All Christians

[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.]

Aundi Kolber is a Christian counselor with a history of her own complex trauma and a heart to serve and counsel those who have gone threw their own trauma or hurt. If you haven’t read my previous review of Aundi’s other book, Try Softer, you can see it here that looks at the idea of approaching hurt and pain in a more gentle and caring way. This mentality is furthered in this book, but specifically talking in the sense of trauma. As with her previous book, Aundi gives a strong psychoeducational lesson on what trauma is, through the lens of someone with lived experience as well as a professional understanding.

I’m currently leading a discipleship group along with my wife, going through a book called The Great Omission that looks at really complicated theological concepts that Christians cannot leave out of their lives. I read this book nearly two decades ago when I was going for my Master’s in Family Ministry and honestly, the book is more relevant than ever as it dives into what discipleship should be, how we need to be practicing spiritual disciples within the spiritual formation, and address the heart of the Church that has forgotten about discipleship in our modern times.

Last week our group took these topics in the twelfth chapter and applied them to the soul. It was discussed how the soul can be influenced by our thoughts and emotions, but how our soul also has power over our thoughts and emotions as we as Christians have accepted Christ as our Savior and Redeemer.

In the text, it notes that while spiritual disciplines are important, truly only five disciples will change the soul while the rest simply impact our thoughts and emotions. Dallas identifies these five techniques as Solitude, Silence, Fasting, Rest, and Memorizing Scriptures.

Mental Health Is Influenced Here

I find these five items interesting because they are great coping skills for our heart and mind too, but when done with intentionality and done well, it can change the heart and the soul as well. If we can focus on changing our souls with these disciplines, we will find our hearts and minds following.

To be clear, you still need to be praying, serving others, and worshipping. These are relational connections to God and others. But the strength and stillness of our souls will change who we are. Yet, too often we are worried about the next thing we need to do, accomplish, or start-up.

Good Soul Care Requires Stillness And Receiving

Looking back at my life and my development as a person, I find my youth as doing a lot and figuring out who I was trying to become. As a young adult, I realized my relationship with God was most important and instead of trying to figure out what I was to do, I listened to who God wanted me to become. Now as a parent and established in what I have been led into, I find myself trying to stop and listen more and more.

Soul care with spiritual formation using the five techniques described above is not about doing, but about stopping ourselves physically and mentally enough that we can hear what God is trying to teach us and receive His guidance. In this posture, we stop trying to be the one in the lead and allow God to take the reins.

This posture of listening, stillness, and receiving reminds me of the story of Elijah, a favorite of mine, in 1 Kings 19:9-18 (NIV). Here’s a portion of it:

There he went into a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

This interaction came after a grand display with pagans where Elijah showed the might of God, showing off how God is stronger than all others, and yet Elijah’s response continued to be ‘do, do, do’ and not to listen for what God had next for himself. It wasn’t until God whispered that Elijah heard.

A Discipleship Goal

Some might identify being able to move towards stillness and listening as a sign of maturity and maybe they are correct, but I see this as someone who is still young and still not fully matured able to learn this. I believe this is something we miss teaching our youth quite frequently, and in an age of video games, social media, sports, and so many other distractions, who has time for quiet stillness and listening?

Remember that my initial comment is that Dallas Willard is speaking about spiritual formation within a book about discipleship in talking about these five techniques. We must learn them, we must teach them. We could certainly make errors like the desert fathers from the second century and find solitude as the only thing we seek and cut ourselves off from the world, but this is not what God wants. We could seek rest that is nothing but vegging out in front of a television with chips and soda, but I believe this is also not what God wants.

What do healthy Solitude, Silence, Fasting, Rest, and Memorizing Scriptures look like? And how can we find good soul care with ourselves as well as teach it to others? Check out Dallas’ book as well, but I’d love to hear what you have about the topic for more ideas.

I believe discipleship should be about evangelism, the study of Scripture, worship, and serving. But I also think we need to make soul care a big priority as well. And maybe when we have healthy souls, we could find ourselves a little bit more emotionally, cognitively, and relationally healthy as well.

Two years ago, we introduced you to three Christian counseling podcasts that you should listen to. Today, we want to expand that list with three more. I love listening to audiobooks on Christian mental health, though many times they are about one subject and a year or more behind some of the best ideas. Blog articles are great to consume, but not convenient when driving, doing home chores, or working out. Podcasting fills that void and there are several Christian counseling options. These are three more great options you should check out.

Mental health and substance use services in the United States are becoming a more difficult service to find quickly and effectively. So while almost 50% of Americans will have a behavioral health issue sometime in their life, that same percentage, 50% of Americans, will be living in an area underserved for mental health treatment. The information shared below is meant to help bring awareness, but we certainly have a lot more to do to fix this situation.

In a world that never seems to slow down, where stress and anxiety have become commonplace, the importance of mental health has never been more evident. Recognizing this need, we are excited to announce the Church Mental Health Summit, a transformative event that will take place on October 10th, 2023. This summit is a unique opportunity for your church community to come together, learn, and grow in understanding and supporting mental health.

In recent years, society has seen a growing awareness of the importance of mental health and well-being. The stigma surrounding mental health issues is gradually diminishing, and people are seeking help more openly than ever before. Alongside this shift, there has been a noteworthy partnership emerging between the church and mental health organizations. This collaboration signifies a powerful force for good, as it combines the strengths of faith-based support and professional mental health services to address the diverse needs of individuals facing mental health challenges.

Editor’s note: This article came out of an email correspondence about the Mandatory Reporting for Churches ebook and what more could be discussed. If you want to start educating and equipping your church to protect your congregation, go get the ebook here.

My years at work in the domestic violence field prepared me for my work as a Victim Assistance Coordinator (VAC). Many adult survivors of incest or current victims came through our area domestic violence shelter and we were mandated reporters. As a VAC, I met with victims of child sexual abuse (past or current, clergy-related or not), did referrals, provided the required safe environment training for church staff/volunteers about child sexual abuse prevention, and supplied data for our yearly audits on this training.

Editors Note: HHS The Partnership Center reached out with some clarification on other activities that are shared below.

This past week, I got the opportunity to be invited to attend the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) The Partnership Center conference in Washington DC. It’s an annual conference to promote a conversation about faith and mental health across the nation. Christianity was fully represented, but there were also representation of Jews and Muslims.

Below, I want to share some of the thoughts of what I heard from Christian leaders and some quotes that I feel are important to the message of integrating mental health within the Church.

Depression is a widespread mental health condition that affects millions of individuals worldwide. While there are many secular therapeutic approaches to managing depression that are evidence-based practices clinicians utilize, one often overlooked resource for healing can be found within Scripture. The practice of biblical lamentation, a form of sacred expression and grieving, offers a powerful tool for those seeking to improve their mental health and find solace amidst the darkness of depression.

Within the clinical work of mental health and substance use, there is a growing idea called Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual Model that discusses how people are more than just biological cells or rational thought. When we are happy, this may initially be because we had our favorite cup of coffee or talked to a friend, but we know this also includes the health attachments in relationships, that we have been getting enough sleep, eating enough nutritional food, have been regularly tending to our mental health, and have a strong belief in their higher power with regular faith traditions. So it is no surprise that a recent study shows a strong correlation between stronger faith belief systems with overall better mental health.