The How of Help

In staff meeting this week we discussed how Christians and The Church can better care for people, both christian and nonchristian, who are dealing with mental health or sexual identity issues.

We were wrestling with the fact that in many cases the typical response to these issues by Christians or by The Church is a response that can be either generally unhelpful or actually harmful in that it pushes people away from the christian community of the church.

In contrast, the secular or non-church alternative (secular therapy or the LGBTQ+ community) seem to be successful (at least outwardly) in meeting the needs and creating safe space that should be found in a thriving church community.

Although we generated no magical solution answer, several helpful insights came to light.

If true health is a combination of physical, mental, social and spiritual health, then any secular solution is missing a crucial piece, the spiritual side or the relationship with God.

While these secular solutions have real value and attractiveness, it is because they are a twisted or partial representation of God's design for the healthy relationships inside the church.

Also how helpful it can be to get professional help (such as talking to a therapist) and that such help is intended to be short term but the long term goal is to utilize genuine relationship, mentoring, and spiritual discipleship process longer term to allow the struggling person to rehabilitate and improve.