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Mental Health and the Church: A Ministry Handbook for Including Children and Adults with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, and Other Common Mental Health Conditions
The church across North America has struggled to minister effectively with children, teens, and adults with common mental health conditions and their families. One reason for the lack of ministry is the absence of a widely accepted model for mental health outreach and inclusion.
In Mental Health and the 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 model is based upon recognition of seven barriers to church attendance and assimilation resulting from mental stigma, anxiety, self-control, differences in social communication and sensory processing, social isolation and past experiences of church. Seven broad inclusion strategies are presented for helping persons of all ages with common mental health conditions and their families to fully participate in all of the ministries offered by the local church. The book is also designed to be a useful resource for parents, grandparents and spouses interested in promoting the spiritual growth of loved ones with mental illness.
In Mental Health and the 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 model is based upon recognition of seven barriers to church attendance and assimilation resulting from mental stigma, anxiety, self-control, differences in social communication and sensory processing, social isolation and past experiences of church. Seven broad inclusion strategies are presented for helping persons of all ages with common mental health conditions and their families to fully participate in all of the ministries offered by the local church. The book is also designed to be a useful resource for parents, grandparents and spouses interested in promoting the spiritual growth of loved ones with mental illness.
197 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 6, 2018
53 people are currently reading
171 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 3, 2021
This is one of the best books that I have read on how churches can support people with mental illness. It does not provide all the answers but it is an excellent overview. If your church is trying to figure out where to start, definitely read this book.
May 3, 2018
In the spring of 1996, I entered an extended season of sadness. Not the kind of sadness where you wistfully wipe a tear from your eye with a Kleenex, by the way. It was the kind where you wake up in the middle of the night sobbing uncontrollably for hours. The sadness lasted for months.
A licensed Christian counselor diagnosed me with clinical depression. Through prayer, Scripture, counseling and the help of family and friends, I made it through that awful season, one of the worst I have experienced in my life. One I don’t ever want to enter again.
The first time I mentioned this episode in a sermon, I was surprised by the grateful response I received from a few members of the congregation. Though their words varied, their responses repeated a theme: “I’m glad to know that I’m not the only Christian who struggles with this.” After that sermon, I began to reference my depression if it was appropriate to the content and context of my message. I want people in the Church who struggle with mental health to know they are not alone.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the U.S. Summarizing statistics about the incidence of mental illness among U.S. children and adults, Dr. Stephen Grcevich writes, “more than fifty million Americans today experience at least one diagnosable mental health disorder on any given day” (emphasis in original). These disorders can be episodic or persistent, and they can vary in intensity and effect. Many churches have begun excellent “special needs” and “disability” ministries, but these ministries tend to focus on obvious, physical problems. By contrast, mental health disorders are a “hidden disability.”
Mental health disorders keep people away from church, unfortunately. Grcevich writes: “Whether we realize it or not, our expectations at church for social interaction and conduct, when combined with the physical properties and functional demands of our ministry environments, represent significant barriers to church involvement for children and adults with common mental health conditions and for their families. Church can feel like hostile territory for families impacted by mental illness.” The twin goals of Mental Health and the Church are to identify those barriers and to outline a “mental health inclusion strategy” for overcoming them.
The barriers include stigma, anxiety, executive functioning, sensory processing, social communication, social isolation and negative experiences of church. Stigma arises because churches mistakenly interpret mental health disorders as moral disorders. A child with ADHD lacks self-control in certain environments, for example. Self-control is a moral virtue. Ergo, the child has a moral problem. Right?
It’s not that simple. An ADHD child can exercise some degree of self-control, but certain environments stimulate the child’s hyperactivity and inability to focus. Too often, churches blame the child, not realizing that the way the environment of the Sunday school classroom (brightly colored walls with lots of decorations) or the nature of the activities (hyperkinetic worship followed immediately by sitting and listening for long periods) can work against ADHD children’s ability to control themselves.
The next three barriers — anxiety and other mood disorders, executive functioning weaknesses, and sensory processing disorders — describe how mental illness itself creates barriers to participation in church activities. Consider sensory processing disorders. Today, many churches darken the auditorium and light up the stage for the song component of their Sunday service. They crank up the volume and often use flashing lights in a well-produced, high-energy set of worship music. Many people love this. People with sensory processing disorders don’t. It’s overstimulating and distracting. Indeed, it literally can be painful to them.
The final three barriers pertain to the barriers that result from the clash between the first four barriers and church participation. People with mental health disorders find it difficult to communicate in what most of us take to be a normal church situation. They became socially isolated. And because churches don’t always treat people with mental health disorders well — including children — they and their families develop a bank of negative church experiences.
Grcevich believes churches can and must do better at ministry to people with mental health disorders. For each of the seven barriers just identified, he proposes a strategy for overcoming it. “Mental health inclusion is best understood as a mind-set for doing ministry rather than a ‘program’ for ministry,” he writes. He uses the acronym TEACHER to outline that strategy:
Grcevich provides helpful suggestions and examples under each of these seven headings, but for purposes of this review, I think it will suffice simply to name the elements of the strategy.
Too many people in America suffer mental illness silently and alone. The church, an institution founded on the good news of Jesus Christ, should be a place of hope and help for them. Mental Health and the Church is an excellent resource for pastors and other church leaders, showing them how to do this. It is based on sound conservative theology, but it also is attuned to the best in contemporary, evidence-based psychology. I recommend it enthusiastically.
Book Reviewed
Stephen Grcevich, M.D., Mental Health and the Church: A Ministry Handbook for Including Children and Adults with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, and Other Common Mental Health Conditions (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018).
P.S. This review is cross-posted with permission from InfluenceMagazine.com.
P.P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.
A licensed Christian counselor diagnosed me with clinical depression. Through prayer, Scripture, counseling and the help of family and friends, I made it through that awful season, one of the worst I have experienced in my life. One I don’t ever want to enter again.
The first time I mentioned this episode in a sermon, I was surprised by the grateful response I received from a few members of the congregation. Though their words varied, their responses repeated a theme: “I’m glad to know that I’m not the only Christian who struggles with this.” After that sermon, I began to reference my depression if it was appropriate to the content and context of my message. I want people in the Church who struggle with mental health to know they are not alone.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the U.S. Summarizing statistics about the incidence of mental illness among U.S. children and adults, Dr. Stephen Grcevich writes, “more than fifty million Americans today experience at least one diagnosable mental health disorder on any given day” (emphasis in original). These disorders can be episodic or persistent, and they can vary in intensity and effect. Many churches have begun excellent “special needs” and “disability” ministries, but these ministries tend to focus on obvious, physical problems. By contrast, mental health disorders are a “hidden disability.”
Mental health disorders keep people away from church, unfortunately. Grcevich writes: “Whether we realize it or not, our expectations at church for social interaction and conduct, when combined with the physical properties and functional demands of our ministry environments, represent significant barriers to church involvement for children and adults with common mental health conditions and for their families. Church can feel like hostile territory for families impacted by mental illness.” The twin goals of Mental Health and the Church are to identify those barriers and to outline a “mental health inclusion strategy” for overcoming them.
The barriers include stigma, anxiety, executive functioning, sensory processing, social communication, social isolation and negative experiences of church. Stigma arises because churches mistakenly interpret mental health disorders as moral disorders. A child with ADHD lacks self-control in certain environments, for example. Self-control is a moral virtue. Ergo, the child has a moral problem. Right?
It’s not that simple. An ADHD child can exercise some degree of self-control, but certain environments stimulate the child’s hyperactivity and inability to focus. Too often, churches blame the child, not realizing that the way the environment of the Sunday school classroom (brightly colored walls with lots of decorations) or the nature of the activities (hyperkinetic worship followed immediately by sitting and listening for long periods) can work against ADHD children’s ability to control themselves.
The next three barriers — anxiety and other mood disorders, executive functioning weaknesses, and sensory processing disorders — describe how mental illness itself creates barriers to participation in church activities. Consider sensory processing disorders. Today, many churches darken the auditorium and light up the stage for the song component of their Sunday service. They crank up the volume and often use flashing lights in a well-produced, high-energy set of worship music. Many people love this. People with sensory processing disorders don’t. It’s overstimulating and distracting. Indeed, it literally can be painful to them.
The final three barriers pertain to the barriers that result from the clash between the first four barriers and church participation. People with mental health disorders find it difficult to communicate in what most of us take to be a normal church situation. They became socially isolated. And because churches don’t always treat people with mental health disorders well — including children — they and their families develop a bank of negative church experiences.
Grcevich believes churches can and must do better at ministry to people with mental health disorders. For each of the seven barriers just identified, he proposes a strategy for overcoming it. “Mental health inclusion is best understood as a mind-set for doing ministry rather than a ‘program’ for ministry,” he writes. He uses the acronym TEACHER to outline that strategy:
T: Assemble your inclusion TEAM.
E: Create welcoming ministry ENVIRONMENTS.
A: Focus on ministry ACTIVITIES most essential for spiritual growth.
C: COMMUNICATE effectively.
H: HELP families with their most heartfelt needs.
E: Offer EDUCATION and support.
R: Empower your people to assume RESPONSIBILITY for ministry.
Grcevich provides helpful suggestions and examples under each of these seven headings, but for purposes of this review, I think it will suffice simply to name the elements of the strategy.
Too many people in America suffer mental illness silently and alone. The church, an institution founded on the good news of Jesus Christ, should be a place of hope and help for them. Mental Health and the Church is an excellent resource for pastors and other church leaders, showing them how to do this. It is based on sound conservative theology, but it also is attuned to the best in contemporary, evidence-based psychology. I recommend it enthusiastically.
Book Reviewed
Stephen Grcevich, M.D., Mental Health and the Church: A Ministry Handbook for Including Children and Adults with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, and Other Common Mental Health Conditions (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018).
P.S. This review is cross-posted with permission from InfluenceMagazine.com.
P.P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.
April 2, 2018
In a catalytic explosion of sensitivity, awareness, compassion and wisdom, Dr Grcevich of Key Ministry and Church4EveryChild provides a clear blueprint for the inclusion of special need children or adults within church settings. Also a good connector for teachers, parents, healthcare providers or any field dealing with the human condition. Where faith can and does provide comfort, the outlined information in this well written book, confronts an issue that has been far too long in existence. Invisible disabilities, mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, or educational are included in the context.
In meeting the gap for the many children, adults, and families who often seek church as a support within their communities; Dr G. serves the public with a groundbreaking truth telling handbook that opens the door for growth for an otherwise un-reached portion of individuals. In keeping with the inclusion sentiment, this book also crosses the barrier between mental health facilities or human service professionals by offering insights that may unite those fields with the church settings in order to better serve the people within every community.
Most importantly he succinctly discusses the plethora of mental health issues often overlooked within the church body and provides valuable mental health assessment with instructions on how to implement healing while integrating these populations into the church. Whether in developing ministries, in or outside the church walls, this book may very well be the start of something far reaching. It is a must read, must keep, must share handbook that every church leader or ministry worker must get.
Practically every page has been highlighted and this is a book to get and send to your church leadership, your mental health facilities, your school administration and anyone you know who is willing to be a part of change for the good.
In meeting the gap for the many children, adults, and families who often seek church as a support within their communities; Dr G. serves the public with a groundbreaking truth telling handbook that opens the door for growth for an otherwise un-reached portion of individuals. In keeping with the inclusion sentiment, this book also crosses the barrier between mental health facilities or human service professionals by offering insights that may unite those fields with the church settings in order to better serve the people within every community.
Most importantly he succinctly discusses the plethora of mental health issues often overlooked within the church body and provides valuable mental health assessment with instructions on how to implement healing while integrating these populations into the church. Whether in developing ministries, in or outside the church walls, this book may very well be the start of something far reaching. It is a must read, must keep, must share handbook that every church leader or ministry worker must get.
Practically every page has been highlighted and this is a book to get and send to your church leadership, your mental health facilities, your school administration and anyone you know who is willing to be a part of change for the good.
July 11, 2018
Absolutely fantastic book on a much-needed discussion topic. Not only does Dr. Grcevich come at it with 30 yeas of experience in the field (and ministry), he explains the challenges in layman's terms and gives us actionable items that are practical and simple to implement. I cannot recommend this book enough. It's one of a kind in a ministry that is only beginning to get the attention it so desperately needs. All church leaders should read it, even if they are not directly connected to mental health/inclusion ministry. A must-read for Christian education leadership.
December 27, 2022
Grcevich has undertaken an important task in this book: To call the church to greater care, ministry, and discipleship with people who struggle with mental illness and their families. I suppose one would only pick up this book if he or she was already concerned with this issue. Nevertheless, Grcevich devotes not a chapter, but half the book describing the problem--namely, that as the church, we are lousy at caring for this population.
Fortunately, Grcevich gets to more hopeful stuff in the second half. His suggestions and encouragements are better suited for the mega-church than the small family church to which I belong. In any case, I was grateful that he ceased slapping me around for being so uncaring.
If you decide to read the book, I recommend skipping part 1 altogether and going directly to part 2. Anything important you miss will be repeated. You will get the best of what Grcevich has to offer.
Fortunately, Grcevich gets to more hopeful stuff in the second half. His suggestions and encouragements are better suited for the mega-church than the small family church to which I belong. In any case, I was grateful that he ceased slapping me around for being so uncaring.
If you decide to read the book, I recommend skipping part 1 altogether and going directly to part 2. Anything important you miss will be repeated. You will get the best of what Grcevich has to offer.
January 23, 2024
Great book! If you're interested in working with/understanding individuals/families that have a member with mental illness or a form of disability, this is a good read to address the following:
-why is it important?
-how do you mobilize a group?
-what are some of the details that will need to be considered?
-what are some of the challenges and how to surmount them
-etc.
it's not clinically heavy but more "lay person" friendly.
-why is it important?
-how do you mobilize a group?
-what are some of the details that will need to be considered?
-what are some of the challenges and how to surmount them
-etc.
it's not clinically heavy but more "lay person" friendly.
August 19, 2021
Some strikingly on-point recommendations for how changes that support people with mental health challenges can also support the congregation as a whole. A bit skewed to the kinds of supports that larger congregations can consider.
May 20, 2019
A much needed book for the Church.
February 19, 2023
3.5 stars. Good, practical, great guidance.
May 30, 2023
An incredibly informative read for pastors, clergy, and lay leaders everywhere with a burden for mental health and inclusion. This should be on every pastor’s shelf!
February 25, 2020
If your church is having trouble dealing with members or adherents with mental health issues or wishes to reach out to people or families with mental health issues then this book is the start of where you need to be. Whether it is children of adults, Dr. Grcevich gives us valuable insights into how to make our spaces friendly to people with such issues, how to train staff and members to grow relationships with this group of people, and how even when they can't attend regularly we can help them reach spiritual health even in their difficulties. Although I had never heard of Key Ministries before I read this book I believe that they have what we need to see our way forward as people who wish to bring everyone to God.
February 9, 2018
When it comes to mental health, Christians can erroneously believe that the issue is either all science or all sin. Dr. Grcevich does an incredible job of distilling the issue and showing churches both the barriers to attendance and the modifications to make for those dealing with mental health issues. His clear, practical information is useful in helping every church to do SOMETHING to make their congregation more welcoming to those facing everything from autism to schizophrenia. And families will find this important release validating as well. Don't miss this long overdue guide!
February 17, 2018
This is a much-needed handbook for church leaders but individuals and other organizations will also find it very valuable. Dr Grcevich does an excellent job of explaining the different areas of mental health difficulty, showing how those impact church involvement, and giving numerous practical examples helping us to respond more compassionately and effectively. This book leaves readers well equipped and highly empowered to engage those who experience mental health difficulties. The Church of this and future generations will better reflect the heart and ways of Christ because of this book.
June 30, 2020
I really enjoyed and found great use from Part One: Understanding the Problem. Part Two was good, but I felt the most important content came in Part One.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews