This recent article in USA Today speaks to the concerning issue of depression among those who serve in the ministry. Please don't forget to pray for the pastors and ministry leaders of churches. I know of many who are experiencing some very difficult circumstances. Pastor Chris
What kind of personal pain would cause a 42-year-old pastor to abandon his family, his calling and even life itself? Members of a Baptist church here are asking that question after their pastor committed suicide in his parked car in September. Those who counsel pastors say Christian culture, especially Southern evangelicalism, creates the perfect environment for depression. Pastors suffer in silence, unwilling or unable to seek help or even talk about it. Sometimes they leave the ministry. Occasionally the result is the unthinkable.
Experts say clergy suicide is a rare outcome to a common problem. But Baptists in the Carolinas are soul-searching after a spate of suicides and suicide attempts by pastors. In addition to the September suicide of David Treadway, two others in North Carolina attempted suicide, and three in South Carolina succeeded, all in the last four years.
Being a pastor—a high-profile, high-stress job with nearly impossible expectations for success—can send one down the road to depression, according to pastoral counselors. "We set the bar so high that most pastors can't achieve that," said H.B. London, vice president for pastoral ministries at Focus on the Family, based in Colorado Springs, Colo. "And because most pastors are people-pleasers, they get frustrated and feel they can't live up to that." When pastors fail to live up to demands imposed by themselves or others they often "turn their frustration back on themselves," leading to self-doubt and to feelings of failure and hopelessness, said Fred Smoot, executive director of Emory Clergy Care in Duluth, Georgia.
Most counselors and psychologists interviewed for this article agreed depression among clergy is at least as prevalent as in the general population. As many as 12% of men and 26% of women will experience major depression during their lifetime, according to the American Medical Association. "The likelihood is that one out of every four pastors is depressed," said Matthew Stanford, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. But anxiety and depression in the pulpit are "markedly higher" in the last five years, said Smoot. "The current economic crisis has caused many of our pastors to go into depression." Besides the recession's strain on church budgets, depressed pastors increasingly report frustration over their congregations' resistance to cultural change.
Nearly two out of three depressed people don't seek treatment, according to studies by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. Counselors say even fewer depressed ministers get treated because of career fears, social stigma and spiritual taboo. "Clergy do not talk about it because it violates their understanding of their faith," said Scoggin. "They believe they are not supposed to have those kinds of thoughts." Stanford, who studies how the Christian community deals with mental illness, said depression in Christian culture carries "a double stigmatization." Society still places a stigma on mental illness, but Christians make it worse, he said, by "over-spiritualizing" depression and other disorders—dismissing them as a lack of faith or a sign of weakness. Polite Southern culture adds its own taboo against "talking about something as personal as your mental health," noted Scoggin. The result is a culture of avoidance. "You can't talk about it before it happens and you can't talk about it after it happens," said Monty Hale, director of pastoral ministries for the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
For pastors, treatment can come at a high price. In some settings, however, it is becoming more acceptable for clergy to get treatment. "Depression is part of the human condition," added Scoggin. "Some people simply find ways to gracefully live with it. Like other chronic illnesses, you may not get over it."
Experts at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary suggest that pastors can help prevent depression by engaging in intentional replenishment weekly or monthly, confiding in their spouse and seeking spiritual direction with another pastor who ministers to them. They should also establish boundaries and set realistic expectations. "Jesus did not heal everyone, even though it was within His power to do so. No one is capable of successfully ministering to every person in need," said Drs. Sidney Bradley and Kelly Boyce with GCTS. "Pastors can also normalize the problem of depression by teaching about it. This can help people understand it, and dispel the idea that Christians are immune from depression. Research has shown that when therapy is combined with medication, there is a 90 percent successful treatment rate. Depression is very, very treatable."
USA Today 10/29/09
I found this recent article that underscores the responsibility we have in protecting children. Unfortunately, some traumatic events are beyond our protection and control. Yet, it is good to know that God cares and can heal the wounds inflicted by a fallen world.
Pastor Chris
A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study finds children who experience six or more traumatic events in their childhood have an average lifespan 19 years shorter than their counterparts who do not suffer that degree of childhood trauma. This includes traumatic events such emotional, physical or sexual abuse or household dysfunction. That stress, researchers said, functions “like a dose of stress poison that negatively affects how the brain develops and multiple organ systems function,” and can ultimately lead to the early deaths observed in the study. “They tend to take on the risk factors that lead to poor health,” said one researcher of childhood trauma survivors. “They smoke more, they are more likely to abuse alcohol, use illicit drugs…or to be overweight or to be physically inactive. They're twice as likely to die by 65 years than people who had none of those adverse childhood experiences. Dr. Victor G. Carrion, director of the Early Life Stress Research Program at Stanford University, added, “People used to think that children were resilient by virtue of being young. The reality cannot be further from the truth. The younger you are the more vulnerable you are to the effects of trauma.”
ABC News, 10/6/09
I found this USA Today article particularly interesting. Some of you heard the press about "National Blasphemy Day". Turns out that many atheists are bucking the trend of abrasive atheism and seeing the value of religion. This article doesn't make me feel any better. However, it is interesting. Pastor Chris
The old atheists said there was no God. The so-called "New Atheists" said there was no God, and they were vocally vicious about it. Now, the newest group of atheists—call it Atheism 3.0—say there's still no God, but maybe religion isn't all that bad. Author Bruce Sheiman, setting aside the question of whether God exists, says it's clear that the benefits of faith far outweigh its costs, as argued in his new book, An Atheist Defends Religion: Why Humanity is Better Off With Religion than Without It. "More than any other institution, religion deserves our appreciation and respect because it has persistently encouraged people to care deeply—for the self, for neighbors, for humanity, and for the natural world—and to strive for the highest ideals humans are able to envision," Sheiman writes. A new crew of nonbelievers is taking on the New Atheists—Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and others— arguing that while they may not have faith themselves, there's little reason to belittle believers or push religion out of the public square. The back-and-forth debates over God's existence have shed a little light, but far more heat, they argue, while the world's problems loom ever larger. Greg M. Epstein, the Humanist chaplain at Harvard University, argues, "When our goal is erasing religion, rather than embracing human beings, we all lose." Austin Dacey, a former United Nations representative for the staunchly secularist Center for Inquiry, says a godless public square not only shields religion from public criticism; it also circumvents a broader debate on morality. On the flip side, atheists too, can be a "blessing" for believers, said Samir Selmanovic, co-founder and co-leader of New York's interreligious Faith House Manhattan. Atheists are "God's whistle-blowers," who keep believers honest and focused on the here-and-now, Selmanovic said. "Atheism at its best grabs us by the collar and throws us to the ground, demanding to see lives well lived, forcing us to dig deeper and live up to the best of our own religions," he writes.
USA Today 10/19/09
Developers of the “Bible Promises” application for iPhone® recently released a new version which allows users to “favorite” their most inspiring Bible verses. After analyzing information from thousands of church-goers across the world, the most popular verses were found to be: Isaiah 40:31, Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalms 103:2-3, Galatians 6:9, and Philippians 4:6.
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