There is the world the church acts like we all live in, and then there’s the world real people live in. These are not the same places. It has taken more than a year of deconstructing my own experiences as…
‘I don’t think I care about anything anymore’: How to be anxious and depressed during the end of the world
My son is 6 years old and in the first grade. He loves Lego, Harry Potter, outer space and finishing books as soon as he gets them. Inexplicably, my son maintains this stubborn inquisitiveness about the world around him even…
Worldwide church needs global approach to mental illness, psychologist says
Baptist churches must work together and with other religious and civic organizations to have a positive impact on the mental illness pandemic that is destroying lives and communities around the world, a Jamaican psychologist said on the opening day of…
Churches adapted rapidly to the pandemic, but there’s a mental health cost to that success
The rapid and creative responses churches made to address the COVID-19 pandemic created significant stresses on church leadership and laity both, one of the nation’s leading religion researchers said in a recent webinar. “The staggering amount of change that (occurred…
Clergy mental health is a choice between life and death
I took a leave of absence in 2020, and it saved my life. I serve as pastor of a church in Oklahoma, and it’s been a heck of a year. Even before the pandemic, we navigated painful staff changes and…
What I found hidden in my mother’s Bible after her death
On Easter this year, Christianity Today reposted an article written by J.I. Packer from the magazine’s April 10, 1981, issue. Packer was a complementarian and Calvinist, so there’s quite a bit on which we disagree, and this article is no…
Barna compares pre-pandemic anxiety to today, and you can imagine the results
No doubt Americans faced a bevy of mental health and relationship challenges before the COVID-19 pandemic. But the coronavirus, mounting political drama and escalating racial tensions have dragged the quality of well-being and relationships even lower for lay people and…
10 ways to take care of yourself because things may get worse before they get better
2020 has been one heckuva year. The bad news is, it isn’t over. If I am reading the tea leaves correctly, we are in for a wild ride these next few months. Between now and the end of the year,…
BNG panelists offer diagnosis and prescriptions for mental health during pandemic
Inflamed racial tensions, a divisive election season and alarming climate events — all during a pandemic — have stretched American psychological well-being to the limit. But there also are some potential spiritual positives from the coronavirus era, according to five…