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Though many Christians are affected by mental illnesses, their struggles and gifts are rarely named or invited into church worship. Yet the Bible doesn’t shy away from difficult emotions. Elijah was suicidal. Psalms are full of despair and anger. Jeremiah, who wrote Lamentations, is known as “the weeping prophet.” Isaiah described the Messiah as despised, rejected, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Jesus sought out and healed people whom others feared and shunned.

Will Van der Hart asks churches to develop a that “integrates mind, body, spirit, community, and family. . . . [and] sees people not as mental health problems to be fixed, but as children of God waiting to be loved.” He is the pastoral chaplain at Holy Trinity Brompton Church (Anglican) in London, UK. He is also a director at , which educates, equips, and encourages churches and Christians to address mental health issues.

Key Insights

1. Using psalms to name and express a wider range of emotions in worship doesn’t just help people with mental illnesses. It helps every worshiper because we all experience (or need to experience) love, lament, suffering, confession, forgiveness, redemption, and hope. We all need to learn how to worship when life is hard.
2. Widening the worship circle means inviting more kinds of people to plan and lead worship, including sharing their stories. This move models that everyone has a valued place in the body of Christ.
3. 91���� planners can use music, sermons, special services or series, and every other worship element to connect with those affected by mental illnesses. “Those affected” means people with a diagnosis as well as their families, friends, coworkers, and care partners.

Using psalms to bring all our emotions to God

“”: 91���� leader Stacey Gleddiesmith explains how depression led her to question whether God allows emotions other than praise in worship. Reading the psalms helped her feel included in God’s story.

Psalms in 91����: This topic showcase lists books and online resources to help congregations see that the psalms are God’s gift of permission for us to be honest in worship.

Psalms for All Seasons: This psalter offers multiple settings for all 150 psalms. Besides using music and languages from many eras and cultures, it has psalm-related readings, prayers, litanies, and worship suggestions. (Faith Alive, 2011)

“Bob and Laura Keeley on Lament Psalms and Children”: This interview with two church education specialists explains how and why to introduce children to psalms that voice sad feelings.

: In case you wonder whether talking about lament psalms, depression, or mental health will put ideas in kids’ heads, this infographic shows that many are already struggling.

Songs of Praise, Lament, and Hope: Watch this workshop led by singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken at the 2016 Calvin Symposium on 91����.

Trumpets, Ashes, and Tears: New Psalmody for the Journey of Faith. Watch this vesper service to hear sung psalms expressing praise, confession, lament, and hope. It took place at the 2017 Calvin Symposium on 91����.

Widening the worship circle

“Beyond Stigma to Hospitality: Creating a Gracious Space for People with Mental Illness”: A pastor who has learned to flourish despite depression explains that churches reinforce stigma when they say nothing about mental illnesses. Rev. Cindy Holtrop advises using person-first language to make people feel heard, included, and welcomed in worship.

“Warren Kinghorn on Mental Health and Christian 91����”: This conversation with a Christian psychiatrist tells how to appropriately include in worship stories about people who live with mental illness.

“”: A pastor and a psychiatrist explain how to help people structure their stories about mental illness. They also make the simple but powerful suggestion of asking people to lead different parts of worship with a brief introduction such as: “Good morning. My name is Mary Smith. I am a grandmother, a teacher at Anytown USA Middle School, a lover of nature, an avid baker, and someone who lives with bipolar disorder. Would you join me in the call to worship?”

91���� planning: Music, sermons, special services or series, other elements

Music

Welcome and inclusion

“” by The Many (2017)

“” by Michael Saward (1982)

"" by David Haas (GIA Publications, 1986)

“” by Ben Glover, David Crowder, and Matt Maher (2014)

“” by Thomas Moore (1824) and Thomas Hastings (1832)

“” by S. Trevor Francis (1890)

Lament, suffering, crying out to God

“ by Frank E. Graeff (1901)

“�ę” by P. P. Bliss (1875)

“” by Lee Ann Vermeulen-Roberts (2010)

“” by Wendell Kimbrough (2017)

“” (African American spiritual)

“” by Jacques Berthier (Taizé Community, 1984)

“” by Jacques Berthier (Taizé Community, 1991)

Hope, trust, and healing

“” by David Mowbray (1999)

"" by John Bell (Iona Community, 1996)

“” by Zach Williams (2015)

“” by Bernie Herms and Mark Hall (2005)

“” by Roberto Escamilla (1983)

“” by John Bell (Iona Community, 1995)

"" by Andraé Crouch (1971)

“” by John Bell (Iona Community, 1989)

"" by

Sermon Planning

Theology and themes

“”: This 1996 address by Pope John Paul II reminded international healthcare workers that being made in God’s image is always our deepest identity and is something mental illness does not erase.

“”: In this eight-minute video, Anglican pastoral chaplain Will Van Der Hart uses Elijah’s story (1 Kings 19) to develop an integrated, biopsychosocial theology of mental health.

“”: Christianity Today editors talk in this podcast about how some segments of Christianity (wrongly) criticize psychiatry and psychology as anti-God.

“”: This essay by Christy Wimber, a Vineyard pastor, gives examples of well-known Christians who have struggled with mental illnesses. She suggests many churches need to develop a theology of suffering.

“”: This resource looks at helpful and unhelpful ways to talk (or preach) about mental illness. It comes from Time to Change, a UK-based social movement working to change how people think and act about mental health problems.

“Vertical Habits and Mental Illness in 91����”: This feature story tells how two worshiping groups used the vertical habits framework to bring every part of themselves, even mental illness, into worship.

: Download this excellent study guide by Susan Gregg-Schroeder, a United Methodist pastor who founded . See pages 15–21 for sermon themes and Bible verses especially suited to sermons that address mental illness.

Video clips

: This ministry of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, offers dozens of free video clips about mental illness by people from various Christian traditions. Some videos are short enough to include in sermons, such as “” by Johnny Baker, a Celebrate Recovery pastor.

: This ministry also has short video clips meant to be used in worship. They’re taken from full-length videos that work well in church education or small group settings.

Entire sermons

“.” Greg Sinclair, a Canadian ordained in the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA), preached this sermon based on 2 Corinthians 1:3–7.

“.” Cindy Holtrop, a retired CRCNA pastor and chaplain, uses Psalm 88 to show that it’s okay for people to say they feel abandoned by God, okay to admit to mental illness—and crucial for church members to listen to, accept, and pray with those who struggle.

Service and Series Planning

Special days, weeks, and months

: Pope John Paul II instituted February 11 as a day for Christians to pray for those who need healing as well as for their caregivers.

: US organizations have been observing May as Mental Health Month since 1949. devotes the first week of May to children’s mental health issues. offers church bulletin inserts, prayers, litanies, and other worship resources for this month. Many congregations within the United Church of Christ do on the third Sunday in May.

: In 1990, the US Congress established the first week of October as a time to affirm NAMI’s efforts. People around the world observe on October 10. The United Methodist Church has gathered prayers, sermon starters, and other

During Advent, some churches offer annual (scroll down for six Blue Christmas service samples). Christine Sine’s has great visual and movement ideas.

: Livability, a UK disability charity, developed this free download of six thoughtful Bible studies in partnership with Mind and Soul Foundation. It could also be used to plan a sermon series.

Other worship elements

91���� and Mental Health: John Witvliet’s succinct suggestions will help you think about how to regularly include people with mental illnesses in non-themed worship.

“,” by Charlotte van Oyen Witvliet: This stellar article appears in an issue of devoted to mental health. Her article explains why and how to share someone’s story about mental illness. It suggests using general language of human suffering so worshipers can connect whether or not they live with mental illness.

: Communitas, a Mennonite disabilities charity in Canada, created this sixty-page free download. It includes art ideas, sermon prompts, children’s book suggestions, video clips, and bulletin inserts.

Find solo and responsive prayers from the , Mennonite pastor and theology professor , and Catholic Health Association of the United States ( and here). NAMI FaithNet has poignant prayers of people with mental illnesses.

, the CRCNA director of chaplaincy and care, has found it’s helpful for those in the armed forces to combine movement with confession and assurance. For example, soldiers can physically write and offer their confessions.

, director of pastoral services at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, says that dealing with hope, shame, and forgiveness are important for recovery from mental illnesses. He suggests talking about those in connection with baptism and communion. A sacrament is the visible sign of invisible grace. Think about what it means that Jesus said, “This is my body, broken for you.” Even in your brokenness, you are never forgotten, because Christ is broken for you.

Jesus on the Beach: This ten-minute segment (20:50 to 30:58) from a 2018 Calvin Symposium on 91���� service uses dramatic reading, interpretive movement, silence, music, and congregational recitation to viscerally convey confession and assurance of Christ’s love and forgiveness.