Like other types of health issues, mental health issues can limit someone’s ability to participate in activities. Church activities are no different. A church is a spiritual community of those who share a common faith and who have fellowship in that faith. But it is also an organization engaged in many activities that are wholly dependent on active and willing volunteers. Churches also have active social lives and are a ready-made community of friendly people for all members.
One of the saddest realities in Christianity is that many people mistake all of that activity for the core purpose of a church. This is done by many non-believers who view churches as anachronistic semi-charities that used to serve a core function in society, or who consider religion the opium of the masses. But it also happens within Christianity when people measure the value of a church member by the services that the person can offer the church. This is wrong, it is flat-out wrong. Go read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 “The body is bound together through each member’s connection to the Head, which is Christ.” They are not bound by what the connections that they have with each other, or what value they think each person offers.
1 Corinthians 12:23 “And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor…” Those who seem less honourable are given more honour. Why is that? I have often wondered about that, and I’m not sure I fully understand why. I can obey without understanding (lydighet uten forståelse!), but I still wonder about it. Here are two possible explanations.
- We equally honour all members because they were all chosen by the Head. It is natural to honour the more prominent members, and we are commanded to honour the leaders and the elders who have been placed over us. There are also many ministries that easily receive honour. I’m sure parents are very thankful for the young people who run activities for their kids. It is very natural to honour the kitchen crew after a good meal. So if there are members of the body who do not have a noticeable role, then we need to go out of our way to ensure that they receive the honour that they must receive so that the Head is honoured.
- We honour the whole body when we honour each individual member. If we only honour 99.997% of the members, then the body misses out on .003% of the required honour. This is one of those situations where only 100% works.
So what shall we do when our fellow co-member are treated poorly, overlooked, or neglected because they cannot contribute as much as others? Part of helping someone who has a health problem is to identify what has caused it. From what I can tell, there are three sources of unbiblical ideas that prevent the members of the body (i.e. our fellow church-goers) from receiving the honour they deserve.
Internalized doubt: a person feels less valuable because they cannot contribute as much as they want to. I think this is a common experience for most people at some point in their life, but it is a particular struggle for people with chronic or lifelong health problems. They can feel like they will never be what they had once aspired to, and that their health issues have undercut their heavenly calling.
That can be a dangerous place to be. It is very easy to sink into a generalized despair and a feeling of worthlessness. If you look around and see how others are able to do things you can’t then bitterness is always nearby, and once someone let bitterness in their entire spiritual life can be destroyed, and it is very hard to come out of bitterness. I can say from experience that it is far easier to keep bitterness out than it is to get rid of it once you let it take root.
This mentality can very quickly lead to these people slowly disappearing. How do we help those people? Simple. Honour them as a member of the body. Recognize their heavenly calling, and that they said yes to Father’s drawing to the Son. Recognize their faithfulness. Make sure that they remember that God loves them and only wants the best for them. Show them unconditional love. Draw them into what church activities they can be along in instead of finding ways to exclude them. We don’t often go around specifically saying “Brother X, we honour you as a part of the body..” but letting someone know that you want them at activities is honouring them. And never, ever, tell them (or say it behind their back when you think they can’t hear) that they are lazy, or unfaithful, a burden to others, or that they chose to have their health problems.
Matthew 18:6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
This is a warning directly from our Saviour, the Son of God. If you flippantly say something negative about a person who is going through struggles and they hear it, you add to their burden instead of honouring them for bearing their burden in faithfulness. You can say it with good intent, or just in the moment without thinking, but you put them at risk of stumbling. Think about it. Seriously. When you speak to people, do you give them strength to bear their burden, or do you add to the burden?
Social Attitudes: Most Christians are also active members of the society in which they live, and they are exposed to the trends that exist in modern societies. It is natural for believers to use their faith to understand what they see in society. That is fine. But when the relationship is reversed and believers use their society’s zeitgeist to understand their faith they are in danger of completely missing out on what the Bible actually says, and they can miss many opportunities to bless and strengthen each other.
So what does this have to do with mental illness? Western society is saturated with stupid ideas about mental illness, and it is very easy for Christians to become contaminated. When this happens, it is normal for them to use Bible verses incorrectly or out of context to support their harmful ideas about mental health. Their standard defence is “but it’s Biblical! Do you deny the Bible?” But these negative ideas about mental illness can prevent people from honouring the weak among them.
Here are two common examples of ideas that can damage relationship in a church.
“You’re making other peoples’ lives difficult with your mental health issues. You should stop.”
I agree with the first sentence. Mental health issues can make other people’s lives hard. That is actually something that a lot of people with health issues struggle with, they can feel like others would be better off without them. That sort of thought pattern can quickly get suicidal if not caught early. Church buildings aren’t free, the money for the land and building and utilities and repairs needs to come from somewhere. If one person can’t financially contribute because of health issues, then someone else has to pick up the slack. Same thing with cleaning and other volunteer activities, what one person doesn’t do has to be done by someone else. But this attitude basically degrades a church to a social club where there is a minimum requirement to participate. Is that Biblical? A church community should be characterized by unconditional love and support. There is a reason why Christian marriage vows include the line “for better or for worse, in sickness and in health…”, that is the highest expression of Christian love.
Yet some people struggle with feeling unproductive, and telling them that they are a burden without mentioning the unconditional love and support they have is only a half-Gospel, and it can really hurt people.
“I was born this way, I can’t help it.”
I technically agree with this idea, but it can be used to destroy someone’s hope for improvement. I was born with a dysfunctional brain that messes with my energy, mood, and my perception of the world. I can’t help that. But if I allow that to hinder my faith, I can very easily slip away from God’s love and from fellowship with those who love him because I tell myself I am unworthy to be among them.
God made humanity in his image (Genesis 1:26). Please don’t take that too literally. I don’t know if God has a beard, and I don’t know if he is tall, short, skinny, obese, Jewish, black, or white. From what I understand, this means we received God’s ability to understand and influence this world, his ability to discern between right and wrong, and the free will that he first possessed. Mental health issues are psychological issues created by our physical bodies malfunctioning, they are not an integral part of the nature we received from God. So when Christians use creation to dismiss mental health issues, to insist that they cannot receive help, or to claim that a mentally ill person is unable to be loved by God, they misrepresent God’s plan for us.
In Ephesians 2:10 we read that we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Just like God first worked to create our world because of his love for us, we can work to help others because we have received the love of God. That is why we were created, and that is not in any way limited by mental health issues. God has created works (good deeds, or whatever you want to call them) that each person can do. He doesn’t expect people to do something totally unsuited for them.
To me, the Biblical approach to mental illness is to understand that is in an illness. There is plenty of Bible verses about weakness and illness. Mental illness is not some curse or a sign of failure or disbelief. So be nice to be people who are struggling. It really can be that simple.
The Bipolar Christian 