At the Kingdom Partnership and our Shepherd’s Care Program we’re aware of the many mental health challenges pastors face.
Now the trick we’ve discovered at the Kingdom Partnership is having pastors respond for help for their particular issue. Burnout is not a Badge of Honor. Cramming feelings to be hidden from others is never a way to address what’s going on in a pastor’s life.
Unfortunately, anxiety and depression are two of the most common dilemmas pastors face. Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that 264 million people struggle with anxiety and 40 million struggle with depression.
In the church we can no longer afford to be surprised when people sitting in the pews or pastors standing behind a pulpit have brought their struggles from the rest of the week in with them on Sunday mornings.
Throw a stone more than 10 yards in any direction and the odds are that you will hit someone with an issue of their mental health. Sadly, only 40% of Christians with a mental health illness will get treatment. That percentage drops significantly with their pastors.
The reality is that mental illness exists as much inside the walls of the church as outside.
So how can pastors deal with their issues say like anxiety.
AWARENESS
The first step in solving any problem is admitting it exists.
When I was a kid growing up if something hurt I kept it to myself. Why? I wasn’t a fan of needles or what the doctor might have up his sleeve. So I did my best to ignore what I had. And the more I tried to ignore it the worst it got until I had to tell my mother. And what did she do? Yep, call the doctor and make an appointment!
It was our family Dr. Bruce Howar who would say, “Dickie, if you had said something sooner it would have been much easier to take care of this.”
Of course, he was absolutely right.
One of England’s finest preachers was C.H. Spurgeon. Frequently during his ministry he was plunged into severe depression, due in part to gout but also for other reasons. Arnold Dallimore wrote of Spurgeon, “What he suffered in those times of darkness we may not know”. “There are dungeons,” Spurgeon said, “beneath the castles of despair.”
Imagine if Spurgeon would have sought help for his issues. What could have been? Acknowledging that the outside world, the church, ministry, has likely caused many of the mental illnesses of any pastor is not far fetched. It’s a fact.
The first step for pastors to maintain and strengthen their mental health is to find help. And help is out there waiting to come alongside any pastor.
Do we dare say that any pastor needing mental health care and not seek it is being selfish? Not only is he hindering his healing but affecting those around him like his wife, children, and congregation.
Our next post will dive into the “how” of finding confidential, professional, scriptural help.
If you need a caring and experienced voice to talk to now, contact Shepherd’s Care at 402.297.6876. Or email Richard Creek at RDCreek@cox.net
Visit our Shepherd’s Care program at: www.thekingdompartnership.us
