Dearest FPC Family,

This coming Sunday, we are launching a new mini sermon series on faith and mental health. Because this can be a sensitive topic, we wanted to reach out and let you know more fully what to expect.

Scripture calls us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind. Caring for our minds, therefore, is a spiritual practice. Yet many of us neglect mental health care as part of caring for our whole selves. 

Lately, the media has exploded with talk of mental health–and rightfully so! Yet at the same time as mental health is coming into the light, more people are also struggling with it.

We believe faith can help, because we have experienced it in our own journeys with mental health. Our faith gives us both tools and truths to help us care for our minds, so that we can use them to love God, our neighbors, and ourselves. 

Talking about mental health can bring up painful memories and experiences, so we want to share the schedule so you know what’s coming and when.

• Sunday, Sept. 22-Sermon on Job 2:11-13  
• Wednesday, Sept. 25-Faithful Parenting Workshop with a focus on children’s mental health. Led by Cindy Elrod of Insight Counseling
• Sunday, Sept. 29-Sermon on Psalm 42 & Isaiah 43:1-2
• Wednesday, Oct. 2-Soul Feast & Mental Health Dialogue (led by a mental health professional)

So that you will know what you can expect, here are a few guidelines we will use while preaching: We are not trained counselors or psychologists. We are pastors. We are not equipped to diagnose or treat according to diagnoses, but we are equipped to walk alongside you and remind you of God’s love. 

We promise to treat faith and science as compatible partners in health. God has given us extraordinary gifts in medication and science-based therapeutic practices. Faithful mental care glorifies God by taking advantage of those gifts, as well as the tools of prayer, scripture, and the religious community.

We promise to use loving language for people with mental health struggles. Churches have a long and painful history of treating those with mental health struggles dismissively or even cruelly, referring to mental illness as a sin or a demonic manifestation. Yet Jesus was drawn over and over again to these very people, to heal and restore them. All people, regardless of what is happening in their brains, will be treated as beloved children of God.

This is only the opening of a much bigger conversation. Here are a few extra resources if you are interested:

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has incredible resources, both nationally and locally. 

Mental Health First Aid offers training on how to support people in a mental health crisis.

The PC(USA) Mental Health Network offers resources from a faith-based perspective. Presbyterian Mission Agency Mental Health Ministry

This topic is near and dear to our hearts, so we are looking forward to proclaiming God’s hope for our minds during the months of September and October. We hope you find the series meaningful, helpful and hopeful as well!

Peace,

Neeley & Erin

“Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”

Isaiah 41:10