By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
May is Mental Health Awareness Month in this country.
Organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Mental Health America are raising awareness of the seriousness of mental health challenges that so many face.
In my opinion, this is an issue that the broader capital-C Church has tended to sweep under the rug.
How prevalent is the problem? Chances are you will worship with someone this Sunday (that is, if they're able to attend church in their mental state) who is dealing with a mental health issue – and is probably hiding it because they fear being judged.
According to a 2024 report from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 23.4 percent of all American adults had experienced a mental illness during the previous year. That percentage rises to 33.2 percent – that’s one of every three people – among those age 18 to 25, SAMHSA reported.
That same study found 5.6 percent of American adults – an estimated 14.6 million people – suffered from a serious mental illness in the previous 12 months.
And now let’s talk about the 800-pound gorilla that many will still not talk about – suicide.
According to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control released just last month, 48,824 people died by suicide in the U.S. in 2024 – a figure greater than the combined population of the cities of Holland and Zeeland. That’s one death by suicide every 11 minutes. It’s the second-leading cause of death for people age 10-34 in this country, the CDC says.
And that’s just the cases where the individual succeeds in carrying out a suicide. The CDC says for every suicide death in 2023, 48 other people attempted suicide and 325 seriously considered ending their own life.
So, where the does the church fit in?
In 2013, Amy Simpson, a former editor at Christianity Today and one of its sister publications, Leadership Journal, wrote a book called “Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission.”
Simpson writes about her experience growing up as the daughter of a pastor who was forced to give up full-time ministry when her mother developed schizophrenia – a condition that became so serious that she became homeless, and then ended up in jail because of a crime she committed while off her medication.
Simpson and her siblings felt they couldn’t share what was going on in their family. They felt trapped and shame over a situation they did not ask for.
By in large, the church does a really good job of coming alongside one of its members when they develop a physical illness, such as cancer or heart disease. “We visit them in the hospital, raise money to fight their diseases and pay their bills. We bring them meals, drive them to appointments and babysit their kids,” Simpson wrote.
But for those who struggle with a mental illness or have a family member in that situation, it’s too often a struggle they fight alone, even if they are part of the body of Christ. Several friends of Simpson call mental illness “the no-casserole illness.”
“We have very little patience with those whose diseases happen to attack their minds. And many people suffer in silence,” she wrote.
I believe there’s a lack of understanding among some believers about mental illness. They might say “you don’t have enough faith” or “you don’t pray enough.” I have a friend who left the church after she experienced judgment after the suicide death of her husband, that left her a single mom with three small children.
We don’t question the faith of people who have cancer or heart disease. So why do we do this to people who have an illness of the brain? They need compassion, not judgment.
Fortunately, there are churches that are stepping up to address mental health. Waypoint Community Church in Zeeland is one such place. Last year, we wrote a story on a program Waypoint offers called the Sanctuary Course.
“The whole basis of it is to help people understand how the church can interact with those suffering from mental illness and those who care for those who are suffering from mental illness,” Pastor Darren Anderson told us.
Simpson, in writing about how the church can respond, wrote the following that I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs in response to:
“(It is my hope) that the church will draw itself out of the shadow of the world around us and dare to treat people affected by mental illness with the same compassion and generosity that Jesus showed the lepers and other outcasts he encountered in his time on earth … That someday people with mental illness will no longer feel, based on their experience in the church, that God has rejected them – that they are beyond hope or not worth caring about.”
Church, I see this as a mission opportunity. How are we going to respond to those who are among “the least of these”?
Zeeland Record
May is Mental Health Awareness Month in this country.
Organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Mental Health America are raising awareness of the seriousness of mental health challenges that so many face.
In my opinion, this is an issue that the broader capital-C Church has tended to sweep under the rug.
How prevalent is the problem? Chances are you will worship with someone this Sunday (that is, if they're able to attend church in their mental state) who is dealing with a mental health issue – and is probably hiding it because they fear being judged.
According to a 2024 report from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 23.4 percent of all American adults had experienced a mental illness during the previous year. That percentage rises to 33.2 percent – that’s one of every three people – among those age 18 to 25, SAMHSA reported.
That same study found 5.6 percent of American adults – an estimated 14.6 million people – suffered from a serious mental illness in the previous 12 months.
And now let’s talk about the 800-pound gorilla that many will still not talk about – suicide.
According to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control released just last month, 48,824 people died by suicide in the U.S. in 2024 – a figure greater than the combined population of the cities of Holland and Zeeland. That’s one death by suicide every 11 minutes. It’s the second-leading cause of death for people age 10-34 in this country, the CDC says.
And that’s just the cases where the individual succeeds in carrying out a suicide. The CDC says for every suicide death in 2023, 48 other people attempted suicide and 325 seriously considered ending their own life.
So, where the does the church fit in?
In 2013, Amy Simpson, a former editor at Christianity Today and one of its sister publications, Leadership Journal, wrote a book called “Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission.”
Simpson writes about her experience growing up as the daughter of a pastor who was forced to give up full-time ministry when her mother developed schizophrenia – a condition that became so serious that she became homeless, and then ended up in jail because of a crime she committed while off her medication.
Simpson and her siblings felt they couldn’t share what was going on in their family. They felt trapped and shame over a situation they did not ask for.
By in large, the church does a really good job of coming alongside one of its members when they develop a physical illness, such as cancer or heart disease. “We visit them in the hospital, raise money to fight their diseases and pay their bills. We bring them meals, drive them to appointments and babysit their kids,” Simpson wrote.
But for those who struggle with a mental illness or have a family member in that situation, it’s too often a struggle they fight alone, even if they are part of the body of Christ. Several friends of Simpson call mental illness “the no-casserole illness.”
“We have very little patience with those whose diseases happen to attack their minds. And many people suffer in silence,” she wrote.
I believe there’s a lack of understanding among some believers about mental illness. They might say “you don’t have enough faith” or “you don’t pray enough.” I have a friend who left the church after she experienced judgment after the suicide death of her husband, that left her a single mom with three small children.
We don’t question the faith of people who have cancer or heart disease. So why do we do this to people who have an illness of the brain? They need compassion, not judgment.
Fortunately, there are churches that are stepping up to address mental health. Waypoint Community Church in Zeeland is one such place. Last year, we wrote a story on a program Waypoint offers called the Sanctuary Course.
“The whole basis of it is to help people understand how the church can interact with those suffering from mental illness and those who care for those who are suffering from mental illness,” Pastor Darren Anderson told us.
Simpson, in writing about how the church can respond, wrote the following that I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs in response to:
“(It is my hope) that the church will draw itself out of the shadow of the world around us and dare to treat people affected by mental illness with the same compassion and generosity that Jesus showed the lepers and other outcasts he encountered in his time on earth … That someday people with mental illness will no longer feel, based on their experience in the church, that God has rejected them – that they are beyond hope or not worth caring about.”
Church, I see this as a mission opportunity. How are we going to respond to those who are among “the least of these”?
