Assignement Introduction _ summary A new_ church model.pdf

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CHAPTER 1

Overview of the Chapter

The purpose of this project was to explore the practices of church models and

community organizations that faithfully invite and include people with or affected by

mental health conditions in order to develop a new model for downtown Orlando,

Florida. Many churches address ministry needs for people with addictions or who offer

counseling services for those in crisis. However, this project was concerned with the

effectiveness as well as the gaps of ministry to people affected by mental health

conditions in current church models. This chapter will expound on the ideas as to why the

author of this project thinks there is good reason to pursue the experiment as well as offer

the parameters for how this project will unfold after the project is completed. There will

be discussion on the biblical, theological, and ecclesiological reasons to have a church

model with such intentions. In the last section of this chapter, the type of methodology

and the time line for using the methods chosen for this project will be laid out. Because

this is a broken world, there are a variety of ways for people to experience loss and pain.

It is the hope of the author of this project that a new church model could be developed to

embrace people affected by mental illness with grace and love.

Autobiographical Introduction

In 2002, I answered the call to ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church

(UMC). I then started seminary at Perkins Theological Seminary in 2003. I had

participated in a variety of roles such as: graphic designer, art teacher, mom and church

volunteer. In 2008 as I entered into my last year of seminary, the Holy Spirit began to stir

in me a desire to pray about starting a new church. After talking to UMC leadership, I

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was asked to seek training and found myself on the District Board that set strategies for

where and how to start new churches. I was also appointed to serve as an Associate

Pastor under the leadership of a man who had started Good Shepherd UMC fifteen years

prior.

Four years after I had arrived at Good Shepherd, I was asked to share my story at

a women’s retreat. I was convicted that this would be the time to publicly share that God

had resurrected my life from bondage of depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder. I

also shared about the heart wrenching days of seeing the effects of addiction and mental

illness when my brother was going through a divorce and trying to care for his four kids.

At the end of this retreat, we were to close with a short communion service. I offered to

pray with those who might be struggling with addiction or mental illness or for their

loved ones. At least fifteen to twenty people came forward to pray. After this experience,

the number of people who admitted struggles associated with mental illness multiplied so

much so that I began to consider this was an answer to the prayer about who I was called

to reach. God was showing me to use my greatest weakness and pain for his purpose and

glory.

From 2009 to 2015 the lack of knowledge about mental illness in our culture

became more apparent to me. Through several conversations with the Senior Pastor of

my church, my District Superintendent and our conference Director of New Church

Starts, I began to put a plan together to develop a faith community within our church to

reach people with mental health issues. While doing this I discovered two other churches

reaching the demographic that I wanted to reach. It was suggested that I visit

Chapelwood UMC’s faith community, Mercy Street, in Houston, to learn how their

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community dealt with addiction and mental illness. In 2012, while participating in a

leadership development group, I heard the testimony of Pastor Jamey Lee from Jacob’s

Well in Memphis, Tennessee and found myself enthralled by the concept of this church

being developed as a recovery community for people with addiction. Using the basic

twelve-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, Pastor Lee created a twelve step

Christian recovery model for his church. In this season of praying, researching and

learning, the Lord actually gave me a vision for a warehouse with a two-tiered fountain, a

house and a coffee shop, which included space to be used to offer mental health resources

and development of creative arts for people with mental illness. Affirmation to pursue

this vision came as I talked about this vision with my family and learned that my oldest

daughter said she had gone to her church in Orlando to talk about creating a resource-

counseling center.

After many months of God’s nudging in 2014, I accepted God’s call to fast from

food; I consumed liquids for forty days. During my fast, my mentor, Marc Donaldson

introduced me to Tom Tumblin, who invited to apply for a Doctor of Ministry in church

planting at Asbury Theological Seminary. The day after I broke my fast, I received a call

from a journalist with the New York Times asking me to talk about the connection

between spirituality and mental illness. The reporter had received my name from Joe

Padilla with Mental Health Grace Alliance, who had spoken at a conference I had been a

part of organizing at our church the year before. Could this all be coincidence or a God

incidence? In December of 2014, I applied to Asbury, and sought counsel from my

Senior Pastor, District Superintendent, the Bishop of the Texas Conference, Rich

Stevenson of the Malachi Network, Marc Donaldson, family and friends. In July of

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2015, I left my appointment as Associate Pastor in Cypress, Texas in response to the

leading of the Holy Spirit and moved to Orlando, Florida. Both of my daughters, who

have been degrees in social work shared the fervor to create a church with a focus on

reaching people affected by mental illness.

The quest to start a new church is in response to a burden on my heart to create a

faith community that will share the faith, hope and love of Jesus Christ with those who

feel invisible including those with mental illness. The people I hope to reach are those

who feel inhibited to take off their masks in the traditional Church, because they have felt

rejection or judgment whether real or perceived due to their struggle with a mental illness

or ongoing mental health issues.

Statement of the Problem

This world is full of people who are broken hearted over loss of relationships, loss

of life, loss of dreams, or loss of hope. There are many who have been victims of sexual

abuse or poor choices by generations before them. Many suffer from mental illness,

which includes a variety of diagnoses and levels of severity, such as: bipolar disorder,

depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, an eating disorder or schizophrenia. It is said

that “one in five people live with mental illness” in a given year, thus, all people are

impacted in some way (www.nami.org). The first place people go when trying to cope

with trauma in their life is often the church. However, there are still many people who

think they are unworthy to go the church to ask for help. Many people may be afraid to

enter a traditional church because they feel like they need to wear a mask to cover their

struggle. The author of this paper has spoken with many people prior to the beginning of

this project who have said they are afraid to tell others of their struggles with mental

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illness for fear of being judged or rejected even by those who call themselves Christians.

Whether intentional or subconsciously judgmental words like “crazy,” “loony,” or

“stupid” are tossed about in Christian circles to describe people that have mental illness.

These are words used daily to describe situations or people, which a person does not

understand. This perception has infiltrated modern culture inside and outside of churches.

When someone uses these types of words, they are putting a wall between people who are

mentally healthy and those who are struggling. It seems probable that a group of people

could be separated from the Church because they feel unwanted or unworthy. A new

church model could create reconciliation in communities by being intentional in treating

people with mental illness not as a “mission project” but as a neighbor who needs to be

heard, to be shown grace and to be included in day-to-day living. In Orlando there are

many churches with counseling services, but what might need to be done differently to be

more inclusive to those with mental illness? What might be missing in how the church

responds to people with mental illness?

This project will reveal practices for how a church can develop community to

empower people who live with mental illness or who have loved ones who do so they can

receive the distribution of the Holy Spirit and have a fruitful, meaningful life in a

relationship with Jesus. Mental illness and how the church can respond to those impacted

throughout the city of Orlando will be discussed. This project will create insights for how

the church should be connected as a community to one another even with mental illness

and to our triune God.

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Purpose of the Project

The purpose of this project was to explore the practices of church models and

community organizations that faithfully invite and include people with or affected by

mental health conditions in order to develop a new model for downtown Orlando,

Florida.

Research Questions

The following overarching research questions guided the direction of this project.

In order to answer these questions, the following topics were researched: mental illness or

mental health conditions, church planting, and church practices.

Research Question #1

What are the unique dimensions of ministry with people who have been affected

by mental illness?

Research Question #2

What is missing in downtown Orlando that would help people affected by mental

illness?

Research Question #3

What are some best practices for inviting and including people affected by mental

illness in the context of a local church?

Rationale for the Project

There may be many reasons to pursue this transformation project; three will be

three introduced here. The first reason is that there is an assumption that the Church could

be doing more to provide inclusiveness for people affected by mental illness within the

life of their community. Secondly, this project should be pursued because there are a lot

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of people who do not understand mental illness. And thirdly, this project should be done

because there are people who live in shame of their illness rather than embracing their

identity as a person created with God’s love and grace.

Everyone needs community including people who struggle with mental illness.

God is a God of otherness who created humans in his image with a need for a relationship

with God and other human beings. In the core of each human lies the need for

significance, which people can glean from a variety of external places, but the church has

the unique opportunity to create community that invites people to know they matter and

have value in the midst of society rather than being relegated to life in the shadows. A

person with a mental health condition does not usually need to be quarantined. People

need people. And really, people need to reach outside of themselves to serve one another.

People can find significance in their jobs; in their responsibilities within community life

outside of the church or in the role they have in their families or friendships. However,

this project will consider how a person with mental illness may feel excluded from the

mainstream of a faith community or in roles of leadership within a church. With

advancement in various sciences including psychology, one may assume that Americans

would have a greater ability to live authentically with people who mental illness

diagnoses. Yet society seems to be still be living in fear and misunderstanding. On the

websites of both National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Mental Health Grace

Alliance (MHGA) it is stated that one in five people will struggle with mental illness in a

given year within the United States, about sixty-two million people (www.nami.org).

Some church campuses have licensed counselors to aid suffering persons and some

church campuses have support groups associated with organizations like Alcoholic

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Anonymous (AA) or National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). According to Joe

Padilla of Mental Health Grace Alliance, their organization offers support and resources

for people with mental health conditions. They provide training for support groups so

people can experience a meaningful life. Padilla suggests that community is important in

the healing process (www.mhga.org Padilla). What if communities were formed that

empowered people affected by mental illness to not just have a place to ask for help but a

church that encompasses being on a journey together in pursuit of knowing and following

the God who created them?

Second, both within and beyond the local church, there are misconceptions

surrounding the topic of mental illness. This project will specifically seek to address the

stigma associated within American society. Historically churches have addressed needs

in their communities by doing things like starting hospitals, creating food pantries,

women shelter’s, or even counseling centers as they sought to represent Christ in the

world. The Church, however, has struggled with how to address mental illness beyond

“fixing” them. In some Christian denominations, mental illness has been associated with

demonic spirits or sinful behavior. This association has been communicated to society at

large with the implicit message that people with mental illness are bad and therefore, not

welcome into the Church. Quite often people struggling with mental illness are told they

should pray more, join a Bible Study, read their Bible more or go to a counselor, but there

is a lack of understanding about what mental illness is or is not. There are several places

in scripture like Mark 1:32, where Jesus is said to have healed those who were demon

possessed yet there is no mention of healing mental illness. There were no professional

tests in the first century to assess a person’s mental state. In the last one hundred years the

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sciences have revealed a great deal about the brain and how it works. For example, over

the centuries symptoms of the illness schizophrenia were noted, but a psychiatrist didn’t

give the illness a name until 1911. In 2015, NAMI estimated that about two and a half

million people lived with a diagnosis of schizophrenia; some can live on their own and

some have such severe cases that they need hospitalization (www.nami.org). The Apostle

Paul wrote in his letter that followers of Jesus Christ should renew their minds to be like

Jesus, but how does someone with an illness like schizophrenia attain such focus and

renewal (Eph. 4:23)? Could it be that American society lives in fear of the mention of

mental illness so they avoid discussing it? Could the Church help American society deal

with the fear and shame that has developed by starting a new church model that

intentionally embraces mental illness and mental health conditions? There are so many

mental illnesses with such a broad span of stages; some are chronic and some acute.

Some people who are diagnosed with depression will need medication every day for the

rest of their lives, and some have such a mild case that they can seek counseling over a

period of time. Then they may be fine with no medication needed at all. There should be

more empathy, compassion and grace for those struggling with mental illnesses like,

depression, bipolar disorder, eating or personality disorders, anxiety,

obsessive/compulsive disorder or ADD/ADHD. In the survey results reported by Lifeway

Research, the panel limited their research to questions about three acute mental diagnosis:

depression, bi-polar and schizophrenia (“Study of Acute Mental Illness and Christian

Faith” Lifeway Research 3). Yet as listed previously the author of this paper would like a

consideration for a much broader scope. There is a stigma associated with mental illness

in the modern day American society so a person may tell a professional counselor or

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pastor about their struggle but will often hide their struggles from others. It may be that

the Church could be a part of educating people about mental health and illness and thus,

could be an advocate to eliminate stigma and misconceptions.

Third, God wants people to know that their identity is not in what they have done

or not done but in him. God created humanity in his image and even though humanity has

fallen under the curse of sin, God shows grace and a desire for each one of his created to

have an abundant life so that no one feels insignificant or invisible. Identity is not

wrapped up in a person’s physical, mental or emotional state. The New York Times

stated that the suicide rates “rose steadily in nearly every state from 1999 to 2016,

increasing 25 percent nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported

In 2016, there were more than twice as many suicides as homicides” (“Defying

Prevention Efforts, Suicide Rates Are Climbing Across the Nation” Carey). Suicide is the

third leading cause of death among young adults between the ages of eighteen and

twenty-five years of age (www.nami.org). The numbers are alarming and include people

who already have claimed to follow Jesus. It is important to note that being a follower of

Jesus does not exclude someone from having a mental illness. It is a challenge for the

church to determine how to accept and show grace when someone is struggling with

“following” or claiming a “mind in Christ” (Phil. 2:2). The scriptures reveal the steadfast

love and grace of God for his created. How then can the church show love and grace so

people with mental illness will feel valued and significant even as imperfect people

struggling to claim the mind of Christ? Many churches do a great job of adding ministries

that reach out to people with mental illness, but many call people with mental illness,

EGR’s, meaning people where extra grace is required, as if they are a burden rather than

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someone of value or love. Could a new church model be developed in such a way that

people involved could claim that their identity is in being a child of God and not as

wrapped up in what they can or cannot do?

Definition of Key Terms

For this ministry transformation project there are several terms that will need to

be clarified: Church and church, church model, church practices, mental illness and

following Jesus. To define these terms will help in clarifying the answers to the questions

being asked. There may be several definitions that could be applied to these words, but

how these terms will be used for this project will be shown here.

Church

Church means the whole, universal church of the world; it will not mean a particular

denomination or representation although there is general understanding here that the

gathering consists of Christians or followers of Jesus Christ who believe in the One

Trinitarian God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). The Church could be any gathering or

collective of people, small or large, that someone has entered and become a member in

some way like with baptism or covenantal vows. Within the Bible, the book of Acts has

several stories of how the Church first gathered just after Jesus Christ was resurrected

and ascended. In addition to this book, the apostle Paul wrote several letters that are

included in the Bible with guidelines for what the Church should do in various situations,

particularly in worship. In the twenty first century, there are at least a dozen descriptions

of what the Church looks like beyond the definition of “a gathering of people.” This

paper acknowledges there are various forms of gatherings in the name of Jesus Christ.

Some have very organized systems and some are more organic with very little structure.

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All gatherings are a part of one body in Christ. The church will indicate a smaller

collective of people in specific local settings.

Church Model

Church model refers to the various types of gatherings or expressions for a local church.

There are house church models that focus more on gathering as a family sharing

scripture and a meal in a home setting. There is a missional model that is intentional

about having a missionary mindset so that sharing day-to-day life in a neighborhood

setting is as important as gathering for worship. There is the institutional model that

consists of more traditional governing and gathering for worship and programs. As

addictions and enabling of addictive behaviors has become understood, a new expression

has developed called the recovery model.

Mental Illness

Mental illness refers to a broad spectrum of diagnosis. Some are acute. Some are

chronic. Some have minor conditions and others more severe. The goal of this paper is to

shed light on the scope of what is to be included within the possibilities for a mental

illness diagnosis and how to live an abundant life without shame or guilt. This paper is

not meant to produce any medical documentation but to be a vehicle to articulate

opportunity for a new way of being the Church so people will not feel the need to wear a

mask in a community that proclaims the power of Jesus Christ. Issues like insurance or

medical coverage or policies regarding mental health will not be addressed with any

detail in this project though history may be presented as it relates to how the stigma of

mental illness has developed. Mental illness is not fully determined by genetics or the

environment. Its severity can vary just like physical illnesses can vary. Some cases can be

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treated through out patient counseling and some need hospitalization. Some illnesses can

affect someone for only a season of their life and some illnesses are chronic, constantly

needing to be managed. Mental health is a term used when discussing the physiological,

emotional or social, well-being of a person. Some people do not like to use the term

mental illness, so other terminology will be explored.

Follow Jesus

The goal of a new church model is not just to identify people affected by mental health

conditions; the Church has a mission to introduce people to know Jesus and to follow

Jesus. The ability to follow Jesus comes by the power of the Holy Spirit who is given to

a person by faith so they can believe and accept what God has given them through the

crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is not given like a present under a

tree but is an unseen gift received within a person. It is recognized that there are various

stages of growth for a person and so it is the hope of this author to suggest a church

model that will seek to help people through the various aspects of life whether it be

physical, spiritual, emotional, relational, or mental.

Delimitations

In this transformation ministry project, the information gleaned from a variety of

sources was used to develop a survey and questionnaire which was used for follow up

interviews with participants derived from a list of churches and a list of community

organizations who have some sort of mental health ministry. The lists were discovered

through a Google search for churches and community organizations within downtown

Orlando. No children were interviewed; only adult pastors or adult leaders were

contacted. The study was designed so that if one of these pastors or leaders had a mental

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illness and could, they could have withdrawn from this project at any time. There was no

intent to interview people who were hospitalized or struggling with a severe mental

illness. The number of surveys or interviews administered was determined by the choice

of the participants from the lists created through the Internet search.

Review of Relevant Literature

In addition to inquiries made with churches, who have ministry with those

affected by mental illness, there was research done online in search of different models

for starting churches. The goal of this paper was not to develop a church model that “gets

butts in seats” but to seek a creative model of church focused on transformation by the

Holy Spirit, inclusion of the specified group and hope for life given through

reconciliation with Jesus and one another. Relevant literature about missional churches,

recovery-minded churches or ministries, community focused church models, as well as

other church models was surveyed. How to plant a church and the challenges associated

with mental illness were also topics reviewed. The researcher was influenced by the

thinking and writing of Rick Warren, Darrell Guder, J.D. Payne, Ed Stetzer, Steve

Addison, Lesslie Newbigin, Dr. Matt Stanford, Joe Padilla, Alan Hirsch, Jean Vanier,

Jonathan Benz, John Swinton and Amy Simpson, to name a few. Because information

changes so quickly and publishing books takes on average eighteen months to two years,

published material from the span of the past twenty years were predominantly used.

Along with these published materials there were some classic works, including the Bible,

that were written prior to the limitation of twenty years that were used.

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Research Methodology

There are a number of questions that could have been addressed in this project.

Yet, three main questions were addressed. Firstly, “What are the unique dimensions of

ministry with people who have a mental health condition or with people who have family

members affected by mental illness?” Secondly, the question will be asked, “What is

missing in downtown Orlando that would be help for people affected by mental illness?”

Thirdly, “What are some best practices for inviting and including people with or affected

by mental illness in the context of a local church?” It is a belief of this researcher that

there are misunderstandings and fears regarding the capability of people with mental

illness or mental health conditions. This is the basis for these questions and the basis for

this project to have a mixed method approach for a Pre-Intervention Research Project. A

quantitative method was applied to a survey/ questionnaire that was designed and

administered. There was also a qualitative method used for this project with the open-

ended questionnaires and unstructured interviews based on the answers given in the open-

ended questionnaires.

Type of Research

In this Pre-Intervention ministry transformation project, both quantitative and

qualitative analysis were used to confirm and substantiate the findings. The quantitative

analysis was applied in the evaluation of the surveys and questionnaires, and the

qualitative analysis was applied to aspects of the questionnaires and the unstructured

interviews. The answers given in the interviews were condensed and codified, so the

results could be applied to this research project. The researcher made connections with

leaders in downtown Orlando to learn what practices are currently being applied in the

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context of Orlando and to help in projecting what would be beneficial for the future of the

people affected by mental illness in the context of a church.

Phone calls and face-to-face communication were the preferred methods of

gleaning information from people within downtown Orlando. After phone calls were

made, communication would sometimes move through email interaction. Once surveys

and questionnaires were completed, appointments to meet face-to-face were made by

phone or through email. In the interviews with the pastors, the research questions listed

previously were discussed and them other questions developed as answers were given or

their experience with mental illness brought forth new insight. The information gleaned

from these interviews was limited by the fact that the person being interviewed had “a

stake in presenting their congregation or their identity from a certain perspective”

(Sensing 21). This could have propelled the participants being interviewed to give

answers to the questions in such a way that may shed a more positive light that what is

necessarily true. This would be a normal bias and was taken into consideration when

synthesizing the information given. In addition to getting to know people in the Orlando

community and talking with pastors, there were in the interviews with people that have a

great deal of knowledge in the mental health field. However, the concern for this paper

was geared toward how the Church is serving or including people affected by mental

illness.

Participants

The author of this paper sought to give a survey/questionnaire to twenty-seven

adult church pastors or leaders and twenty-five adult community organization leaders

from the downtown area of Orlando. In addition to this research there were eight

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interviews conducted. There were no particular demographics of these participants except

that they were to be leaders in the downtown area of Orlando. The researcher also spoke

with leaders who worked in the mental health field or churches in other cities to learn

more about their practices to invite and include people affected by mental illness. The

leaders who participated gave insight in the needs of people affected by mental illness in

the communities where they serve.

Data Collection

The survey/questionnaires were collected from the participants through email,

mail, or in person based on their comfort level. The researcher did not want to create any

discomfort or interruption in the participants’ busy schedules. After the

survey/questionnaires were collected from those on the lists indicated in Appendices E

and F, the data was condensed and reported in the tables as shown in chapter five. If a

participant volunteered to give an interview, then the researcher set it up at the

convenience of the leader. The information from the interviews in this project, were

compiled through notes taken by the researcher and then transcribed. Interviews included

questions about how the person being interviewed feels as well as what they have done,

seen or think about the topic at hand. As these things were discussed in the interviews,

the researcher listened, observed and documented any differences among the responses

given. According to research experts like Sensing, as notes are taken in the interviews,

observations of the surroundings, repetitions or elaborations of what is said as well when

there are silences or hesitations should be recorded (Sensing 110-111). The transcribed

interview notes were divided into two categories as follows: Church pastors/leaders on

the one hand and community organization leaders in the field of mental illness on the

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other. Interviews with experts in the field from other parts of the country were also

conducted and used in the findings of this project.

Data Analysis

While sorting through the information collected, themes and patterns developed

and were documented. There were also things missed or unspoken in the designed

instruments or conversations, but this is expected and referred to as “slippages or

silences” (Sensing 197). The “slippage” in the report was not necessarily self-evident,

but there was an intentional effort to look for what could have been missed or avoided in

conversations and resources. Because of a research process called “reflexivity,” the

researcher considered emotions and bias so it would not affect the interpretation of the

results (Sensing 44). The researcher of this project has had personal experiences that have

been an impetus for this project. Empathy is necessary for ministering to people with

mental illness. However, the focus of this paper must be kept within its parameters. This

ministry transformation project has not covered everything there is to know about mental

illness or starting a new church but has sought to create a new church model that

incorporates dimensions and practices that include people with mental illness through the

answering of the research questions suggested.

Generalizability

The data collected and analyzed can be trusted, because the administration of the

same instrumentation would reproduce the same results. The findings of this project also

have applicability to more than the church model being developed in downtown Orlando.

The results and the suggested recommendations for further use of the collected data for

this project could be used for other faith communities. The significance of this project

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confirms some of the findings established in the literature review portion of this project

and they have produced insights to address the questions proposed with the purpose of

the project.

Project Overview

This project was meant to reveal practices for a new church model to follow so a

model could be duplicated within the Church although the findings may be applied with

personalization to the context of the community where a church is planted. As it will be

discussed in this paper, God is intentional about sending forth his people and spreading

his love and grace throughout the world. Thus, the findings of this research project should

be applied in the Church, not just the church planted in downtown Orlando. No two

churches are ever the exact same. However, the message of hope and wholeness given in

the Gospel is consistent, steadfast, and reproducible. In other words, the recipe created in

this research project should produce the same results when followed but personalization

in the context of the church should be considered.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW FOR THE PROJECT

Overview of the Chapter

In chapter one, three reasons were given for why this project should be

undertaken: first, God has created humanity to need relationship and thus, community

even in the midst of mental illness; second, to fulfill the mission of Christ and His Church

to meet people in the margins; third, to stand in solidarity with brothers and sisters

struggling with mental illness as a means of respecting that their identity is in who God is

and not in what they may think they lack or need. Scripture has ultimate authority for

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Christians when considering what do or not do with their life. Therefore, to lay the

groundwork for this research Biblical and theological foundations will be laid. In this

chapter, there will also be insight from what others have said about these topics as

examined with reference to the purpose of this project. The conclusion of this chapter

will highlight the important themes and propose how the research will be impacted by the

findings.

In order to give a broad overview of this chapter, the sections are described here.

The literature review starts with consideration of Biblical Themes addressing these two

headings: “What does the Bible say about the church?” and “What does the Bible say

about mental illness?” In this investigation humanity’s relationship with God and what

that means for relationships among humanity will be researched. In addition, what the

Bible says about mental illness and what it does not will be reviewed. In the next section,

Theological Foundations, there will be several questions addressed. First, “Can claiming

an identity in Christ impact the issue of mental illness?” Second, “Why does God allow

mental illness?” Third, “Is mental illness related to sin?” Fourth, “Why should we start

new churches?” And fifth, “Why have a church including people affected by mental

illness?” The answer to this final question comes in listening to how Jesus responds to

those that would seem to be on the margins of society in Luke 4:18-19. In the section on

research themes, the researcher will share insights on these themes: church planting,

church practices and models, and mental illness. In the final section of this chapter,

conclusions will be drawn, research tools will be designed, and a summary given that will

catapult this research into the next phase of this project to be discussed in chapter three.

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Biblical Foundations

The Bible tells the story of God as the creator of life. As the creator, he has given

specific instructions on how to live a reconciled, redeemed life with God through Jesus

by the power of the Holy Spirit. Often humanity has failed to live the way God has

directed. Therefore, God has given word pictures, parables and prophesies through

ordinary people to teach humanity what is needed to have an abundant life and most

importantly what is needed to have relationship. One way God reveals himself is through

gathering so the question is asked, “What does the Bible say about the Church?” The

second question will look into what the Bible says about mental illness. In the letter

written to a church leader named Timothy, it says the Bible is God’s word for reaching

out to his creation through the writings of men for teaching, training, correcting, and

inspiring (2 Tim. 3:16).

What does the Bible say About Church?

Starting with the story of creation, God reveals his nature of being connectional

and relational. After God created the heavens and all that inhabits the earth, God created

humanity with the intent of including the image of God, “Let us make humankind in our

image,” as if to identify the complexity of his nature. Throughout scripture God’s triune

nature is revealed as three in one: Father, Son, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. The nature

of the Trinity is seen as the Spirit of God overshadows Mary, so she can conceive the Son

of God who becomes known as Jesus, the Incarnation of God (Luke 1:26-38). In the

baptism of Jesus, the relational character of God is seen as Jesus is baptized, the voice of

God is heard, and the Spirit of God descends from heaven in the form of a dove (Luke

4:21-22).

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How the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one and the same is a mystery of faith

that is not totally explainable. However it reveals the importance of relationship to God.

Being made in the image of God, humanity is hardwired to need the communion of

relationship with God and with one another. Again, referring to the creation story, God

saw that the first human, Adam, needed a companion. So, a female, Eve, was created

(Gen. 2:18-23). There was an invisible cord that bound Adam, Eve, and God until these

humans accepted the enticement of evil separating their bond. God still pursued Adam

and Eve even when they alienated themselves from God. Since this time, God has

pursued a covenantal relationship with his beloved humanity. In the Apostles’ Creed,

which has been used as a statement of faith since the third century after Christ, there is a

reference to belief in the “one catholic church” which is another way of saying, “one

universal church” (Apostles’ Creed: Traditional and Ecumenical Versions-The United

Methodist Church). There are lots of small churches or what has become “local churches”

included into this one universal Church.

“Church” comes from a Greek term, ekklesia, which means “gathering.” In the

Old Testament, God’s people “gathered” for instruction, worship and sacrifice in places

like the base of a mountain or at a riverside and later, at the Temple. To bring people

together was a means of getting everyone on the same page so there would be unity,

order and focus. The people could acknowledge their oneness as God’s beloved and

honor God’s authority in their lives. Over and over a pattern showing humanity accepting

and rejecting God ensued. God sometimes sent exhortation and sometimes

encouragement through various priests like Aaron (Num. 18), judges like Deborah

(Judges 19), prophets like Haggai (Hag.1:3), military commanders like David (1 Chron.

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27), and ordinary people like Rahab (Josh. 2). Since nothing could eliminate the

separation between God and humanity, God sent Jesus to heal the sick, to release the

captives, to give freedom to the oppressed, to proclaim justice and hope for the outcast

and to extend his love to everyone. There were times that the followers of Jesus gathered

on a mountain or by a river or even at the Temple when he was walking this earth to learn

and live into what Jesus had come to do. Jesus’ followers gained insight to who God is by

following Jesus day-by-day. Jesus brought people together by saying, “Come, follow me”

(Mark 1:17). In the all of the Gospel accounts, Jesus called men from various walks of

life to follow. When one of them confessed that Jesus was the Son of the Living God,

Jesus said that he would build his “Church” on the rock (Matt. 16:18). In the literature

reviewed there were various proposals as to whether Jesus meant that the foundation of

the Church was upon the confession of Peter or that it was Peter’s faith. In any case this

is the only time Jesus makes a statement about the foundation of the church although he

called and gathered people on many occasions and into “gatherings” at the synagogue.

While Jesus was on earth he continued to call people to gather.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he gathered eleven of his disciples on a

mountainside and commissioned them to make disciples, baptizing them and teaching

them to obey all they had been taught (Matt. 28:19-20). Jesus was essentially saying,

“You must carry on all that you have seen me do and heard me say.” When Jesus met

with the disciples one last time before he ascended into heaven he encouraged them to

“go” everywhere beyond Jerusalem with the Gospel (Acts 1:8), and so they did. A few

chapters from the book of Acts describes the tensions between Peter and Paul as they try

to decide how to instruct people to live as followers of Jesus Christ after his death,

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resurrection and ascension. What is particularly interesting is how the followers were led

to relate to one another. In Paul’s letters he refers to those within the churches as

brothers, because there was great loyalty and high regard for families in the

Mediterranean cultures. It could be that Paul was suggesting that churches are like

surrogate families (Hellerman 82). The church was not meant to be a collection of

individuals, but a new group that shares life like a family. This thinking was not from

Paul but could even be heard in the teaching of Jesus when he said, “Who is my mother

and my brother?” (Matt. 12:46-50). He does not mean to negate the role of one’s family

but to use it as a reflection of how the church should be connected or bound to one

another for unity, order, support, and loyalty. Paul also substantiates the connection of the

church as family in the letter to the Galatians when he suggests that they are all “sons of

God through faith in Jesus Christ” who is an heir of God, whom Jesus called, “Abba,

Father!” (Hellerman 96).

The Church has been called the body of Christ as a metaphor to accentuate the

diversity of the people (Rom. 7:4, 1 Cor. 12:12-31). Several scriptures list various gifts

needed to build up the church just as a body would need its ear, foot, or mouth. The gifts

are individually given for the purpose of the whole church family (Rom. 12:4-8, 1 Cor.

12:7-11, Eph. 4:11-14). The church is also considered the bride of Christ who partners

with Jesus to make his kingdom known on earth as it is heaven (2 Cor. 11:2, Eph. 5:32,

Rev. 22:17). Just as a bride and groom become one by laying down their lives for one

another in the covenant of marriage so the church is to partner with Jesus Christ in a

covenantal relationship for oneness laying down their lives for their brothers and sisters

(John 17:22-23).

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There is one mission. The marks of what it means to be a church are the “work of

faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope” (1 Thess. 1:3). C. S. Lewis summarized it

like this: “the purpose of the church was to draw people to Christ and make them like

Christ” (quoted in Hirsch 102). As the church represents Christ in the world, the Church

carries the values of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience (Col. 3:12-

17). The Church is invited to participate in the sacred ordinances of Baptism and the

Lord’s Supper. We Christians are to encourage one another in spiritual disciplines and

study of the Word. Christians are to help each other in times of need and rejoice with

each other in times of joy. Christians are to proclaim the message of salvation to the

world. Christians are to equip and send forth people in the ministry. Christians are to seek

holiness, so they will be set apart and sanctified.

What does the Bible say About Mental Illness?

There are different references in scripture to madness or insanity, which indicates

people saw symptoms of mental illness through out the history of God’s people. Because

the Bible is made of laws, stories, prayers, and songs that has the transparency of

people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors the brokenness of humanity and the presence

of mental illness or mental disabilities is obvious. The people of the generations recorded

in scripture may not have known how to care for people with mental illness, but there are

things to learn from these pages about who God is, who people are to him and how

people should care for one another.

There are two terms used in the Old Testament to refer to behavior that seemed

out of the norm: shagha and halal (“Madness” Sakenfeld 765). In the Jewish law, mental

instability was considered an affliction that could affect a person if they were disobedient

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(Deut. 28:28). Within the writings of the prophets Jeremiah, Hosea and Zechariah there

are references to people who were overcome by “madness,” meaning they were not in

their “right” mind (Jer. 29:26, Hos. 9:7, Zec. 12:4). One of the saddest stories of the Bible

is Saul’s pride that leads him out of his rule as King and into irrational behavior that the

DSM5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) of the twenty-first

century would describe as manic and depressive (1 Sam. 16:14, 23; 18:10; 19:9). In the

wisdom literature of Solomon, madness is associated with foolish behavior (Prov. 26:18-

19, Ecc. 1:17). There are also times that people like Saul and David who “acted mad” in

order to alienate people with fear in a situation (1 Sam. 21:13, 15). And finally, King

Nebuchadnezzar suffered a short period of time with “madness” by acting like an ox

eating grass as a lesson from God (Dan. 4:29-37).

Beyond “mad” behaviors in the Old Testament, there were moments of

depression, desperation, being downcast, troubled or miserable in the lives of many

characters in God’s story. Elijah went into such a deep depression that he wanted to die

(1 Kings 19:1-10). This state of despair came even though he had just seen God send fire

from heaven to burn up the offering set before him and he had also experienced God’s

power to overcome four hundred and fifty Baal worshippers (1 Kings 18:20-40).

Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet who wrote the book of Lamentations as he

suffered from depression, which was triggered by the deep sadness of the Israelites after

the destruction of their Temple (Jer. 15:10-18, 20:14,18). Job and Hosea showed signs of

depression that developed after calamity fell upon them when they lost family members.

Job even suffered boils that made him curse the day he was born (Job 10:1). In the book

of Jonah, it says he was in such a state of depression that he wanted to die (Jon. 4:3). In 2

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Samuel 12:15-33 and 18:33, King David’s depression was triggered by the death of his

sons. In the psalms are the examples of prayers David lifted up when facing desperation

in battle or the consequences of poor choices like committing adultery. Throughout the

psalms, depression and anxiety are emotions expressed. People in earlier centuries and in

today’s world, use these psalms as prayers when searching for ways to make sense of

their mental, emotional, relational, physical, and spiritual state.

In the New Testament when a person’s behavior was controversial, the Greek

words used were mainomai (John 10:20) and paraphronia (2 Pet. 2:16) (“Madness”

Sakenfeld 765). When Jesus’ family heard about how Jesus was speaking, healing, and

gathering people in public, he was called “insane” by his family and by Jewish leaders

(Mark 3:21, John 10:20). The apostle Paul was called insane by the leader named Festus

and then he called himself “mad” as he described how different his behavior was from

the norm as a servant who suffers for Christ (Acts 26:24-25, 2 Cor. 11:23). These

references may not mean that people actually thought Jesus or Paul were “insane.” These

stories indicate that people used words even in the first century to try describing a

behavior that seemed abnormal or unstable.

Depression and anxiety are mental illnesses evident in the New Testament. In

Matthew 6:25-34, the gospel writer shares Jesus’s encouragement not to allow one’s

anxiousness to drive their behavior because God has even taken care of the lilies in the

fields. Some manuscripts translate this word that means anxious as “worried,” which is a

very different concept that having an anxious panic attack. The reference sheds light on

the struggle modern people have in how they talk about mental illness. The Apostle Paul

tells the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything” as if to reiterate what Jesus had

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said along the Sea of Galilee (Phil. 4:6). In a letter from the Apostle Peter, people are

encouraged to “cast all their cares (anxiety) upon the Lord” (1 Pet. 5:7). Jesus, Peter, and

Paul all acknowledge a struggle with anxiety and deep anguish of despair. In Matthew

26:38, Jesus is described as one who is in anguish, “even to the point of death,” while he

is praying the night he was arrested. This passage demonstrates that it is a part of the

human experience to deal with suffering. Not all despair is related to a full blown case of

depression but these stories reveal that even the Son of God faced the brokenness and

suffering of humanity. This would indicate that mental illness is not simply a spiritual

issue.

It has been argued that describing someone with demonic possession in the Bible

was a way of describing a person will severe mental illness and others have argued that

there really is a spiritual realm that sends forth demonic spirits that affects one’s mental

and physical capabilities. The Old Testament has a variety of texts that describe an evil

spirit and several that show God is involved in the situations where good and evil spirits

were present. For example, in the book of Job, the Adversary or Satan who taunts Job in

an effort to lure him away from a relationship with God is shown to be in conversation

with God and affecting Job’s mental capacity (Job 1-2). In the book of Zechariah Satan is

rebuked by the Lord in a vision (Zec. 3:1-4). And a third example of the Old Testament,

is in the story of Saul who was described as being tormented by an evil spirit sent by God

after his disobedience (1 Sam. 16:14).

Jesus healed people from demon possession more than any other form of healing.

According to several sources, a person with mental illness in the New Testament would

have been considered demon possessed. However, not all demon possession should be

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equated with mental illness, because there was and still is a struggle with evil forces in

the world. The New Testaments stories of Jesus healing people from various sicknesses

or casting out demonic spirits reveals the authority of Jesus over all things whether the

physical, mental or spiritual (Matt. 9:32-33, 12:22, 17:14-15; Mark 1:32-34; 5: 16-18;

7:26-30, Luke 4:33-35; 8:27-35; 9:37-42, 13:10-16). The emphasis Jesus placed on

healing does not indicate that the world would be cured of physical or mental illness but

it points to the healer and hope for all illness.

The book of Deuteronomy of the Old Testament was an important tool in teaching

the Israelite people how to live. One of the most quoted scriptures comes from the sixth

chapter, it says: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is God, the Lord alone. You shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut.

6:4). This scripture was so important to the Israelites that they would write it down and

put it in a leather case then tie it to their forehead as means of reminding themselves that

all authority in their lives needs to be given to God. In the first century, Jesus was asked

which commandment was the greatest, he responded: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God,

the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all

your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You

shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these”

(Matt. 22:35-40). To focus one’s life on God’s will and not one’s own requires heart,

soul, mind, and strength. This is difficult when a person is suffering with a persistent

mental illness. The mind is equated with one’s will and their ability to make decisions

and affects a person’s body and spirit. In what appears to be a seeking of understanding

in the connection between Christian faith and mental health, the apostle Paul wrote in a

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letter to the church in Rome: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by

the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is

good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). In a letter to the Philippian church he

suggested: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5) And in a

letter to the Corinthians he wrote about how he has the mind of Jesus Christ which gives

him instruction for spiritual discernment as to what truly leads a person into knowing and

following Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 2:6-16).

Theological Foundations

Can Claiming an Identity in Christ Impact the Issue of Mental Illness?

In the story of creation, God’s desire to share love was revealed when he created

humanity to bear his image (Gen. 1:26-27). When a person chooses to live in and with the

truth rather than in fear and shame that person has the opportunity to claim that they bear

the image of God and an identity in Christ. There has been a struggle with mental illness

since sin separated humanity from God as recorded in the Garden of Eden but humanity

may not have always understood mental illness let alone what it is to be mentally healthy.

God is a God of otherness who sent His son, Jesus Christ, into the world to rip the veil

between humanity and God so people could be connected with love and truth in the

present and forever instead of separated by sin or the brokenness of this world. It is

important for people with mental illness to know that God loves them no matter what

they have done or not done. A person’s identity is not wrapped up in their illness or their

health. By the grace of God each person is created by love. God wants His people to be in

relationship with Him and in community of other sons and daughters.

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Within the womb of a woman a human life develops “fearfully and wonderfully”

and then is given breath from the author of life, God (Ps. 139). The Bible holds many

stories of people who have struggled with mental illnesses like the obsessive behavior of

King Saul (1 Kings 19: 4-10), or like the depression and suicidal thoughts of the prophet,

Elijah (1 Sam. 16: 15-16), or the irrational, isolating habits of a Samaritan woman as

described in John’s Gospel (John 4). God meets everyone where they are and loves them

into transformation from brokenness into wholeness.

The weakness in a person is not to be hated. It is to be embraced. Even within the

womb God knows there are aspects of a person that the world may consider weak or even

detestable. Yet God sees a reflection of beauty and hope not the weakness or any

disability. Jean Vanier summarizes Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s poem, which he wrote in prison

for attempting to assassinate Adolf Hitler while questioning his identity and purpose.

Bonhoeffer asked, “Who am I? Am I the person who is prison is seen as peaceful and

strong an about whom everybody is saying how wonderful you are? Or am I that weak

person inside of me who is filled with fears and with anguish (Swinton and Vanier 91)?”

Vanier goes on to say that a person ought not be identified with their church or anything.

Ones’ strength comes in their identity in Christ.

God is relational. As Triune God the Father, God the son Jesus and God the Spirit,

it is evident that God seeks relationship. Humanity is given the opportunity to accept a

relationship offered by God. As loves flows from God into a person, they are given a call

to reconcile with themselves, with others and with all creation (adopted from Bryant L.

Myers by Corbett and Fikkert 55). This vision for people living into what it means to bear

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the image of God is critical for all humanity including people in the margins or people

with mental health conditions.

As people created in God’s image, humanity is called to be in relationship with

one another. As humans seek understanding of what it means to be in relationship,

identity in Christ reveals that just as Jesus is connected with the father and the Spirit so it

should be between humans. If humanity were to seek reconciliation in relationships the

way God seeks relationship with each person, the world would be a different place. What

if people sought to see Christ in each other? What if people sought to love each other as

whole persons even with flaws and brokenness?

Why does God Allow Mental Illness?

During the research of this project, the history of psychology and how the

mentally ill were treated brought confirmation that generations have struggled to find

answers to how the Christian faith can bear witness in the lives of people with mental

illness. The knowledge of a person’s understanding of what mental illness is or is not

may affect how they see their relationship with God. Some people over spiritualize it and

think God is making them suffer because of something they did or did not do. Some

people blame Satan and say Satan is the one who brings demons to haunt people with

mental instability or hallucinations. Some people dismiss mental illness by saying God

set the world in motion. So people have to pull themselves up by the bootstraps when life

gets tough. They figure out how to live in their own strength and expect others to do the

same. Some people do not believe there is a God. So mental illness is really an illness

that needs to be addressed medically. And some people know that mental illness is

multifaceted and hard to understand. It is not a punishment but a consequence of living in

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a world prone with sin. Mental illnesses and mental health conditions affect people in

multiple ways. As a result, there will need to be multiple, creative ways to address the

physical, spiritual, relational, and mental symptoms of them as well as their emotional

expressions such as: pain, hopelessness, frustration, shame, grief and fear. The Church

needs to seek understanding of sin, suffering and God’s love as she ponders why God

allows mental illness.

Is Mental illness Related to Sin?

Because this world is affected by generations of sin, a human’s body, mind and

spirit does not work in the perfect way God designed for it. Sin has affected the world

since humanity was first created and has continued to separate humans from God and one

another. God does not send mental illness because of sin. It is a part of the suffering in

this world. Each person’s action or inaction affects the brokenness and suffering in the

world, but there is more to it. Sins are not merely corrected by the repression of thoughts

or actions. People have choices about how they want to respond to the brokenness and

messiness of the consequences in their own lives and that of others. These choices have

less to do with sin and more to do with relationships with God and others. God allows

people to choose to turn to him to ask for strength to deal with suffering like mental

illness or not to choose turning to him.

Dr. Matthew Stanford explains how the body, mind and spirit are interrelated in

his book, The Biology of Sin. He describes the purpose of the elements of a human. First,

bodies make connections to the physical world through senses. It is a vessel for

containing the mind and spirit (Gen. 1:27, 2 Cor. 5:1-4). Second, the mind is where a

person “interact[s] with God through prayer (1 Cor. 14:15), receive[s] divine revelations

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(Luke 24:45), and [is] transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit” (Rom. 12:2) (The

Biology of Sin Stanford 17-18). Third, the spirit is given by the “breath of God” (Gen.

2:7) and is the vehicle for which humans have closeness with God (Rom. 8:15-16). The

Spirit of God is given to a person to live within them to transform them (John 4:24). All

humans are sinners and in need of grace to align each with God and one another. Within

scripture, the words, “chata” and “hamartia” are used to describe sin at “missing the

mark” or “falling short, of the glory of God” (The Biology of Sin Stanford 3). As Stanford

suggests, people ought to consider the glory of who God is, when people focus on sin

rather than putting their focus on what a person should not do. When focus is on sin, a

person misses who God is. In Romans Paul writes, “The mind set on the flesh is death,

but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6).

God dealt with sin, by sending his one and only son into the world to pay the price

needed to bring humanity into a right relationship with God (2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Pet. 2:24).

God dealt with suffering as a human when many rejected him, denied him, scoffed at

him, tortured him and crucified him (Luke 4:14-30, 22:54-62, 63-65, 23:32-36). God took

on this suffering as a means of solidarity in love with his created people (Stott 320). Life

springs forth from death. Jesus came forth from a tomb. Forty days later, he ascended into

heaven and then ten days later sent his spirit to dwell in the hearts of those who confessed

Jesus as Lord.

While accepting Jesus as Lord and savoir brings wholeness, that person is not

exempt from the suffering of illness be it mental, emotional, physical, or relational.

Perhaps the question ought to be: “God, where are you in the midst of mental illness and

suffering?” There are scriptures that point out God’s presence during battle (Deut. 20:3-

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4) or in moments of being “brokenhearted and crushed in spirit” (Ps. 34:18) The Apostle

Paul encourages those who are in pain to remember that their afflictions will be used to

give comfort to others going through similar hardships (2 Cor. 1:3-7). On the website of

Saddleback Church Mental Health Ministry, Pastor Rick Warren states: “Your greatest

ministry will flow out of your greatest pain” (Hope4mentalhealth.com Warren) In other

words, Warren reiterates Paul’s point. Whatever suffering a person is going through, God

can use to bring comfort and hope. The Apostle James said it this way: “Whenever you

face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of

your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect so that you may be

mature and complete” (James 1: 2-4). We tend to want to avoid suffering yet in the midst

of it God can teach us and then use the suffering to bring a connection of love and growth

with resilience.

In The Cross of Christ, John Stott explains how God uses three images as an

analogy for how suffering can bring about maturity (Stott 308). The first image is a father

giving discipline to children (Deut. 8:5, Heb. 12:5-11). The second image is the refining

of gold and silver by a metalworker (Ps. 66:10, Zech. 13:9, 1 Pet. 1:6-7). And the third

image is the pruning of a vine by a gardener (John 15:1-8, Is. 5:1-7). These are examples

of how God brings life or beauty through hardship. Jesus says to come to him in the midst

of our weariness (Matt. 11:28-29). Jesus does not say he came to alleviate it. He saves us

from separation from him and asks for us to come to him in the suffering of life.

Why Should We Start New Churches?

The Bible does not give a command to start new churches. Instead there is a

command from Jesus to make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20). When disciples gather, they are

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the church (Acts 14:27). A disciple is a learner as well as a follower of Jesus. A church

has the opportunity to gather in common-unity filled by the Spirit as followers of Jesus

Christ to proclaim healing, hope, love and grace. Because there are still people who have

not heard the Gospel, there is still a command to testify which in turn will create new

churches.

A common theme in books on church planting is the parable of the sower from

Scripture. The parable is an analogy for planting churches. In the parable, a follower of

Jesus is the sower. The Gospel is the seed. The hearts of humanity are the soil nurtured

by the Spirit for the seed to take root and grow (Luke 8:4-15). God is generous with the

Gospel and with the nurturing of the Holy Spirit. The parable acknowledges that some

will reject the Gospel, and others will receive it. Some people will be transformed to the

extent that they become sowers that sow one hundred percent more. A lot of churches

have been established based on the gifts of the church planter rather than the testimony of

the Gospel. J.D. Payne and others suggest that church planting should be more about

evangelism. This is a term for what a follower of Jesus does with the good news of Jesus.

It is the result of how the good news of Jesus, and the indwelling of his Spirit, has

transformed a person into a follower of Jesus with a passion to testify to the goodness of

God to anyone and everyone (Payne 17). Until the witness of Jesus has gone to the “ends

of the earth” there will be a calling to sow the gospel, which will start new faith

communities (Acts 1:8).

Why have a Church Including People Affected by Mental Illness?

Early on in his ministry, Jesus visited the synagogue in his hometown, Nazareth,

where he read the text of the prophet, Isaiah, as an announcement that the kingdom of

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God was at hand (Luke 4:18). Jesus read the section about “bringing good news to the

poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed and to proclaim

the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). The Gospels contain stories with people

being healed, or gaining sight, or being released from captivity of the demonic indicating

that God cared for those that are ill or rejected. In the personal experiences reviewed in

articles, books and websites for this project, people living with or affected by mental

illness have testified that they have felt hopeless, captive, invisible or oppressed, which

will be discussed in the next five sections.

Good News for the Poor

Even when Jesus walked the earth there was poverty. What was the good news for

them? Jesus did not have fundraisers or seek donors to give money to provide for the

poor. He did not open soup kitchens or thrift shops to provide for the poor. As a matter of

fact, while eating dinner at the home of Mary in Bethany, just days before Jesus was

crucified, Jesus received the lavishness of expensive perfume being poured on his feet.

Instead of suggesting it be sold it to provide for the poor, Jesus received the gift (Mark

14:3-9). There are over four hundred verses that mention tending to the needs of the poor.

In the gospel of Matthew the poor are described as being “poor in spirit” (Matt.

5:3), which is also a phrase used in the historical Dead Sea scrolls (“Commentary on

Matthew” Keck 178). This reference refers to a lack of confidence or insecurity about

one’s identity as God’s (178). Luke’s reference is focused more on the lack of material

goods. Whether in the first century or the twenty-first century to be poor means they lack

power, lack of hope or freedom to make choices in their life, which inhibits reconciliation

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with God and others (Corbett and Fikkert 74). Jesus brought good news by bringing

freedom from the penalty of sin and hope for a new life in Christ (1 Pet. 3:18).

In America, a quarter of the population lives with a mental illness

(www.namigo.org). In 2014, only fifteen percent of the population would have been

considered poor (“US Census Bureau Poverty Main Page”). Not all with mental illness

are poor according to economic standards but they could still be considered poor

according to the suggested definition that poverty is equated with powerlessness and

brokenness. As recorded in many of the stories included in the research, people affected

by mental illness feel powerless in a culture that has a broken mental health system and

many churches who do not know how to address the shame and injustice around this

issue. Sometimes this leads to lack of material goods but not always. There needs to be a

holistic approach to caring for the “poor.”

When Jesus said he came “to proclaim the good news to the poor” he wanted to

offer his power that would result in reconciliation and redemption in their lives. The good

news of Jesus is that he came into the world to be the provision for a relationship with

God who gives power of forgiveness, love, and peace even in the midst of suffering. In a

sermon Jesus gave known as the Sermon on the Mount, he said, “Blessed are the poor in

Spirit because they will inherit the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3). Those affected by

mental illness have the God of heaven and earth to care for them. God may not make

mental illness or poverty go away in this lifetime, but God promises his presence in the

midst of the struggle and offers hope as the gift of his grace is accepted so they can be his

children.

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In an article by Ujunwa Anakwenze and Daniyal Zuberi, they claim that mechanisms are

in place within the urban arenas that contribute to the replicating cycle that keeps

powerlessness in the lives of those in poverty. The authors demonstrate that there are a

number of things happening in impoverished neighborhoods of the inner city that

propagates mental illness and the inability to treat or care for those with mental illness.

From joblessness to underemployment to neighborhood violence and disorder, many

things undermine lives in such a way that people have a hard time caring for mental

illnesses within the inner city. The report of the authors suggests that professionals,

including clergy, should invest in the urban areas with education and development of

systems that can break the cycles being lived out (“Mental Health and Poverty in the

Inner City,” Anakwenze). They write:

Pastoral care can also be an important feature of a comprehensive mental

health service plan. Social workers and other practitioners should engage and train

urban clergy and lay ministers to provide short-term counseling and referrals for

longer term mental health care. Clergy represent a significant mental health

resource for people who otherwise lack sufficient access to care. This approach

also builds on the central role of the church in many Hispanic and African

American families and com-munities (quoted from Young, Griffith, & Williams,

2003).

How many of those who struggle in impoverished environments are also suffering with

mental illness? How many of those who have not been diagnosed with mental illness, but

carry symptoms, try to blend in with the culture around them so they will not have to deal

with the shame or fear related to mental illness? People with mental health conditions

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need to feel like they a faith community willing to share life without pushing them to the

sidelines.

Release to the Captives

There are no stories of Jesus going into prisons to release prisoners, but there are other

ways people were held captive. In those situations, Jesus released them. One such

occasion happens when Jesus heals the Gerasene demoniac in Mark 5:1-20. Within this

story, Jesus is approached by a man who scrambles out of control from the tombs in an

area known as Gerasene. Neither shackles nor chains could retain or subdue the man, so

why would he be considered a captive? He was called Legion because many spirits held

him captive. It is hard to know if mental illness was involved in this case of other stories

of demonic possession. A psychologist today may have considered that this man had

multiple personalities. Jesus called forth the spirits to leave the man. Then the man was

released to clothe himself and be of a “right mind” so much so that he went to the

community around him to proclaim what Jesus had done for him. The community in turn

was amazed by how Jesus had released this man from captivity of an irrational mental

state.

There are daily interactions with people who have mental illness and yet most

people do not know how to address them. It is appropriate to call for help in those

situations and when the person has been properly diagnosed and received treatment, it is

important to walk along side of them to aid in a life of recovery. When there is stability in

that persons’ life, it is important to help that person have community and be introduced to

Jesus. Jesus told the man to go home to tell his friends what the Lord had done for him.

The man freely went to share his testimony. The man was freed not only from the

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demons, but free from shame so he could freely proclaim what God had done for him.

People affected by mental health conditions need a faith community that is willing to

offer hospitality and healing.

Recovery of Sight for the Blind

In John 9, Jesus interacts with a man born blind. When asked whose sin it was

that caused this man’s blindness, Jesus says the man’s blindness is a means to see God’s

glory. This man’s condition was not a descriptor for his character, but it was used to point

himself and others towards God. His condition was the result of living in a broken world,

but it was not a punishment. In the twenty-first century, many Christians have shamed

people with mental illness by saying that their illness is an evaluation of their sin or weak

faith (Grace for the Afflicted Stanford 3). In many Christian circles the response to

mental illness has brought forth a suggestion that one with mental illness should pray

more or read the Bible more in order to fix their situation (“Study of Acute Mental Illness

and Christian Faith” LifeWay Research). Dr. Matt Stanford has counseled with many

people who said they were rejected by people in their church when they shared that they

had with mental illness and in turn had become more depressed and even angry with God

as well as the Church. Whether in secular or Christian communities of faith people can

become afraid or puzzled by behaviors of persons who have mental illness with the result

that they have rejected them or even mock them. These responses have made the stigma

of mental illness worse rather than better. It’s as if those that are “healthy” have become

blind.

Within the Gospels, blindness is used forty-six times, sometimes, literally and

other times metaphorically. Using a metaphor, Jesus taught that the eye is “lamp of the

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body” which means the eyes reveal the state of one’s heart/mind (Matt. 6:22-23). If a

person’s heart or mind has no understanding of something then their eyes will have

darkness instead of light. There were times Jesus called the Pharisees “blind” because

they did not understand that the kingdom of God was at hand in Jesus (Matt. 15:1-20,

23:16). There are some church leaders, and a large part of the American culture, that do

not understand mental illness; they are blind. There may not be evil intent but misguided

fear that unfortunately places people with mental illness in their shadows instead of the

light that shines love, grace, and hope.

On the other side of that coin, there are many churches that hold various support

groups in their buildings but the culture still promotes the whisper, “Shhh, don’t tell

anyone my daughter is Bipolar” or “Shhh, don’t tell anyone that I struggle with Bulimia.”

There are people who think they can hide their symptoms or isolate themselves and they

do so in an effort to avoid facing the truth of their situation. To be “blind” can keep a

person from living in the truth. Jesus said that the truth will set a person free. When the

man in the story of John was healed, he gained eyesight and freedom from the oppression

of living a life isolated from community (John 8:32). God cares for the blind, the

disabled, those that feel alone, and those that feel like they have no hope. People affected

by mental health conditions need a faith community where they can reveal their lives

without shame or persecution.

Let The Oppressed Go Free

God is known as a deliverer throughout Scripture starting with the exodus of the

Israelite people out of Egypt to the day of Jesus’ resurrection. God is also a rescuer; he

rescues people who feel immobilized, oppressed, and forgotten. Jesus sought to be with

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people who may be considered marginalized, or disregarded. On one of Jesus’ journeys

he stopped at a well in a Samaritan countryside and talked with a woman (John 4). It was

unusual that Jesus wanted to go through Samaria, because Jewish did not associate

themselves with Samaritans (“John” Wright 41). Throughout much of history women

have been seen as property to be managed and in the first century men were not to

approach women in public (41). In the case of this story the woman must have been

oppressed with shame because she isolated herself from others in her community by

going to the well of her village in the heat of the day. Jesus shows the importance of

listening to the woman and helping her talk openly about her life including the fact that

she had had multiple men in her life. In the story the woman was surprised by Jesus’

candor. In the midst of their conversation, her eyes were opened to see that she needed

something the men in her life could not provide for her. Could she have had an addiction

or some sort of mental illness that consumed her life with shame? The story does not say,

but the response of the woman to Jesus’ gift of grace and acceptance reveals a sense of

freedom. In her newfound freedom, the Samaritan woman went back into her village,

talked openly about her experience, and invited the people to meet Jesus for themselves.

Sometimes oppression is seen through in abusive or neglectful treatment and other times

people allow it to be imposed on themselves because of shame or guilt due to illness or

poor decisions. God wants his people to live in the freedom of “the way, truth and life”

(John 14:6) even in the midst of mental illness.

In the first step of a twelve-step program like Alcoholic Anonymous (AA), a

person is to admit they are powerless, not in the way spoken about in poverty, but in

humility (Alcoholic Anonymous 59). To confess powerlessness in this case does not mean

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that someone or something else has dominion except for God. The remaining steps of AA

suggest that a person needs to surrender to that higher power and learn how to live in the

truth with responsibility, accountability, and sustainability. Jesus Christ offers to take the

burdens of his people, because he knows the weight that can be manifested in this life

(Matt. 11:29). Knowing that each person would need companionship in midst of

admitting and dealing with the burdens of life, God designed humanity to need each other

and to offer support to each other. When a person is addicted to a substance, they would

rather choose it rather than relationship with God or others. This is known as a substance

abuse disorder (DSM5). According to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and

Health, there are 7.9 percent of the people in the U.S. who experience both a mental

disorder and substance use disorder simultaneously (Learn More/Dual Diagnosis,

www.nami.org).

As people live with someone who has a mental illness, they may choose to use a

substance as a coping mechanism. In Amy Simpson’s book, Troubled Minds, she cites a

survey in which “more than 25% of the people with schizophrenic mothers reported that

they had problems with alcohol, drugs or both at some point” (quoting Brown and

Roberts in Troubled Minds Simpson 67). This acknowledgement shows the generational

effect of bondage with mental illness. In the Old Testament, there are several references

to consequences of people’s choices affecting generations and this is true in this case as

well. People need help to move past poor choices and how to deal with mental illnesses

in the generations before them and in their own lives. Sometimes people will find the

freedom they need through a process like what is offered by AA, which was developed

by Edwin T. and his friend, Bill Ebby, who adopted steps similar from a religious

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organization called the Oxford group (www.aa.org). In addition to the twelve-step

program for alcohol, there are programs for drug users, sex addictions and overeaters.

Among the history and the steps, freedom comes with following through in action like

surrendering to a higher authority, confessing wrongs, asking for help, taking

responsibility, and being in community. People affected by mental health conditions

need a faith community that is willing to distribute living water to those who are going to

a well for a drink like the Samaritan woman. They need someone to share the identity of

the higher power offering greater freedom than the world has ever known.

Research Themes

This section will explore the church models and practices are available to reach

and minister to people with mental health conditions. Because this project seeks to create

a model that addresses the dimensions that are different for ministry with this people

group, this section will also consider the topic of church planting to aid in the

development of a new church model. The following themes will be explored: the church,

church planting, church practices, church models, and mental illness. To undergird the

development of a church model it is important to have a solid ecclesial foundation. The

second theme will be church planting. The third theme will be “church models” and their

strategies. The fourth theme will be church practices. And finally, although mental illness

has been discussed under the biblical and theological headings, there will be a discussion

on how the topic has been understood and defined throughout history up to today and the

implications for this project.

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Church Planting

Jesus did not enter the world to “start” new churches; he entered into the world to

bring redemption and reconciliation between humanity and God. A glimpse of this

reconciliation is revealed through the body of people called the Church. Jesus started a

movement calling women and men to follow him. The term, church planting, is an

analogy for churches being established and developing, just as a plant takes root and

grows. Church planting, however, is not just about “growth” in a single place; it is about

women and men being transformed by the Holy Spirit in such a way that others are drawn

to want this for themselves so their testimony multiplies and spreads to other places.

Conferences and books on how to start a new church are on the rise. God is at work,

constantly doing new things in the midst of this diverse world he created. He is doing

new things through the Church. As discussed, some church planting books use the

analogy of planting seeds to help with strategies for planting churches. Some focus on the

Great Commission (Matt. 28:19). Some focus on the stories on New Testament churches

such as in Thessalonica (Thess. 1:1) or in Galatia (Gal. 1:2). Some books focus on

Christianity as a movement in which disciples multiply (Ott and Wilson15) and some are

more focused on how a church is the expression of the people being reached (Hunter 35).

Another focus to consider before planting a church is the question of “Who?” In other

words, a church should be planted to reach people who are not currently being reached

(Collier 48).

In J.D. Payne’s book, Apostolic Church Planting, he writes about the

practicalities of starting a church with the goal of being imitators of Paul (who imitates

Christ) based on his perception of 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6 (Apostolic Church Planting

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Payne 19). Chapter five of Payne’s work uses Paul’s first missionary journey as a

guideline for what could be used as a “pathway” for a church planter: “Gospel is shared,

disciples are made, small groups are started, church planted, Elders appointed” (52). This

book is helpful for a church planter who is considering what stages of growth are

necessary the following for the making of a disciple. The roles evolve from being a

learner into more mature roles like being an explorer, evangelist, teacher, developer and

mentor.

A common thread of church planting resources is the search for a “person or

persons of peace” who would be the catalyst for inviting people into the community of

faith being planted. This person or persons would be someone who is receptive to the

Gospel and excited about the movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives. After giving

their life to Christ, this person would be the evangelist in the neighborhood, or extended

community, inviting others from their own community to participate in the body of

Christ. This concept comes from examples in the Bible like when Paul and Silas met a

woman named Lydia and her friends who accepted the Gospel of Christ and then shared

what they received with their household. As a result of their openness to the good news,

Paul and Silas went with Lydia to her home where her whole household received the gift

of salvation. Shortly after being in Lydia’s home, Paul and Silas were put in jail. While in

imprisoned they praised God through song, and in a supernatural movement, the walls of

the jail crumbled, which gave Paul and Silas the opportunity to go to the prison guards’

home where everyone in that household was then baptized (Acts 16:14-15, 32-33). These

stories reveal Lydia and the prison guard as “persons of peace.”

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Stuart Murray starts his book on church planting by discussing a theological

framework because he recognizes that a person’s theology will influence the church that

is started and how it functions. Because the church is sent into the world, Murray talks

about mission as an important part of the framework for starting churches:

Theologians refer to the acts of God, rather than the activities of the churches,

God is the Missionary, who sent his Son and sends his Spirit into the world, and

whose missionary purposes are cosmic in scope, concerned with the “restoration

of all things,” the establishment of shalom, the renewal of creation, and the

coming of the kingdom of God, as well as the redemption of fallen humanity and

the building of the church. Mission has a Trinitarian basis and is theocentric rather

than anthropocentric. Mission is defined, directed, energized, and accomplished

by God (Murray Loc 398).

The conversation on how to be in mission will continue in the section on church models

as the concept of being a “missional community” is considered as a model for this

research project.

Multiplication versus Planting

Several books on church planting have referred to multiplication as an integral

action to be taken by a church after it is planted. In some stories the number of churches

that have started in an area has been so rapid that a term, church planting movement

(CPM), has developed. Church planter and author, David Garrison interchanges the word,

“planting” for “multiplication” and defines a CPM as follows: “a rapid multiplication of

indigenous churches planting churches that sweeps through a people group or population

segment” (Garrison 2). Steve Addison uses the term, “pioneering,” when he talks about

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the need for apostolic leadership like Jesus in creating multiplication movements

(Addison Loc 42). The Bible does not give any directive for how to start a church

planting movement, however, the book of Acts reveals the story of how the Spirit has

moved in the lives of various people who then participated in the multiplication of

churches. Garrison, Stetzer, Addison and others believe “rapid multiplication” is the

linchpin in the definition of a CMM (Church Multiplication Movement). A CMM

indicates immediacy and an exponential growth quotient over multiple generations; a

CMM is an exponential increase in which church growth is doubled in ratios like from

two to four to eight and to sixteen and so on. A CMM is not a linear method that goes

from one church plus one church equals two churches. Within the online discussions of

our class, we debated as to whether the speed of multiplication should be a priority in the

development of churches; the concept of simultaneous growth seemed to be an indicator

of success that needs to be acknowledged, but also the emphasis on affecting an

indigenous people group with real life change is imperative. What seems to affect success

is represented in the focus of strengths and the opportunities that lie ahead in the

multiplying movement.

The Ferguson brothers, Dave and Jon, sat in a restaurant one day drawing circles

on a napkin while discussing a dream to have multiple sites of New Thing church in

Chicago, Illinois. Without any training these brothers met with two others in their dorm

and started casting their three-prong vision for impacting people who didn’t know Jesus,

committing to creating a reproducible church, and then to reproduce more churches on a

global scale. Their mission was: “Helping people find their way back to God” (Ferguson

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22). After getting started they decided they needed a discipleship plan so they created a

principles to live by (Ferguson 25-29):

1. “Reproducing requires everyone to have an apprentice”

2. “Reproducing is to be proactive, not reactive”

3. “Reproducing is not about size; its about leader readiness”

4. “Reproducing isn’t about your kingdom; its about God’s kingdom”

5. “Reproducing happens on the edge and in the center”

The Ferguson’s plan seems to reveal a model for “cell churches” and it has shown

fruitfulness. These guys like to keep growing, changing, developing, and multiplying.

Their energy even from a book is inspiring. Because movement seems to be important in

the plans talked about in this paper, here is the Ferguson perspective: “Movement is

created when you influence other people to join you by inviting them to share life

together and travel at a constant spiritual velocity” (Ferguson 31). Churches began out of

people meeting people in the midst of their lives whether waterskiing or watching a

toddler and then reading a little scripture and praying for one another. The Gospel was

shown and then it was spoken into. They developed a pattern of following Christ then

going in mission and then claiming the community of faith.

Church Models

There is only one Church, and yet, there many expressions or models of church.

Craig Van Gelder suggests there are three visible expressions of the church: Established,

Corporate or Missional (Van Gelder 73) To be an established expression is to be a church

with more focus on a geographical location. To say a church is corporate is to say it is an

organization focused on bringing action on God’s behalf in the world. To be missional is

to be focused on the role of being sent into world to participate where God is already at

work.

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The following models will be considered in this project: institutional, missional,

recovery, fresh expressions and house church or table fellowship. Within these models

are many types of people with many types of vision. Some claim to have vision for being

multi-generational or multi-ethnic, and sometimes these models may focus on a particular

ethnic group. Sometimes a church may focus on a worship style like contemporary, or

traditional, or a lifestyle like the cowboy church. Always, the church represents and

proclaims the Triune God. There are many styles or descriptors for a church. In this

section, models and practices will be discussed. J.D. Payne explains the difference

between models, methods or practices:

A method is a way of doing something—a plan, a system, an approach. Applied

to church planting, it is the system we use to plant churches. Models are the

expressions of the church that come into existence by the use of particular

methods. Church planters must understand that their ecclesiology will influence

the methods they use and the resulting models (Discovering Church Planting

Payne Loc 539).

Practices could be described as those values or actions taken to support the model chosen.

The five church models that will be discussed here are not an exhaustive list yet they each

have something to offer for the task suggested.

In Stuart Murray’s book, Church Planting: Laying Foundations, he lists types of

churches as “seeker friendly,” “network churches,” or “cell churches” (Murray Loc

1596). Seeker friendly churches are meant to be invitational and can grow on a massive

scale like Willow Creek out of Illinois. Network churches are unified by their purpose or

connection to a particular cause rather than connected by a geographical area. Cell

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churches are all connected as “one church” replicating in small ways throughout a

geographical area. Their size does not identify them, but their mission focus does.

The Institutional Church

Some might argue that there is not an institutional church rather it is a corporate

or established organization. The body of people developed within this model tends to

have a more formal business-like approach with systems for making decisions, setting

budgets, selecting leaders and creating programs. The institutional church comes in a

variety of sizes such as: a mega church with over five thousand members, multi-site

churches with several hundred at each church campus, churches centered with a

missionary approach to particular ethnicities with more or less than five hundred people,

or smaller traditional churches with less than one hundred people. There is usually a brick

and mortar building with a focus on gathering in this particular setting. This model of

church creates incredible opportunities for programs and ministries, but this strength can

also be its greatest weakness. In the history of the church as church buildings have

multiplies so have budgets and inward focus. It could be said that the institutional church

is more headquarters- based rather than mission-field based.

Several books suggest the Church has struggled with maintaining its institutional

structure rather than remembering its’ purpose to be an instrument in the world. The

church will not be what God has created it to be if there is no action taken to play the

instrument; music is not music as a collection of notes placed within a staph on a piece of

paper. The church is an instrument invited to play the notes through which music is sent

into world as the Masterful musician, our God, sends it (or plays it) by movement of the

Holy Spirit. In other words, the systems can be the greatest asset of the church because

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layers of resources can be accumulated, developed and distributed. Yet it can be its

greatest weakness as this model of church can move away from growing in relationships

such that the church begins to focus on preserving and maintaining.

The Missional Model

There is a renewal movement that has been rising to the surface suggesting that

the Church should recapture the missio dei rather than creating programs that take people

on short-term mission excursions, which can result in a shallow faith with short term

affects. Mission projects are good and short-term mission trips can provide amazing

experiences that affect a person’s perspective of who God is and what their relationship is

in the world. However, the goal of the missional church is to be the outflow of the Holy

Spirit into the world as the witness of Christ. Alan Hirsch, author of The Forgotten Ways,

suggests that the core vision of a missional church should be developed through their role

of being Christ in the world. Hirsch uses the analogy of the human’s DNA code, which

affects a person’s ability for life and replicating as an image for understanding that the

missional thrust of a church’s ability for life and replicating will stem from their DNA.

Alan Hirsch says that there are six elements that are vital for a missional church DNA

(also known as mDNA): Missional Incarnational Impulse, Disciple Making,

Communitas, Apostolic Environment, and Organic Systems (The Forgotten Ways Hirsch

75). At the core of this DNA is the lordship of Jesus Christ transforming the church’s life

as personal lives are changed.

In David Bosch’s book, Transforming Mission, he suggested, “Mission was

understood as being derived from the very nature of God . . . Father, Son and Holy Spirit

sending the church into the world . . . a movement from God to the world. There is a

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church because there is a mission, not vice versa” (Bosch 390). The Church has its

mDNA hidden under the rugs of its structure or as Hirsch would say, it has been

forgotten by some. Missionary, Lesslie Newbigin, emphasized the term, missional, after

returning to the U.S. from India because he was concerned about the decline of the

Church. Being missional is in the practice of the church. Likewise, Hirsch is urging the

Church to allow it to be a part of the DNA so ministry can flow.

A host of “missionaries” have taken up the mantel to springboard the missional

movement into the world, particularly Alan Hirsch, who has written extensively on the

subject and incorporated an agency, Forge Mission Training Network, to equip and send

out more people with a heart to see God’s vision for the Church to be missional. In

Hirsch’s book, The Forgotten Ways, he shares about his journey to uncover how the

number of Christians multiplied exponentially from 25,000 in the first century to

20,000,000 in the third century (Hirsch 18). In the mid 1990’s in the quest for answers to

this query, he and a team of folks experimented with what is now referred to as a

missional church model. They set up what they called, proximity space, a “café,” which

was used for opening conversations on the Gospel, build relationships and offering of

services like art classes, book discussions, CD promotions, open mic night, etc. From the

café, people would be invited into more “intimate” relationships, through house churches

in various neighborhoods. There was a goal to bring people into a commitment of

covenantal relationship within the house churches, so their faith could deepen, and their

bonds could strengthen (Hirsch 39-41). Missional churches can be house churches, and

institutional, or established churches can be missional. The practices listed are what is

important in this model.

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The Recovery Model

All churches have broken people who have the opportunity to experience the

reconciliation and redemption of Jesus. However, not all churches have openness to the

kind of transparency needed for people seeking recovery and healing with addiction or

mental health conditions. People involved in recovery churches are given “the gift of

hope” and “a place where vision is renewed, and people are healed” in way that is not

happening in many institutional churches (Swanson 5). There are nine churches with

recovery ministry that have their stories told in, Bridges to Grace: Innovative Approaches

to Recovery Ministry by Liz Swanson and Teresa McBean. Swanson would say that

recovery is not a “model” for a church but rather a ministry that is vital to have within a

local church. Yet some of the Senior Pastors of the mega churches reveal that their own

struggles with addictions or mental illness has impacted the DNA of the churches they

have planted. In an online article for the National Association of Christian Recovery,

Dale Ryan extrapolates from a talk given in 2003 for strategies to the recovery movement

with the following acknowledgement that churches could be planted with recovery as a

focus:

They want everything about the congregation to be about recovery. The worship.

The missions program. The children’s educational program. Everything. There are

not yet many examples of congregations who have taken this approach. In this

model, ‘recovery’ becomes the central paradigm of the congregation.

Participation in recovery becomes as much a part of ‘doing church’ as

participation in worship services–in some cases (following Wesley!) participation

in recovery groups may be a prerequisite for participation in large group meeting .

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. . It is still too early, or so it seems to me, to know how effective this approach to

recovery ministry will be. I suspect we may need to make more mistakes in this

direction before we know how to do it well! This is a kind of strategy that it

works best, of course, in church planting situations rather than trying to subvert

the strategy of an existing church (Ryan NACR Web).

Since this talk was given almost fifteen years ago, churches with recovery in mind have

been planted and growing alongside, or bridging with another church, like these three:

Jacob’s Well, in Memphis, Tennessee, Thrive, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and Northstar

Community in Richmond, Virginia.

In the introduction of Swanson’s book, she suggested that Jesus was focused on

recovery ministry from the start as indicated by his reading of Isaiah’s passage in the

synagogue:

It is not a stretch to say that Jesus’ first sermon, recorded in Luke 4:18-19, was on

the topic of recovery…Recovery begins with the freedom to tell the truth about

our lives, the real truth, in a safe place with appropriate people in the body of

Christ. God can meet us only where we are, not where we wish we were or

pretend we are. Recovery ministry is not a new ministry model but rather an

attempt to replicate the ministry Jesus was focused on. He came to seek and save

that which was lost (Luke 19:10). Recovery ministry helps many who have lost

their way. It forms a bridge to a place they can’t seem to find on their own

(Swanson 14).

Many churches have recovery ministry communities within their larger church family but

this may still be marginalization of such communities. Right or wrong, this seems to

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make recovery ministry like the problem child. Sometimes churches allow support

groups, whether they have a religious foundation or not to meet one night a week in their

building but there is often little or no involvement between those that attend that night

and those that attend on a Sunday morning. These recovery ministries also tend to focus

on addictions or the healing that needs to take place in the family systems due to co-

dependency rather than the various mental health conditions. The twelve step programs

bring amazing results for people with various hang-ups, emotional woundedness, and co-

dependency issues. However, there is a gap that could be addressed between addiction

and mental health. Between these communities, it takes vulnerability and transparency in

the church pastoral leadership, to really affect the way a recovery ministry is viewed by

the larger church.

An example of a Recovery Church is Thrive; it is a community of faith with

individuals, seeking recovery one day at a time, as well as gathering regularly as a whole

community along the outer edges of Northwest Tupelo, Mississippi. They focus on

healing and wholeness in Christ rather than what is broken in their lives. Their vision

encourages a life that is thriving in reconciliation with Christ, rather than a life set in

survival mode, due to the host of problems that arise in life. They seek transformation

rather than knowledge and companionship rather than independence. Thrive was given

birth through the support of The Orchard Church in Tupelo, Mississippi, under the

leadership of Reverend Colby Cuevas in August 2015. Temporarily, Thrive meets for

their gathering weekly on Thursday nights within the building hosted by their “mother”

church, The Orchard. Their weekly gathering schedule is organized as follows. First, they

share a meal and visit with each other. Then, they have an hour for singing, praying,

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reflecting on the twelve-steps of the recovery process and listening in a time referred to

as music and a message. Then, they have support groups according to gender or topic like

co-dependency, grief or substance abuse. It does not matter what religion, gender, ethnic

or social status the participants come from. According to their website, all are welcome to

“share, ask questions, or just come & hang out” (www.thriverecovery.com). To fulfill

their mission of helping people thrive, their strategy includes the following three-tier

approach: reach, recovery, release. Thrive reaches out to those who seek answers to

their questions about faith and relief to whatever pain or chaos they are experiencing.

This community helps people onto the road of recovery with those who want to do the

work of the twelve steps, which includes surrendering their lives to God, accountability

in relationships, as well as setting healthy boundaries. Finally, Thrive releases those

ready to move into service for others as they accept responsibility to participate in the

reconciled relationship they have been offered.

In Jonathan Benz’s book, The Recovery Minded Church, he suggests that

churches should cultivate particular practices to create a “recovery-friendly” community

like: long-term sobriety, ending shame, attentive listening, and practice of healing. Of

particular interest was his focus on the practice of healing:

There is a difference between curing and healing, and I believe the church is

called to the slow and difficult work of healing. We are called to enter into one

another’s pain, anoint it as holy, and stick around no matter the outcome-Rachel

Held Evans, Searching for Sunday (Benz 142).

In many churches, healing is associated with curing rather than the concept of

reconciliation with God in the struggles of suffering. Jesus went through physical,

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relational, mental, spiritual and emotional suffering just like all of us and yet Jesus spent

just as much time talking about healing as he did about the kingdom of God. Talking

about healing, praying with people for healing, walking alongside people who need

healing is a critical part of a faithful witness of Jesus Christ. It is noted in Benz’ book that

healing requires work on the part of the person in need of healing (Benz 147). God is a

God who encourages discovery and gives beautiful “aha” moments along the roads of

recovery even if there is not a full-blown cure. It is a beautiful thing to see a person give

glory and honor to God even in the midst of suffering; this is what is meant by loving

God with one’s heart, mind, and strength.

Fresh Expressions Model

In an effort to reach people in the United Kingdom who were outside of the

church, a missional movement was created by DAWN (Disciple a Whole Nation) in the

1990’s (Moynagh Loc 115). Michael Moynagh, in his book, Church for Every Context:

An Introduction to Theology and Practice, gives understanding to the “fresh expression”

of church as a “new contextual model” for birth and “growth of Christian communities

that serve people mainly outside the church, belong to their culture, make discipleship a

priority and form a new church among the people they serve” (Loc 99). In 2004 a

partnership was formed between the British Methodist Church and the Church of

England. Then the movement has spread to the United States particularly through United

Methodists. Their website defines a fresh expression church as follows: “a form of church

for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of those who are not yet

part of any church” (Fresh Expressions). During a New Room Conference in 2015,Travis

Collins led a workshop on how to start a fresh expressions church. Collins handed out a

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sheet of paper with a list of over twenty different fresh expression themes like canoeing,

rock climbing, knitting or book clubs and shared how people were coming to know Jesus

in the context of participating in their favorite activities.

Such a church can be found in, Afterhours, which is a community meant to

provide “a service for people who wanted to go beyond talking and listening about Jesus

to people who wanted to be Jesus” (Herships 124). Afterhours was started by Jerry

Herships in Denver, Colorado with the hope that the “party” would continue even beyond

an hour of worship. He wanted to invite his “nonreligious” friends to hang out, listen to

rock music have a short message, pray for one another, and make lunches to be

distributed in the park to the homeless. His vision unfolds from the story of the first

miracle when Jesus turned water in wine after the wine at a wedding celebration had run

out. Herships believes that Jesus was showing people that the kingdom of God is an

ongoing party for us to experience in some way on earth with the expectation that the best

is yet to come. The church met for three years in a church building knowing it did not fit

the vision they had. One day, a bar gave them an opportunity to start meeting in their

facility on a night when business was slow. The bar owner was perplexed by the idea of

people drinking while they gathered as a church in his bar. The church started gathering

on Sunday or Monday nights then the following day arrangements would be made to

meet in a park to hand out the lunches, share communion, pray and hangout. Six years

later there are several services a week and lunches are served everyday no matter the

weather. Many people have wanted to label Afterhours as “an outreach or a “ministry”

because of the connection with the “feeding the homeless” and “not being churchy

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enough” (Herships 137). This is not a result of the “fresh expression” movement per say,

but definitely a “fresh expression” of how a church was formed.

House Church or Table Fellowship

With a greater desire for community rather than attending large worship services

of one hundred or more, some people have turned to house churches as a model of church

in the twenty-first century. Those who confessed to be Christians gathered in homes in

the first century as recorded in Acts 2:42 and 46: “they broke bread at home and ate their

food with glad and generous hearts.” House churches were mentioned several times in the

New Testament: Archippus’s house in Philemon 1:2, Prisca and Aquila’s house gathered

in 1 Corinthians 16:19, Nympha’s house is mentioned in Colossians 4:15, Epanetus’s

house in Romans 16:5, Lydia in Acts 16:40 and John’s house in Acts 12:12, and Gauis’

house in Romans 16:3. It’s probable that the early church had to meet in private

dwellings, because of the persecution of Christians or scarcity of resources. There is

something about table fellowship in these house gatherings that are of particular interest

in this project.

Jesus’ teaching moments were often around the table, including his command to

remember and share the elements in the Last Supper. Ultimately the Last Supper is a

remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins. There are

three distinct parts that Jesus did at the Last Supper, which he incorporated regularly at

the table. He gave thanks; he broke bread (or divided it to share) and distributed the

bread. Jesus set the example as if to implicate that in giving thanks, it changes one’s heart

to joy and receptivity. To break the bread (or whatever element is available to the culture)

is a moment to recognize that the people sharing are a part of something bigger than

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themselves; it is to participate in the church’s commonness. Then to distribute the bread

allows the individual to reach out beyond one’s self-centeredness to another. Jesus Christ

is the healer who brings wholeness to all. There is healing in each Christian when they

serve or give of themselves. All churches recognize the sacrament of the Last Supper.

However, in pursuing a Table Fellowship model of Church, the pattern is highlighted and

participation in nourishing the body is central to the gathering.

Within each person is a desire for connection and identity. People seek out

connection in their neighborhoods and in their workplaces. They identify themselves by

what they do, where they live, by their favorite sports team or hobby. A person will not

find satisfaction until they find themselves in relationship with God and one another. In

Dustin Willis’ book, Life in Community: Joining Together to Display the Gospel, he

describes the lack of connection as follows:

Too often we view our homes as places of refuge rather than tools to advance the

gospel. My friend, Michael Rhodes stated, “Christians can be generous with their

time and money, but stingy with their homes. We must repent from worshiping

the comfort of our homes . . . Life will change for you when your home becomes

a hub of hospitality rather than a home for the healed (Willis 150).

House churches are focused on sharing life and less on structure. The focus is not on

preparing a worship service. There are practices of hospitality, fellowship, teaching and

healing. When the people gather in a house church, there is sharing in the Word, Jesus

Christ. As table fellowship develops and remembering who and what Christ has done for

us worship is expressed from the heart. Worship is not a practice of the church, rather it is

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“an obedient and sacrificial lifestyle: this sometimes involves singing, but only because

the whole of life is living worship” (Simson 46).

On Lesslie Newbigin’s website, he shares his vision on community that was taken

from his book, The Household of God,

It is surely a fact of inexhaustible significance that what our Lord left

behind Him was not a book, nor a creed, nor a system of thought, nor a

rule of life, but a visible community. He committed the entire work of

salvation to that community. It was not that a community gathered round

an idea, so that the idea was primary and the community secondary. It was

that a community called together by the deliberate choice of the Lord

Himself, and re-created in Him, gradually sought - and is seeking - to

make explicit who He is and what He has done. The actual community is

primary; the understanding of what it is comes second (Newbigin 20).

All people need to know that they matter; a house model or table fellowship model does

this in a unique way. There is intimacy, vulnerability, and intentionality. At the table in a

house church, Leonard Sweet encourages people “to come to the table to learn to be our

real selves- not some construct conceived by someone else, but who God made us to be”

(Sweet 45).

Church Practices

Richard Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual

Growth, wrote this book as a guideline on practices for Christians to use as tools for

growing in their faith. There are twelve suggested practices; some focus inwardly, like

prayer or meditation while some focus outwardly, like worship or service. He notes:

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The disciplines are God’s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where he

can work within us and transform us. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can

do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. They

are God’s means of grace (Foster 7).

Of the practices listed in Foster’s work, healing is not mentioned. Prayer is discussed as a

constant means to commune with God but intercessory prayer is not a focus.

Spiritual gifts are listed in the scriptures as useful to “build up” the church (Eph.

4:11-13, 1 Cor. 12:28-30, Rom. 12:6-8). In The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch suggests

practices and gifts to be used by the church to fulfill the missional call, including the

“APEPT” list from Ephesians for structuring leadership. The church is to be God’s

instrument in transforming lives more than giving people a “way of life.” As a leader of

South Melbourne Restoration Community in Australia, he and other leaders decided there

were some core practices and spiritual disciplines that their houses churches (also called

TEMPT groups) should implement (Hirsch 47).

Core Practice Spiritual Discipline

Together We Follow Community or togetherness

Engagement with Scripture Integrating scripture into our lives

Mission Mission (central discipline-binding and

integrating them)

Passion for Jesus Worship and prayer

Transformation Character development and accountability

The TEMPT groups met weekly, and then several of the groups would meet twice a

month. Any groups that where within a region met twice a year. In their assessments,

they saw that the rhythms of their gathering and serving and sharing was an important

part of transformation.

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In, Shaped by God’s Heart, Milfred Minatrea, a Baptist Pastor and Director of

The Missional Church Center, shared the research of various missional churches which

included the discovery of nine common practices among them. These practices are the

bases for each of the chapters with the following themes: membership, authenticity,

teaching vs. obedience, original worship, living out one’s faith, follow through with

purpose, measure metric as release rather than retaining, and prioritizing kingdom work.

Minatrea does not intend for a missional church to utilize every one of these practices but

he suggests any of these practices would be helpful in starting a new missional church

with the intent to make a difference in the world. He suggests, “The church is what its

members are (Minatrea xi).” This further affirms that missional churches are more

focused on transformation that adding numbers of people simply learning “how” one

should live.

What is Mental Illness?

Mental illness tends to be a term used in more acute or severe cases. Mental

health conditions are also referred to as disorders in the DSM5 (The Diagnostic and

Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). A mental health condition may or may not keep

a person from coping with life or being productive and active in their community.

According to the website, MentalHealth.gov, mental health is defined:

as our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think,

feel, and act. Mental health is the ability to function effectively in daily activities,

resulting in productivity at work and school, experiencing fulfilling relationships,

and developing resilience to change and adversity. Mental health is important at

every stage of life, from childhood and adolescents through adulthood.

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According to NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness) a mental illness is “a medical

condition that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and

daily functioning” and “often result in diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary

demands of life” (Troubled Minds Simpson 34). Six percent of the American population

live with an acute mental illness like schizophrenia, depression, or bipolar (NAMI). The

DSM5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) defines a mental

disorder as:

a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s

cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the

psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental

functioning (20).

Amy Simpson’s book, Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission,

gives a glimpse of her life story as a Christian, a journalist, editor for

GiftedForLeadership.com, a wife, a mother, a daughter of a mom with schizophrenia, and

a preacher’s kid to a dad that struggled with depression. Simpson and her sister found

themselves trying to hide the fact that their mom had a mental illness during parts of their

growing up. There were times she knew that the church had awareness of her mother’s

meltdowns but they did not do anything. Simpson noticed people would take casseroles

to people with physical illnesses but no one brought her family one. She now refers to

mental illness as the “no casserole” illness (Troubled Minds Simpson 33). The percentage

of people who suffer with heart disease, cancer, HIV and AIDS and Diabetes combined is

less than the number of people who live with a mental illness. However, most of those

who have mental illness are not talking about it or seeing help because of the stigma or

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misunderstanding of what can be done to help them (37). Simpson was empowered by

Leadership Journal magazine to do a survey of five hundred churches to determine what

people knew or did not know about mental illness. In her survey she found 12.5% of the

church leaders said mental illness is spoken about openly. She found that 50% said that

mental illness is talked about in sermons about three times a year, whereas 20% said it is

never discussed in their church at all (53). There is a problem with stigma, lack of

education about mental health and mental illness as well as shame that makes people

want to hide it.

Rosemary Radford Ruether is a feminist theologian and professor of feminine

theology at Pacific School of Religion whose son has struggled with mental illness, and

the brokenness of the health care system in America. She is cautious about using the

term, the mentally ill, when referring to a person, because she recognizes that this labels a

person with a particular identity. This is part of the problem with the stigma in the

American society. A person can be ostracized for “being mentally ill.” Rosemary Ruether

says it is important to commit to being on a journey with people who are on the road to

recovery rather than on a journey just “maintaining” them selves (Ruether 182). Over

time, Ruether’s son has stayed at a variety of places one of which was called the MHA

Village in California. This center developed four stages of recovery to lead a person with

mental illness: hope, empowerment (giving opportunity and information), self-

responsibility, and a meaningful role in life (172-174). These stages are similar to some

of the discipleship stages Christians might use in churches.

Kathryn Greene-McCreight shares the story of her struggle with depression in her

book and makes the following observation on the importance of Christian community:

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Sometimes you literally cannot make it on your own, and you need to borrow

from the faith of those around you. Sometimes I cannot even recite the creed

unless I am doing it in the context of worship, along with the body of Christ.

Now, you could say that this is a fault of memory, and maybe it is in part, but I

think it goes further than that. When reciting the creed, I borrow from the

recitation of others. Companionship in the Lord Jesus is powerful (Green-

McCreight 88).

Christian community matters to people with mental illness. Worship, prayer, and a sense

of being united to “brothers” and “sisters” in the faith helps the troubled and the ill bear

up under the weight of their heavy burdens. People may focus on getting person

resources for “fixing” their mental health. Yet it seems that people like Kathryn suggest

the need to develop community that includes worship, not just support or counseling

services, it vital.

In the symptoms of certain mental illnesses or disorders “isolation” or inability to

be involved with groups can be an issue. A person with mental illness or those who have

family members with mental illness need to have the invitation to this bond between God

and others in a faith community and may even need for the church to stand in the gap for

them.

Referring to a statement by John Strauss, professor of psychiatry at Yale

University, Swinton notes, “when one conceives of an individual who suffers from a

mental health problem, one must think in terms of the individual as a person who also has

a disorder, rather than a person who is a disorder” (Resurrecting The Person Swinton

137). From Swinton’s perspective, Christians must never underestimate the importance of

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friendship for people with mental illness. People with mental health problems are often

experiencing “hopelessness, worthlessness, and poor self-esteem” (139). If a Christian

have the courage to risk friendship with these suffering people in his or her midst, he or

she has the opportunity to help them find hope and meaning. Swinton says,

The model of friendship presented in the life and work of Christ offers real

possibilities for therapeutic change. Committed friendship that reaches beyond

culturally constructed barriers and false understandings and seeks to ‘resurrect the

person’—who has become engulfed by their mental health problems—is a

powerful form of relationship. It offers hope and new possibilities to people with

the types of mental health problems that are the focus of this book (138–139).

The developing community of faith needs to be authentic and transparent. People need to

see the church as a refuge where they are safe to say, “I need accountability and

encouragement as I deal with addiction, brokenness in marriage or other relationships,

mental illness or mental disorders.”

How is the Culture Responding?

The culture is struggling with how to respond to people with mental health

conditions and how to talk about their own. There have been a growing number of mass

shootings in which conversations gravitate toward comments about the person who has

committed the crimes being crazy. American leadership has made derogatory remarks

about mental illness:

In a tweet Thursday, President Donald Trump described someone who would

shoot up a school as a "savage sicko." At CNN's town hall on the Parkland,

Florida, school shootings on Wednesday, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch

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described the gunman as "an insane monster" who is "nuts" and crazy." And at a

White House briefing Thursday, the President again used the term "sicko"

(“Trump’s Language on School Shooter’s Mental Health” Christensen).

In studies documented by this article and others, Keisel stated that only four percent of

interpersonal violence is related to serious mental illness. People living with a mental

illness are ten times more likely to be victims of violence rather than commit a violent act

(“Don’t Blame Mass Shootings on Mental Health” Keisel).

More and more there are plays, movies, songs, books, and websites addressing

mental illness and mental health conditions. Sometimes these sources represent mental

health correctly, and sometimes these mediums add to the misconceptions. Sometimes a

politician, actress or a famous person from some of these arenas will step forward to tell

their story; Selena Gomez and Mayim Bialik are two of those people. Gomez, a singer

and actress, opened up to the public about her struggle with depression and anxiety as

well as her hospitalization to get help in 2017 (wellandgood.com). As Gomez was

working on her own healing, she brought her experience and struggle into being the

executive producer of a television series called, 13 Reasons Why, about why a girl

committed suicide. Bialik is an actress and neuroscientist, who stars in the hit television

comedy, The Big Bang Theory. Because Bialik has family that has struggled with mental

illness, she is a passionate advocate to eliminate the sigma of mental illness. She has used

her stardom as a platform to talk about mental illness with groups like NAMI

(www.nami.org). Throughout the literature reviewed and the gathering of information

from various websites, it has been determined that greatest thing one can to do to help

people with mental illness is to educate people on the misconceptions, so the shame and

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stigma can be eradicated. Hollywood and moviegoers have supported movies in recent

years that address mental illness such as: Silver Linings Playbook, Birdman, Polar Bear

or Spotlight. These movies can be used as a foundation for a conversation to help people

know what is true of false as well as encourage people to find resources to get help.

Because history lays a foundation for the present, it is important to look into the

past to discover how previous misperceptions might influence today’s misconceptions. In

the remaining paragraphs the work of theologians, government leaders, scientists, and

advocates will be revealed. Great minds of theology like Augustine or Soren Kiekegaard

and those of science like Sigmund Freud or William Wundt influenced the people of their

day and as well as the culture of America in 2018.

In the late-1700s, the age of Enlightenment started moving an emphasis toward

science and reason in people’s quest for truth. In the mid-1800s philosopher and

theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, wrote about the nature of a person, their despair, their

anxiousness and what is called the “unconscious.” In the late 1880s atheist, Sigmund

Freud, developed the theory around the psychoanalysis of the subconscious and made

quite an impact on the world’s thinking on mental health. Freud’s work has influenced

the world’s perception that supernatural experiences saying that it can be explained by

chemical and neurological activity in the brain. He introduced the idea that people who

sought spiritual connection were actually lacking in emotional maturity or had a

pathological disorder (Kehoe xxi). The debate has ensued ever since.

Nancy Kehoe, a nun as well as a trained psychiatrist, developed a therapy

program at the psychiatric hospital where she worked with the intention of talking about

religious beliefs even if they were not Christian. Kehoe found that the people in the

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therapy group were receptive to the conversation about faith. She was concerned with

Freud’s approach. In the therapy program she developed, the people admitted feeling

wounded due to the rejection of a church or being angry with God because they had a

mental illness. It seems that people struggle more with God for letting illness happen than

with the reality of God’s existence. God did not cause mental illness; he created the world

and the consequences of humanities repeated rebellion against God has created a domino

effect for mental illness.

Both people of Christian faith and those in the field of psychology or psychiatry

pursue the truth, but the basis for that truth may differ for each group. Christian faith is

developed through Biblical and theological knowledge of the Triune God who cannot be

seen except in revelation as God deems through the Spirit. Psychologists study behaviors

in pursuit of empirical evidence based upon what can be proved. Psychology was

established as a science in the mid to late 1800’s after years of study on what Greek

philosophers like Plato, Epicurus or Aristotle had developed. Writings about the soul and

spirit by fathers of faith like Tertullian, Athanasius, and Augustine also impacted the

foundation of this science (Johnson 10). It has been suggested that a man named William

Wundt, started intentionally studying the human experience in a laboratory in 1879 (19).

In “Psychology and Christianity: Five Views,” it is suggested that the Bible offers a

foundation for study of the mind although it is not “systematic or comprehensive” (11).

Johnson’s book goes on to share differing views on what psychology is and how various

perspectives can be used to utilize the science for those with or without Christian faith.

Theologian and Saint of the Church, Thomas Aquinas, combined the thoughts of

Christian faith with theologian, Augustine, and a secular philosopher, Aristotle, with

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remarkable results on psychological thought, the will, appetites, virtues, vices, habits,

memory, intellect and emotions (12). There are many saints within the history of the

church that are surprisingly considered among those who have written about this

connection of Christianity and psychology, for example: Julian of Norwich, Thomas a

Kempis and Bernard of Clairvaux. And then there are those who have come along since

then to disregard faith. It seems that there has been a tension for a long time.

From time to time a person with passion brings attention to the needs in the

culture and so it was in 1887 when a woman of great faith, Dorothea Dix, (1802-1887)

led a crusade to advocate for those who suffered with mental illness (Ruether 146). In

1848, she went before the U.S. congress with a request for approval of five thousand

acres in each state to be used for state funded hospitals for those with mental illness.

Thirty-eight hospitals were established in twenty different states through her advocacy.

Unfortunately, after her death, funding was limited so the people in these institutions

were not properly treated. The vision of hospitals with grounds for farming activities and

the resources for various other activities to help in treatments began to be eliminated.

Needs for those with mental illness moved from the state to the national level under

President Truman. In 1946 that Congress created The National Mental Health Act to

develop research for mental illness (195). After WWII the effects of war propelled the

idea of “community health centers” in what became known as “The Mental Retardation

and Mental Health Centers Construction Act” in 1963 (155). There continued to be a

shortage of funding and an increase in need. Continued development of plans for

Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Disability Funding affected how much a person

was given for care of any mental illness. In the 1980’s many of the state hospitals for

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people with mental illness were closed because the patients were in despicable situations.

The multitude of homeless people on the streets or in prisons is due to the

“deinstitutionalizing” of mental hospitals (Ruether 6).

Psychology, neurology and psychiatry are important in creating hope for people

with mental illness whether the person is a Christian believer or not. While philosophers,

theologians, innovators, spiritual leaders, and writers have pondered over how the mind

works and its relationship to the human will, spirit and behaviors, there have been people

living afraid of those who seem to not have control of themselves. This lack of control

has been shown in people like those who would fall down with convulsions foaming at

the mouth, run about naked in public while talking to themselves, watch people starve

themselves, see people unable to pull themselves out of bed from a catatonic state or

engage in a rampage harming others or himself or herself. The culture is looking for light

on this subject. There is so much darkness and uncertainty.

How is the Church Responding?

Some churches are responding well, and some are not. While it is believed that

people who suffer with mental illness need the skill of professional psychologists and

counselors, it is also believed that ultimately wholeness comes in knowing and accepting

in the Triune God who understands the suffering of the world as a Wounded Healer

(Nouwen 82). Some churches respond to people with mental illness by over spiritualizing

it and suggesting that a person needs to pray more. And then there is the other spectrum

in which the church only mentions mental illness maybe one time a year or not at all.

Mental illness affects those who follow Jesus and those that do not; it does not

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discriminate. It affects a larger portion of our culture than any disease although it is not

talked about as much (“Mental Health and Public Health Interventions” Andrade).

The researcher of this project reached out to Joe Padilla, director and cofounder of

Mental Health Grace Alliance, to learn about the work being done by his organization to

help Christians understand how to respond to mental illness. Padilla responded with an

email and an attached link to a study done by Lifeway Research in the summer of 2014,

spearheaded by Ed Stetzer, formerly the Executive Director of Lifeway Research, and

funded partially by the organization, Focus on the Family. There were three surveys

distributed in this Lifeway Research study to collect data: one incorporated to an

audience of over one thousand Protestant pastors, another included three hundred thirty-

five Protestant Americans who suffered from mental illness (both moderately and acute)

and the third group included two hundred and seven Protestant family members who

struggle with mental illness, but do not have mental illness themselves. Below is what

was reported as the key findings from the Lifeway Research study:

 Few churches have plans to assist families affected by mental illness

 Few churches are staffed with a counselor skilled in mental illness

 There is a lack of training for leaders on how to recognize mental illness

 There is a need for churches to communicate to congregations about local

mental health resources

 There is a stigma and culture of silence that leads to shame.

In an article, Ed Stetzer wrote for Christian Counseling Today, he comments,

My challenge to the Church is that we might move beyond the whispering, the

silence, the shame, and the stigma. Instead, let us understand and show others that

Jesus came seeking, saving and serving the lost and broken around him (The

Church and Mental Illness Stetzer 38).

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In this same article, the Cofounder of Mental Health Grace Alliance, Dr. Matthew

Stanford, is quoted, “the church’s role in dealing with mental illness is to “relieve

suffering, reveal Christ and restore lives” (38). There continues to be a need for the

church to encourage “normalization” or acceptance of people with mental illness or

mental health conditions. This study suggests that education and conversation need to be

had to eliminate the silence and fear that has been prevalent for people affected by mental

illness.

John Wesley was an advocate of providing for the poor, the hungry, the sick, and

the uneducated. As a clergyman in the 1700’s under the authority of the Anglican Church

in England, Wesley who sought to provide food, education, medical care and shelter for

those in need. He discovered that people with addictions needed “sanctifying grace”

beyond just physical provision so he created what he called “penitent bands.” In these

groups of three to five, Wesley desired to stress to them the importance of depending on

God and a community for support in leading a life worthy of the grace extended through

Jesus Christ. Wesley understood the importance of accountability, encouragement, and

development that comes with relationships that could be developed in three different size

groups: societies, classes and bands. Eventually Wesley traveled to the United States with

the intention of evangelizing Native Americans. However, in the midst of his witness that

spread from England to the colonies of America, his piety and his theology, particularly

on grace and free will, seemed to take root in the ears of the people. A movement gave

birth to what is now a mainstream denomination called, The United Methodist Church.

Wesley’s model of church suggests taking the church to the streets to share the Gospel, to

encourage dependence of God, accountability in community and support in recovery

Bishop 77

from addiction is important. Wesley was a clergyman who set an example for the church

to encourage community development even for people with mental illness.

Rosemary Radford Ruether believes there is a connection between spirituality and

mental illness. She suggests, “Spirituality for the person with mental illness means not

becoming overwhelmed by all that has been lost so that no one falls into suicidal

depression. It means keep hope alive. It means starting every day with the sense that

something new will happen” (Ruether 187). Ruether and others like Jean Vanier or John

Swinton would suggest that people with mental illness need access to develop their

spirituality in a community. They need more than scientific or medical approaches to

their wellbeing. People with mental health conditions need holistic care.

Research Design Literature

Key words like “church planting, church models and mental illness” were

extracted from the purpose statement of this research project to be studied with a biblical,

theological, and ecclesial lens. As a pre-intervention research project, the literature

review has focused on the practices and dimensions of ministry for people affected by

mental health conditions in the current churches and community organizations of

Orlando. A mixed method approach is used in this project with quantitative and

qualitative methods in order to have a rich measurable set of outcomes to solve the

problem addressed in the purpose statement. Qualitative research is useful for interpreting

and expressing the social aspects of this project. In accordance with qualitative

researchers, the author is “most interested in how humans arrange themselves and their

settings and how inhabitants of these settings make sense of their surroundings” (Sensing

57). Sensing warns that qualitative research can bring about a plethora of information that

Bishop 78

can keep a researcher bogged down with information, however, the researcher of this

project determined to use quantitative research to help keep balance in the project. Data

triangulation will be used in the analysis of the quantitative methods obtained through

surveys and the qualitative method obtained through questionnaires and interviews (85).

The use of “triangulation (multiple data-collection technologies designed to measure a

single concept or construct)” brought validity and clarity to the project (72). It will

provide depth to collection and analysis of the data. The literature reviewed provided the

information to create three research tools (surveys, questionnaires and unstructured

interviews) to bring in three angles (researcher, insider-pastors, outsiders-mental health

community organization leaders) needed to have a valid summation for this project. To

report the data in the interviews, notes were taken, the conversations were audio-recorded

and then both were combined and transcribed.

Summary of Literature

There were valuable insights gleaned in all four-research theme categories: the

Church, church planting, church models, church practices and mental illness. Each of

these categories has been individually studied but will be integrated by the end of this

project. There are four themes that have come through the research so far.

The Church

There are people who are looking at the church and thinking about better ways to

include and serve people affected by mental illness. The following is a list of suggested

practices for the Church compiled from several sources. First, create churches that are

intentional about creating friendships, support, and encouragement of people affected by

mental illness. Second, create a culture of advocacy. Third, encourage learning about

Bishop 79

mental illness and mental disorders to help alleviate the stigma. Fourth, offer support and

empowerment to people affected by mental illness so it will not be considered the “no-

casserole” illness. Fifth, show the people affected by mental illness that they are valued

and accepted as people not as a mission project. And sixth, encourage people to tell their

stories or include those stories in sermons, prayers, or times of testimonials.

Church Planting

Looking at how to plant churches, the first insight within “church planting” is the

recognition that planting a church is not the goal; to reproduce disciples for Jesus Christ

who reproduce disciples who reproduce disciples is the goal. That is to say, the new

church model being created in this project is not for “a” church but for adding to the

movement that Jesus already started so that multiplication happens again and again. To

build a church for people to move from one church to another is not the point of church

planting; the transformation of the Holy Spirit draws others to Christ and into

discipleship. The second insight is that Biblical church planting is evangelism or

proclamation of the Gospel that results in new churches. It is vital to seek a person or

persons in the community who would be receptive to the Gospel that they become the

catalyst for inviting people to be in the faith community. While sixty-eight percent of the

population in the United States is churched, eighty-eight million are still unchurched

(Garrison 160). There is a great need to plant more churches and to reach people in all the

various walks of life which includes a quarter of the population who live with a mental

illness. There are many ways to plant churches among the multitudes of the people of the

world but the biblical model for new churches comes into existence as people come out

of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light. (Discovering Church Planting

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Payne Loc 1002). The third insight is that churches need to reflect the culture of where

the church is growing. The church should be integrated into the peoples’ lives instead of

expecting people to enter into its doors to become homogenized. There is an incarnational

and missional opportunity in this new distributing church model.

Church Models

In this category, various church models were discussed. In the following

summary, a useful nugget that could be incorporated into a new church model is shown.

First, the institutional model shows the importance of order and the importance of

worship. Second, the focus on having a missionary mindset that takes the missional

church into the community to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed recollects the call of

being sent into the world. Third, the transparency and vulnerability of the recovery model

is a reminder that Jesus calls all people even with mental health conditions to live in the

truth and an expectation to progress in this life journey. The twelve steps used in recovery

are really a discipleship strategy. Fourth, the fresh expressions model shows the

importance of reflecting ones culture and reevaluating ones’ posture. And finally, the

house church encourages relationship and often includes teaching around table fellowship

following the example of Christ who often taught at a table. There are elements within

each of these models that could be beneficial in creating a church model that invites, and

embraces people living with or affected by mental illness. In some ways, these models

overlap and yet they are very different.

Church Practices

Churches that are firmly established often get set in their ways just as people do.

Some of these churches offer a practice of practical help for people with mental illness

Bishop 81

like: pastoral care, support groups (although mostly for addiction or for relational issues

like divorce or grief in the loss of a loved one), food pantries, counseling centers (or

referrals to counselors or doctors) or benevolent funds for things like rent or medical

bills. These are all good things to do for people affected by mental illness. For this

research project, there are practices that seem more helpful such as the practice of

hospitality or compassion for inviting, the practice of welcoming and including, the

practices of listening or serving that move a person to reach outside of themselves, the

practices of healing and belonging that are part of a long term journey, and the practice of

educating and advocating. With a culmination of all of these practices, Jean Vanier

admits that there are blessings that he has received in friendship with people who have

mental disabilities that he would not have had if he had surrendered to the invitation

offered by God to serve and be in relationship with people who have mental disabilities.

Mental Health Conditions

The literature review has shown biblical, theological and secular considerations as

to what mental illness or mental health conditions are or are not. John Swinton and Jean

Vanier revealed differences between mental disabilities and mental illness in their

writings. Books and articles written by Rosemary Ruether, Naomi Judd, and Amy

Simpson gave personal accounts of what mental illness means to them and their families.

Professionals in the field of mental health like Nancy Kehoe, a clinical instructor, and

Susan Nathiel, a psychotherapist, were not as concerned about defining the terms but they

gave insight into how people have tried to cope with mental illness their books. In the

books by neuroscientist, Dr. Matthew Stanford, and the psychiatric professor, Dr. Harold

Koenig, the connection of religion and science as they relate to mental health conditions

Bishop 82

are addressed. Each author at least has the common theme that mental illness can be

treated and each person is of value and dignity.

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR THE PROJECT

Overview of the Chapter

This chapter takes this project from research done in the library to inquiry in real life

by using specifically designed tools to survey and interview leaders in downtown

Orlando. After the nature and purpose of the project is stated, specific connections will be

made between the designed survey/questionnaire to the three research questions

appropriated for this research project in order to show how these tools are both needed.

The participants will be described and how they will be involved in this project will be

discussed. Description of the designed instrumentation “RBB Survey/Questionnaire for

Church Pastors/Leaders” and “RBB Survey/Questionnaire for Mental Health Community

Organization Leaders” will be addressed as well as how it was distributed collected and

analyzed (RBB are the initials for the researcher, Robyn Bradley Bishop). How the

results of the instrumentation were handled in this part of this project will be presented in

the closing of this chapter.

Nature and Purpose of the Project

In this world people are living broken hearted over loss of relationships, loss of

life, loss of dreams, loss of hope. There is hopelessness, because people do not know the

message of hope and wholeness that is available through Jesus Christ by The Holy Spirit.

One in five people live with a mental illness in a given year. Therefore, the entire

American population is impacted. Many who struggle with mental illnesses are afraid to

Bishop 83

tell others for fear of judgment or rejection, even by those who call themselves

Christians. Whether intentional or subconsciously, judgmental words like crazy, looney

or stupid are tossed about in Christian and secular circles to describe people that have

mental illness (Ruether 103). When someone uses these types of words, a wall is erected

between people who “have it all together” and those who are struggling or in recovery

with mental illness. In Orlando, many churches have counseling services, and some have

care ministries that support those with addiction, emotional wounds or other illness. The

purpose of this project was to explore church models and community organizations that

faithfully invite and include people with and affected by mental illness, in order to

develop a new church model for downtown Orlando, Florida.

Research Questions

Research Question #1

What are the unique dimensions of ministry with people who have a mental health

condition or with people who have family members affected by mental health conditions?

This question was answered by the survey for community organizations in survey

statements two and four as well as in the survey for church leaders in responses to the

survey statements of numbers three and four. On the community leader questionnaire,

questions two and four gave the leader an opportunity to give more detailed information

than they could with rating the survey statements. On the church leader questionnaire,

more detailed answers to this question were answered by responses on number two, three,

five, six, and seven. In the interviews with the church leaders, the participants were asked

what they do in ministry for people affected by mental illness. In the interviews with the

Bishop 84

community organization leaders, they were asked what they see their church or other

churches in Orlando that is beneficial for people affected by mental illness.

Research Question #2

What is missing in downtown Orlando that would help people affected by mental

health conditions? This question was answered by the survey for community

organizations in statements three and six as well as in the survey for church leaders in

statements five and six. On the community leader questionnaire, questions five and six

gave the leader an opportunity to give more detailed information. On the church leader

questionnaire, questions two, three, and seven gave more detailed information. In the

eight interviews, the participants were asked what they think is needed in Orlando for

people affected by mental illness.

Research Question #3

What are some best practices for inviting and including people with or affected by

mental health conditions in the context of a local church? This question was answered by

the survey for community organizations in the responses of the first, second and fifth

statements as well as in the survey for church leaders in all five statements. On the

community leader questionnaire, questions two and six gave the leader an opportunity to

give more detailed information. On the church leader questionnaire, questions two, three,

and six gave more detailed information. In the interviews, the participants were asked

how they include people affected by mental illness in their church and how they address

the needs of this people group.

Ministry Context for Observing the Phenomenon

This project had survey/questionnaires and interviews with leaders in churches and

Bishop 85

community organizations in the Orlando area. The leaders who participated in this project

came from a city that developed as “resort town” and was the center of the citrus industry

starting around late 1875. Downtown Orlando is home to two sports teams, the National

Basketball Association team, Orlando Magic, and the Major Soccer League team, The

Orlando City. The people of Orlando tend to be open to new ideas and new ways of doing

things. Hence, in 1971 the city became the home of the Walt Disney World Resort, which

brings in approximately fifty million visitors yearly. It has been reported that the population

of Orlando was two hundred seventy seven thousand people in 2016 and 2.13 million in

population if you included the Greater Orlando metropolitan area (World Population

Review). Forty-one percent of the population of Orlando is white, twenty-eight percent are

African American and the remaining are of Hispanic, Asian, Native American of from

another race (World Population Review). According to this World Population Review

website, only six percent of the population are unemployed. The Gallup poll of 2015 results

posted on the World Population Review website, shows that only thirty-two percent of the

population attends church weekly and forty-five percent never attend church (“Florida

Average for Church Attendance” Barth). The city of Orlando website includes a map of

downtown with a pin indicating various points of interest. There are twenty churches

highlighted on the map, which include three major Christian denominational churches: First

United Methodist Church, Downtown Baptist Church, and First Presbyterian Church

(www.cityoforlando.net). There are also a host of businesses, restaurants, beauty salons,

hotels, museums and more. Orlando is a thriving city.

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Participants to Be Sampled About the Phenomenon

Criteria for Selection

With the intent to learn more about current church and community organization

practices that address mental illness in some way, the researcher chose to explore the

practices of twenty-seven churches and twenty-five community organizations that focus

on mental health conditions in the Orlando area. At first the number was limited to only a

dozen churches and a dozen community organizations. However, a larger group was

chosen in case some of those chosen decided not to participate. Participation in this

project was completely voluntary. Hoping to hear from the leadership in each of the

churches or organizations listed, the researcher created a survey/questionnaire for one

leader in each context. Because the topic of mental illness can trigger fear or sensitivity in

adults, an age limit of being at least eighteen years of age was imposed. For this research

project, the researcher asked only adults to share their reflections on the questionnaires in

order to minimize any negative affects this project could have. The list of mental health

community organization leaders and the list of church pastors/leaders in the downtown

Orlando area was chosen by a simple “Google” search. The two lists are attached to this

project in Appendixes E & F.

Description of Participants

The instrumentation was administered to “leaders who work in Orlando in the

mental health field as well as pastors or leaders in churches.” The list of participants was

derived from a Google search in two categories: churches in the downtown area, or

community organizations that serve people with mental illness. Some of the people on the

lists provided in Appendixes E and F were not found on a Google search but were given by

Bishop 87

a participant or neighbor who lives downtown as a suggestion. The lists of those who would

receive the surveys/questionnaires did not have any indication of their age, gender,

education level, ethnicity, race, and etcetera in order to participate. While the city has a fifty

percent population of Caucasians the researcher did not seek people of a particular race or

ethnicity. The two common denominators for the participants in this project were first,

employed in the Orlando area and second, willing to be a part of this research project as

indicated by the completed consent forms. See Appendixes E & F.

Ethical Considerations

There are several considerations when working on a research project. This section of

the project documents the details around administering the tools for this project and how the

information was collected and reported. A consent form was prepared for each participant

with particular elements regarding ethical considerations. For example, a participant could

indicate if they wanted their name or their organization’s name to be kept confidential on

their survey, questionnaire, or interview. There was also a line on the consent form that gave

the participant the opportunity to pull out of the project at any time for any reason. The

completed research tools were kept in private, if the participant indicated they wanted

confidentiality, as indicated to the Institutional Review Board of Asbury Theological

Seminary. No one received any compensation for his or her participation in this project. No

gifts were offered or suggested to anyone involved in this project. Some of the participants

did indicate that they want to see the results of the final dissertation so that is the only thing

that has been assured to participants.

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Instrumentation

Expert Review

A formal letter was prepared for each of the four expert reviewers with details

about the project. When each of the four received a copy of the two different

survey/questionnaires, a codified table was included so the expert reviewers could give

their feedback on what had been created. Changes were made at the suggestions of the

reviewers and the researchers. The letter was personalized for each expert reviewer and

details about the project were discussed by phone as needed. The interviews offered in

this research project were given using questions from the survey/questionnaires.

Reliability & Validity of Project Design

Upon review of the websites for all of churches and mental health community

organizations in Orlando, as shown in Appendixes E and F, lists of potential participants

were created. In order to fulfill the purpose of this research project, both qualitative and

quantitative research was administered in the two different Survey/Questionnaires

designed: “RBB Survey/Questionnaire for Church Pastors/Leaders” and “RBB

Survey/Questionnaire for Mental Health Community Organization Leaders.” Guidelines

for how to develop a survey using a scale and an open ended questionnaire were used to

create these instruments (Sensing 113-115). A multiple methods approach was developed

to allow for greater reliability and validity of the research for this project.

Reliability is all about consistency. Research is reliable when it is consistently

prepared, administered and analyzed. The surveys/questionnaires were not given under

duress, but through email or delivered by hand to the participants so they could be filled

out when he or she was able to fit it into his or her schedule. There was variation in how

Bishop 89

the participants filled out the survey/questionnaires, but there was consistency in these

tools as they accurately address the three major research questions, which address the

purpose of the project. The church leadership interviews and the community organization

leadership interviews were conducted with questions based upon the participants’

answers on their survey/questionnaires, keeping with the consistency of the project’s

research plan of execution.

Validity of research is a term to indicate accuracy and the ability to fulfill the

purpose this research project. The instruments were developed to address the purpose of

this project and were administered to gather data that was accurate so as to answer the

three research questions. It is probable that someone could repeat the research that was

done for this project by following the procedures listed above.

Data Collection

This is a Pre-Intervention Project, which uses data triangulation with quantitative

and qualitative research (Sensing 74). The researcher developed a list of twenty-seven

churches and a list of twenty-five community organizations that address mental illness

within the Orlando area. Two, separate survey/questionnaires, “RBB Mental Illness

Survey/Questionnaire for Church Pastors/Leaders in Orlando,” and the “RBB Mental

Illness Survey/ Questionnaire for Community Organizations,” were designed by the

researcher along with an introduction letter and consent form. The introduction letter and

consent form were developed from the IRB template. On the letters requesting

participation, two options were given for returning the survey/questionnaires and consent

forms: regular mail or email. If the participants did not respond within two weeks, the

researcher called to follow up with them. “Data Collection begins with setting the

Bishop 90

boundaries for the study; it continues by collecting information through observations,

interviews, documents, and visual materials, etc., and concludes by establishing the

protocol for recording the information” (Sensing 90).

Once each survey/questionnaire was received, they were separated into two

categories: churches and community organizations. The questionnaires that came from a

church were given a code that starts with “Ch” to indicate that they are a part of the

“church” investigation list, then they were given a number starting with “1.” The

community organizations were given “CO” with a number. The Ch and CO leaders were

coded for confidentiality. The information was kept private unless the participant

indicated their permission for their name to be shared. All questionnaires will be

destroyed at the completion of this and its approval in July 2018.

Not all fifty survey/questionnaires were completed and returned. The researcher also

hoped to have the consent of at least twelve of the pastors or community leaders to have

unstructured interviews. The interviews were recorded and notes were taken if the

participant was willing. In light of privacy and convenience, interviews took place at a

location chosen by the participant. The recordings were kept private when transcribing

the interviews by using the coding system described above. All electronic files of the

interviews and the questionnaires were kept in a password protected older on the

researcher’s computer.

Data Analysis

In order to get conclusive answers to what and how the church is responding to

people affected by mental health conditions, the surveys/questionnaires and interviews

had the same topic asked in different ways. After collection of data from the quantitative

Bishop 91

and qualitative methods, the data was analyzed to bring “order, structure, and meaning”

(Sensing 194). For a thorough data analysis, the researcher adhered to the five step

process suggested by John W. Creswell and J. David Creswell in their book, Research

Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Method Approaches as indicated in the

following description (Creswell and Creswell 193). First, organize and prepare (193).

Second, read and review all of the data, which could include assessing what might be

missing in the data (193). While looking at the information literally, interpretatively and

reflexively, patterns were accessed in what was said or written as well is in what was not

said or written (Sensing 196). Third, code the data by clumping data together (Creswell

and Creswell 193). The coding themes for the project were assigned according the

research themes related to the three major research questions: church planting (Cp),

church model (Chm), mental illness (mi), mental health (mh), community organizations

(CO), churches (C), practices (P), and dimensions of ministry (DM). Fourth, generate a

description and separate the material in such a way that you may have five to seven

themes (194). Fifth, represent a description that makes sense of the data and gives

insights into the themes developed (195). This last step requires decisions to be made that

show a developed framework of the data. Sensing suggests four ways to consider

presenting your themes: processes, issues, questions and sensitizing concepts (Sensing

210). Chapter five will present the report of the analysis.

Bishop 92

CHAPTER 4

EVIDENCE FOR THE PROJECT

Overview of the Chapter

In chapter three, the participants were described as well as the research tools.

Within this chapter, the information collected from the tools designed for this project will

be reported. Under the title of the three research questions each will have two categories:

Church Pastors/Leaders and Community Organization Leaders. Within the information

listed for each research question, there will be three additional subdivisions within these

categories listed as: Survey Results, Questionnaire Results and Interview Results.

With a list of twenty-seven churches and a list of twenty-five community

organizations in Orlando by a simple “Google” search for those in the downtown area of

Orlando, the two lists were compiled (See Appendixes E and F). Each leader was sent a

letter of introduction, a consent form, and a survey/questionnaire based on whether they

were a leader in a church or a community organization. Each leader was given a code

when they were sent these items, although their introductory letter was personalized for

their eyes only. For example, a church leader was given the code, Ch3, and is referred to

as Ch3 in the Tables of this chapter instead of by their name or organization name when

their information was reported from their survey/questionnaire or interview in this

project. In the table charts used within this chapter, the codes are not listed in

chronological order like “1, 2, 3, 4,” because not everyone chose to participate.

Participants

Mental health can be a sensitive topic therefore the survey/questionnaires and

interviews were only administered to adults. There were no particular characteristics or

Bishop 93

attributes needed for participants in this project; however, the instrumentation was

administered to those considered to be “leaders who work in downtown Orlando.” The

lists of those who received the surveys/questionnaires did not indicate the age, gender,

education level, ethnicity, race, or any other description. However, there were two

common denominators for the participants in this project, which will be reported under

the two categories: community organization leaders and church pastors/leaders.

Community Organization Leaders

Table 4.1 Responses of the Twenty-Five Community Organization Leaders

Never Responded

Said, “YES,” on phone, received Survey/

Questionnaire said, “NO, I can not do it at this time.”

Closed their doors

Said, “Yes, if you become one of our counselors.”

Said, “Yes” to Survey/Questionnaire

Said, “Yes” to Interview

4 out of 5 who responded to

Survey/Questionnaire

Only sixteen percent from community organization leader list agreed to complete

the survey/questionnaires designed for them. The researcher made phone calls to all of

the people on the prepared list and sent emails per their request but due to busy schedules

and other reasons, many leaders chose not to participate in this project. Some people said

they could participate but after receiving the survey/questionnaire, they decided they

could not. Within the organizations that responded, none of them were of the seven

places that have residential facilities. Thirteen of the twenty-five organizations on the list

are located within three miles of downtown Orlando. The one organization that closed

their doors did so because of financial issues.

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Table 4.2 Demographics of Community Organization Leader Participants

Participant

Gender

Age

Over

Race

Role

Connected

with a

church

Orlando

resident

than 3

years

They or

a family

member

has

mental

illness

CO2

Male

Yes

Caucasian

Director

Yes

CO13

Male

Yes

Caucasian

Counselor

Yes

CO15

Male

Yes

Caucasian

Counselor

Yes

CO20

Male

Yes

Caucasian

Counselor

Yes

CO21

Male

Yes

Caucasian

Counselor

Yes

Four of the community organization leaders were willing to give an interview. All

four participants have the following characteristics in common: male, white, connected

with a church (although only two identified which church they were affiliated with) and

they all four appeared to be over thirty years of age. Interviewees were counselors from

mental health counseling organizations; one was a leader of an organization that

advocates for mental health. Interviews were held at the office of the research participants

for thirty to sixty minutes depending on the time the leader was available. Three out of

the five indicated on their questionnaire that they have a mental illness or have a family

member with a mental illness. All were dressed casually and allowed a recording of the

conversations and notes.

Church Pastors/Leaders

Table 4.3 Responses of the Twenty-Seven Church Pastors/Leaders

No Response

Said, “No” to the Project

Said, “Yes” then pulled out of the Project

once they received the survey/questionnaire

Missed each other’s calls/could not connect

Said, “Yes” to Survey/Questionnaire

Church number was disconnected

Said, “Yes” to Interview

5 of the 8 who participated in the

Survey/Questionnaire

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Thirty-two percent from the church pastor/leader list agreed to participate in this

research project. Phone calls were made to all of the people on the prepared list and

emails were sent when requested. Due to busy schedules and other reasons fifteen leaders

chose not to participate in this project. The majority of the churches on the potential

participant list were of the category, “non-denominational,” with nine. The second

highest denomination represented was United Methodist and Presbyterian with four

responses per denomination. There was only one Catholic Church, one Disciples of

Christ, one Episcopal and one Greek Orthodox. There may be house churches or other

forms of church in Orlando, but they did not come up in the “Google” search.

Table 4.4 Demographics of Church Pastors/Leader Participants

Participant

Gender

Age

Over

Race

Role

Ministry

counseling

center at

church

Orlando

resident

than 3

years

They or

a family

member

has

mental

illness

Ch1

Female

Yes

Caucasian

Director

Yes

Ch3

Male

Yes

Caucasian

Pastor

Yes

Ch4

Male

Yes

Director

Yes

Ch8

Male

Yes

Caucasian

Pastor

Yes

Ch15

Male

Yes

Caucasian

Pastor

Yes

Ch17

Female

Yes

Caucasian

Pastor

Yes

Ch19

Male

Caucasian

Pastor

Ch21

Male

Yes

Caucasian

Pastor

Yes

Five of the eight church leaders who participated in the survey/questionnaire were

willing and able to give time for an interview, although due to scheduling conflicts two of

them were unable to give an interview. We met at the office of the research participant

for thirty to sixty minutes depending on the time the leader was available. All were

dressed casually and allowed the recording of the conversation and notes. Out of the five

interviewees, all were Caucasian, only two people were of female gender, and all of these

church leaders were from churches within three miles of downtown Orlando. Although

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there was never a request to know the age of the interviewees, it appeared that each one

was over the age of thirty. Five out of the eight have a mental illness or a family member

affected.

Research Question #1: Description of Evidence

What are the unique dimensions of ministry with people who have a mental health

condition or with people who have family members affected by mental health conditions?

Community Organization Leader Survey Results

Table 4.5 Responses of Community Organization Leaders to Survey Statement #2

“My church is doing a great job of teaching and serving people with or affected by

mental illness.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

CO21

CO13

CO2

CO20

CO15

In response to this question, survey statement number two asked the participant to

rate their response as shown in the table above with three being in the middle as

“somewhat agreeing.” As indicated each participant has a code. The responses of these

leaders were separated into colors and organized according to the indicated statement for

reporting the survey results. It appears in Figure 4.5 that all participants do not

completely agree, although three out of five somewhat agree. This statement also

acknowledges that all of the participants are connected to a church.

Table 4.6 Responses of Community Organization Leaders to Survey Statement #4

“Ministry to people with mental illness is different than ministry to people without.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

CO21

CO13

CO20

CO15

CO2

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In response to question #1, survey statement number four asked the community

organization participant to rate their response as shown in the table above with three

being in the middle as “somewhat agreeing.” The responses of these leaders were

separated into colors and organized in Table #4.6. Two out of five completely agree that

ministry to people with mental illness is different.

Table 4.7 Responses of Community Organization Leader Question #4 Results

“Do you think there are dimensions of ministry that are different with people affected

by mental illness?

Public worship

Pastoral counseling/ Counseling

Depth of dysfunction

Normalization

CO2

CO13

CO15

CO20

CO21

From the questionnaire, question number four addresses this research question.

CO15 chose to reply to this question with NA (non applicable), because this leader does

not participate in any “ministry” at a church. CO15 believes that counseling is their

ministry. Instead of saying they agree or disagree, CO20 wrote: “I don’t know,” then

went on to explain that they would like to see “mental health normalized into all areas.”

Only two out of the five participants wrote specific comments about the struggle between

differentiating pastoral counseling with professional counseling.

Upon review of the information given it appears that something is missing in the

answers to the survey/questionnaire. There does not seem to be any description of what is

being done currently which could indicate that there isn’t any ministry specifically done

at the churches where they are connected according to these leaders.

After asking for a “yes,” “no,” or “maybe” in response to questionnaire research

question one, CO2 implied in their written comments that the level of dysfunction (of a

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person’s mental health condition) is an important factor in ministry with people affected

by mental illness. CO13 wrote about the higher level of commitment for pastors of

churches with mental health ministry. CO13 also acknowledged that pastors need more

education on how and when to refer people to counseling services versus doing all the

therapy them selves. CO21 was the only participant who mentioned public worship as

something to alter for people affected by mental health conditions. CO21 wrote:

“Churches are typically public worship meetings that bring a natural aspect of social

interaction and fellowship,” (however) “for those with mental illness, this can be

stigmatizing and produce social anxiety.”

Community Organization Leader Interview Results

A tenant of CO2’s organization is that they seek to “see the person, not the

illness.” CO2 said in the interview:

I would go back to, “Is ministry the same for someone with diabetes as for

someone without diabetes. Roughly it is. I may say it’s not completely the same,

because you might have to say things in a different way. As a pastor, isn’t that

true for everybody? There are people who are getting something out of the

sermon and then there are people who are counting the minutes until they get to

go to brunch. Each person is going to need something different.

Overall, CO2 indicated that an organization has to do different things to reach different

groups of people but the “overall message to everybody about forgiveness and grace is

the same.”

In the interview with CO13, it was stated:

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It is important not to label people. If I say to a person they are stupid then if I say

it often enough they will believe it. A diagnosis is not always necessary except as

it pertains to how to care for a person, to label a person. I believe we should

always use the least obtrusive diagnosis as possible. And so you must be very

careful to give diagnosis. You must be sure. They are recorded. It’s like if you run

a red light, you get a ticket. It stays on your record. All records stay for seven

years. When I give a diagnosis it goes on record. I am required by law in the state

of Florida to keep records for seven years. If I see you six and a half years from

now then it’s another seven years.

It was also important to CO13 to “recognize people’s limitations, and difficulties

regardless of what it is.”

CO21 considered the response as to whether the church should be doing more to

help people with mental illness, by saying: “That’s tricky; I mean the churches that think

it’s a sin (to have mental illness), I don’t think they should do more. I’d say do I want

“the” church to do more about helping people with mental illness the way I want them to,

then yes, I think they should do more.” Therefore, it seems like perspective is important

in this kind of ministry. Each one of those interviews indicated this as important. CO21

said that boundaries are important in this kind of ministry: “Knowing boundaries;

knowing when to counsel them and when to know to send them off to someone who is

trained.” Whether a pastor or ministry leader or peer, to be educated on mental health is

helpful for all involved in this ministry with people affected by mental health conditions.

No one mentioned support groups or twelve step programs as useful or not useful

for people affected by mental health conditions. There was no connection made to the

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twelve-step ministry called Celebrate Recovery and no one mentioned addiction. No one

mentioned demon possession or homelessness as a dimension to be considered, even

though both of these have been associated with mental illness in scripture as well as

society at large. There was focus on counseling, but very little connection to “ministry.”

Church Pastor/Leader Survey Results

Table 4.8 Responses of Church Pastor/Leaders to Survey Statement #3

“My church has the resources to serve people with or affected by mental illness.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

Ch15

Ch1

Ch21

Ch3

Ch8

Ch4

Ch19

Ch17

In response to question #1, survey statement number three on the Church

Pastor/Leader Survey asked the participant to rate their response as shown in the table

above, Table #4.8. The responses above indicate that half of the participants think they

have adequate resources to minister to people with mental illness and the other half

believe this to be true only somewhat or less than somewhat.

Table 4.9 Responses of Church Pastor/Leaders to Survey Statement #4

“Ministry to people with mental illness is different than ministry to people without.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

Ch2

Ch3

Ch1

Ch8

Ch15

Ch19

Ch17

Ch21

In the above Table #4.9 it appears that three out of eight of the participants

completely agree that there is a difference in ministry to people with mental illness. No

one disagreed with this statement.

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Church Pastor/Leaders Questionnaire Results

Table 4.10 Responses of Church Pastor/Leaders to Question #5 Results

“What is different in ministry with people who have mental illness?”

Leader ratio/

preparation

Socialization

Expectations

Adaptability/

Flexibility

Tools

Safety

Ch1

Ch3

Ch4

Ch8

Ch15

Ch17

Ch19

Ch21

From the questionnaire for church leaders, question number five addressed this

research question. Support groups were not mentioned in any of the answers to this

question, but were referred to as an element that is helpful as a practice necessary for the

church to have. Everyone’s responses have similar themes. Four out of the eight

participants indicated that adaptability and flexibility are important dimensions of

ministry with people affected by mental illness. This theme includes: more sensitivity,

more patience, more time, or more emotion. Ch17 said, “My conversations with and care

for those with mental illness requires more patience- time, emotion- and recognition that

the condition may be chronic.” Four of the participants included a concern or at least the

need to have recognition that the type of disorder or illness could affect expectations and

socialization in ministry. For example, Ch15 said, “Some types of mental illness seem

better understood. Some, such as (a person with) paranoid schizophrenia cause concern

for safety among “normal” people. There are unusual affects and behaviors that are often

difficult for “normal” people to understand.” Ch19 is the only one who mentioned that

medication, or the lack of medication, could affect the “socialization” or the ability to

comprehend the Bible. Ch1 commented on the need to train leaders on how to deal with

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various scenarios because they could “run into some situations they may not feel

equipped to resolve.” There was only one participant that mentioned that the goals are the

same, but the tools to reach those goals are different. There was no explanation of what

was meant by “tools” except by mention of “supportive environment.”

Church Leader Interview Results

Upon hearing Ch1 tell the story of how and why they connected with “the mental

health healing ministry” of the church where they served; it became apparent that Ch1 hit

a crisis point that made them want to stop the cycle of poor decisions in their life so they

went to the church. Ch1 said,

I felt like maybe some people are sweet well meaning Christian people who tell

me I should just pray and read my Bible and love Jesus and yet it’s not working. I

am still returning to my own vomit. What does that say about me? Am I just more

broken that the normal human being? Have I made this decision too many times

that it is impossible not to make it again?

Ch1 talked about the therapeutic approach combined with the concept of the

twelve-step support group approach of Celebrate Recovery as bringing what was needed

to make changes in life. For Ch1’s church they felt it important to help people develop a

way to tell a person’s story to encourage people to see how God has been with them

throughout their lives even with their mental health condition.

In the second interview, Ch3 shared,

I am trying to normalize counseling, therapy, medication, all that. Like can we get

over ourselves and recognize that we are all broken people. I am trying to

normalize this. If people start to say, “Oh, we can’t talk about that” or “Oh my,

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did you hear the pastor is seeing a counselor” I try to be real open and up front. If

you feel depressed, you don’t have to always feel like that. There just isn’t any

reason you can’t go get help so you get better. I want to encourage them to see a

professional. If you have cancer you don’t stay home. No one does that. So if you

have a struggle with some sort of mental health issue, let’s talk about it.

In summary of this participant’s responses in our conversation, leadership

transparency and willingness to open conversation about mental health was a priority in

the ministry of people affected by mental illness in this church. In addition, there is a list

of professional resources kept up to date and utilized as well as an “unwritten” list of

people who are willing to share their struggles, so a person can have a “relational

connection.”

In the third interview, Ch8 did not seem to think there is a differentiation in

ministry with those affected by mental illness; however, Ch8 did talk about the

importance of boundaries. Ch8 said: “Sometimes our compassion is real, but it doesn’t

necessarily help the person where they are. We can perpetuate the illness or the addiction

if we don’t think about the consequences.”

Research Question #2: Description of Evidence

What is missing in downtown Orlando that would help for people affected by

mental health conditions?

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Community Organization Leader Survey Results

Table 4.11 Response to Community Organization Leader Survey Statement #3

“There is more that can be done for people with mental illness in Orlando.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

CO2

CO13

CO15

CO20

CO21

Across the board, all five participants completely agree that more can be done for

people with mental illness in Orlando.

Table 4.12 Response to Community Organization Leader Survey Statement #5

“I would like to see churches do more for people with or affected by mental illness.”

not at all

somewhat

agree

completely

agree

CO21

CO2

CO13

CO15

CO20

Four out of five participants completely agree that they want to see churches do

more for people affected by mental illness.

Table 4.13 Response to Community Organization Leader Survey Statement #6

“People in Orlando talk openly about mental illness.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

CO15

CO21

CO2

CO13

CO20

In Table #4.12, the majority of the participants revealed that they only somewhat

agree that people in Orlando talk openly about mental illness.

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Community Organization Leader Questionnaire Results

Table 4.14 Responses of Community Organization Leader Question #5 Results

“Do you think more is needed to be done in the Orlando area to help people with or

affected by mental illness?”

Financial support

Education

Advocacy efforts

Normalization

Counseling services/opportunity for care

Prevention services

CO2

CO13

CO15

CO20

CO21

From the questionnaire, question number five addresses this research question. All

five participants agreed that there is more to do in Orlando for people affected by mental

health conditions. As indicated in the chart above, four out of five made comments on the

need for more education. Two of the five participants noted the need for more

opportunities like prevention and particularly those who do not have the financial means

to get counseling.

Question six asked about the ways the participants were addressing mental illness

in Orlando. It was also suggested by CO2 that institutions should “speak out about mental

health conditions, because one in five people are living with a mental health condition.”

In response to question number five, CO13 wrote,

Pastors need to know when and to whom to refer people to get counseling. Because

counseling and any sort of treatment for mental health can be expensive, it was

also suggested the need for more advocacy efforts to persuade policy makers to

create better funding in Florida for people in need.

The fact that pastors are often used as counselors because of the expense of going

to a counselor was noted as an issue that needed to be recognized. These comments

explain why there is a claim in the chart above that there is a lack of financial support.

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The participants do not mention “community” as an important. The need for education

seems important across the board, but a place of inclusion or belonging was never

mentioned. People’s perspective on the topic and how it is dealt with seems to be the

priority.

Community Organization Leader Interview Results

CO20 said that their counseling organization had received phone calls from the

west side of Orlando requesting counseling services, so they researched that side of town

and found that there was a need to open a counseling office. So they did. As the

conversation began to discuss the Pulse Shooting that happened in June 2016; in their

view the city responded well to the tragedy and the mental health needs of everyone

involved. When CO20 expanded on answers given in the questionnaire regarding what

was needed, CO20 said,

I am not on the cutting edge generationally any more. I feel like someone younger

could do something like on social media. In most counseling centers that I am

aware of, at least the ones that are faith based, they have a web presence. Type in

the key words and I think you will find help. I think Orlando is a fairly solid city

in that way. It would be nice in terms of the public. Because of the ethnic

populations, I think some ethnicity, are more hesitant than others to seek

counseling. I think the African American community is a little more hesitant to

seek counseling. The Latino community is a little more hesitant as well.

This was the only person interviewed, including the Church leaders who

mentioned the fact that there are different ethnicities in downtown Orlando and how they

tend to be hesitant to seek help for mental health conditions. CO13 stated: “I think

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education is key. I also refer people to AA (Alcoholic Anonymous). Even clients that

have narcotic problems I refer sometimes. They find AA is much more effective for

them. An alcoholic will always an alcoholic. They need support.”

Table 4.15 Response to Church Pastor/Leader Survey Statement #5

“I would like to see my church do more for people with or affected by mental health

illness.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

Ch3

Ch17

Ch4

Ch1

Ch19

Ch8

Ch15

Ch21

Fifty percent of the participants completely agree that they would like to see their

church do more for people affected by mental illness.

Table 4.16 Response to Church Pastor/Leader Survey Statement #6

“People in Orlando talk openly about mental illness.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

Ch1

Ch15

Ch3

Ch4

Ch19

Ch8

Ch21

Ch17

Fifty percent of the participants somewhat agree that people in Orlando talk

openly about mental illness; twenty five percent of the participants completely agree.

Only one of eight does not think people talk openly about mental illness in Orlando

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Church Leader Questionnaire Results

Table 4.17 Response to Church Pastor/Leader Question #7

“What is missing in the Orlando area to help people with or affected by mental

illness?”

Community

Leisure

Opportunity for care for

poor & underinsured

Low barrier

housing/homeless care

More psychiatric care

Seminar/workshops

Ch1

Ch3

Ch4

Ch8

Ch15

Ch17

Ch19

Ch21

From the church leader questionnaire, question number seven addresses this

research question. Ch17 was the only participant who chose not to address this question.

Ch21 commented that they were too new to the area to really know what is needed and

Ch15 said they didn’t know except that their spouse had trouble finding a psychiatrist.

Ch1 is the only person who recognized lack of opportunity for some people with mental

illness to connect; it was suggested in their answer to question seven that it might be a

good idea to have “a safe place to hang out.” Ch3 was the only one who voiced concern

for the poor and underinsured in their written comments. Ch8 mentioned the need for

short-term and long-term housing. Ch4 suggested the need for more seminars and

workshops so churches would be empowered, but no one else talked about education.

Both Ch8 and Ch19 made a connection between mental illness and homelessness; they

both see the need for better public policy and provision for housing.

In the questionnaires, no one mentioned education as something missing or

needed. Even though all eight of the participants agreed that the church has a

responsibility to educate people about mental illness none of them mentioned it. I noted

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that four out of the five community organization leaders did mention that education was

missing in Orlando.

Church Leader Interview Results

As I mentioned in the results of the church leader questionnaires, Ch1 has a

concern for people with more severe mental illness to have a place to go so they feel a

connection with other people. Ch1 said,

For people with more severe cases of mental illness, like we have a few people

with more severe mental health issues; like one guy who has been coming to our

“healing mental health ministry” is schizophrenic. We just have a smattering of

people who are not going to find success under the type of structure that we do in

our “healing mental health ministry” in terms of doing deep story work. They are

doing what they can do by just sitting in on a sixty-minute meeting by just being

present. I think finding a safe place for people like that to be fed and still have

community is important yet there is a tension because you want to destigmatize it

but you don’t want there to be a distraction for those who want to walk through

this process.

The church where Ch1 serves values relational connections and sees that as important

need in the city of Orlando.

Ch3 talked about normalizing the conversation but recognized that in some cases

people need more professional care than what they have at the church. Keeping a current

list of resources for people with mental illness and setting aside funding for people in

crisis is important to Ch3. In response to the Pulse tragedy, Ch3’s church immediately

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created a $20,000 fund so that any of the professionals who were impacted by the trauma

of the event could get counseling. Ch3 said,

We have several nurses and first responders involved in patient care that are a part

of our church. Some were there for twenty hours straight. They saw things they

had never seen before in their life. That’s when we set up a $20,000 first

responder fund for counseling for anyone who needs it. We sent that to the chief

of police and said, “Hey, anyone who needs counseling can come to us and we

will get them counseling for free.” A number have taken advantage of that. We

have had health care professionals who have taken advantage of it.

Ch3 believes it is important to keep an hear open to what is going on in the community

and seeks to responded with support as needed.

Ch8 shared a story of involvement with people affected by the Pulse tragedy,

We have been very involved in the post pulse situation. We have had eight or ten

families. Not sure quite how many but several were here that Monday of the pulse

shooting. We had made arrangements for our care teams and our ministers to be here to

be available. We had enough knowledge that we had grief counselors from one of the

LGBT centers. We knew our boundary of what we could do. We knew we could be there

for them and let them know we love them and we care for them. But in terms of grief

management our response is gonna be, “we can be with you, we can love you, we can

include you and we can help you.” If you feel like you need something more than that.

We don’t have a mental health counselor on staff but we do have counselors that we

contract with. That’s how we approach things.

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The church where Ch8 serves seeks to known in Orlando as a church that accepts and

loves everyone.

Research Question #3: Description of Evidence

What are some best practices for inviting and including people with or affected by

mental health conditions in the context of a local church?

Community Organization Leader Survey Results

Table 4.18 Response to Church Pastor/Leader Survey Statement #1

“The church has a responsibility to talk about and educate people on the topic of

mental illness.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

Ch1

Ch15

Ch3

Ch4

Ch8

Ch19

Ch21

Sixty-two percent of the participants completely agree that the church has the

responsibility to educate people on mental illness; no participants disagreed with the

statement.

Table 4.19 Response to Church Pastor/Leader Survey Statement #2

“My church is doing a great job of teaching and serving people with or affected by

mental illness.”

not at all

somewhat agree

completely agree

Ch1

Ch8

Ch3

Ch15

Ch21

Ch4

Ch19

Ch17

None of the participants would completely agree that their church is doing a great

job of teaching and supporting people affected by mental illness. Seventy-five percent of

the participants somewhat agree or even less.

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Community Organization Leader Questionnaire Results

Table 4.20 Response to Church Pastor/Leader Question #2

“What specific ways has your church addressed the subject of mental illness within

the past year?”

Financial support

Educational seminars/normalization

Specified ministry

Community center/Opportunity for care

Atmosphere: welcome & safe

Christian precepts: forgiveness, acceptance

CO2

CO13

CO15

CO20

CO21

From the questionnaire, question number two addresses this research question. All

five participants who completed their survey/questionnaires agreed in their answers to

question number two that there is a great opportunity to do more to invite and include

people affected by mental health conditions in the local church. In the chart above it was

suggested not just to have support groups or educational seminars, but practices of

hospitality to create welcoming and safe spaces. Overwhelmingly this chart shows that

all of the participants see a need for the church to be a place that provides opportunity for

care for people with mental health issues.

CO13 shared that the church where CO13 attends has a Sunday school class

specifically for “special education” people, which has systems in place to protect against

sexual predators. In other words, this ministry helps people with mental health disabilities

and, at the same time, sees the need to be aware of how inclusion of people with some

mental health conditions could create a problem if they have a sexual perversion,

addiction or expression that could do more harm. In the answer given by CO21, it was

noted that they did not know if the dimensions of ministry were different, because they

“would like to see mental health normalized.” This could seem contradictory to the

statement made by participant CO13. CO15 wrote about the need for the church to reflect

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the community it is in. CO20 stated that the church should provide outreach that should

include “overall health and mental health.” CO20 gave lengthiest answer to question

number two by saying,

Churches need to always provide a welcoming atmosphere to visitors and quests

and break down stigma in any way possible. The Christian precepts of forgiveness

and acceptance need to permeate through the church, providing a safe home for

anyone to feel welcome.

Community Organization Leader Interview Results

CO20 revealed how their organization is involved in seminars held at a local

church. CO20 commented on these seminars by sharing: “Two of our counselors from

here are going to talk about “taking your emotional temperature” and then in the

following week “depression” and the last week on “anxiety.” So we are just saying, “Ok,

here is where many of us live. Let’s normalize this discussion and what it looks like. This

is how we deal with it ourselves and also with whom we serve and who we relate to.”

CO20 also said that they know of three churches in Orlando that are doing things for

people with mental health conditions by holding support groups or ministries like

“Celebrate Recovery” from Saddleback or even having counseling centers. When asked

what the church should be doing, CO13 said,

I think every church should examine them selves to look at the programs and ask

what (programs) are really necessary for us? I think many times we go off on a

tangent. One time someone when off on a different trail like one time someone

decided that the church needed to have a bar-b-queue pit that could be pulled by a

truck. So we went out and spent three or four thousand then it ended up getting

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stolen. I think the church needs to focus on the children then the parents will

come. The children are the future of the faith. Jesus said, “Suffer the little children

and bring them unto me.” I believe you really need to have a very active

children’s ministry.

CO2 shared a story about a pastor at a mega church who spoke publicly a couple

years ago his struggle with depression. CO2 said this pastor is “the poster child” for what

pastors and churches need to do to set the example for all of us to be vulnerable,

transparent and willing to create conversation about mental health conditions. CO2 said

another practice of churches that is helpful comes in the form of support groups like

“Alanon or Narcanon.” CO2 said,

Another way is a holistic approach, which sounds like what you are trying to plan.

It’s health and wellness day on Saturday at Macedonia Baptist Church in

Eatonville, which is a black church. Oh, my gosh. There is something there every

Saturday whether it’s a seminar on mental illness, or health or finances. It’s not

you just come here every Sunday morning; we give you your church inoculation

then you’re gone for the week. It’s an overall approach of how we can help you

here. There is something going on there all the time. It’s an overall approach to be

that pillar of entry point.

And finally, CO2 said that the practice of reaching out and welcoming people of

all kinds is important; inclusion is a practice.

CO21 made comments that mental health is not something that needs to be

“fixed.” It needs to be addressed and then seen as a part of life. CO21 said,

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Studying in Switzerland, I can tell you that in Switzerland in the culture mental

illness is thought of as basic hygiene. If you were to see somebody that is not

taking care of them selves, you would wonder why that is and look for a way to

help them to take care of themselves. Especially if you care about them, if you see

they haven’t had a shower in two weeks so you may say, “Hey look, you need to

take a shower on a regular basis!” This may not be a good example, but there is

this way of thinking that there must be something seriously wrong medically if

you are not doing these things to take of yourself that is essential. So that’s why it

seems they use a medical model. Insurance pays for psychologists to make very

good money there; they are expected to be very highly trained. They don’t have a

masters level counselor there. In the United States people who get a masters get

this sixty-hour degree, but in Switzerland, it’s a ninety-six hour degree. It’s about

the equivalent of a science degree. It appears that people really seek a balance in

religious life, work life and leisure.

CO21 then gave a story about how a church has asked for CO21 to partner to help with

educating people on mental health. It seems there is a larger disconnect in the US versus

Switzerland.

Church Leader Questionnaire Results

Table 4.21 Response to Church Pastor/Leader Question #6

“What are the best practices your church uses to invite and include people with or

impacted by mental illness in the life of your church?”

Leadership involvement

Educational seminar

Hospital-attending needs

Normalization/dialogue

Ch1

Ch3

Ch4

Ch8

Ch15

Ch17

Ch19

Ch21

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From the church leader questionnaire, question number six addresses this research

question. Ch21 was the only one who wrote, “None at this time” in response to this

question, although Ch17 said that church had little “intentionality in this area.” Through

the efforts of a social worker the church of Ch17 learned how to respond to a boy in their

church with a mental disability so they are more open to others with mental disabilities as

a result. Hospitality and normalization are the two practices that are seen as most

valuable in ministry that includes people affected by mental illness. The participants in

their descriptions of being hospitable used the following terms: inviting, welcoming,

connecting, and conversing. Ch4 said this about normalizing: “I believe we offer helpful

resources that maintain Christ-centered focus, while not shaming or marginalizing an

individual because of their illness.” Each participant gives a short list on what practices

they have for this ministry, but each is a little different. Ch17 acknowledges the important

of being personal in their connections and Ch19 mentions the importance of follow up.

Ch3 and Ch1 indicated the importance of leadership involvement. According to Ch1

education is important so the church holds seminars and offers personal invitations to be

involved in their “healing mental health ministry.”

Church Leader Interview Results

Ch1 told me that they believe there are several practices they do as a church to

invite and include people affected by mental health conditions. Ch1 said they hold a

series of ninety-minute seminars on three consecutive Mondays each July to educate

people on mental health topics such as: anxiety, depression and emotional healing.

Additionally, each September there is a Sunday that is totally focused on teaching people

Bishop 117

about mental health conditions and they make an invitation for their weekly “group”

ministry for people affected by mental health conditions.

Ch8 stated that their church wanted to make sure of the following: “You are

welcome and you are loved. We will deal with you as a human being created by God. If

you identify or need resources, we will help you find the resources that you need. If you

have trouble to get the care that you identify that you think you need or want then we will

help you as best we can. I think that is the church’s role really.” In the opinion of Ch4

“we should not focus on the illness. But we (the church) should be welcoming and

supportive of those with illnesses.”

Summary of Major Findings

A lot of information was collected through the literature review; study of

scripture, and in the data collected from the research tools designed for this project. The

findings are as follows:

 People with or affected by a mental health conditions need to feel like they have

belonging in a community, not just inclusion, so they can grow in faith without

being relegated to life in the margins.

 Because the scriptures tell the Church to be a voice for the voiceless, Christians

have a responsibility to advocate for people affected by mental health conditions

through education and being educated so the church can effectively serve people

in our communities.

 Involvement in the life of a church should include discipleship and leadership

even in the midst of brokenness and weakness of physical, mental or emotional

illness.

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 There should be a blending of church models in the development of a new church

model for people with or affected by mental health conditions.

 The practice of healing would be useful when developing ministry with and for

those affected by mental health conditions.

CHAPTER 5

LEARNING REPORT FOR THE PROJECT

Overview of the Chapter

This research project has sought to explore the practices of churches and

community organization in order to assess what should be incorporated into a church

model that is intentional about inviting and including people with or affected by mental

health conditions. Thus far, five major findings have been reached. First, people with or

affected by a mental health conditions need belonging in a community, not just inclusion,

so they grow in faith without being relegated to life in the margins. Second, because the

scriptures tell Christians to be a voice for the voiceless, the Church has a responsibility to

advocate for people affected by mental health conditions through education and being

educated so the Church can effectively serve people in every community. Third,

involvement in the life of a church should include discipleship and leadership even in the

midst of brokenness or weakness of physical, mental or emotional illness. Fourth, there is

not a cookie cutter way to develop a church or ministry for people with mental health

conditions. However, blending aspects of the church models studied would be useful in

creating a new model. The practice of healing would be useful for a church developing

ministry with and for those affected by mental health conditions. These five findings will

be expounded upon in this chapter.

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Major Findings

First Finding-Belonging, Not Just Inclusion

People with or affected by a mental health conditions need to feel like they have

belonging in a community, not just inclusion, so they can grow in faith without being

relegated to life in the margins.

Personal Observation

At the onset of this project, it was assumed that people affected by mental illness

needed inclusion in a faith community and were sometimes pushed to the margins of their

faith community. As stated in the reasons why this project was important to pursue, I

shared that people whom I knew personally and people who were in church families

where I had served had shared with me their fear of telling others of their struggles with

addiction or a mental health condition because they were afraid of how others would

perceive them even in the church. Some people I spoke with felt like their AA group

(Alcoholic Anonymous) or their Al-Anon (Co-dependent) programs were more like a

church than the church where they attended because they felt included as a part of a

community with all their flaws. They felt like they were connected in these groups in a

way they could not be in their churches.

Prior to this project, I visited or learned about three different faith communities

with a focus on the people group mentioned earlier in this project. The first faith

community was Mercy Street, birthed out of Chapelwood, in Houston, Texas. The second

was Jacob’s Well birthed out of Christ Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Third was the

Celebrate Recovery community developed at Saddleback Church in southern California.

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When I attended a worship service at Mercy Street, I recognized some similarities

in how people where participating throughout the service like in an AA meeting.

Everyone was invited to participate in the service; some would share out loud if they

were celebrating a milestone like being in recovery of an addiction or they would share a

prayer request if they were going to court to seek custody of their kids. It became evident

to me that people involved in this community felt like they belonged to something bigger

than themselves.

As mentioned in the autobiographical statement of chapter one, part of my call to

be involved in this research project was related to the testimony of Jamey Lee who

became a pastor and then started a faith community in Memphis, Tennessee based on the

Twelve Step Recovery format. I never participated in the life of Jacob’s Well, but I

learned a great deal through their founder, Jamey Lee in phone conversations and emails.

The third church that I include here was the Celebrate Recovery ministry within

Saddleback in Southern California. They created a Twelve Step ministry based on

Scripture and then offered the nuts and bolts of the ministry so other churches could have

their own. I did not attend a Celebrate Recovery service prior to this project, but I had

read about this ministry online and talked to them about starting a Celebrate Recovery

Model at the church where I was serving at the time. Celebrate Recovery taught me the

importance of celebrating the progression on one’s faith journey even with hang ups,

woundedness or addiction.

In all three of the above experiences, it seemed like these faith communities were

actually ministries within a larger Church. All three were primarily focused on addiction

although they somewhat acknowledged emotional wounds or destructive habits. The

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larger churches of these ministries offered support like prayer, finances, staff assistance

and other resources to these ministries, but technically the people within these ministries

were an entity of ministry of the larger church and this perplexed me. The focus in these

three ministries was about creating a safe space for vulnerability, healing and building

relationships with Jesus as well as one another and yet they seem to live in the margins of

the church.

During this project, I participated in ministry offerings for people with a mental

illness at various churches in order to have an experiential reference point instead of just

having an intellectual concept within downtown Orlando. I attended three evenings of the

Celebrate Recovery ministry at a Baptist Church in Orlando and found myself wondering

how a person who does not know anything about faith would feel attending. I felt the

religiosity of it. I also attended worship services at another church in downtown Orlando

a few times, because I knew they had a ministry similar to Celebrate Recovery. I learned

that they had developed a new model, ReGroup, for reaching people with mental health

conditions. Through the influence of Dan Allender, this ministry was started and

continues to encourage people to claim the story of how God has been at work in their

life as well as surrendering the work that needs to still be done. Both of these ministries

have impacted numerous people and continue to do so. I spoke extensively with the

leader of ReGroup who shared with me that the church makes an intentional effort to

make people who struggle with mental illness to feel included and valued. These

churches speak from the pulpit about the need to get professional help if you are

struggling and the need to get into a support group to find companionship for the journey.

They offer education on symptoms of various mental health conditions through various

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ways. So, in my research I have found two churches in Orlando that seem to be

invitational and inclusive.

As stated in this finding, the need for inclusion or companionship in a community

is not a new concept. The information in the surveys, questionnaires and interviews,

reveals a tendency to compartmentalize people living with or affected by mental illness

even if unintentionally. In some cases, the way programs, support groups, or ministries

are set up, brings marginalization. They may be included but not necessarily embraced in

relationship or called into leadership or service. In a phone conversation with author Amy

Simpson, I asked her to consider what comes to mind when she thinks of an inclusive

church. She noted that there are care ministries at her church, and she listed various

churches with care ministries in her book. It became apparent to her that their efforts to

be inclusive by having support groups and gatherings on a particular night there was

something not quite right. Amy’s response was this:

My fear is that the message we are sending is this: “when people with problems

come to church they should come on Monday nights when the people with

problems get together. The implication is that the rest of us don’t have problems.”

If you are not pulling people in then, we are marginalizing them to be people with

mental illness whom we serve. There are multiple reasons this is important to

recognize. It’s as if we are saying people with mental illness are the only needy

ones and maybe they’re not as capable. Actually, everyone has something to deal

with- nowhere is that more true than the church. Mental health does not catch God

off guard.

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Her comments confirmed what I had heard from various people, including what I was

hearing in some of the responses from participants in this project. Amy went on to say

that all people are given gifts, even people with mental health conditions. Many churches

tend to suggest that a person get “their life” fixed so they can be involved in the life of

the church or maybe even be a leader. There was no mention of discipling or equipping

people with mental health conditions for leadership. I know there are people on boards or

serving as pastors who are on medication for bipolar, depression, and anxiety. For the

most part they keep it private because of shame and stigma. Creating relationships where

people feel they belong means they are valued and heard; they would be missed if they

were not there.

When we talk about “belonging” or walking along side someone who might be in

crisis or even has a chronic struggle with their mental health, it should be noted that this

person does not need to have their life “fixed” by their friend or companion. To build

relationship means you walk with them as they have discovery, offering love and hope. In

one of the interviews a church leader shared the following perspective:

One of the things that I found most helpful that a counselor said when I was at a

seminar on anxiety and depression was, “For the most part when we rush in to try

to solve someone else’s anxiety or depression by trying to tell them God has a

plan, or everything happens for a reason, or any of those insensitive things that

people try to say when someone is struggling. It’s not that we want to alleviate

their discomfort, but that we want to alleviate ours because it makes us just as

uncomfortable to sit in a moment with someone who is struggling with anxiety

and depression, because we don’t know what to do and we don’t know how to fix

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it.” He said that’s actually one of the best things you can do for someone

struggling with anxiety and depression is just to sit there with them in that

helplessness, because that is the closest place of empathy, because they feel a

sense of helplessness. There is not easy solution. I think people are afraid of it,

because they don’t know how to fix it. They don’t want to be involved in things

they don’t know how to fix. That’s my perception.

People need community. People need companionship. It takes an incredible amount of

effort to seek relationship with people who may are different whether it be due to

physical or mental illness, or whatever the case may be.

Literature Review

Several of the books reviewed in this project revealed stories of people who felt

excluded from the life of the church while they or a loved one were in crisis with a

mental illness. Due to some scientists negating the reality of the spiritual aspects of a

person, distrust for faith in God has ensued, but as mentioned there are some scientists

like, Dr. Matthew Stanford, who help start MHGA and thus, given Biblical and

Theological considerations for people affected by mental health conditions.

In chapter two, reference was made to a curriculum, called HOPE, which was

written specifically for people struggling with mental illness by Saddleback Church. In

the introductory videos of HOPE, Kay and Rick Warren mention John Swinton’s

encouragement to consider the concept of radical friendship as the real need for people

affected by mental health conditions. Swinton shared his observation:

…daily I encountered people who were in desperate need of the type of inclusive

community the church is called upon to be—people who, while often requiring

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professional help, needed much more than medicine and therapy; people with

long-term mental health problems who were lonely, isolated and broken, and who

were desperate to find a place of belonging where they could encounter

relationships that would enable them to find value and hope in what was very

often a profoundly hopeless and valueless existence; individuals who needed to

learn what it means to love, to be loved, and to experience the love of God as it

was expressed within his fellowship on earth, the church (Swinton 25-26).

Swinton proposes that “inclusion” is not enough. In a crowded room people can feel just

as lonely as being the only person in the room if there is no connection, no reciprocity of

a person, no honoring of the person. At the core of every person is a need for belonging.

At the heart of this “form of ministry lies the struggle to create an atmosphere of

acceptance, respect, and understanding within Christian communities” (Swinton 165).

Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, is a Frenchman who was humbled and inspired

to create communities for people with intellectual disabilities (The Heart of L’Arche

Vanier 9). There are now over one hundred communities in at least thirty countries and

he has written extensively about what he has learned in the process of founding this

organization and developing relationships with people of intellectual disabilities. In his

book, Becoming Human, he talks about the importance of belonging: “It is in belonging

that people discover what it means to be human. When we begin to believe that there is

greater joy in working with and for others, rather than just for ourselves, then our society

will truly become a place of celebration” (Vanier 66-67). In consideration of creating a

faith community that has a positive, life giving, healing, and hope connection can be

made to Vanier’s statement about the purpose of the L’Arche communities, which is “to

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help people move from their broken, negative self-image into a positive one. We try to

help them move from a desire to die to a desire to live, from self-hatred to self-love”

(138). Rather than condemning or criticizing someone for their condition, Vanier

encourages people to seek oneness in the belonging of relationships as humans when they

are vulnerable and real about their flaws and the need for each other.

In her writings, Amy Simpson expresses the feelings of exclusion families feel

when they have loved ones that struggle with mental illness. Exclusion is not necessarily

the lack of resources, but in the lack of acknowledgment. While growing up and as an

adult, she continues to observe churches that struggle with how to respond to people with

mental health conditions. There is a silence that pervades faith communities like a fog

with stigma and it deepens the divide of marginalization. There is an over spiritualization

of mental illness that calls forth a comparison of humans so that people are divided into

categories of normal and abnormal. As mentioned in chapter two, Amy Simpson told her

story of her struggle with the silence that she experienced at church when her mom went

into a catatonic state while she growing up. In a phone conversation with Amy Simpson,

the researcher asked her what she had learned since the writing of her book. She admitted

a struggle to find organizations that gave a “Christian” perspective to answers people

with mental illness might need to hear. Since the writing of her book, she learned about

Mental Health Grace Alliance and Fresh Hope.

Biblical/Theological Review

There are three stories that are important to review for this first finding: first, the

story of the paralytic in the Gospel of Mark, secondly, the story of the Lazarus being

resurrected from the dead in the Gospel of John, and thirdly, the parable of the lost sheep

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in the Gospel of Luke. Each story highlights the radical friendship of Jesus. God sent

Jesus into the world, not just to create a way to include humanity into his family but also

to create a deeper relationship with people by his Spirit. A person can be in a room full of

people, but still feel very lonely. Until a person’s spirit touches another when they are

accepted and embraced with more than just a physical touch, there is no connection that

creates a sense of belonging.

In the second chapter of Mark, a picture is painted of people who have heard of

Jesus’ authority over demons and illness, so they crowd around his Capernaum home.

Maybe some of them needed healing or maybe some of them just wanted to see for

themselves if Jesus really performed miracles. The story claims that there were so many

people in the house that a paralyzed man was unable to get through a door or window to

ask Jesus for healing. In what appears to be desperation, four of the paralyzed man’s

friends created a hole in the roof of the house so they could lower their friend down in

front of Jesus. This story is among several that reveal Jesus’ authority in these first

chapters of Mark. This story unfolds because of the depth of belonging, or radical

friendship, that was displayed to show love to the paralyzed man. What if the church

went out of their way to show radical love to people who are affected by mental health

conditions? The church is more likely to accept people with physical ailments than to

include people with mental health conditions so I ask the Church should consider

responding as these friends did with radical friendship.

Lazarus was a friend of Jesus who died, was placed in a tomb, and then was

brought back to life four days after his death. The story was recorded in the eleventh

chapter of John. The story foreshadows the death and resurrection of Jesus and also the

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resurrecting power that is available in our lives as well. In John Swinton’s book,

Resurrecting the Person, he states:

The model of friendship presented in the life and work of Christ offers real

possibilities for therapeutic change. Committed friendship that reaches beyond

culturally constructed barriers and false understanding and seek to “resurrect the

person”—who has become engulfed by their mental problems – is a powerful

form of relationship (Swinton 139).

An important piece to this story is the command of Jesus for the people to act. First, he

commanded the people to remove the stone of the tomb where the dead Lazarus laid, and

second, he commanded the people to remove the cloths that bound Lazarus. So here again

is a story of how radical friendship is important to help someone with companionship in

life. How might the Church help people with mental health conditions to be released from

the shame, fear, or rejection that could be considered analogous to the strips of cloth that

bound Lazarus? Jean Vanier also spoke about belonging and acceptance as it is lived out

in the communities of L’Arche, “[we] help people move from their broken, negative self-

image into a positive one. We try to help them move from a desire to die to a desire to

life, from self-hatred to self-love” (Becoming Human Vanier 138).

The third story is a parable that mirrors the reception of God when one of his

children has been lost and then found. The story about a shepherd going after a lost lamb

is told to a group of Pharisees who think they are righteous and good. They questioned

every move that Jesus made. This story was to challenge the Pharisees’ understanding

about who is lost and in need of care. They certainly did not believe that they were lost.

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The story offers hope to look to Jesus as the rescuer and healer just as a lamb would look

to the shepherd as healer and caretaker.

God is constantly in communion as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Triune God

offers the greatest example of what it means to create belonging. In the beginning God

created all that is seen and unseen and then sought to connect with his created. The

scriptures even give insight into the conversation. God did not put the world in motion as

a way to include creation in his resume. Humanity was created to have a need to belong

to him and one another in companionship. Humans are innately given a need to recognize

that they belong to God and to have connection with each other as his people.

Second Finding: The Church’s Responsibility for Social Justice

Because the scriptures tell the Church to be a voice for the voiceless, Christians

have a responsibility to advocate for people affected by mental health conditions through

education and being educated so the church can effectively serve people in our

communities.

Personal Observation

Prior to this research project, I was aware that various hospitals had been

established and developed through the efforts of various Christian faiths like the

Methodist Hospital and Saint Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas. In Orlando,

another example of the Church administering to the physical needs of humanity is the

Seventh Day Adventist Church with a network of eight hospitals throughout the city. As

a Pastor serving in Texas for ten years, I knew of various Christian counseling centers

like The Krist Samaritan Counseling Center and The Healing Center in Houston. Both of

these started by Protestant denominations. As a student at Asbury Theological Seminary,

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I have learned about the Mental Health Counseling Degree program at their Orlando

campus, and one similarly offered through the Reformed Theological Seminary. God has

blessed many Christians with gifts and vision to address the needs for the physical and

psychological aspects of people. However, there are still so many that lack understanding

of mental illness and they even have fear of discussing it.

When people are struggling to make sense of their pain often they turn to the

church for answers. As an example, I remember that after 911, the day four planes went

down in a terrorist attack that killed thousands of people on American soil, people

flocked to churches for answers has to why or how this could happen. Prior to this

project, I believed that it was the church’s responsibility to educate people about various

issues in society like how to respond to a terrorist attack or how to respond when a person

has cancer or is a victim of sexual abuse. Throughout American history, churches have

gathered in solidarity against injustice and offered a voice for the voiceless in situations

like slavery, civil rights and poverty. The Church has provided for specific needs in their

communities by building hospitals, food pantries, employment training centers, schools,

and in some cases, counseling centers. Since working on this project, I have learned that

people look to whoever is willing to lead to a solution; sometimes people look to the

government, sometimes to a community organization, and sometimes people look to a

religious entity. A person may not be able to learn everything about cancer or diabetes,

slavery or civil rights, literacy to learning disabilities, mental illness or mental health

conditions. However, the Church has a responsibility to know enough to represent Jesus

in the midst of these elements in life or people will look elsewhere or maybe even ignore

that which they do not understand.

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People need holistic care; to offer holistic care is to recognize that we as humans

are spiritual, emotional, physical, mental, and relational beings. Humans have a mind to

reason and solve problems with, emotions to stir us to respond, bodies to enable action,

relationships to create companionship and a spirit to empower and connect us with the

divine for strength to do that which we cannot do on our own. The Church is the

representation of Christ to bring peace and love to all people.

I discovered in this project that all of the research participants felt the church

should educate people about mental illness. This doesn’t mean they take the role of the

scientists, therapists or psychiatrists. The church should partner with professionals who

have studied a great deal in this arena and then present the information in various ways

like my previous church did with a one-day seminar, through sermons, prayers or

testimonies. A twist in this understanding about education came in my conversation with

the author, Amy Simpson, when we talked about the responsibility of the church. She

suggested that, “the church has a responsibility TO BE educated.” The Church is not

expected to be the expert, but to be educated enough to respond to people with or affected

by mental health disorders.

In conversations before and during this research project, I found myself struggling

to find the right terminology for discussing mental illness or mental health. The year

before starting this project, the church where I was serving held a conference focused on

educating people about mental illnesses like depression, bipolar, anxiety, schizophrenia.

During the year prior to the conference, several people had shared that they or these types

of illnesses affected a loved one and they wanted more information about mental health

and how to respond to loved ones who struggled. We decided to title the conference as

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Rethink: Mental Health, which included the founders from the organization, Mental

Health Grace Alliance, in leading our agenda. I knew prior to this project that there are

people in and out of our churches asking questions about mental illness, how to live with

people who have mental illness and how to know who to go to for help and how should I

talk about it respectfully?

As I started this research project, I was drawn to the term “mental illness” because

my hope was geared toward creating a church model for people affected by mental illness

instead of the “mentally healthy,” after all, Jesus came for the sick, not the well (Matt.

9:12). Along the way, I discovered NAMI, the National Association of Mental Illness, the

National Institute for Mental Health and MentalHealth.gov. Obviously, each of these

organizations use different terminology related to the same topic. In the surveys,

questionnaires and interviews there was a lot of discussion regarding what terminology

should and should not be used in their churches and community organizations.

In one of the interviews with a church pastor, he told me that he struggled with

filling out the survey/questionnaire that I designed because he did not know what I meant

by “mental illness.” He acknowledged the broadness of what that term could or could not

encompass so he was hesitant to give answers. During this research project, I found that

defining mental illness or mental health was difficult but helpful and actually vital to the

understandings or misunderstandings related to the subject matter of this project. All

three of the counselors that I interviewed said they did not like the term, “mental illness,”

because they felt it had a negative connotation. The Director of NAMI acknowledged that

the term, mental illness, was a part of their organization’s identity. However, sometimes

it is helpful to use terms like mental health disorders like the DSM5 (Diagnostic and

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Statistical Manual or Mental Health Disorders: 5th Edition), which lists over two hundred

mental health conditions.

All four of community organization leader participants were concerned about

labeling or identifying a diagnosis as a mental illness, because they believed this would

give a greater propensity to the illness, versus their identity as a person. Each of the

pastors or church leaders interviewed said they do not use the term, “mental illness,”

because of the weight it carries or the assumptions that are made from it due to the stigma

associated with any conversation around it. Two of the four church leaders that gave an

interview said they were open with their mental conditions and as a result, people would

come to them and share their struggles. All of the church leaders also acknowledged that

sometimes mental illness is due to an emotional wound so sometimes they use that term,

or they use words like mental issues or struggles. There were two leaders that gave

definitions that I considered insightful to share in this paper. In my interview with Ch8

they stated:

My definition is “a person who is outside of the norm, the kind of established

norm in terms of how behavior is supposed to occur.” That is the most broad

definition I would have. I mean I would include: “the ability to cope, the ability to

fit within societal groups, as well as taking care of themselves and taking care of

others,” that sort of thing. Basically, “a person who is not in their behavior

matching established norms.

Then in an interview with Ch1 they stated:

I think I would probably use that term (mental illness) to categorize a very broad

spectrum to talk about mental and mood disorders; certainly anxiety and

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depression would come under there, OCD would come under there, addiction

would come under there. Partially because I think I have met so many people in

my time in our ministry who have addiction and use something to help with their

mental health issue. It seems to be a medication they can tolerate to cover up

mental illness; anything where our brain is sabotaging our bodies and our

relationships.

As a result of research, I have decided that I want to use the term, “mental health

conditions,” when referring to something related to mental health issues, disorders,

disabilities, problems or illnesses. A mental health condition is a feeling, or way of

thinking or mood that diminishes a person’s life in such a way that they are unable to

cope with day-to-day living; some conditions are severe or chronic while others can be

managed through therapy, practices or medication. I believe it is also important to say

that a person with a mental health condition can lead a meaningful, even productive life.

As stated earlier in this paper, one of the reasons for this project was to raise

awareness and courage within the Church so that advocacy and acceptance would rise for

those with mental illness. Many people hide their struggles for fear of rejection or shame.

While on a forty day fast in 2014, the author of this paper saw a play in which a woman

used the term “invisible” to describe how she felt when she attended church. The play,

Women in the Pit, was written by Joyce Sylvester, and tells the story a woman pastor’s

struggle with finding her place in life let alone which pulpit she should preach within As

the play proceeded, it was made known that the woman preacher was not being authentic

with her past nor supportive to a daughter who felt like a victim of sexual abuse,

alcoholism and insignificance. The daughter said she felt “invisible” when she was in

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church, but she felt alive when she was among the homeless in the park. Seeking those

who feel invisible in the church has lead the author of this paper to ask the question,

“Could it be that people do not enter the Church or attend a church, because they feel

they have to wear a mask to be seen?” Eliminating stigma happens when people talk

openly about mental illness or mental health while pursuing life with a person who has a

mental health condition rather than shunning them.

As mental illness was discussed in the survey/questionnaires and interviews the

reality of the shame associated with mental illness was evident. In an interview with

pastor Ch1, it was said:

With mental illness people think things like “Oh, they are crazy,” or “Oh, they are

schizophrenic, or they have OCD” or something like that. I don’t think that is

what the term is intended to convey, but often it does. So that’s the term. The

stigma associated with mental illness is its’ own category, because they are so

poorly understood depending on the context.

In an interview with one of the community leaders CO2 gave a prominent pastor’s story

as an example of how people respond towards people who have mental illness:

When we talk about illness like suicide, there is this way of thinking that “oh, my

you can’t have someone with those thoughts working with us,” however, it’s just

an illness that needs to be treated. Again I mention Bill Barnes who talked about

his mental illness. It was a big deal that he spoke openly, because people saw him

do all these great things and yet he came around and shared that he was the same

guy that everyone it knew even though he had depression. He had depression for

20 years. For him it was such a history. He figured out that there was no logical

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reason for him to feel the way he did and yet he showed he could live life and do

all these amazing things with depression. When we say “illness” we may think of

it as when someone as diabetes, cancer, asthma or some chronic condition. If you

think of it as like when someone as asthma you don’t think twice about it, but

when someone comes to church and says, “oh my daughter, has whatever and

needs some extra time to walk out of the church,” then people’s heads turn and

you see this change in people’s receptivity of a person, because of the stigma of

mental illness.

Sometimes the word, “stigma” is used, but across the board in the completed

survey/questionnaires that I designed, church leadership used the words associated with

“socialization” of people with mental illness as a dimension that has to be handled

differently than with the “normal” people if you will. Because leaders are saying there

needs to be “normalization” for people affected by mental illness, then there must be a

differentiation which causes me to wonder if this is their way of saying there is stigma

with mental illness just as there was with leprosy in previous centuries.

Literature Review

The literature that I reviewed for this project verified the belief that people, like

myself have been afraid to share their own stories of struggle with eating disorders, or

depression, or being bipolar or having a mom who goes in and out of a catatonic state due

to schizophrenia. In Amy Simpson’s book she shared the perspective of a friend about

stigma:

The confusion of the culture is mirrored by the confusion of the church, which is

mirrored by the confusion of Christian families. Christian families are wondering,

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“Who can I go to: who will listen to me? And ideally, who will listen to me with

my perspective on life? My perspective that tells me there is a God who loves me,

who sent his Son to die for me.” Well, that’s the church. There are deeper

theological issues and doubts that the church needs to obviously step into. But

again, there’re as confused as those families.

Stigma exists for people in our communities and in our churches. If the Church is to

represent Jesus Christ in the world, we need to offer hope by providing a safe space for

people to come with vulnerability and transparency. In John Swinton’s work, he has

suggested that there is really no one that is the same, in essence, all humans have

differences so the quest to be with people that are same is somewhat futile. He says:

We might, for a variety of reasons, agree to choose to mark out some people as

normal and others as abnormal. However, the truth is that the only real norm for

human beings, even at a genetic level, is difference. When Paul (Gal 3:28) tells us

that there are Jews, Greeks, barbarians, males, females, he is indicating a

fundamental fact about the way the world is: We are inherently different. The

only question is why we choose to treat some forms of difference differently

(Swinton 179).

Humans tend to seek out people that are like themselves as Swinton points out. It could

be concluded that this is why so many churches have congregations that “look” the same.

In general, humanity struggles with pride and the desire to be the considered the best, so

it is conceivable that churches could struggle with accepting people with disabilities or

dysfunction. There are some churches doing a great job of offering resources for people

with disabilities, but there are some that are not.

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People living with a mental illness are not the only ones impacted. In Sons of

Madness: Growing Up and Older with a Mentally Ill Parent, author, Susan Nathiel,

shared twelve stories of men who reflected upon their experiences of growing us as sons

of mentally ill parents (Nathiel 172) :

The stigma around mental illness affects not just the person diagnosed but

everyone connected to him or her family ties. I call it “shame by association”

because many people react as though it’s a contagious disease. They not only

avoid the stigmatized person, but also avoid anyone connected to that person, as if

irrationally afraid of some kind of psychic contamination.

Silence is just as difficult for a person to deal with as bullying someone with yelling.

Over and over in the books reviewed for this project people talked about the silence and

isolation associated with living with a mental illness or having a loved one with a mental

illness.

Biblical/Theological Overview

The Bible may not suggest that a person be “educated about mental illness,”

however, it does give stories of how Jesus responded to people living in shame and he

modeled for us how to deal with issues that people in the culture want to use to offer

condemnation. For example, in John 8:1-11, Jesus was at the Temple when a group of

scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had committed adultery before him as if to

insinuate that she should be punished. The Temple leaders of this story knew that women

who were caught in such a comprising position were to be stoned according to Jewish

law, but Jesus didn’t pick up a stone to put her to death or tell anyone else to do that

either. Instead, Jesus commented on the stature of everyone by saying, “Let anyone

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among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:8). Not one

person threw a stone; they all turned away. The woman was shamed in public, but Jesus

chose to be a voice for her when she was in need of help. Shouldn’t the church be a voice

to defend the people living with mental health conditions just as Jesus was a voice for this

woman? We all have sin, we all need grace and we all need the Church to be like Jesus

standing in the gap for us.

Another biblical example of being an advocate for people in need can be found in

the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37. It was a lawyer who asked Jesus

how to have eternal life. Jesus responded by saying he should “love the Lord your God

will all your hear, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind,

and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). The lawyer acts as if he doesn’t understand

what Jesus means by neighbor. Jesus uses a story to reveal that the people we are

supposed to care for are the least likely; we are to offer whatever gifts we have whether it

is financial, physical, relational, intellectual or spiritual resources.

There are many other scriptures that implore action when there is social injustice

and a need for advocacy. Proverbs 31:8-9 says: “Speak out for those who cannot speak,

for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the

poor and needy.”

Third Finding- Discipleship and Leadership in the Midst of Brokenness

Involvement in the life of a church should include discipleship and leadership

even in the midst of brokenness and pain of physical, mental or emotional illness.

Dimensions of ministry vary from person to person with or affected by mental health

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conditions, and therefore, a persons’ ability to be involved in the life of some church

models, including discipleship, may be questioned.

Personal Observations

As stated earlier in this project, I have heard a variety of negative references to

people with mental illness; the shame associated kept me from sharing my own struggle

with depression and anxiety. In addition to the struggles I dealt with personally, I

developed relationships with several people who struggled with depression to the extent

that they had to take medication daily to deal with day to day living. I also learned about

a friend’s daughter going through diagnostic testing to find out that she was diagnosed

with bipolar. All of the people I mentioned were involved in the life of a church in some

way, but they kept their struggles private. Each one was involved in a Bible study or

small group and attended church regularly. Over the course of this project, it has seemed

that more and more people have broken their silence in order to share their struggles with

mental health conditions. Some people I know shared within their involvement with a

church and some were not.

During this project, it was discovered that all except one of the participants

believe that there are different dimensions needed in this type of ministry. These

dimensions were described in ways such as: sensitivity, listening, flexibility,

socialization, normalization and patience. There were a few comments made about

expectations being different depending on how debilitating someone’s condition is for

coping with life. Three of the participants noted that expectations for what a person

“could or could not do” were of consideration when thinking about the dimensions of this

ministry. In one of the interviews with a pastor, it was said,

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In my opinion, very little (is different in ministry to people affected by mental

illness). Acknowledgment of the illness and its impact should not be overlooked,

but as a minister my goal is to point people to forward movement in relation to

Christ. The toolbox for aiding that person may be slightly different, but the goals

should be the same.

It could be said that this pastor is the only one who considers discipleship as part of the

dimensions of this ministry. Through the evaluation the other answers received, it could

be said that there is not a cookie cutter way to be in ministry with people affected by

mental illness, because each person is unique with uniqueness to their condition. In the

results of the completed tools, when mental illness was mentioned it seems their

responses associated the ministry with the acute, more severe cases as unique and in need

of personalized treatment rather the multiple other less visible conditions.

In a phone conversation with Amy Simpson, it was mentioned that a person with

mental illness should and could be considered for leadership within a church. She noted

this is one of the ways to eliminate stigma. When we include all people in leadership, it

opens up our perspectives and brings in new voices that may have blessings that could be

missed. Simpson did acknowledge that it would be difficult for her mother to be in

leadership at a church, because of the severity of her illness at times placing her in and

out of deep catatonic consciousness at times. Simpson mom may not have been a leader

at the church, but her leadership did lead Simpson to know that her mother loved Jesus

and cared for each of them even in the midst of her illness.

As we discuss the importance of discipleship and leadership, I want to mention

David Mandeni who is a Christian and overseer of the mental health ministry HOPE, at

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Saddleback. Mandeni shared his testimony of God’s power in his life helping him with

his diagnosis of schizophrenia twenty years ago. Through treatment and support of family

and friends, including medication, he worked in behavioral health for twenty years and

most recently has been developing the mental health ministry. The illness, schizophrenia,

is not the differentiating factor for ministry, the person’s identity and needs must be

accessed even more than a list of symptoms applied. Both of the people just mentioned

know Jesus, but each have a different journey with mental illness and each are a beloved

child of God.

Literature Review

In an article recently a woman of prominence in the Christian culture of America,

Rebekah Lyons, was documented as saying mental illness was something that could be

prayed away. Lyons had an experience in which her daughter had an anxiety attack so

they prayed and it went away. Later in a talk she was giving at the “IF” conference she

was talking about the power of prayer, but she didn’t have awareness of how people with

mental illnesses that have not gone away would receive her comments (“What Made

Mental Illness A ‘Sin’?” Lee). Sometimes it is assumed that a person has to be healed

from a mental health condition, before they are “set right” before God and useful for his

kingdom. In reality, God uses people’s brokenness, and he wants even people affected by

mental health conditions to be disciples.

Michael Frost is a prominent pastor and church planter from Australia who wrote

about discipleship in his book, Surprise the World: The Five Habits of Highly Missional

People. He suggests that habits help a person develop their relationship with God and

others so that they become a part of who one is. He acknowledged there are very simple

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practices that can be done to show who or what a person’s life is really about. The habits

may be different for different people, but he suggests these: blessing (offering a blessing),

eating (sharing a meal), listening (being in silence), learning (spending some time in

scripture), and sent (being connected in the community outside of the church) (Frost 22).

Each one of these practices reveal dimensions that are helpful in discipleship. To be a

disciple is not about knowing everything there is to know about Jesus; it is about who a

person becomes while knowing him. So, a person with a mental health condition does not

have to be filled with knowledge but can be in pursuit of Jesus with his love and grace.

Biblical/Theological Review

After supper on the night that Jesus shared his last meal with his disciples, he

wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and washed the feet of each

disciple. This action of Jesus as recorded in the thirteenth chapter of John shows how

Jesus adapted in such a way that showed his disciples how much he wanted to serve

them. This action set the example for Christians to follow in serving each other. Jesus

showed his willingness to alter dimensions of ministry as needed to show his love, mercy

and grace. Ministry should always point to who Jesus is and should allow for change as

needed.

There are many scriptures that suggest discipleship; to be a disciple is to learn, but

even more than that it is to follow and abide in Jesus. In the fifteenth chapter of John,

Jesus is teaching the disciples what it means to follow him and what it means to know

Jesus. Disciples must abide in Jesus just as a branch is connected to its trunk and its roots.

The branch bears fruit, because it is connected to its base, the vine, and so it is with a

disciple. Disciples grow and bear fruit when connected to giver of life, Jesus.

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Fourth Finding- Blending Church Models

There should be a blending of church models in developing a church or ministry

for people living with or affected by mental health conditions.

Personal Observations

When I started this project three years, I was in the process of implementing a

vision the Lord have given me for a new church called The Distribution Center. This faith

community seeks to reach people with or affected by mental health conditions. A board

of five people was created. We registered with the state and federal governments, and

over time twelve to fifteen people started gathering at our house for dinner, discussing

scripture, sharing prayer, testimonies and communion. Over the past year we have

participated in various community events, and we have been advocating for mental

health. We have discussed opening a coffee house that includes a resource center with

space for creative arts and support groups for people affected by mental health issues

sometime in the near future. For now, our gatherings reflect that of a house church with

table fellowship. We have incorporated some of the findings included in this project from

the recovery minded model or fresh expression models as well.

Upon attending the New Room Conference in September of 2017, I heard a pastor

talk the about this Dinner Church he started in Seattle Washington. My husband turned to

me and said, “Wow, that is what we are doing with our new church.” Some of the

recovery ministries that I have visited included sitting down and having a meal prior to a

worship setting so table fellowship is obviously important. Gathering at the table creates

space for conversation that may leads to confession when people are struggling or

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wounded and allows for more opportunity to speak truth and offer encouragement to one

another.

In the closing year of this Doctor of Ministry program, I was sent to Thailand to

learn about church planting in a country where Christians were a minority. I had heard

and read about house church but had never experienced being involved with one. I had

grown up in traditional, institutional churches. In one of the house churches we visited in

Thailand, we spent two hours sitting on the floor in a service of worship. We prayed

together, shared testimonies of faith, shared communion (with sticky rice and hibiscus

tea), offered our tithes, read scripture, and sang songs. At the end of our time in service, a

woman asked that we pray for a woman who was feeling depressed, because her husband

struggles with alcoholism. It was amazing to hear them ask for prayers with this type of

understanding for mental illness with no one shaming anyone. It was also amazing to see

the love and support around this woman. There was something so sweet about our

conversation of our faith, sharing communion and praying for one another.

In a conversation with my daughter after my Doctor of Ministry immersion trip to

Thailand, I told her that I was really moved by the community experience with the house

church in the north eastern part of the country that I just described. She acknowledged

that this community experience is what she thinks is missing in larger church settings.

Although I had not been involved in a “house church,” she suggested that we, our family,

had been involved in a “house church” when we shared dinner, fellowship, accountability

and our faith with our friends, the Donaldsons and the Kennedys over the years. We may

not have called it house church, but it resembled what we read about in the scriptures.

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In conclusion, there are cowboy churches and traditional churches. There are

churches with specific ethnicities or languages recognized. There are various

denominational churches and non-denominational churches. In the past thirty years, there

have been various recovery minded church, and now I would like to suggest the

distributing church where healing and hope are distributed to all people as we even

embrace people with or affected by mental health conditions.

Literature Review

In an article by a Pastor Reggie Abraham, he revealed how he as a pastor learned

things from someone who struggled with schizophrenia that he never would have learned

were it not for his friendship with a woman named Tammy. He learned that his image of

God was too small, his concept of ministry kept him seeking order. However, God was

sometimes unclean and disorderly. He also learned he thought he had courage, but he

realized it takes a great deal more courage for someone with mental illness to sit in the

pews of a church building among people who stereotype and lack understanding of

mental illness. He also learned that friendship is so important for people with mental

illness, because it shows a person that they are valued beyond their mental illness. This is

why it is important to have a faith community focused on reaching people with or

affected by mental illness or mental health conditions. It has to be a part of the DNA of

the church planted. This does not mean that this new church model should be a recovery

model either, because mental health conditions bring a different set of issues to a person.

It is not their identity, but it is a part of their story.

The aspect of recovery minded churches that is vital to a distributing table

fellowship model is the need to see authenticity and truth and to share these values with

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one another. Brene’ Brown defined love and belonging in her book, The Gift of

Imperfections:

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be

deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows

from the offering with trust, respect, kindness, and affection. Love is not

something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection

that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each of

them. belonging is the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us.

only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our

sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance (Brown

26).

In many institutional churches or large gatherings, there is a trend to have the room dark

and to give space for people to have privacy and silence rather than exposure and

openness. In a house church or table fellowship model, it is more difficult to wear a

mask. There is an opportunity for bringing forth your imperfection and brokenness and an

invitation to be cross any barriers to be a part of something bigger than yourself. There is

an opportunity to claim your place of belonging, your place of connection even with

mental health conditions. Abraham referred to John Swinton’s book, Resurrecting the

Person, as a resource for understanding how to care for people who have mental illness

or disorders and how to build friendships as well:

The model of friendship presented in the life and work of Christ offers real

possibilities for therapeutic change. Committed friendship that reaches beyond

culturally constructed barriers and false understandings and seeks to ‘resurrect the

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person’—who has become engulfed by their mental health problems—is a

powerful form of relationship. It offers hope and new possibilities to people with

the types of mental health problems that are the focus of this book (Swinton 138-

139).

To encourage friendship seems like something the church should already be doing, but

relationships are hard and yet so critical.

Table fellowship is common to all people; it can break down barriers and create

opportunities to share. It is an opportunity for a fresh expression or “a demonstration of

the in breaking of the kingdom of God” (Jones, DTS Magazine) “We need to recover

table fellowship as a spiritual discipline in order to strengthen the bonds of spiritual

friendship among believers who are walking together on the road of discipleship” (Jones)

In Vernon Fosner’s book on Dinner Church, he quotes theologian John Crossnan, “if we

were to watch Jesus when he walked the earth, we’d mostly see him healing and eating.

What an interesting two-point mission statement for a church: healing the broken and

eating with the sinner” (Fosner 29).

Biblical/Theological Review

House churches were mentioned several times in the New Testament: Archippus’s

house in Philemon 1:2, Prisca and Aquila’s house gathered in 1 Corinthians 16:19,

Nympha’s house is mentioned in Colossians 4:15, Epanetus’s house in Romans 16:5,

Lydia in Acts 16:40 and John’s house in Acts 12:12, and Gauis’ house in Romans 16:3.

All of these house churches would probably have participated in the remembrance of the

Last Supper which would have been observed as that which is described in 1 Corinthians

11:23-26, Luke 22:14-3, Mark 14:22-25, or Matthew 26:26-29 or even in the Walk to

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Emmaus story of Luke 24:12-49. Each of the stories in which the bread was broken,

indicates the hearts were warmed and eyes could see the incarnation of Jesus (Luke 24).

There is something unique and special about sharing in a meal around a table and in

being a community.

Additionally, there were several occasions in which Jesus shared a meal with

people who would have seemed to be in the margins of society and some that were

wealthy. Jesus showed that it is good to cross all lines that have been drawn to divide

people by sharing at a table. One of the most spoken about encounters at the table is the

woman with the alabaster jar story in Luke 7:36-50 or Matthew 26:6-13. The people

around a table would not have spoken of the servants around the room let alone speak

directly to them. Jesus shows the women that she is valued, and all people are shown a

way of connection and belonging that was unusual for their day and age. And then there

were stories like in Matthew 9:10-11 or Mark 2:15-17, when Jesus reclined at the table

with tax collectors. These stories also show how Jesus wanted bring people on the

margins of society into fellowship. All people matter and find equity sitting around the

same table sharing openly what is going on in one’s life.

As indicated in review of the materials and research, it is recommended that

people with mental illness or people affected by mental health conditions get

opportunities to share their stories and use their conditions to bring hope and

encouragement to others. It is also recommended through this finding that faith

communities seeking to reach this demographic of people could be developed through a

table fellowship model. Sometimes having smaller groups in a more relaxed setting can

create less anxiety and greater potential for friendship to develop. And the third

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recommendation that comes with this finding is the need to develop a discipleship

dimension for people affected by mental health conditions rather than just a resource list

for practical life necessities. The discipleship guideline developed from the second

chapter of Acts would be a good foundation along with the consistent gathering of table

fellowship church model.

Fifth Finding- The Practice of Healing

The practice of healing would be useful for churches who are developing ministry

with and for those affected by mental health conditions. Although participants did not

talk about healing in the interviews, surveys or questionnaires, there was important

information about the practice of healing in the literature review.

Personal Observations

In 1998, I recognized a need for inner healing. I was not hemorrhaging physically

but lived in the poverty of spirit with emotional wounds. With the help of a counselor, I

was able to work through why I was struggling with an eating disorder. In the fall of

1998, I was invited to participate in a three-day retreat called the “Walk to Emmaus.”

During prayer on this retreat, I told God that I felt unworthy to be like the dogs who seek

crumbs under the table (Matt. 15:21-28), but I needed healing just like the woman

hemorrhaging who grabbed the fringe of Jesus’ garments as described in scripture (Luke

8:40-44) After attending the weekend retreat, there was an opportunity for weekly

accountability, prayer in small groups, quarterly table fellowship and worshipful

gatherings in larger groups. These experiences gave me personal insight that therapy

along with a faith community could help me with the process of healing.

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Prior to this project, I had participated in healing ministries by observation,

praying with or for someone or by leading a healing service. There were times that I

observed what could be considered a miraculous healing after someone was prayed for,

and there were times I observed no change in a person’s situation. I have been a part of a

faith community that offered prayers for a person in which they were not healed, but the

bonding of turning to God together changed the community. I have participated in

healing services, attended and participated in prayer vigils focused on healing, visited

people in hospitals and homes when they wanted prayers for healing. I have read books

on healing, and I have attended retreats focused on healing. I have learned that healing

can take place in many ways and means more than bringing forth a miraculous cure.

Ultimately healing comes through the reconciliation and renewal brought forth in a

relationship with Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have observed my daughters having both positive and negative experiences with

healing prayer. When my daughter, Casey was five, our pastor called for people to come

forward to ask for healing during a worship service. Casey asked her dad to take her to

altar for prayer and anointing of oil. She had been suffering from severe eczema due to

allergic reactions to corn. Casey was healed; she was cured to the point that she was able

to eat corn without infectious outbreaks from then on. At the age of nineteen, while in

college, my oldest daughter, Kelsey, developed symptoms that mirrored rheumatoid

arthritis. My family and many others prayed for Kelsey from a distance, and on her own.

Kelsey begged God to heal her. Her healing came in a different way than expected; she

became pregnant and her symptoms subsided. She considers her child her miracle, but

questions why God did not completely take her symptoms away like her sister.

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When I became a pastor, the Senior Pastor of the church where I was serving at

the time asked me if I would pray for people who needed healing at the end of each

Sunday’s worship service. One week the Pastor’s sister came in and asked for prayers of

healing on a blocked artery. Her doctor suggested that she might need a procedure to

correct it. The following week, the sister told me the doctor told her that she had nothing

wrong with her artery. She was healed so she would no longer need medical attention for

the issue at hand. While serving at that same church, I was asked to lead a healing service

for an eight-year-old girl who had a rare disease that required brain surgery. After we, her

school and her family, prayed for her she still required the surgery and the process of

treatment and care. Her illness was not eliminated, but she did receive the healing miracle

of modern medicine. These are just two of the many situations in which I was involved in

a request for God to heal while serving in ministry.

Upon review of the surveys, questionnaires and interviews, I noted that no one

really talked about the practice of healing. If you look at the tables in chapter four you

will not see “practice of healing” listed as an important practice of the church. It occurs to

me that the leaders interviewed talked about their ability to provide counseling services

or suggestions on where to go for support groups, but there was no mention of the

practice of healing. One of the church pastors did mention that a faith community should

not focus on mental illness, because the focus should be on the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

“We are the church commissioned to be the salt and light. We should not be focused on

the illnesses; (we should) be seeking hope and healing. Christ is where this is ultimately

found.” I would not argue that this should be the focus. However, faith communities are

called to meet people where they are and in whatever need they have. Jesus would ask

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people what they want before he would heal them. There is something to be said for

acknowledging that illness or pain exists as a person turns to the healer. The call to heal is

not necessarily the call to cure: it can be a call to healing in modern technology or a call

to walk alongside someone to help them see the miraculous that comes in day to day

living.

In January, I audited a class on healing taught by Dr. Steve Seamands at Asbury

Theological Seminary. We talked in class about the fact that our churches are quite good

at following Jesus’ example to preach and teach, but we have not embraced the call to

heal. People need healing of different aspects in their lives; sometimes physical,

sometimes emotional, or relational, mental or spiritual. Sometimes Jesus spoke to a

person’s need for inner healing by offering forgiveness of sin, sometimes healing was

related to something physical, and sometimes healing came in the form of casting a

demon to give a person mental stability.

Literature Review

Healing does not occur in the same way for each person. Healing can be

instantaneous and it can be a long process. If the church is not receptive to conversation

about what is painful in their lives like struggling with depression or having eating

disorders, then how can there be healing? The expectations of the Church to be a certain

kind of “healed” community puts people at distance from being their true selves and

being real with others. This has brought to the forefront the understanding that a church

ought to promote being community that practices healing. Swanson described it this way:

“Churches can be places of the healed, the healing and the healers” (Swanson 148).

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Additionally, healing is pointing to the healer. When a Christian is praying, there

is more in the prayer than a request for God to change a situation in a particular way. It is

an opportunity for a person or persons to change their perspective. Pastor Fosner says it

this way,

The prayer of healing is what releases the Healer to start walking with and

intervening in a person’s brokenness. We are doing Jesus and the person we are

praying for a disservice if we only acknowledge the instantaneous healing event.

Since the Healer most often works in daily progressive ways (Fosner 64).

In Doug Murren’s book, Churches That Heal: Becoming a Church that Mends

Broken Hearts and Restores Shattered Lives, he gives helpful guidance for creating a

holistic, healing ministry. There is rich information about some of the obstacles to

creating an environment for healing and there are helpful suggestions on what is needed.

He says,

Being healed and being made whole are necessarily the same thing. Healing can

fix what’s broken in our bodies or our minds. But God wants more for us.

“Wholeness describes a state in which everything about is in right working order:

our emotions, our self-esteem, our sense of morality, out thought patterns, our

physical body, our spiritual faculties (Murren 89).

There is an acceptance of the idea that people are not going to arrive at perfection. People

are in the process of “becoming” (98). Jesus is perfect and humanity looses “our ability to

heal, the moment we fail to see ourselves as journeyers” (135).

There are some times that God does not heal a person when prayers have been

offered up. This can bring confusion and even frustration. This is a reminder that there is

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brokenness and death in this world. Christians live in a time when they can claim God’s

power for present and in hope for eternity. Thus, Christians claim God’s power to see

them through until they join him. In the meantime the church is to go into the world as

Jesus commanded to teach and baptize and make disciples who make disciples to the

ends of the earth (Matt. 28:20: Acts 1:8).

In the book, Fountain House, there is a fundamental premise that all people "need

to be needed” (Doyle Loc 52). While working in a mental health facility John Beard saw

the need to stress the importance of sociology in humanity (Loc 255). Humans have a

greater propensity to heal when they have a social network. Healing comes through

relationship with each other and within in reconciliation with Christ. Jesus came for the

least, the last, the lost.

Biblical/Theological Review

The Bible is full of stories in which Jesus heals someone; each incident was

unique. Sometimes Jesus would say to a person, “you are forgiven,” instead of, “you are

healed.” Sometimes Jesus would touch the person or use an element like dirt to spread on

someone’s eyes to heal them from blindness (John 9:1-9). Sometimes, Jesus would heal

people of not just their physical infirmities, but their emotional (John 21:15-19) and

relational (Mark 2:13-17) ones as well. If people are going to be drawn to the healing

power of Jesus Christ, the Church must be able exhibit what that looks like by speaking

about the healing power in their own lives.

In the Gospel of Luke, a story of Jesus walking amongst a crowd when a

synagogue leader named Jairus approached Jesus to ask for healing of his dying twelve-

year old daughter (Luke 8:40-56). While on the way, a woman with a twelve-year

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condition of internal hemorrhaging reached out to touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak. Jesus

felt the tug of the woman’s faith, so he turned to find who had touched him. Jairus

confronted Jesus without shame or fear, but the woman concealed her approach to Jesus.

Maybe she was embarrassed or maybe afraid of his rejection. Men could approach men in

public, but according to Jewish tradition a mean could not address a woman in public let

alone a woman who was bleeding (“Luke” Wright 104). She would have been considered

unclean or untouchable which meant she was to be kept at a distance while in her unclean

state. It may be assumed, but it is a reasonable summation that the woman must have felt

shame, desperation and powerlessness. There were a lot of rules for how to live with

physical illnesses or irrational behaviors in the first century (“Disease” Sakenfeld 138).

The woman stepped out in faith regardless of the rules in order to touch the one whom

she thought might have greater power than any of the physicians who had treated her.

Sometimes healing comes when two people pray and sometimes it takes a community to

walk along side someone as they struggle with an illness or a chronic condition. Healing

can be a journey that claims the power of Jesus and is exemplified in community that

claims Jesus as the Great Physician.

Ministry Implications of the Findings

How will the findings inform the purpose of this project? The findings suggest

that there are several elements that could be implemented for a new church model that

invites and includes people with or affected by mental health conditions. First, because of

the importance of friendship and belonging, the word, “includes” should be replaced with

“embrace” in the vision statement for the new church model. A new church plant should

discern and seek to live this out with a deeper theology of what is means to be human and

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living even with disability, illness or suffering. Second, because it will take a blend of

church models to create this new one, it is suggested to use aspects of the recovery

minded model, the missional model and the table fellowship model. Third, because of the

responsibility to educate and be educated to eliminate stigma and marginalization, the

new church will participate in the community of Orlando by engaging in events

sponsored by mental health organizations and creating new avenues. Fourth, because

discipleship is not typically associated with people affected by mental health conditions,

this new church model developed will seek to unpack and live out what it means to be a

disciple maker in the midst of our weakness and imperfections.

In a phone interview with David Mandeni, Director of the Mental Health Ministry

at Saddleback Church, I learned that they are in the midst of developing “communities”

for people with mental health conditions. They have recognized the value of people

coming alongside one another to help with growth, support and belonging. I shared with

him that I am planting a community of faith in Orlando that is seeking to do something

similar. One of the things he mentioned is the importance of table fellowship and having

a paradigm shift from shame that is associated with mental illness. It may be that we are

called to walk alongside someone in the suffering and claiming the incarnational presence

of Jesus when they cannot see or hear Jesus on their own. I told Mandeni that we are

blending the recovery, missional, holistic, and table fellowship models to create deeper

connections and commitment to sharing life with practices of listening, belonging,

healing, teaching, truth seeking and educating each other with scripture, sacrament and

holistic living. We both acknowledged that a lot has changed in the last twenty years

around acceptance of people struggling with addiction, now we hope to see change as it

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relates to mental illness; we are just getting started with this concept of community with a

holistic ministry approach. As mission is connected to a global context I have been drawn

to the holistic model for the church plant I am developing as suggested in the book,

Churches That Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and

Good Works.

Churches begin where God is at work by the movement of the Spirit to change

minds and wills to the authority of God. Church planters study Christology, Ecclesiology,

discipleship methods, and learn the culture in which they are going to plant a church in

hopes to have a fruitful church plant. This research project was under the auspice of a

“Doctor of Ministry in Church Planting” yet it has occurred to this researcher that the

goal of this project is not to “plant,” but to create a church model that “distributes” hence,

the name of the church being planted in Orlando is called The Distributing Church. It is

the hope of the researcher for this project to use the practices of listening, belonging,

hospitality, vulnerability, and healing to create a safe, loving, and empowering faith

community in whom the healing and hope of Jesus are distributed by the Holy Spirit

given through Jesus. It is the hope of the author of this paper to create a new faith

community that offers acceptance and love for those who feel invisible or uncomfortable

in the traditional church.

Many churches are developing external operations such as coffee shops where

people can talk openly and casually about faith or whatever. It could be suggested that a

piece of this new church model could have a coffee house that benefits people affected be

mental health conditions. This operation could implement some of the findings: offering

a counseling/resource center with trained staff to provide hope for meaningful, purposeful

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lives, creating space for education and eliminating stigma, creating space for developing

friendships and developing discipleship and creating space for the practices of listening

and healing.

Limitations of the Study

When this project was started it was my hope to learn about all that was

happening in Orlando for people affected by mental illness. I was limited in this study

because of the limited response from community organizations and church leaders who

were sought for participation in this project. In at least three of the organizations who

rejected participation, I tried to push for a reason, but only received abrupt responses like,

“I can no longer help you with this project.” I sought to glean information for this project

from a large number of churches of which I only gained access to information through

eight of the twenty-seven churches. Admittedly, some of the church pastors and I could

not get our schedules to coordinate and some of the churches were in transition with

leadership so they couldn’t help at the time. Some of the churches that I approached did

not have any type of mental health ministry, so they did not feel their input would be

helpful. In conclusion, there were a variety of reasons as to why I was limited to thirteen

participants, but I had hoped for a larger pool to draw information.

One last limitation that I would like to mention is the fact that I wish I had a group

of people with or affected by mental illness with whom I could ask what practices they

would like to see a church include for people like themselves. I feel like I got good

information from thirteen leaders, but I would like to have had the ability to gather and

interview people who would be involved in the life of the faith community envisioned.

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If I were to do this research project again I would have changed the tool for

community organization leaders by asking, “What organizations do you think could make

an impact on the needs of people with or affected by mental health issues?” I think the

focus on Church in the tool I designed might have deterred community organizations

from participating. I would also have asked church pastors and leaders less about what

the church is doing or not doing, and I would have considered asking more about how

they lead people with or affected by mental illness to “follow Jesus”? I tried to keep the

survey/questionnaires similar for both community organizations and churches, but I think

this might have deterred participation.

Unexpected Observations

As it relates to the research project itself, it was surprising that so many

community organizations did not choose to participate in this project. It was my hope to

get more input from organizations about the needs in Orlando. In the completed research

tools, I was surprised to discover that church leaders believe there is a shortage of

resources in Orlando for low-income housing and funding for those who cannot afford

counseling or medical care. Finally, I was surprised in the results of my research that

when I talked about people affected by mental illness, the participants automatically

addressed it as people “with” a mental illness and no one really talked about how to

address the families that are affected. I have concluded that I should have said, “with or

affected by mental illness.”

Recommendations

The purpose of this project was to explore practices of church models and

community organizations that faithfully invite and include people with or affected by

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mental health conditions, in order to develop a new model for downtown Orlando,

Florida. The findings presented in this chapter provide a framework for the new church

model that is being implemented in Orlando as suggested in the purpose statement of this

project. There could be more information extrapolated from the research laid out in this

project. However, these five findings provide a solid footing for a new church model and

hopefully will encourage present and future churches being planted to do more to invite

and embrace people living with a mental health condition. In conclusion of this project,

there are four recommendations for further exploration.

First, it is recommended that current churches and community organizations in

Orlando or in any city, give more effort in deepening an understanding of what it means

to be a community. Only thirty-five percent of the population in Orlando is attending

church and one in five of the two million living in the greater metropolitan area is living

with a mental health condition. There were only eight churches out of the twenty-seven

that responded to this research project and four out of the twenty-five community

organizations. It is my recommendation that there should be a greater partnership with

churches and organizations as it relates to people affected by mental health conditions.

Second, it is recommended that there be a deeper development of a theology of

weakness or suffering for the Church. Jesus brought healing through the weakness and

suffering of the cross. More could be understood and applied in this context of mental

health conditions and the Church. The kingdom of God could be richer for the

development of understanding that a person is made in the image of God and needs to be

treated as a unique, fearfully wonderfully made person who even in the midst of

weakness is valuable and loved. Maybe a module could be developed to help churches

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know how to live by embracing people in the margins so that there are no people in the

margins. What if the dimension of discipleship was to love and build friendship with

people affected by mental illness, not just providing resources to help him or her be

“fixed.”

Third, it is recommended that a module be developed to help current established

churches or those being planted to understand how they could respond to the quarter of

the American population who live with a mental health disorder. It would helpful for

people to understand that normalcy is a myth as indicated by John Swinton’s work. There

is work to be done in the healing of our idealized concepts of what humanity should look

like so we can celebrate the beauty of who we are in God’s eyes.

Fourth, it could helpful to consider creating a module on the practice of healing

that sets it apart from the practice of curing. We should consider developing a practice of

healing ministry, which includes turning to the healer day by day, seeing the healing of

modern medicine as a part of this practice, and the importance it plays to have people

surrounding a person with love.

Postscript

I am appreciative of the support and encouragement offered by the Doctor of

Ministry Directors and Church Planting Coaches while I developed this project into an

underexplored territory. At times, I have felt like I am a part of a misfit band whom many

in American culture would rather send to an island instead of include them in the big

picture of the Church, because there is so much stigma, misunderstanding and fear

associated with mental illness. Over the past three years, a few people have suggested

that the vision for this faith community should be considered as a ministry rather than a

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church. Because God set forth the vision for a church in my heart, that is what I have

pursued in obedience. As I learned about practices and dimensions to create a new church

model, I have had to face the examples of how the church has failed to reach out to the

poor, the hopeless, and the ill again and again. Through this project what I have learned

could be helpful for churches who have failed to reach people affected by mental health

conditions or who do not know how to approach the topic of mental health conditions in

their communities or their churches. What I have learned could also provide a much

needed piece for the DNA of new churches.

I thought I trusted God, but what I have learned is that God is calling me to trust

him more. When we went on the Doctor of Ministry immersion trip to Thailand and then

I extended my overseas visit by going to Nepal in the final year of this program, I

realized that I struggled with total surrender. I had always taught my children to be

mindful about what goes on beyond our immediate context. I have always appreciated

learning about various cultures as a means of identifying how our God is creative and

multifaceted. Yet, one of the things I have been particularly challenged by is how to share

the Gospel in various contexts and how to surrender in the discomfort of what I do not

understand. I experienced the heavens opening and the angels descending and ascending

as though God was saying, “Trust ME more! What you thought you knew was limited.”

My understanding of this trust even came in seeing people share communion with

hibiscus tea and sticky rice in northeastern Thailand. Jesus showed me that he comes in

what may seem to be unconventional. I can get hung up on particular aspects of our

culture, but I have learned that God is trying to show us his extraordinary nature in the

midst of the ordinary parts of a person’s life. It is not the elements or symbols of the

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sacraments that we are to live and die by but God’s invitation to be reconciled in

relationship with him, myself and others. I have deepened my understanding of my deep

heritage in Jesus and I have learned that I have freedom to accept all God has given me in

this opportunity to join him in doing a new thing.

And finally, I have learned that Jesus is calling me to join in the movement of His

Spirit that connects institutional churches, and house churches, and recovery minded

churches, and fresh expressions of his people. As I visited various churches in America

and in Thailand and Nepal, God has shown be to take various postures to see him, others

and myself from various angles. I am humbled by what God has taught me and invited

me to experience. What an honor it has been to share the story of how God has worked in

my life as I have lived with a mental health condition. It has also been an honor to hear

other people’s stories and then be invited to pray with them, especially in places like

Thailand or Nepal where mental illness is talked about even less than it is in America.

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