Mental Illness -Shepherding God's Flock

Shepherding the mentally ill can be troublesome and exhausting. Many homeless people are mentally ill.  What is our responsibility toward this population? Do we even have a responsibility? We have seen individuals who have families who live less than ten miles away.

Maybe their families have been burned out and over time have lost track of their cousin, brother or even mother. These lost relatives are sometimes violent and we understand that.  That is why pastors and leaders need training.

At Heartfelt Counseling Ministries, we have a number of programs in place to reach out and stabilize the mentally ill. This type of advocacy should be familiar to those, who are acquainted with the Old Testament.  The Hebrew word anah and other related words tell us about God’s view of helping those, who are oppressed, bruised,and poor in spirit.  The mentally ill are certainly part of this populace.  The study of this word, and related words in the Old Testament .is a wonderful way to prepare your heart, and the hearts of your people to minister to the mentally i;ll. Someone, who was once a baby boy or girl,, lives as a vagabond



But not all mentally people are homeless.

There are iindividuals, who sit in your church every week, teach your Bible study classes .and sing in the choir.  There are days they miss because of illness. The true reason they are not available is that they are in a depressive episode or experiencing a panic attack and, they cannot get out of bed. The stigma and the judgmental attitudes they have encountered over the months, and years of sickness have caused them to go into deep hiding.   There are also people who have stopped going to church completely because they feel no one understands and they don’t have the energy or resources to educate everyone. This is a major problem in our churches right now!

This quote is from The Pastoral Handbook of Mental Illness: A Guide for Training and Review.

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Anah, to be put down, become low, to be depressed, to be downcast, to be afflicted, to stoop. Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gessenius Lexicon; this is keyed to the “Theological Word  Book of the Old Testament.”

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