All Christians

We are excited to announce that in May 2022, we will be back as a speaker for the Thrive & Cultivate Summit this year. If you remember, we participated in this conference last year with a presentation on “How Churches and Christian Counselors Connect.” This year’s theme with the conference is focusing on caring for your own mental health pastors and Christians, as well as the mental health of your community.

If you did not know, we have a mailing list that we use from time to time to share exclusive access to resources that no one else has access to yet (for those that did not know, we have shared our YouTube channel for a year now on our newsletter but no where else) or given resources away for free before they even come out to the public.

One of those resources we will be announcing next Friday on our newsletter before we announce it to everyone else the week after. On top of that, we will have a code that will allow you to get it for free if you are on the newsletter, but only available to them, so you will want to sign up if you want to look for it because the code will only work for a week.

If you are not yet on the newsletter, use the form below to sign up so you don’t miss out.

You have til April 8th at 8am EST to sign up so you don’t miss out on this early release resource and the free code.

[This article is part of a series of books we have reviewed over the years. Click the link to check out all the other books we’ve reviewed here.]

Anxiety has become so prevalent leading to millions of people so afflicted that they are diagnosable with a disorder. We know that God’s Word is a light of hope, but what does it have to say about mental health and specifically anxiety, other than the poorly quoted “give up anxiety?” Amanda Porter, PhD has combined Scripture through a devotional on this top to give a 40 day guide for those who struggle to start their morning right in her book Dear Anxiety, Let’s Break Up.

If you do not know, I’m a huge fan of what my church has been doing with regards to being at the forefront of mental health within the Church. While I am happy to have helped establish a mental health team, the pastoral leadership that sees this has not only good, but a priority. Many key Christian members in our church also have been supporting the initiative within their own events, including a recent conference we had called Soul Scan.

Soul Scan is a two-day women’s conference that happened last weekend with powerful speakers, testimonies, and worship. The theme was “Is it well with my soul?” to help with the deeper issue of “If it’s not well with my soul, what wells am I running to?” It happened at this time on purpose as March 8, 2022 is International Women’s Day, a secular date to support many women’s initiative and gender equality.

The conference leader asked that we have a mental health table that we were appreciative to be apart of. We had fun grab bags put together by the local mental health and recovery board, mental health education brochures from NAMI to share, flyers from the local counseling agencies as well as the Christian counseling agency we have onsite at the church, among other things. We had several conversations with women, several people that followed up personally, and even had a moment on stage at the end of the conference to quickly talk about mental health resources in the community and at church they could connect with if they needed it.

If you do not have a resource like this, consider how you can partner with local counseling agencies, other churches, or Christian individuals to not only support Christian women, but make sure needs are being met.

Joni and Friends is an amazing organization that talks not only about visible disabilities as we see in Joni Eareckson Tada, but also hidden disabilities with mental health. The video below is part of her “Diamonds in the Dust” series that are short vignettes on what we as Christians must do to keep pushing forward.

The video below talks about our ability to keep pressing on, even if we feel stuck. But press on as God would have us to do, not with seeing another counseling client, writing another blog article for our church website, or coming up with another game, but engaging with God in prayer.

Here is what Joni shared: “If you are tired and ready to throw in the towel, don’t give up. Jesus is asking you to let down your net just one more time. Stay in his Word; keep praying; pursue obedience. He can still fill an empty net!”

Jeremy asked me to share my perspective of the Covid-19 pandemic as an immunocompromised individual. I have a disability due to a neurodegenerative disease called Multiple Sclerosis. And while I did want to share my perspective, I wasn’t ready. In fact, I wasn’t ready until someone called me recently on the phone. A friend who is both older as well as being medically fragile.

At first look of the title, you would think this follow up book to a previous book we reviewed, Dreamland, is a Christian-based book. It’s not. Yet, we are reviewing it here because of the direct application it has on lives within the United States and surrounding countries that the Church can have a direct impact in. Further, it is interesting that this has great current social commentary on the impact and also dichotomy western Christians have with regards to substance misuse and those struggling with addictions.

The book itself follows up the previous book that addresses the Opiate Epidemic and now is talking about the surge in Methamphetamines and Fentanyl. There are comments on how we are allowing ourselves to struggle with dependency on things such as sugar, being lethargic to our obligations as humanity and our Christian faith to be socially connected and looking out for one another, and the startling impact that these substances is having on individuals, families, and communities.

But it is the story of the woman who because of her renewed faith adopts not only a child but the cognitively-disabled mother who developed brain damage due to substances that spurred me to share this book. It is the old lady who did not know what methamphetamines were nor how to properly work with individuals struggling with the drug, yet gave food to those who needed it, opened their church, and changed the hearts in the community that gave me a conviction and new passion to share Jesus to the least of these. And it is the challenge that this author, a professed atheist, who fully summarized the compassionate heart of Jesus to serve our neighbors and love them as He loved us.

This book does not offer a theological debate on the weight of repeated sin or how best to help someone who will for years struggle with cravings, relapse, and guilt to repent of that sin. It does not even go into the solutions of treatment options or debate what is effective or right for care for individuals struggling with substance misuse. But it is this simple commentary that I think actually made the end comments specifically directed as Christians and those who could give more compassion a spotlight to do something because people are dying and communities are being destroyed.

If you work in mental health or substance misuse therapy fields or are part of a church that has any outreach to your community for helping widows, orphans, homeless, and those who struggle with mental health, I strongly recommend you pick this book up and open your eyes to some of the concerns around us. I give this book a 5 out of 5.

We’ve talked about Christian mindfulness on the blog here as well as elsewhere and have a place to see everything we have talked about here along with other resources on the subject. Below, we want to address not only mindfulness with regards to the Christian faith, but also spiritual growth with our relationship with God as well as our investment with Scripture.

If you want to see more videos like the one below, go check out our YouTube channel here.

For those that do not know, January is human trafficking awareness month, something that Christians stand against, but many do not know is still very much a problem in the world, not only overseas, but in our own country. Sex trafficking alone is a $10 billion dollar industry in the United States alone, not including other nations or trafficking such as forced labor or domestic servitude. 80% of victims end up back on the streets without a safe place to call home after they are removed from trafficking.

Psalm 82:3-4 reminds us:

“Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people.” (NLT)

The United States’ Department of Human Services actually has a whole campaign of sharing information, facts, and red flags to look out for on a special Instagram page @DHSBlueCampaign. Here are a couple of our favorite that you may want to consider sharing, even if it isn’t January.

One Christian ministry that is attempting to help is Refuge for Women, an aftercare program for women who were trafficked and sexually exploited. The non-profit specializes in long-term care for women across the united states with free, safe housing, evidence-based and trauma-informed care, and a launching point for them to gain their life back.

Here is a video of one of the stories of the women who found hope through this program.

Beyond this, most other initiatives are local with a collaboration between state and/or county funds with the manpower and mission of the Church. If we are to truly want to help those struggling with mental health, substance misuse problems as well as other hidden or developmental disabilities, this population is in immediate need of our assistance now.

If you want to see a list of certified Trafficking Shelters in your state, though many states have none and you will need to look to local resources, you can find a list of them here at the National Trafficking Sheltered Alliances’ list here.

What organizations, trainings, or resources have you seen used in your area?

The Other Half of Church is at it’s core a book by a pastor who had a surprise relationship with a Christian neuroscientist that helped the pastor look at how they see relationships. It talks about the sanctity of God and its impact of the salvation of man as well as how neuron pathways impact brain functioning and development. While the book does not specifically label treatment modalities, the book functions within the clinical modalities of Attachment Theory and Family Systems Theory.

This is one of those book recommendations that I did not see coming. In looking for books to read, I inquire on our Instagram stories, directly ask Christian counselors, or look up what authors I have loved before recommend or have just recently published. This book was recommended to me by my pastor while they were preaching from the pulpit. Mind you, I have a great relationship with the pastors of my church and talk frequently about mental health and faith. And at it’s essence, the book hits strong points about discipleship that pastors really need to consider.

I applaud their ability to so easily stay in both worlds as it is not an easy task, even in a simple conversation between two colleagues let alone a whole book on the subject. I do not have any issues with the core theology of what is being presented and agreed this can integrate easily into one’s own faith as well as leadership for pastors.

A couple of critics to this book that do not take away from the book. I have no doubt many pastors do not like when science is discussed with regards to theology, many pastors believing this becomes centered around man instead of a conversation of integration. This was not discussed in the book at all and while I think it’s outside the scope of the book, no references to good publications were made on how to approach this subject.

Further, as a clinical therapist, I do have issues when we attempt to generalize diagnoses as it adds to the stigma. While the book was faithful to a clinical interpretation in a counseling setting, the conversation of narcissism was used so often outside the context of the diagnosis but with clinical implications that I worry we are going to go around calling pastors narcissists, which helps no one. A very easy solution is to talk about symptoms of narcissism. Of course, this comes for a counselor that does not like to have clients be labeled as a narcissist, addict, or crazy.

I give this book a 4.5 out of 5 and recommend it for any pastor or Christian counselor that wants to see Christians grow deeper in their relationships with not only God but their community.