Mental Health. In Ministry.
The title of this article has deliberate punctuation. Mental Health. In Ministry.
As I've meditated on this subject, I note that mental health is a universal issue. Whether we are in full-time, part-time, lay ministry, or no ministry at all, good mental health is a need. All humanity deals with issues of mental health, such as stress, situational depression, disappointments, and fears. We run ourselves ragged and take on responsibilities never meant to be ours. We adopt coping mechanisms that may mask our struggles for a bit, but they usually make them worse. Then there are issues of true mental illness as well. Manic depression. Bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia. PTSD. All humanity deals with issues of both mental health and mental illness either personally, among loved ones, or in the community in general.
“What happens when these universal struggles with mental health and mental illness occur in the context of ministry? “
What happens when these universal struggles with mental health and mental illness occur in the context of ministry? The phrase in ministry distinguishes and intensifies the words mental health and mental illness. Experiencing any mental health struggle, from mild depression to bipolar disorder, in the middle of spiritual ministry to others complicates how such mental struggles play out in our lives. If we could experience our mental health issues in a vacuum, if they didn't affect others around us, we could navigate them with fewer complications. That is, in fact, why, at the most intense moments of mental anguish, people are advised, or even forced, to remove themselves from their normal contexts and relationships to a place dedicated to their recovery.
In contrast, the entire point of ministry is sacrificial service to others in the name of Christ. We pour ourselves out in ministry, sacrificing our good for the spiritual health of another, because Christ did that for us. How could we possibly watch out for our own mental health or treat our own mental illnesses in that paradigm?
I want to offer a simple encouragement to you if you are struggling mentally but find that the responsibilities of ministry keep you from stopping long enough to get the help you need. Consider the example and teaching of the Good Shepherd, for he is both help and example to those of us who minister in his image and his name. Jesus walked and talked with his handpicked group of 12 disciples for three intense years. Finally, he began to prepare them for his death, resurrection, and ascension. This, of course, rocked their world. Peter told Jesus something along the lines, “Oh no you're not about to leave us!” To which, Jesus rebuked Peter strongly. In his defense, Peter was terrified of Jesus dying, terrified of Jesus returning to heaven and leaving them behind. Jesus knew that his disciples were struggling with the changes coming to their personal access to Jesus in person. That's the set up for Jesus's last teaching to the disciples in John 14-17. He begins it, “Do not let your heart be troubled.” (John 14:1)
“He promised them a comforter.”
How did Jesus comfort his disciples as he prepared them for his departure? He promised them a comforter. A helper. A counselor. In fact, Jesus told his disciples that it was actually for their good that he went away. If he didn’t go away, this counselor and helper would not come. Jesus, of course, was talking about the Holy Spirit. At first, the disciples couldn’t imagine life without Jesus walking in person with them. But we see from the book of Acts that when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, they received power and accomplished things no one reading of them in the gospels could have ever imagined.
Now, I remind you of this story not to associate your role in the lives of those to whom you minister as the same as Jesus’s role in their lives. But, the Holy Spirit is the same! If you find yourself in need of a mental health break, be encouraged by the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’s disciples as Jesus stepped back from face to face ministry with them. The same Spirit indwells both you and those to whom you minister. If you need to step back for a season, God knows the needs of your community as he knew the needs of Jesus’s disciples. He loves your people more than you, and he will never step back from shepherding them. Take the breaks you need to take, believing confidently in God’s deposit in both you and your ministry community, the Spirit who guarantees that God will not default on his promises to you or your spiritual community.
