All Christians

[This article is part of a youth ministry series we have been writing about for years. Click the link to check out all of the other articles we have here.]

Of all the concerns of behavioral health concerns for individuals with mental illness, substance misuse, and developmental disabilities, the one that the Church does some of the more effective work is with pornography. But from a clinical standpoint, what does it mean to have a pornography addiction and how can the Church and counseling work together to help individuals overcome these problems?

Stress and challenges bring out the character in people, not from a standpoint of understanding mental illness, but how we respond personally. Joni Eareckson Tada has some words of wisdom that hits home for us here and hopefully will be edifying for you.

We have previously talked about the conversation of youth pastors with regards to vaping as well as facts youth pastors need to know about marijuana. This week, we will also be doing a 10 Facts To Know About Teens And Opioids because it is more and more becoming a real concern. To compliment this article, I want to share two videos from TheTruth.com project that looks to reduce nicotine and opioid use among teenagers.

[This article is part of a mindfulness series we have been writing about for years. Click the link to check out all of the other articles we have here.]

Pain is a part of life and can’t always be avoided. We see it within the choices we make like using drugs, quitting a job, impulsively yelling at someone, or ending a relationship. Other times, bad things happen to us that causes us pain, such as hurricanes, domestic violence from others, or even this COVID-19 pandemic. Pain is a result of the fall and something unavoidable.

Not dealing with this pain will then lead to suffering which can create more pain. The question I want to address is, how are Christians dealing with pain and suffering?

One of the latest therapeutic techniques that has shown significant effectiveness is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, the practice of being present and aware. This has huge emotional and cognitive ramifications that can support healing and help someone move out of a crisis situation.

The video below shows how a practice like knitting can help you do this very technique. I wonder though, are there some good Christian-specific practices that can also support this? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

In the United States, July is Minority Mental Health Month or more recently known as BIPOC Month (BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). This is to help address mental health stigma within the BIPOC communities themselves as well as look for more resources that can specifically be given to these individuals.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has a part of their organization dedicated to working with faith communities for support and education. It’s called FaithNET which strives to encourage welcoming, caring congregations as well as to promote the vital role of spirituality in the recovery journeys of many who live with mental health conditions, those for whom faith is a key component.

The story below is a testament to their cause and a resource that your community may want to consider utilizing to bridge between community and churches with mental health agencies.

We have put out several articles talking about the coronavirus, including ways Christians can self-care during this pandemic and a series on what pastors should look out for with concerns of domestic violence and substance misuse going unnoticed during this pandemic.

But many churches have begun to open back up and the question is, what are the risks of going back to church?

Grace for the Afflicted by Dr. Matthew Stanford is a book written to help educate a Christian on mental illness. It assumes the person has a fairly affluent background in Christianity and is interested in how mental illness is incorporated. The purpose is to educate others and explore some of the fundamental conversations happening around faith and mental health. This is something we agree with as we have released our own mental health educational resource that would help your church.

This is chapter thirteen of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

You’ve tried. You’ve failed.

You’ve tried again. Harder this time. More thoughtful. More effortful. This time it means more. You failed again.

People are encouraging you on, but it doesn’t seem to be as powerful this time. At least to you. It feels different. You want it to work. Your pride is wrapped up in this. So is nearly a month, year, or five years. It isn’t like it was a complete failure. You were able to impact people, earn a living for a bit, and started to fulfill the dream.

It doesn’t seem sustainable. Maybe you can’t raise the funds or do not have the time to continue being successful. There is too much manpower that is not possible right now or the politics of doing your dream ministry is so rough.

I want to suggest something you might not like: Quit.

Why You Should Consider Quitting

Remember on Day 2 we talked about the costs that would arise if we decided to make a change and start to tackle this crazy idea? There is another cost that we need to also consider which is important to the idea of quitting. It’s called opportunity cost.

Opportunity cost is a business word every business major will learn, so bear with me as I bring this term into our ministry mindset. Here is the undergraduate level definition of opportunity cost:

Opportunity Cost: A benefit, profit, or value of something that must be given up to acquire or achieve something else. Since every resource (land, money, time, etc.) can be put to alternative uses, every action, choice, or decision has an associated opportunity cost.

Opportunity costs are fundamental costs in economics, and are used in computing cost benefit analysis of a project. Such costs, however, are not recorded in the account books but are recognized in decision making by computing the cash outlays and their resulting profit or loss.

In essence, if you keep doing this ministry now, you may completely miss out on something God has for you in the future. Is it worth attempting to rescue a ministry whose mission you know is possibly unattainable? Can you keep going at this pace?

Do not be tied down to the time you have already put into this. That time is gone and done. We can only look at now and forward. Of course, this also means we must put our pride behind us too. This whole “die to ourselves daily” thing we signed up when we said yes to Jesus gets really personal when we look at how we need to keep moving forward.

We may have to say “I’m done.”

And that’s okay.

What is your prayer to God when you think about being done? And if you need to talk to me about this further, do not hesitate to shoot me an email at [email protected] and we can chat.