlooking spiritual abuse and narcissism in leadership.

The media loves to print stories about a pastor’s illicit affairs, embezzlement, or cult-like leadership. Although these stories are tragic and traumatizing for congregations, the churches where abuse occurs are churches that, at some level, ignore the warning signs of abuse. The modern evangelical Church celebrates worship leaders, famous pastors, and multi-site campuses. The “bigger is better” mentality—regardless of how small a congregation is—becomes a breeding ground for abuse. Honor is critical in culture; when a church honors or worships a person or program more than it affirms humble leadership, an externally-focused culture develops. Leaders who don’t serve, don’t shepherd, and don’t feed all the sheep (not just their fans) become leaders who hide sinful habits, plan their own agendas, and promote themselves instead of living out the gospel mission. The results are pre-determined: self-absorbed leaders will devastate and traumatize their churches, creating the “church hurt” that we read so much about. “Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach…” (1 Timothy 3:2-7).

8. Under-utilizing women as leaders and culture-shapers in the Church.

Without opening up a theological discussion about women being pastors, the Church at large underutilizes and underappreciates the powerful impact that women have on the Church. In Scripture, women were prophets, warriors, queens, apostles, teachers, prayer warriors, hosts, disciples, visionaries, and deacons. They had authority. They used the gifts God gave them, which included more than baking casseroles and taking care of the babies. Jesus and Paul regularly honored women in leadership because they were critical to the ministry and the establishment of the Church. We cannot limit the role of the female perspective, intuition, care, and efficiency at any level of leadership in the Church. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

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9. Disregarding the Sabbath.

The modern Church packs its calendar from Sunday to Saturday, even though keeping the Sabbath is the fourth Commandment; even though God himself modeled it after completing Creation; even though Jesus regularly spent time away from his brief ministry to pray and listen to his Father. By inviting and celebrating everyone who volunteers in the church, attends weekly, participates in service projects, and joins a variety of small groups and Bible studies, the Church eliminates the possibility for its congregants to take a Sabbath. Research proves that creating a weekly day of rest (as well as extended times of rest) positively affects mental health. Sabbath practices decrease stress, burnout, depression, and anxiety; it improves your BMI (physical health), sleep, quality of life, and family relationships. “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” (Genesis 2:2-3). 

10. Failing to disciple children, teens, and adults through a relational approach.

The most important lessons in life are caught, not taught. Jesus’ model for discipleship in the Gospels included living life together, talking about issues as they arose, and correcting false teaching whenever it crept in. People, regardless of their age, respond to instruction and correction in the context of relationship. Successful conversations about alcohol, sex, and identity occur within a loving, listening relationship, not through a harsh sermon. Preaching about sin without modeling confession and repentance alienates followers of Jesus. Hypocrisy infuses a church culture with confusion, resentment, hostility, and shame, which create negative mental health issues in church members. “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

The Church can contribute to mental health problems, but it can also solve them. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church and its people can facilitate a holy healing of anxiety, stress, fear, reconciliation, and isolation. Here are some suggestions that are simple in concept but complex in implementation. They require honesty, vulnerability, humility, and accountability.

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How the Church Can Solve Mental Health Problems

See people as God sees people. God doesn’t attach stigma or assumptions to anyone. God is grace, so decide to listen before you decide, and then give grace like God’s given to you: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).

Care for those in need. Listen to an immigrant’s story. Take an orphaned kid with your kids for an activity. Cry with a widow. Make friends with people outside of your economic and racial group. “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). 

Invite singles into your world. If you’re single, make some married friends. Incorporate singles (regardless of the reason for their singlehood) into all leading, serving, discipleship, and relational programs. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32).

Hold leaders accountable for their actions. Remember the grace principle: they are human. Whatever standard you expect from them, you must hold for yourself. “Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father” (1 Timothy 5:1).

Encourage women to pursue their gifts and encourage leaders to welcome women into positions of church influence. “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us” (Romans 12:6-8).

Create a Sabbath for yourself and your family. Turn off electronics. Get outside. Relax together. Pray and read. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:8-10).

Instead of criticizing or giving up on the Church, be the Church. Make it better, not with your great ideas, but with your spiritual gifting. Addressing mental illness in the Church demands changing our approach and methodology. Church is a relationship, not a location. We must help one another grow in every possible way. Peter commanded the churches, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

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