News Digest

As awareness over mental health issues grows, many churches and pastors are working together with mental health professionals to address a growing demand among people in the pews.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than 18 million Americans suffer from depression, nearly one in 10 adults. The number of people reporting depression tripled in a 10-year span ending in 1997.

In addressing mental health concerns, pastors are often on the first line of defense.

“The majority of people are much more likely to talk with their pastor than with a psychologist,” says Lee Wetherbee, director of clinical services at EMERGE, a mental health ministry in Akron, Ohio, affiliated with the Assemblies of God. “Pastors are expected to fulfill many more roles than what they used to.”

The demands can be draining. “I recommend for their own spiritual and mental health that pastors have a network of counseling professionals they can count on either to seek support from or to refer people who have more severe clinical needs than they are equipped to handle,” Wetherbee says.

As a result of one such referral network, after 25 years of pastoral ministry, David Welle, pastor at Calvary Assembly in Willoughby Hills, Ohio, does less counseling now than he did when he first started ministry. “My job is to do crisis intervention and initial counseling,” he says. “People feel free to come to me to get them started on counseling, but I explain to them that I am not a professional counselor but a pastor. They can access long-term counseling with a Christian counselor or find personal support and encouragement through developing ongoing accountable relationships with mature Christians.”

Welle frequently refers individuals to the private practices of Christian counselors, one of whom holds office hours at the church. Calvary Assembly subsidizes part of the cost of counseling sessions when necessary.

Praise Assembly of God in Springfield, Mo., has confronted the growing demand for pastoral care and counseling by founding Safe Harbor Counseling Center. Started three years ago, the center now facilitates 250 patient hours a month. The ratio of unchurched to churched patients is four to one.

David W. Johns, director of Safe Harbor Counseling Center, sees a spirit of teamwork growing among pastors and counselors.

“The demand on pastors is overwhelming,” he says. “We need to develop a feeling of cooperation rather than competition. When we do that, we realize that helping and restoring people is our common purpose.”

Melody Palm, assistant professor of psychology and counseling at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Mo., says the restoration takes time.

“God does instantaneously heal and we rejoice in those miracles, but more often than not it’s a process of healing and working through the issues that may be contributing to or actually causing the depression,” she says. “Prayer is one avenue by which to fight depression, just as we would use that avenue to fight any disease or sickness. However, as God has called us to be stewards of our bodies and minds, we are to pursue all avenues that can help us get well, spiritually, biologically and psychologically.”