The gospel reminds us that we are sinners, but also broken and fragile people. As people come to church they come with their various mental health issues. Keith and Sarah Condie discuss what is the role of the church in helping people.

  • It is not our job to fix people.
  • Church can be really good for people as they deal with the issues.
  • The importance of watching and listening to people who might need help.
  • Doing something is better than doing nothing.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask “Are you thinking of taking your life?”
  • Good questions can be “Are you OK?”, “What has helped in the past?”, “Can I pray for you?”
  • Encouraging healthy habits can be underestimated.
  • Care for yourself while you are caring for others.
  • Caring for people is a form of growing disciples.

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TRANSCRIPTION:

The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.

Welcome to the one Thing podcast designed to give you one solid, practical tip for gospel centre ministry every week.The one thing’s brought to you by Reach Australia.We’d love to see thousands of healthy, evangelistic and multiplying churches all over our country and if you’d like to know more about us, jump on the website today.

We have a couple of special guests, Doctor Keith and Sarah Conde, who are founders and Co directors of the Mental Health and Pastoral Care Institute, a ministry of Anglican Deaconess Ministries in Sydney.They shared with us in a previous episode about steps we can take to make sure we’re taking care of our mental well being.

And if you haven’t heard that episode, make sure you go back and listen to it.It’s really, really great.But Keith and Sarah are back with us again.Welcome.Thanks so much, Pete, for having us back.Yeah.Thanks, Pete.Now we’re going to be talking a little bit more about how to take care of people with mental health issues, and I’ll come back to that in a moment, but OK, anyone who knows me knows one of the things I love asking you is what are you reading?

What are you reading at the moment?What are you guys reading at the moment, Sarah?Well, I just finished recently reading a book by Jacqueline Winspear.It’s a series about a woman called Maisie Dobbs, and this is the fun I think it was #20 But I have loved every single one of those books and been waiting and waiting, waiting for this last book to come out.

So.So this is a fictional series.It’s.A fictional series.It’s the whole series is starts before World War One and we’re now at the end of World War Two, so it covers quite an interesting time in history.OK, and set in London and about Maisie Dobbs becomes a private investigator.

But she’s a very interesting woman and I she’s a delightful person.And each book is very, it’s very different, but very interesting.OK, right.OK.Keith, what are you reading?Well, I just finished up in terms of fiction.

I read fiction at night before I go to sleep, but I read it on Kindle so I can never remember the names of the books or the authors.That’s the problem.Was a book about Cabramatta.OK, it was really interesting.Cabramatta in the 80s, nineties.Anyway, anyway, that was a great book.And I’m, I’m reading some really interesting stuff on trauma, which I know is a heavy topic, but there’s a woman in the States, a psychologist called Diane Langberg, who’s been working with people who’ve been impacted by trauma thought for over 40 years.

And she is remarkable.OK, she’s just she’s yeah, I’m loving her stuff.OK, If you want to find out those books, you’ll have to go back and listen to it again.I’m not going to put those in the show notes.But now as we come to this episode, I just want to highlight that we’re going to be pressing into some tough areas and you may want to take a moment to work out, is this the right time for you to listen to this episode?

You may want to come back and listen to it later.You may realise this is not the one to listen to while you’re driving and you might want to listen to it with someone else for support, so just keep that in mind.But for now, you press play on another episode of The One Thing.How can I look after the mental well being of those in my church or in my church team?

Today’s podcast is brought to you by CCLI.Do you need copyright, Peace of Mind or simple, comprehensive and affordable copyright solutions for your church?We’re here for you.Call CCLI on One 300 double 25400 or visit ccli.com.

And now back to the podcast.All right, Keith, tell us what are some of the things we can do to care for the mental well being of those at church or those around us at church?OK, so first thing I want to say is it is not our job to fix people, OK, Really important that we get that clear.

Sure, Otherwise we’re going to stray into territory that’s not our territory to stray into.But having said that, churches can make an enormous difference.In fact, when when we when we run our churches in a way that’s healthy and appropriate and reflects the truths we find in the New Testament that simply doing that will be good for people’s mental well being.

So let’s just think about a few things, right?Think about, think about the gospel and the truth of the gospel and how that shapes us and our perspective on life.You know, we are God’s beloved children.We are forgiven, we have hope, we have meaning, we have a purpose to our lives.

All of these things are profoundly helpful for our well being.So when we preach the gospel faithfully, we do people good, enormous good.So so there’s one thing.Then think about other stuff.Think about church community, right.

When we have, when we have a church that again, reflects what we’re called to in the New Testament, that to be a place where we, we love each other deeply from the heart, that again, there’s enormous good for people, people loved, cared for, supported, You know, we provide routines for people.

We give people the opportunity to serve.And you know what, when you do stuff for other people, that does a lot of good for you.Volunteering has been shown very beneficial for people’s well being.So a lot of what we do in church enormously helpful.So that that that’s the 1st thing to bear in mind.

I think the other thing we need to think about is we’ve got different people, different circumstances, different stuff going on and in as we seek to pastor and shepherd our people, let’s just think about their particular individual state needs, whatever.

I love that verse one Thessalonians 514, which just acknowledges that everyone’s different and need different stuff.So what does it say?It says warn those who are idle and disruptive, says encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

So it’s not one size fits all.So, so then I think that’s the the foundational thing I suppose to say here is, and we’re going to say some more detail in just a moment is let’s just do, when we do church well, this will help people.

And let’s be alert to the fact that those we’re seeking to care for and shepherd and grow in the faith, Different needs for different people.And that can show such a beautiful side of the gospel.So there was a previous congregation I was a part of.There was a guy who was there.

He had some mental health issues and it was just beautiful to watch people gather around him.And it wasn’t just left to a couple of people.Yes, just about everyone kind of had a relationship with him.But what was beautiful about it is that he was such an encourager.So he would just you go, oh, I’m praying this for you and I’m praying this for you.

And so it was, it was a very much complimentary and thing in that, you know, encouragement, but it just showed the beauty of the gospel in that moment that.Wonderful mutuality.Yeah, yeah, yeah.Of one another.Right.That’s exactly what I was trying to say.Yes.Yeah, yeah, Yeah.

So how can we recognise when others actually need that extra, you know, extra support in their mental and.Well, Sarah?Well, if we are loving others the way God loves us, we will actually have eyes that are open and we notice the people around us and we will see or we will notice that they are struggling or they perhaps need reaching out and supporting.

I think if people are going through stressful times, that often tips people into relapses.So knowing that about people, if they’re going through something hard or if they’re going through more than one hard thing at a time, well then just really look after them or look out for them and ask them.

Ask them how are you?How are you going?You you’ve noticed, you thought about them, you can pray for them, but then ask them how are you going?And if you’re working with people in a staff team, have you noticed changes in their behaviour, in their mood, if anything like that could be an, a flag or a warning that something’s not going right for them.

So you could, if you feel, you know, you could gently say, you know how you going and just see if they do need and listen to what they say.And there could be other reasons, but I think that’s certainly a good place to start.

That’s a good thing, isn’t it?Particularly in a staff team, because sometimes our staff, you know, that that’s the resource that people are drawing from and sometimes they’re not well looked after.So having us, if you’re in a team to be able to look after each other in that way, just keep an eye out.

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