The best at what she does

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Dr. G

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV)

Barb Newman is very sick. I want her to know how much our team appreciates the ministry she’s provided for many years to the kids and families of Zeeland Christian School, to churches and Christian schools through the work of All Belong, and to the entire field of disability ministry through her writing, speaking and teaching. I’m writing today because I want our friend to know how much we value her and the gifts she’s given to us and everyone else serving in the disability ministry field.

I felt very unsettled in the early days of our team getting out to conferences and networking in the children’s and family ministry communities after observing the extent to which ministry leaders in those areas were engaged in ruthless self-promotion and discovering that a lot of the teaching and content available at that time wasn’t very good. I came into ministry from a medical world in which excellence was demanded. I’d expected excellence would be a given in work being done in the name of God, but that wasn’t in many instances what I found. With regard to the practical, “how-to” of doing ministry with families of kids with severe disabilities, Barb’s writing and teaching was the first content that reflected a level of excellence in caring for and supporting individuals and families impacted by disabilities consistent with what I’d come to expect from my exposure to academic medicine.

I came to recognize Barb’s superior abilities as a teacher and have seen the ways in which God has used her extraordinary gifts to bless the disability community. Barb is able to talk about kids with incredibly complex conditions such as autism in such a way that pastors, ministry leaders, fellow educators and Sunday school volunteers are able to grasp the best ways to lend support while communicating the love of Christ. Her work has provided a foundation to others in the disability ministry field who have continued to build upon it. When I was working on Mental Health and the Church, I wanted the book to be as good as Accessible Gospel, Inclusive Worship and Autism and Your Church. She’s set the standard for the field.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Philippians 1:15-18 (ESV)

Barb has always been extraordinarily generous with her time and talents and actively sought to collaborate in any opportunity to advance the field of disability ministry and disability inclusion. She’s been a great encouragement to emerging authors and leaders. Her humility and willingness to work with others despite her superior abilities has greatly contributed to the spirit of collaboration throughout the disability ministry movement and served as an authentic reflection of Christ.

To Live Is Christ

Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

Philippians 1:18b-26 (ESV)

With all that said, I think Barb has done some of her most impactful ministry in the last three months, since being diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma of the uterus – a very aggressive form of cancer that metastasized to her brain. I’d encourage everyone to check out the journal Barb and her family have maintained since her cancer was identified nearly three months ago. In mental health ministry, we often find ourselves wresting with the implications of Philippians 4:6-7. Through her illness, Barb has been the embodiment of what Paul described as “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.” I’ll pray that if given the opportunity, the Holy Spirit will enable me to finish my race as well as Barb is finishing hers.

Here’s my favorite talk of Barb’s, from our Inclusion Fusion Live conference in 2018. She shared the idea of “puzzle piece learning” – a wonderful vision of what inclusion might look like in the church and in Christ’s kingdom.

While we’ll continue to pray that God would glorify himself through healing Barb completely of her cancer and giving her many more years of serving families with disabilities and the church, if he chooses not to do so we’ll be happy for our friend that she’ll be with Jesus forever in his kingdom along with many, many people who came to know him through churches and schools Barb trained to welcome them. We’ll also be comforted thanks to Barb’s generosity with her wisdom and knowledge, there are many gifted teachers and leaders prepared to continue her work.

Thanks Barb! We’ll see you soon.

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An event promoting mentally healthy pastors and churches

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Dr. G

Church always has been a place where people can act foolish with little consequence — where people have the space to act out toward clergy in ways that aren’t safe to do toward their bosses or their spouses. Being a pastor never has been easy, but this is a new level of hell that pastors are living.

I came across the above quote in this article written by a pastor about the struggles of his fellow pastors in a Facebook post from a pastor who used to serve at my church highlighting the burdens that pastors and church staff have been experiencing while doing ministry in the middle of a pandemic. A study from the Barna Group in the early days of COVID-19 noted three in ten pastors (31%) say they are currently struggling the most with their emotional well-being, while a quarter (26%) say this about their relational well-being.

When I think about the families I work with through my practice and the leaders I come in contact with through our ministry, few professions have faced more adversity during the pandemic than folks serving on staff at church. I’ve previously referenced the Social Readjustment Rating Scale – a tool used to calculate the risk of medical illness based upon the individual’s experience of 43 potentially stressful life events in the past year.  The higher the score, and the larger the weight of each event, the more likely the individual was was to become ill. Consider what many in ministry have experienced so far during 2020 from the list of stressful events…

  • Business readjustment (39 “stress points”)
  • Change in financial state (38)
  • Change in responsibilities at work (29)
  • Spouse begins or stops work (26)
  • Revision of personal habits (24)
  • Change in work hours or conditions (20)
  • Change in church activities (19)

A recent study from the City College of New York and Duke University demonstrated that higher levels of spiritual well-being were protective against increased depressive symptoms in pastors, even when controlling for perceived emotional support.

Our team had been wrestling with what we might do to be supportive of our brothers and sisters involved in ministry while helping them care for individuals and families inside and outside of their churches who are struggling during this time. We came up with the idea of an event focusing on pastors, mental health and the church combining an online retreat with a mental health ministry conference. We’re planning the event in partnership with a pastor and media consultant (Nils Smith) who has an established track record of success in creating events similar to this one  and has worked with our ministry in the past.

Our Online Pastors’ Retreat seeks to:

  • Provide resources and support to pastors and church staff to help them attend to their mental health needs and the needs of their families.
  • Promote the development of mental health ministry strategies guiding care and support to persons inside the church and outreach to individuals and families with mental health concerns without a church.

We reached out to colleagues involved with mental health ministry along with pastors and other church leaders recognized for their concern for clergy well-being when we came up with the idea for the retreat. We were blown away – and very blessed by the willingness of leaders of churches and ministries far more prominent than ours to participate in the event. Some of the folks who will be participating (in alphabetical order) include…

  • DJ Chuang (Erasing Shame Podcast)
  • Jack Graham (Prestonwood Baptist Church)
  • Brad Hambrick (The Summit Church)
  • Craig Johnson (Lakewood Church)
  • Pete Scazzaro (Emotionally Healthy Discipleship)
  • Heather Sells (Christian Broadcasting Network)
  • Greg Surratt (Seacoast Church)
  • William Vanderbloemen (Vandebloemen Search Group)
  • Kay Warren (Saddleback Church)

You’ll also recognize a number of prominent mental health ministry leaders who have been part of Key Ministry events in the past, including Jermine Alberty, Brad Hoefs, Joe Padilla, Shannon Royce, Amy Simpson and members of our Key Ministry team. We expect to finalize a few additional presenters leading up to the retreat.

The retreat content will first be made available on October 5th-7th. All of the sessions are pre-recorded and will become available to you on those dates. There’s no expiration date so participants may take as much or as little time to watch as you need. We’ve also set the retreat up to be accessed “on-demand,” whenever it’s most convenient for you to do so.  Binge watch like you would a series on Netflix, watch a little in the morning or over your lunch break, or take part of a morning each week to go through it a few sessions at a time.

While the content for the retreat will be available on-demand to be consumed in any order, the event is organized as if it were a three day conference.

Day One presentations are focused on self-care – how to recognize when you need help; how to maintain emotional health in ministry and how to do self-care with a pastor’s schedule.

The Day Two focus is on church care – basics on mental health for pastors and church leaders, understanding the need for staff and volunteers to be trained in Mental Health First Aid and supporting ministry colleagues and individuals and families within your church impacted by mental illness.

Day Three presentations address becoming a mental health-friendly church – introducing a model for developing a mental health inclusion strategy, three models of Christian-based mental health support groups, mental health ministry success stories and emerging mental health ministry models.

Since one of the things we miss the most about live conferences are the connections with the other speakers and attendees, we’ll be building opportunities for interaction into the retreat. There will be discussion questions for some presentations and opportunities to chat via Zoom with the speakers for others. We’ll have a section for comments associated with each presentation similar to the boards commonly used with online college courses. We hope the comments section for each presentation fills up with great insights, questions and engagement.

We’d like to encourage everyone we know who is actively engaged in ministry – pastors, church staff members and their spouses, parachurch ministry leaders and high capacity volunteers to join us as we seek to better understand how to care for ourselves, our families and the people we’re meant to serve in ministry in the midst of a pandemic, economic crisis, a highly divisive culture and social unrest. We’ve sought to keep the cost as modest as possible so that as many pastors and ministry leaders as possible may take part. Check out the retreat website or click here through September 23rd for a $39 “early-bird” rate to access all of the presentations and resources our gifted leaders and speakers have assembled.

Hope you’ll be able to join us in October!
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In Mental Health and the Church: A Ministry Handbook for Including Children and Adults with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, and Other Common Mental Health Conditions, Dr. Stephen Grcevich presents a simple and flexible model for mental health inclusion ministry for implementation by churches of all sizes, denominations, and organizational styles. The book is also designed to be a useful resource for parents, grandparents and spouses seeking to promote the spiritual growth of loved ones with mental illness. Available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, ChristianBook and other fine retailers everywhere.

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The five kids I’m most concerned about this fall

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Dr. G

Sad boy, sitting alone, gazing out a window

While much uncertainty remains about the status of sports and other extracurricular activities in our home region, most districts have announced back to school plans. Only 38% of Ohio students will be returning to school for full-time, live instruction as the new academic year begins. A quarter of all students will be 100% remote at the beginning of the year – disproportionately kids in urban school districts whose learning was most severely impacted when in-person instruction ended this past March. Others will be engaged in “hybrid models” in which they’ll attend school in person on select days of the week and engage in virtual learning from home on others. The bottom line is that over 60% of kids will be spending part if not all of their time at school online when classes start in the next few weeks.

We see kids with a wide range of presenting problems in our child and adolescent psychiatry practice. Some of our patients actually did better emotionally after schools closed last Spring. Kids with social anxiety were much happier when everyone was encouraged to stay at home and isolate themselves from others. Some patients with academic problems were happier because performance expectations went out the window in most school districts when the pandemic hit. Homework became optional and grading was often extraordinarily generous. School closures and social distancing reduced opportunities for the relationship drama that often leads to depression, self-injury and suicide attempts.

With that said, I’m anticipating the coming school year will be much, much worse when it comes to children, teens and mental health concerns. The reality is beginning to set in that the pandemic is going to be with us for a long time. Our practice expects many kids won’t set foot in a classroom for the entire school year. Parents and public officials are going to demand higher academic standards. We have no research on the impact of such prolonged school closures on an entire generation of kids. The strain on families to support their children’s education while maintaining their jobs will be immense – if they still have jobs. Consider the grief so many kids will experience this year – not simply the loss of family members to COVID-19, but grief from lost experiences. Opportunities to participate in sports, play the lead in the musical, go to homecoming or prom, visit prospective colleges, host or attend birthday parties or take school trips. Missing out on Sunday school, youth group, family vacations and time with grandparents. The list is endless.

Boy wearing a mask while doing school from home on a computer

Photo by Julia M Cameron from Pexels

Based upon my observations from thirty years as a child psychiatrist and experiences with kids and families, here are five groups of kids I’m most concerned about this school year.

Kids with OCD. My patients with OCD need to be busy. With greatly shortened school days, elimination of extracurricular activities and lack of access to friends they had far too much time to obsess on negative thoughts and fewer distractions from their perseveration. Many spiraled down into intense episodes of depression. Over 60% of teens with OCD will experience at least one episode of depression by age 18. I’m most concerned about suicide in my patients with OCD. They will likely require more aggressive treatment if in-person school and extracurricular activities are shut down for an extended time. Some patients who have responded well to therapy alone may need medication. Others may need more frequent or intensive therapy.

Kids with autism spectrum disorders. My patients with autism are most dependent upon an established routine. School is also essential for acquisition of social skills. Consider a few challenges students with autism will experience as school begins…

  • Sensory issues with PPE – masks, shields and other protective equipment.
  • Processing social cues when teachers and classmates are wearing masks.
  • Getting adequate preparation for entering back into a very different school routine at a time when educators are still figuring out the school routine. Opportunities to visit schools and meet teachers prior to the first day of class and social stories will be especially important for successful transitioning.

They often experience challenges similar to kids with OCD with perseveration on negative thoughts when they have too much free time. Significant regression developmentally or more frequent or severe episodes of aggression are two signs that their educational and mental health treatment needs should be re-evaluated.

Kids with ADHD. Most of my patients with ADHD had significantly more difficulty maintaining focus for school on a computer screen last Spring than they did in a classroom. They’re exposed to far more potential distractions at home. Schools struggled to provide support with organization and planning remotely that many of our kids with ADHD and their families depend upon. More importantly, the structure (predictable expectations, rules and routine that enable them to devote more cognitive resources to important tasks at hand) they depend upon will be non-existent in too many school districts at the beginning of they year. Too much free time was a challenge for them back in April and May. Procrastination became a larger problem. With a shortened school day and no extracurricular activities many kids from our practice sensed less urgency to  do homework at a specific time. Many struggled greatly with not knowing where to find their assignments or how to turn them in when the transition to online school took place.

Parents of kids with ADHD need to recognize that the treatment needs of their children may be very different if they’re attending school from home and are encouraged to discuss the issue with professionals serving their child. I have patients who will have different medication plans this fall for virtual school and in-person instruction because their needs are so different at home as opposed to a classroom.

Kids with dyslexia or other learning disorders. Without the one-to-one and small group instruction with specially trained teachers or private tutoring (where available and affordable), they’ll likely fall further behind their peers educationally and struggle more with self-confidence.

Kids with anxiety disorders. Children and adults with anxiety tend to overestimate the level of risk in new or unfamiliar situations – a situation that clearly applies this fall whether the child will be going back to a bricks and mortar school or doing school from home. The more kids can visualize of how school will be different this fall, through in-person tours, videos from teachers, and video or pictures of what to expect on the bus, during recess, lunchtime, gym, transitions from class to class and during their actual classes, the easier re-entry into school is likely to be. Kids with a history of separation anxiety are likely to have a more difficult time returning to in-person school the longer they’re away.

What do parents need to keep in mind this Fall in looking after children with a history of mental health treatment or vulnerability to emotional, behavioral or academic concerns? Here are three thoughts:

  1. Treatment approaches that worked in the past may not work this year. There are too many psychological and environmental factors at play. Our practice expects to see a lot of kids who had been effectively managed to this point by their pediatrician or primary care physician.
  2. Parents need to be diligent about addressing their personal mental health. We see this all the time – parents attend to the needs of their children when they won’t take care of themselves. Your kids learn how to manage difficult times by watching YOU. You’re best able to care for and support your children when you’re the best you can be.
  3. Kids who haven’t needed mental health services prior to this year may need them now. Here’s list of eleven simple signs that a child may be suffering from a mental illness, developed by the Mayo Clinic with support from the National Institute of Mental Health. The list aims to help separate warning signs of illness from typical moodiness and occasional disruptive behavior like defiance, aggression, and impulsivity. Presence of one or more of these signs indicates a child or teen is in need of care.
  • Feeling very sad or withdrawn for two or more weeks
  • Seriously trying to harm or kill himself, or making plans to do so
  • Sudden overwhelming fear for no reason, sometimes with a racing heart or fast breathing
  • Involved in multiple fights, using a weapon, or wanting badly to hurt others
  • Severe, out-of-control behavior that can hurt himself or others
  • Not eating, throwing up or using laxatives to make herself lose weight
  • Intensive worries or fears that get in the way of daily activities
  • Extreme difficulty in concentrating or staying still that puts her in physical danger or causes school failure
  • Repeated use of drugs or alcohol
  • Severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
  • Drastic changes in her behavior or personality

 

Posted in ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, Autism, Families, Key Ministry, Mental Health | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ministry in a post-Coronavirus world

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Dr. G

 

Church as we knew it before the second Sunday in March is never going to return to “normal.” Two developments from the past fourteen days illustrate the extent of disruption resulting from closures ordered to reduce spread of the virus.

The Barna Group released results of a survey conducted in late April and early May indicating one in three practicing Christians (defined as people who identify as Christian, agree strongly that faith is very important in their lives and have attended church within the past month pre-COVID) has stopped attending church during COVID-19. Out of that sample, slightly more than half of the respondents had exclusively viewed online services from their own church or supplemented their church’s online worship with content from other churches. The statistic I would find most alarming as a church leader is that 46% of practicing Christians were exclusively viewing content from other churches or not engaging online at all with the church they had regularly attended.

An interesting and somewhat counterintuitive finding from the Barna study is that the demographic most likely to maintain engagement with church online were “Boomers” – (adults between the ages of 55-74 for the purpose of this survey) while 35% of “Gen Xers” (ages 37-55) and half of “Millennials” (ages 22-36) have stopped attending church altogether, despite their greater familiarity with the apps and technology necessary for online engagement.

The ranks of “committed Christians” will shrink significantly following COVID-related social distancing. I’d hypothesize a subgroup of Gen Xers and Millennials will come back when we’re able to minister effectively with kids whose primary motivation for attending is their desire for their children to have a foundation in the faith. Many who attended out of habit won’t be coming back after establishing a weekend routine that doesn’t involve church. One comment I hear with surprising regularity in my social circles is of boredom during worship services because they’ve “heard it all” already – one possible explanation for why nearly a third of survey respondents reported checking out other churches online.

Unrelated to COVID, I’d expect to see many leave the church in parts of the country where membership serves as a networking tool and indicator of social status. Being part of a church is more likely to be a hindrance than a help career-wise in the coming decade, especially for attenders working for large corporations and those in industries where support for a Biblical sexual ethic is problematic – technology, academia, social services and the legal profession, to name a few.

Photo courtesy of North Point Ministries

 

The second bombshell that dropped early last week was the announcement by Andy Stanley, the highly influential pastor and founder of North Point Ministries that the megachurches affiliated with their ministry decided to suspend in-person adult worship services for the remainder of 2020. Subsequent to Andy’s announcement, the Barna group’s weekly survey reported that 5% of pastors don’t expect their churches to resume adult worship this year. Here are three excerpts from an interview Andy did earlier this week for Christianity today reflecting the thinking behind the decision.

Here is where I think the church needs to think about this: As a local church, we have limited time, limited staff, and limited resources; it makes no sense to focus our staff time and resources on creating a subpar environment on Sunday morning for a nine and 11 o’clock service that only 20% of the people may attend.

What we can do for the community is to reallocate assets and resources, to serve the community, to get more involved with our community charities that we support all year long, and to raise money for organizations. This is an incredible opportunity for the church to be seen doing good. This is important. It is not enough for the church to do good. The church must be seen doing good.

The communication has been, we love you too much to open the doors on Sunday morning, let’s focus on doing stuff for the community, but at the same time we’re doing not just zoom groups. Our middle schoolers meet in driveways. We call them driveway groups. We’ve encouraged people to come to the campus, bring their chairs, circle up, have your small group in the parking lot and the grass. So the church is not closed. We’ve just suspended our Sunday morning gatherings.

Change that would have occurred gradually over the next ten years will take place in the next 12-24 months thanks to the disruption from COVID.

Serving in the medical profession, I’ve had lots of experience with disruptive change. COVID may be the third major disruption in the field since I graduated med school 34 years ago, the first being managed care and the second the corporatization of medicine. The extent of disruption to the day to day work of ministry caused by COVID is going to take a heavy toll in terms of both physical and mental health for pastors and church staff. To compound the challenge of needing to rethink pretty much everything they do, church leaders will also be impacted by:

  • Less money. Between the folks no longer contributing because they drifted away from church and the tens of millions of people who who have lost jobs or businesses, financial resources are likely to become much tighter in years ahead.
  • Fewer volunteers. Volunteers are the currency of ministry to the extent that it’s impossible to run a church without them. Who teaches Sunday school? Runs the nursery? Hosts youth group? Our church (pre-COVID) did great respite nights for families of kids with disabilities. Hosting 80 kids might require 200+ volunteers. Where are they coming from?
  • The challenges of doing ministry in a culture increasingly composed of hostile, secular people.

In many ways, Key Ministry offers a useful model for what ministry might look like after COVID. Huge mission. Dependent upon a relatively small staff and an even smaller budget.

Based on our experiences, here are some thoughts about the approaches of churches likely to survive and thrive after COVID and how our team is planning to navigate the months and years ahead.

Churches in a position to impact their communities when this is over will need to become very good at identifying people with gifts, talents and vision for ministry and resourcing and empowering them to do serve where God has uniquely placed them vocationally and geographically. Our team is continually on the lookout for leaders with new ideas on disability ministry and eager to provide them with opportunities to share ideas and influence a larger audience. If I’m leading a church, I’m looking for members and attendees with ideas and opportunities for doing good, offering ministry staff to come alongside them and allocating my missions budget to support them.

Thriving churches will effectively integrate “face to face” ministry and online community. Our experience has been that online relationships become more meaningful and impactful when we have opportunities for interaction in the physical presence of one another. The next time we’re able to do a live and in-person ministry conference, we’re going to be building in more opportunities for church staff and volunteers and family members to hang out with the speakers and authors whose work they follow online. For a church, this might mean hosting special events where predominantly online attendees get to spend time with pastors and staff who represent the “face” of the ministry. It might mean providing child care and supports so the parents of kids with disabilities in online small groups occasionally have the opportunity to get together in person. It might involve a roundtable discussion of that week’s sermon led by a pastor that can be joined either in person or virtually by online attendees. The more leaders you can identify to represent your church online, the less likely they are to experience interaction fatigue.

The church needs to develop more sustainable career models for ministry leaders. Burnout is likely to become ubiquitous among pastors and church staff over the next 12-24 months. If I were running a seminary, I would want every one of my graduates to have the necessary knowledge and experience to support themselves and their families outside of paid ministry work for an extended period of time. In the course of my day job I’ve come across far too many situations where leaders have given all they have to give to the point of becoming utterly ineffective who find themselves unable to step away from ministry because their families would be destitute without a paycheck. As we look to grow our ministry team going forward, our team will continue to depend upon co-vocational staff who will be able to continue to serve in ministry during times when we wouldn’t otherwise have the funds to pay them.

Where does that leave our field? The background for this discussion is that we need to understand what churches are going through to appreciate their ability to minister with families impacted by disability and how they might minister most effectively. As our team plans for the remainder of this year and a 2021 during which COVID will likely continue to cause extreme disruption to large group activities, here are some of the approaches we’re considering:

A focus on building relationships with church leaders – perhaps through providing care and support. Pastors and church staff should be thought of as “first responders” during the pandemic. The lack of resources for pastors and their family members struggling with mental health issues is a disgrace. In the same way that pastors with children or grandchildren with autism and other developmental disabilities were the original champions of special needs ministry, church leaders with firsthand experience with mental illness are most likely to appreciate the need for inclusive ministry.

We envision getting out on the road as soon as it’s safe to do so and setting aside more time for one to one conversations when we do do. COVID hasn’t changed the need for pastors and church leaders to access high quality disability and mental health ministry training within a half-day drive of where they live getting out and meeting leaders in person. We’ll also plan more opportunities for face to face interaction at big conferences. 

We’re going to be spotlighting individuals, churches and organizations doing disability ministry outside the walls of the church. The church is open wherever and whenever the people of the church are sharing the love of Christ with someone in need. At a time when Christians and Christianity are viewed negatively by large segments of the population, the people of the church need to be seen doing good!

We’ll continue to seek out leaders who are developing innovative approaches to disability ministry in the midst of COVID while expanding our ability to put their ideas in front of as many pastors, church staff and volunteers as possible, while maintaining as much flexibility as possible. The ability to rapidly change direction during this time is critical. Carey Nieuwhof, the influential pastor and blogger recently said that “agility is the new superpower.” Strategies will change, but the mission remains the same.

God’s going to use this time for good. The other day, I saw these tweets as part of a thread from Beth Moore and found them to be a good description of where we’re at as a church. We’ll be OK.

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Join the Key Ministry team on Wednesday, July 22 at 12:00 PM as we talk with Shannon Royce, Esq., head of the Center For Faith & Opportunity Initiatives in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Shannon will discuss “Compassion in Action,” a newly published guide designed to help churches and other faith communities care well for individuals living with mental illness. We’ll also talk about other initiatives from The Partnership Center to help churches support the mental health needs of the people within churches and the local community.Learn more or register here:

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A new mental health resource for churches from an unlikely place

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Dr. G

For the last 2 ½  years, Catherine and I have had the privilege of being part of a most unlikely and extraordinary group of religious leaders and Federal government officials looking at how congregations from America’s diverse faith traditions might better care for and support individuals and families affected by mental illness, organized by the Office of Faith-Based Partnerships in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  This past week, HHS released a resource developed by the group that we highly recommend to churches of all Christian traditions.

Compassion in Action: A Guide for Faith Communities Serving People Experiencing Mental Illness  is available as a free download through the HHS website.  The guide is organized around seven key principles applicable in all faith traditions that offer a way for spiritual leaders to address mental illness in the communities they serve. The guide also identifies concrete houses of worship might take to “put their compassion into action.”

Each of the seven principles is accompanied by a set of action steps informed by the wisdom of the 75 faith leaders, academics, caregivers, and mental health professionals experienced in addressing mental illness in their own communities, accompanied by a compilation of resources applicable within and across faith traditions. 

The guide is an excellent resource to share with pastors, elders and ministry leaders as an educational tool on mental illness and a spark to discussions on ways churches might better care for and support affected families. Consider it background reading for leaders prior to implementation of a mental health strategy based upon the model presented in Mental Health and the Church.

The HHS Partnership Center has a webinar –  The Seven Principles for Faith Communities Addressing People Experiencing Mental Illness and Their Caregivers offering an overview of the principles in the Guide scheduled for Tuesday, June 23rd at 12:00 PM. Free registration is available here.  This is the first segment in a webinar series intended to encourage more faith communities to walk with and provide community for a lifetime to persons impacted with mental illness.  

I’d shared previously that the HHS initiatives represent a small component of a much larger effort initiated by a law passed at the end of the previous administration – The 21st Century Cures Act. Through this Act (Public Law 114-255), the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC) was established to recommend actions that federal departments can take to better coordinate the administration of mental health services for adults with a serious mental illness or children with a serious emotional disturbance. Leaders serving on ISMICC came to recognize the large body of evidence that religious belief is associated with significantly better mental health outcomes.

Much of the credit for this amazing work rests with Shannon Royce. Shannon serves as Director of the Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives at HHS and has a long history of mental health advocacy. We became familiar with her work while she led Chosen Families, a non-profit organization that championed the needs of families impacted by “hidden disabilities.” She is a longtime advocate for mental health ministry within the Southern Baptist Convention, her home denomination.

Through our participation in these initiatives I was encouraged to encounter very good people in the government highly committed to supporting children and adults with mental illness and their families. All of this work was done by an incredibly diverse group of leaders, many of whom come from religious traditions both within and outside of Christianity very different from our own. This interfaith effort stands out as a beacon of hope at a time when the divisiveness in our country around the function and role of government is overwhelming. 
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Our team at Key Ministry has assembled a COVID-19 resource center for churches and families. Find trainings and resources created by our team, along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Faith-Based Partnership Center, the Centers for Disease Control, Saddleback Church and others. Check it out today.

 

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Why families think online church is indispensable for disability ministry

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Dr. G

One unanticipated blessing of the disruption caused by COVID-19 is the appreciation we’ve gained for being gathered together for worship.

We’ve also had a relatively brief taste of what church is like for families caring for children with intellectual, developmental, mental health and complex medical disabilities. For the past three months they’ve been on a level playing field with the rest of us when it comes to taking part in worship, fellowship and Christian education activities, eagerly accessing ministry available online. Many legitimately fear they’ll be left behind and quickly forgotten as church life gets back to “normal.” The church can’t let that happen.

I’d argue that online church services, small groups and Christian education have become indispensable disability ministry tools over the last several months. Many of the families our ministry helps churches serve strongly agree. Here are three reasons why.

Life may not return to normal for them for a very long time.

Before the virus had spread widely throughout the U.S., we anticipated the disability community would be more severely impacted  by COVID-19. That’s proven to be true. A recent study reported that children under 18 with intellectual or developmental disabilities were nearly nine times more likely to contract COVID-19 and sixteen times more likely to die from it than age-matched peers. Adults with autism and other developmental disabilities are twice as likely to contract COVID-19 and twice as likely to die when they become infected, while those  living in group homes have a COVID-19 mortality rate four times that seen in “neurotypicals” who become infected. A researcher from the University of Colorado described COVID-19 as the “perfect storm” for persons with Down syndrome as a result of the the immune dysregulation caused by trisomy 21.

Evana Sandusky is a speech and language pathologist who serves in special needs ministry while raising her daughter with Down syndrome. She writes here of her concerns as churches transition back to in-person worship. The bold type is hers.

I cannot wait to go back to church, but it will not be anytime soon. My daughter is medically complex and falls into the at-risk category. To put her health history briefly, she sees a cardiologist for two different heart conditions and a pulmonologist for four different lung issues. For a number of reasons, our family will be avoiding situations that have substantial crowds for some time.

The idea of staying home to protect our daughter is nothing new for our family. At different times, our daughter’s medical team has suggested that we conduct school at home and avoid crowds for varying amounts of time in order to minimize risks for her. With COVID-19, we will be listening to those team members again on how to safely return to those riskier parts of life.

There is something I would like to remind people as churches reopen: do not forget about the at-risk families. I know everyone is excited and grateful to be reunited in person again. As you gather together to sing and pray, please remember that not everyone is there with you. You may feel happy to return and elated that things are becoming more normal. However, there are families like mine that are still muddling through without the sense of community at church services.

She expresses a hope that families like her won’t be forgotten during the return to church.

For those returning to church, pray for families like mine. Ask God to give us more strength to sustain us through the isolation that has been happening. Reach out to help us make those connections that we cannot do from a computer screen. Please remember that your whole church body is not completely together yet.

How can we deprive our families of the ministry supports we used to get through quarantine when their ongoing isolation is likely to persist for many more months?

Online ministry is effective for outreach and few people groups are more in need of outreach from churches than families of kids with disabilities.

Many of my friends in disability ministry have seen this slide, but it demonstrates the impact of common mental and developmental disabilities in children on family church attendance.

Six months ago an argument could easily be made that most churches didn’t know how to do ministry with people who are cut off for one reason or another from church. That argument is no longer valid. Online services, small groups and Bible studies were a lifeline for untold millions of Christians unable to gather over the past three months because of COVID-19. Why can’t they continue to be a lifeline for:

  • Families who continue to isolate because of COVID-19?
  • Families who can’t leave the house because they can’t find or can’t afford sitters or respite care?
  • Families in which parents never attend church together because they take turns serving as caregiver?
  • Families who choose not to leave the house because the process of transitioning their kids to church is so difficult that parents are exhausted by the time they arrive?

Many churches streamed services over Facebook and encouraged members to invite friends and neighbors without a church. What about continuing to stream services while encouraging members to invite those unable to attend church because of physical, developmental or mental health disabilities?

Many families impacted by disability are describing more joyful, impactful and meaningful experiences of church than they had before COVID-19.

Dr. Janyne McConnaughey is an educator and trauma expert who promotes effective educational, spiritual, and therapeutic methods for the healing of inadequate attachment and childhood trauma. I came across this post of hers in which she described her experience of online church as a trauma survivor as our ministry team was preparing to host one of her webinars.

The book explained how many church experiences are difficult for those who are struggling with mental health–especially anxiety. I deeply understood this problem at many points in my life. While reading, I wondered what it would feel like to be able to experience church online? Not just streamed services, but relational connections all through the week. Could I convince anyone to try it?

Then came a pandemic. What my church (Bethel Church of the Nazarene) has provided during this time has involved me in ways that I truly needed, but was struggling to access by walking in the door. (Healing is a life-time commitment.)

I have met more people than I did in a year. I conducted a Zoom Bible Study and Scott attended a Zoom hangout with the pastor. And then there were times of worship (where my back didn’t hurt while standing). I got to watch both the adult and children’s messages and watch my grandson play cello on a synchronized video. And then last week, I invited a friend from England to attend with me.

Honestly, I will be sad to return to “normal.” I feel like (as the book suggested) that my time online will help me to feel more a part of the church when I return, but there are so many things I will miss. I understand it has been hard work for the staff, but their creativity and dedication has not gone unnoticed.

For those who long to be together again, I want that for you. There were times in my life when I would have felt exactly the same. But anyone who says that their right to worship together has been withheld from them, may have missed the best opportunity of all time. The pandemic forced churches to think differently, and for those who struggle with traditional formats, this has been a gift.

The church has not been hindered–I am grateful for my church leaders who have kept us both connected and safe! Thanks for proving it was possible!

We asked families served by our parent support ministry if online church (worship services, small groups, Christian education) has been helpful to them and whether they want churches to continue online services after life returns to normal, along with asking about the negatives of having church online? Here are some of the comments they shared.

We love online church. Our daughter with special needs cant go often to church so one or both of us stay home. Our church didn’t have online services until this pandemic. Now we can be a part of our services every week. The podcasts arent the same. And they didn’t include the worship, which is so important.

Church is my son’s happy place. Online services help us stay connected and not feel so disconnected.

We have missed live church. While our church does not have a special needs ministry per se (although we would love that!), the children’s ministry has the ability to have volunteers stay with our kids and any other children who were overwhelmed in a dedicated room. It allowed my husband and I to worship without worrying about our kid. While we have tried to keep our kids occupied so we could watch a Sunday service, inevitably something would always come up with one or both and we would get pulled away.

My kids have really enjoyed the online church services because going to church in person is so hurtful to them. They both have autism, and no one really engages them in conversation at all, other than to say hello. They feel ignored.

My family has truly enjoyed the laid back on the couch watch service when it fits best for us online services. Yet I truly love being able to worship with our congregation. I enjoy having the option and hope it continues so that if one of the kids are sick we can still enjoy the service without being split up, especially during winter months!

Being parents to a total care son we have loved online church..

I miss the singing and the personal connection to people. Many in our small church are older and don’t have internet connection, so we are looking forward to having parking lot services together as soon as possible! I have enjoyed hearing the sermons on-line though. Discussing the sermons with others helps get them into my long-term memory and apply them to my life..

If your church is has an online presence and an interest in disability ministry, your online presence needs to be a critical component of your disability ministry strategy.

For more on this topic, I included an entire chapter in Mental Health and the Church on the topic of developing a church-wide communication strategy that incorporates online ministry.

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In Mental Health and the Church: A Ministry Handbook for Including Children and Adults with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, and Other Common Mental Health Conditions, Dr. Stephen Grcevich presents a simple and flexible model for mental health inclusion ministry for implementation by churches of all sizes, denominations, and organizational styles. The book is also designed to be a useful resource for parents, grandparents and spouses seeking to promote the spiritual growth of loved ones with mental illness. Available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, ChristianBook and other fine retailers everywhere.

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Race, reconciliation, disability and the church

Posted on June 4, 2020 by Dr. G

Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

Ephesians 2:12-16 (ESV)

If we’re to have any hope of putting our society back together, the church will have a very large role to play in that task. A good place for us to start is by showing concern and support for some of our friends and neighbors who are going through an especially difficult time.

In my job as a child and adolescent psychiatrist I get to witness lots of pain and sadness. In that context, the extent of the hurt and fear and many of our African-American friends and neighbors are experiencing is overwhelming.

Even after 30-plus years of working with kids and families, I never fully appreciated the level of fear common to parents of Black kids that something bad will happen to them because of their race. In the last few days, I’ve seen story after story after story in my Facebook feed about police showing up at their homes after their child went door to door looking for pet-sitting jobs or was simply playing in the neighborhood. Stories of parents having to have a different kind of “talk” with their teens when they get their first driver’s license.

I’ve learned of concerns of parents raising Black kids with disabilities that I never knew to ask about before. A woman who writes for our ministry described her terror when her son with autism left their yard and climbed into a car appearing very similar to hers in the driveway of a neighbor who is a combat veteran with severe PTSD. We know that African-American families impacted by mental illness may experience unique challenges in approaching their churches for care and support – a huge consideration at a time when anxiety and depression are present in record levels and members of the Black community are at heightened risk for mental health issues as a result of trauma, toxic stress and fear of profiling while wearing face masks.

Everyone’s struggling right now, but our black friends and neighbors collectively have it worse. Blacks are more likely to have lost jobs because of COVID-19 related closures. They have all kinds of elevated risk factors for the virus, including a lack of health insurance, disproportionate representation in frontline jobs, living in densely populated areas and living in multigenerational households where it is more difficult to take precautions to protect older family members or isolate them when they’re sick. The latest overall COVID-19 mortality rate for Black Americans is 2.4 times as high as the rate for Whites and 2.2 times the rate for Asians and Latinos.

Yesterday morning a psychologist friend reached out to me who had been broken by a recent experience. To put this in context, she’s an expert in trauma who runs an orphan care ministry and makes several trips to Africa each year to serve children of parents who died from AIDS, or political strife. In her role as an organizational coach she’d recently been invited to work with a predominantly African-American church. Here’s a portion of the story she related to me…

My brain is mush. I heard back from a 70 year old sweet lady. Her daddy and MLK senior worked together joining the black universities of the south. I just listened for about three hours last night to the pain she feels and how the black community feels paralyzed and in chaos right now. We unpacked that for awhile and why the current hurts are more crippling than the past. She said a few key leaders would like to talk to me as well to try to unpack the pain and find their way forward. I feel very unqualified after seeing through her eyes and humbled that I am who they are wanting to speak to.

After hearing about her witnessing her great grandpa’s lynching in the front yard and watching her family take his body down and so much more …. I’ve realized I’ve lived in a bubble.

I rescheduled my patients today so I could be at the Black Lives Matter rally in Chagrin Falls, It’s the least I can do to show my support for the families raising Black kids served by our practice. I also want visitors from outside our town attending the rally today to know there are Christians living here who will welcome them and help them feel safe when the boarded up windows throughout our downtown might convey a different impression.

Our ministry will be sharing content on the influence of race and ethnicity on the experience of disability. You can expect to hear from a number of our writers and speakers, as well as new voices from outside of our organization through our blogs, roundtables and webinars.

I’ve been most impacted by the stories shared by friends and neighbors over this past week. We’d like to extend an invitation to our ministry followers, especially our African-American friends to share your experiences of disability as a person of color or member of an ethnic minority. Your stories, which you can choose to share anonymously, will help churches better understand how to welcome and minister with people of all races and ethnicities impacted by physical, developmental, intellectual or mental health disabilities.

We know the lives of our Black brothers and sisters are precious to God. It’s important they know their lives matter to us.

 

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The pandemic as an unexpected blessing to the disability community

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Dr. G

A little over six years ago, our ministry began to experiment with an idea that was clearly too far ahead of its’ time. We were looking at different applications of online church as a strategy for outreach with individuals and families impacted by disability.

Our Board pulled the plug on the project for a variety of reasons. Too many people experienced challenges connecting to the platform we used to host the services. The vast majority of our ministry’s followers already had a church and didn’t sense a need to watch or to invite others to watch. Online advertising at the time was either expensive or inefficient. Music licensing made it impossible for us to share complete worship services from partner churches on our ministry’s platform. The number of churches streaming services online was relatively small, and a lack of awareness of the extent to which families with disabilities were excluded from church limited the buy-in from church leaders.

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancelation of public worship services and forced most churches to make their worship available online, individuals and families impacted by significant physical, developmental or mental health disabilities were finally on an equal footing with their non-disabled peers.

I’ve seen more and more social media posts suggesting that the church’s efforts to make ministry available online are bearing fruit in the disability community. I shared this comment from a family from my area in last week’s post on why COVID-19 related health risks many keep many individuals and families from attending church for a very long time.

Having a son on the Autism spectrum/ADHD can make attending church hard. The environment can be overwhelming, the sounds too loud, and the “being still” for a long period of time is difficult.

Being home for church has been hard for us—but for Isaac, it has been refreshing. He is worshiping with us, listening to the message (as best as he can) and can stay in a comfy blanket and jammies. He can also talk to us during the message and not feel like he will get “in trouble.”

In light of missing my church family in person, I am seeing the little joys of being home and watching the ways Isaac can be a part.

While I was serving as a chat host this morning during my church’s online worship services, a mother of a teen with autism from our disability ministry was expressing her joy at seeing her son loudly singing the words to the worship songs. In the course of flipping back and forth to gather resources for this post, I saw this video from another mom worshiping at home with her son with autism.

I’ve seen multiple posts in the last two weeks in the Facebook group our ministry hosts for approximately 2,000 special needs and disability ministry leaders on scheduling and launch of online groups. On Friday night, a group member who recently lost a young adult child with a disability posted this:

I just want to put this out there. Aria passed away a few months ago, and for the last couple of years before she did, she was mostly homebound during church and would hardly attend church services.

With COVID-19 we’ve seen people make a way to minister to people in their homes like we never experienced before, and as a father of a special needs child and former special needs ministry director, it makes me a bit jealous if I’m honest. Jealous that she missed out on the greatest effort ever put forth to minister to people in situations like hers.

But I am also filled with hope.

I hope that we learn from this (if we’re not doing it already) that homebound individuals that are in our faith communities need us now AND after this. I also hope that the empty seats that we see now in our congregations continue to convict us and that each time we see that seat or spot where a person used to go, that we remember that person still exists and wants to be loved on by the body.

Lord teach us in this season.

It’s very possible that the COVID-19 pandemic will have provided the impetus for introducing many local churches to people in their communities with conditions that would otherwise make in-person attendance highly unlikely or impossible.

Based on our earlier experiences with online ministry, here are some suggestions we’d make to churches interested in serving the disability community during this time.

  • Continuation of online services and online groups after churches continue to meet again is essential. We know that the risks of attending worship services in person may be unacceptably high for older members and members with complex medical conditions for up to a year or more. Why would your church eliminate an essential avenue for people homebound for any reason to access your church?
  • Use your online platforms to make it easy for families impacted by disabilities to connect with someone from your church who might come alongside them and help include them in other church activities. You might consider using staff, volunteers or individuals familiar with your church’s disability ministry to serve as chat hosts during online services. If your church has a text line to field prayer requests or facilitate contact information, let families watching online know they can access support by texting “DISABILITY” or “SPECIAL NEED” to that line.
  • Encourage families served by your disability ministry to host watch parties for services streamed through Facebook and invite other families they know without a church to join them for worship.
  • Consider how your church might include families with disabilities into small groups taking place online, or how you might establish creating new types of support groups online as a strategy to attract individuals and families without a church.

Wouldn’t it be great if God were to use our current circumstances to draw more people into a relationship with him through the online resources developed by local churches in result to the pandemic?
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Our team at Key Ministry has assembled a COVID-19 resource center for churches and families. Find trainings and resources created by our team, along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Faith-Based Partnership Center, the Centers for Disease Control, Saddleback Church and others. Check it out today.

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Coronavirus, church and the “least restrictive environment”

Posted on May 11, 2020 by Dr. G

Ever since we started contemplating all the implications of the coronavirus, I’ve been wrestling with the impact of health and safety restrictions on the incredible progress the church has made in disability inclusion over the last ten years. Two months ago, I shared data describing the increased vulnerability of large segments of the disability community to serious medical complications associated with COVID-19. With most churches across America shut down for public worship over the last 6-8 weeks and the shift to online services, Bible studies and small groups families impacted by disability have pretty much been in the same boat as everyone else. But as churches focus on reopening their doors for worship services in the weeks and months ahead, the disabled are again likely to find themselves on the outside looking in.

Earlier in the week, I came across these guidelines issued by the state of Tennessee for gathering together in houses of worship during COVID-19. This paragraph jumped out at me:

A phased approach to resuming in-person gatherings is recommended. Vulnerable populations (everyone 65 years and older, people with disabilities, people with serious respiratory or cardiovascular conditions, people who are immunocompromised, and others) and children’s activities/nursery programs should not gather in person until a later time.

The reality is “until a later time” may be a very long time! According to research out of the University of Minnesota, the virus may continue to represent a substantial risk to persons who are medically compromised for another two years.

Borrowing a concept from disability law (specifically, IDEA), what might represent the “least restrictive environment” in the church for our older members and those with disabilities or other medical conditions that place them at increased risk in worship services until the danger from COVID-19 has passed?

According to Rick Warren, there are five main purposes of the church that are derived from the Great Commission and the Great Commandment: Worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and mission. From where I sit, the leaders of our churches probably place the greatest emphasis upon worship. It’s the most public of Warren’s five purposes and the purpose for which the church’s most senior leaders are directly responsible. The corporate worship experience is what most people associate with “church” and resumption of large group, weekend worship events has been the highest priority of church leaders since the cancelation of services in mid to late March.

Our ministry’s mission is driven by the the idea that welcoming and including individuals and families impacted by disability into the church is critically important because it’s through the church that disciples are made. If we’re going to be honest with ourselves, the church has been struggling for a long time with spiritual formation. What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working for too many people. COVID-19 is providing the church with an opportunity to consider how we can help everyone to grow deeper and stronger in their faith and use their gifts and talents to honor God wherever they’ve been placed. Worship as a way of life, to quote Louie Giglio from one of my favorite books.

If our focus in is on inclusion at intergenerational worship services and all of the other “stuff” that takes place at church on Sunday mornings over the next 12-24 months it will feel like the disability ministry movement is in full retreat. From an inclusion standpoint, large group worship services don’t represent the “least restrictive environment” for many persons with disabilities and older church members with chronic medical conditions because attendance fails to support their physical health needs. The least restrictive environment needs to be consistent with the welfare and safety of the individual.

Maybe what the church needs to be looking at over the next 12-24 months is how do we do a better job practicing inclusion with all of our people – both with and without disability – into practices and activities that help people grow in their faith, become more connected to one another, share their faith with others who don’t yet know Jesus and use their gifts and talents in meaningful service to others? Maybe we learn that our online worship services are actually a blessing in disguise for many families impacted with disability (such as Isaac’s family as described below – link to the video doesn’t work), especially those with social communication or sensory processing differences?

Might we become more intentional in our outreach to persons in our community with social or sensory issues that have precluded them from being part of church up to now through sharing our online church services with them??

Sandra Peoples wrote a wonderful piece for our ministry a few years ago describing what families of kids with disabilities really want from their churches.

They need to know they are safe and they need to believe they are loved.

“Inclusion” during this time may mean doing what we need to do to ensure that our friends with disabilities are safe while demonstrating to them that they’re loved. What does it look like for a church to love a family during a pandemic? This is taken from a post I saw from a Facebook friend in my feed yesterday morning.

Yesterday afternoon, I was overcome with joy and gratitude. A beautiful begonia plant and a handwritten note with a very lovely Mother’s Day message was left at my front door. This gift is from BPC ( Bay Presbyterian Church) from the Special Needs Ministry.

This ministry is a blessing to all special needs families. Prior to quarantine, my son Ryan attended the adult special needs Sunday “In His Image” class…. however now on Tuesday and Friday afternoons at 4pm a Zoom gathering is scheduled. He, along with his friends visit with one another, partake in a Bible lesson, and sing songs. Yesterday, the song was ” This Little Light of Mine”… Ryan was happily singing it until he dozed off to sleep last night. A blessing!

Shortly after quarantine, a BPC Special Needs Parenting Group on Facebook evolved…it is a great place for parents to check in with one another, ask for prayers, share stories, get creative ideas… it is where we special needs parents are reminded that we are not an island… even thoug we have been quarantined, it certainly does not mean that we have to be socially isolated from one another. A blessing!

BPC Special Needs Ministry offers special needs families with quarterly Respite events, a wonderful opportunity for parents to have a night out while their children are safely enjoying an evening of fun and festivities. A blessing!

Recently, this past February , BPC hosted Tim Tebow’s Night to Shine Prom. My husband and I were amazed and deeply moved at how beautiful the ballroom looked…the volunteers were truly happy to be there, each one smiling and ready to be of assistance in any way. Parents and caregivers were treated to a special night of our own in a separate room, dinner, socializing, and wonderful gifts… It was a spectacular evening for all! A blessing!

Whether it is a Sunday class, Zoom or Facebook Group, Respite Event, Prom, each blessing has lots of love woven in. An abundance of blessings!

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Our team at Key Ministry has assembled a COVID-19 resource center for churches and families. Find trainings and resources created by our team, along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Faith-Based Partnership Center, the Centers for Disease Control, Saddleback Church and others. Check it out today.

 

 

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How pastors can support mental health in the age of COVID-19.

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Dr. G

The Barna Group surveyed pastors in mid-April regarding their personal mental and emotional health and the mental health of their congregations. The most significant finding from the survey was that only 30 percent of pastors reported feeling well-equipped to help their people deal with matters of mental or emotional health.

Our ministry team would like every pastor to feel confident in their abilities to support their congregants during the greatest economic and medical crisis most of us have experienced in our lifetimes. Here are nine specific ideas for how pastors and church leaders can help promote the mental health of their people while advancing the Gospel throughout what is likely to be a lengthy period of social, vocational and economic disruption related to COVID-19.

Talk about mental health during your preaching. One of the most encouraging findings from the Barna survey was that 39% of pastors reported they had already preached on the topic of mental health. A Lifeway study on Acute Mental Illness and Christian Faith in indicated that nearly two thirds of family members of persons with mental illness wanted their pastors to talk more openly about the topic at church, while a similar proportion of pastors reported preaching about mental illness “once a year, ” “rarely” or “never.” Preaching on mental health is one of the most direct ways of addressing the stigma associated with the topic and helps attendees feel more comfortable in seeking care and support from others in the church.

Combat social isolation. Our team strongly encourages pastors and church leaders to make available as many opportunities as possible for online interaction. Most churches have found ways of making worship services available online since states have mandated social distancing. We need to go further by making interactive small groups, Bible studies, Christian education, committee meetings and chats available online as well. Any church can make a point of calling and sending cards and letters attendees living in homes where someone is medically compromised and seniors who may be less tech-savvy.Whatever your church can do to in this time to help your people feel more connected will help mitigate increased risk for acute mental health and substance abuse issues.

Increase awareness among your people of how they might find counseling and other mental health services. With May 3rd-9th being Mental Health Week, the church I attend is hosting a chat between our lead pastor and a local psychologist from a Christian-oriented practice as well as an event featuring counselors associated with the church. Ensure that anyone providing counseling or support through your church has access to the technology to continue their work online for as long as social distancing is being practiced. Consider creating or updating your church’s list of mental health resources to identify practitioners and clinics available to see attendees during and after COVID-19..

Support the startup of a Christian-based mental health support group. The Grace Alliance and Fresh Hope are outstanding ministries with well-designed and established models for providing biblically-based support for teens and adults struggling with common mental health issues. Each ministry offers extensive online training for prospective leaders and low or no-cost resources for group participants

Build your church’s care and support resources. Given the numbers of individuals and families who have lost jobs or businesses, serious illness or death or major educational disruptions since the beginning of the pandemic, the need for care and support is likely to exceed your response capacity or that of your church’s staff. Encouraging as many of your people as possible to obtain training in Psychological First Aid is one way of greatly expanding your church’s capacity to respond to surges in demand from persons in crisis. Launching or growing a peer support ministry along the line of Stephen Ministry is more time-intensive, but an appropriate strategy for helping to meeting enduring care and support needs resulting from the pandemic.

Offer practical support. Unemployment is a significant risk factor for both suicide and death by opiate overdose. Helping people find work and navigate an unemployment benefits system grossly unprepared to meet the current demand is one tangible way to help. People need food and short-term rent support. Persons who have lost their jobs may not have the finances to access needed counseling or medicine, even if they still have health insurance through their employers because of high deductibles. Members of your congregation might greatly benefit from financial support to access emergency or short-term mental health care.

Provide opportunities to serve. Research from natural disasters suggests involving vulnerable children in family and community responses during times of potential danger increases resilience, defends against development of helplessness, and may help protect against post-traumatic effects through promoting a sense of agency and self-efficacy. Involving your people in ministry is a tangible way of demonstrating the love of Christ to persons in your church or the surrounding community experiencing acute need while affording them some measure of protection from the trauma often resulting from such impactful events.

Consider developing a mental health inclusion strategy to identify and overcome specific barriers families affected by mental illness might experience in engaging with your church. Recent research tells us families of children with depression, anxiety, ADHD and disruptive behavior disorders are far less likely to ever set foot in a church compared to their unaffected neighbors. Our ministry’s strategy has been to help churches recognize how functional limitations associated with common mental health conditions cause difficulties in meeting expectations for social interaction and behavior across our different ministry environments. A mental health inclusion strategy will help your church reach one of the largest underserved people groups in your surrounding community.

Invite individuals and families impacted by mental illness in the communities you serve to connect with your church. A key finding of the LifeWay study referenced earlier was that 55% of all unchurched adults believe that persons with significant mental illness won;’t new welcomed at church. Here’s a fabulous example of how one church in our home region created a video invite from the founding pastor for members to share through social media with individuals and families impacted by mental illness within their sphere of influence who don’t have a church.

Still uncertain about supporting the mental health needs of your congregation during this time? Our team would be happy to jump on Zoom with you or your ministry team to talk about specifics of your church’s situation. Use this form to contact Catherine Boyle (our mental health ministry director) and note in the form that you’d like to set up a videoconference to discuss next steps for your church. We don’t charge for consultations and seek to provide as many of our resources as possible to churches free of charge. You’ll find lots of additional resources for mental health ministry here, and COVID-19 specific resources here.

If you’re interested in a deeper dive, here’s video from a webinar I participated in this past Tuesday with Kay Warren and Dr.Tim Murphy sponsored by the HHS Office of Faith-Based Partnerships to help pastors and other faith leaders respond to the mental health needs of their people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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