All Christians

The title says it all, “Pain is inevitable, suffering is a choice.” This comment is one I use quite often with my clients who come in for services and struggle with suffering. It does not matter if the pain is something that they have caused because of their choices and their sins (we see this supported in Scripture in 1 Corinthians 11:30-32) or something that has happened to them because we live in a fallen world and other people’s sins affect us (also supported in Scripture in John 9:3; 2 Corinthians 12:8–9) But regardless if the pain is physical or emotional, it can be treated. (We recommend checking out our discussion on how Christians can treat pain and suffering in counseling here.)

Pain will happen. Everyone has experienced pain. It is inevitable. Suffering, though, is a choice.

I have a history of celebrating some of the great things my church has been doing when it comes to Christianity and mental health. The first year they did anything was in 2019 when we started to educate the congregation on mental health and break the stigma from a Christian perspective. We have trained the staff in suicide prevention, created custom devotionals that embraced mental illness, assisted in a women’s conference that featured mental health education and support, and so much more. Five years later, we are starting something new.

At the beginning of this year, we shared about Mercy Multiplied, a Christian organization that has a heart for serving families in residential and outpatient services across the world. They do a lot of amazing stuff, but our church has decided to take their discipleship study curriculum called Keys to Freedom to our whole church.

What Is Keys To Freedom?

Great question!

This is an 8-week, 5-day-a-week discipleship study for everyone. Whether you are hurting, desperate, helping others who are struggling, feeling like you have it all together, the pastor, the pastor’s wife, or someone who has never said yes to Jesus, this is a great resource for you. The idea is that we are all looking for ways to live free and the only way to do it is in Jesus.

This can be done in groups or individually. It covers tough topics like:

• Hearing From God
• Committing and Connecting to Christ
• Renewing Your Mind
• Healing Life’s Hurts
• Choosing to Forgive
• Breaking Generational Patterns
• Using Your Authority in Christ
• Maintaining Lifelong Freedom

Here’s a quick video from Mercy Multiplied that describes it:

How We Took It Further

The conversations of this curriculum dig deep into understandings of hurt, faith, core beliefs, capturing our thoughts, prayer, and your relationship with Jesus. We wanted to take this to the whole church, starting at the top with eight weeks of sermons on the topics of Keys to Freedom each week was an investment on the topic of that week’s key.

From there, we shifted our small groups from what we previously did which were individualized to each group (Living Grace group, GriefShare group, Ephesians group, etc) to over 100 different groups, over 1,500 people, all together going through this discipleship study together, in their individual groups. That means that 1,500 people hear a sermon on the topic each week, go through their 5-day devotional study, and then attend a small group to discuss the material. The content is deep, the conversations powerful, and the Holy Spirit is moving.

Below is actually week 4 of our sermon series titled Healing Life’s Hurts that just happened, though you can go back and catch the previous weeks and join us in this journey:

We Are Interested In This, What Do We Do?

We would love for you to check out this great resource for yourself. If you want to get your copy for a devotional, you can purchase one on their website here. If your church is interested in doing a small group on the topic or even mimicking what we did, you can actually request your own free copy here. Let us know what you think of the curriculum in the comments below.

In today’s fast-paced and uncertain world, fear and anxiety seem to pervade every aspect of our lives. Recent studies have shown that Americans are increasingly seeking ways to avoid fear and anxiety while striving to gain a sense of freedom and safety. As Christian counselors, we need to address these prevalent issues within the context of faith and offer guidance grounded in biblical principles.

As Christian counselors and pastors, guiding couples on their journey of love and faith is a divine calling. With Valentine’s Day approaching, let’s explore 15 meaningful ways for Christian couples to enrich their relationships. We’ve done 10 tips to improve your marriage before and even shared some Christian curriculums to enhance your relationship that you can check out, but it’s time to revisit this topic.

Within Christian mental health, the conversation of where does faith and psychology meet is a reoccurring conversation. We’ve discussed thoroughly integration for Christian counselors, if faith even has a place in the counseling room, shared assessments which counselors can administer for clients to instruct counseling sessions, and even models out there that churches should look to integrate into their own mental health or compassion ministries. But in looking at psychology and faith, it is our belief that there is an end to psychology, but not for faith.

[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.]

I want to preface this post that I do not think I’m the target audience for this book. With that being said, I loved this book. In comparison to the first book which is in a similar vein, this book feels more complete and polished with a full outlook on how the audience can apply the techniques discussed in the text. If you are looking for a clinical book about forgiveness or a Christian theology text, this is not for you.

Mercy Multiplied is a Christian nonprofit that works with men and women within outpatient and residential services free of charge. They help individuals out of trafficking, child protective services, and incarceration and help get them what they need, including housing, pregnancy support, and mental health and substance use treatment services. They have just completed a year of celebrating 40 years of ministry.

They have since created, amongst other items like free resources, a resource called Keys to Freedom that we will share later and how this can help your church and how it is helping ours. They also offer church support services to address their congregation’s and communities’ spiritual, emotional, and mental health.

It’s that time of year again when we go through all of our posts and see which ones were the post viewed articles of this year. The irony of this list is that some of the older articles continue to drive a ton of traffic to this website as people have many questions about general questions such as Can Christians Go To Counseling? and How God Used My Struggles with Scrupulosity?

But this is about 2023 and the best content you liked. So in order, here are the top 10 articles from 2023.

Can I be honest about something that is not a secret within my family? I’m an absolute Grinch about Christmas. Let me explain this as I understand this is a horrible admission to mutter for many.

I have always had a heart for service to others. When I led youth ministry, I had one goal every year: to provide multiple opportunities to promote humility, service to others, giving, self-sacrifice, grace, empathy, and compassion. This included volunteers and students serving at soup kitchens during the holidays, doing Adopt-A-Child boxes, feeding the homeless events, and any other volunteer opportunities that came about.

Earlier this year, I shared with you about a new resource I had found called Spiritual First Aid. As a quick recap, Spiritual First Aid is a certification course that teaches peer-to-peer spiritual and emotional care. It’s a six-session, on-demand video course that comes with several downloads for each session, and three bonus sessions.