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Mental Health Issues
Faith
and Mental Illness Open Heart When
illness comes to a family, a faith community is often the first to know and the
first to respond. Compassion is shown
through visits, calls, cards, and prayer; this compassion brings healing. When the illness is mental illness, many
church members do not respond in the same way because of fear and
misunderstanding. The same support is
needed by the family where mental illness strikes. Many changes in the way mental illness is
treated make church and community involvement even more important. Mental illnesses are more common
than cancer, diabetes or heart disease. One
in five families is affected in their lifetime by a mental illness. If treated, the success rate for severe
mental illness is greater than the treatment for heart disease.
Open Mind Instead of ignoring, isolating or
stigmatizing people, Jesus reached out and touched them with healing. The church may do the same. Books: Creating a Circle of Caring: The
Church and the Mentally Ill, by Shirley Strobel, 1997. This is available from North Carolina
Alliance for the Mentally Ill, No Longer Alone: Mental Health and the Church by John Toews and Eleanor Loewen, Herald
Press, 1995. Mennonite Mutual Aid, 1110
North Main St., PO Box 483, Goshen, IN or visit
http://www.mma-online.org. Web sites: For a free
copy of a course called “Creating a Caring Community” visit the site:
http://www.vaumc.org/gm/micom.htm or
http://www.umc-gbcs.org/mencare.htm . Open Door
· Call
the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or check the
web site at http://www.nami.org to see if a branch of NAMI meets in your
area. They are active in
· Visit
your local or regional mental health center to learn about services in your
area and to determine what your church might do to help.
· Write
a letter to the family of someone who committed suicide because of an untreated
mental illness.
· Pray
and work to see that mentally ill people get treatment instead of jail time.
· When
the candidates for public office visit your community ask
them if they support programs for the mentally ill. Ministries with Persons with Disabilities Open Hearts Do we really mean it
when we say open hearts, open minds and open doors? Are we reaching out to persons with
disabilities in our communities? Are we
listening to the needs of parents with children who have special needs? Is your local church encouraging participation? For youth and adults
with developmental disabilities, the Kansas East Conference offers two weekend
camps and 3 summer camps at Open Minds In Matthew 9:1-7 Jesus
saw the man as worthy and deserving of God’s love just as any
other—non-disabled—person in the room and forgave his sins prior to healing
him. Jesus, in Matthew 9:35-37 pitied
the crowd because they were troubled, abandoned . . . like sheep without a shepherd. They were not abandoned by God, but by people
who stigmatize or leave persons out. Any
church that is not accessible is creating this abandonment. Each year the Kansas
East Conference Social Issues Committees mails to all United Methodist Churches
the resources helpful to celebrate Disabilities Awareness Sunday in your
church. A very helpful book is Creating
the Caring Congregation: Guidelines for Ministering with the Handicapped by
Harold H. Wilke, Abingdon Press, 2000. Open Door
Ø Persons
with disabilities exist in every
Ø Create
a program at your church. In
Ø The
Kansas Dept. of Social and Rehabilitation Services is
proposing many budget cuts in this area.
A coalition, DEW Coalition, of Kansas citizens have organized to deliver
a message of social solidarity to address the economic and human service crises
we are now facing. The proposed budget
for 2002 and beyond will be devastating for people with disabilities, the
elderly, and their workers. For
information call Mike or Jamie 1-785-233-4572 or Shannon at 785-234-6990. Donate Life Open Heart
t Over
77,000 individuals in the
t There
are approximately 6,000 organ donors per year in the
t Nearly
5,600 died waiting for an organ transplant in 2000. That is 15 people who die
each day while waiting.
t Every
13 minutes a new name is added to the national waiting list.
t One
organ and tissue donor can help as many as 50 people.
t Over
200,000 tissue donations happen in a year helping up to 500,000 recipients.
t Roughly
1/3 of the people who could be donors never become donors because they failed
to make their wishes known to their families. Open Mind
t Scriptures:
The following are selected because of their message of giving, healing, and
understanding of the relationship between human beings: 1 John 4:7-12, Matthew
7:7-12; Matthew 25:31-46; James 5:13-16; Ezekiel 37.
t See
this page for 10 myths about donations.
t Social
Principles U) Organ Transplantation and Donation “We believe that organ
transplantation and organ donation are acts of charity, agape love, and
self-sacrifice. We recognize the
life-giving benefits of organ and other tissue donation and encourage all
people of faith to become organ and tissue donors as a part of their love and
ministry to others in need. We urge that it be done in an environment of
respect for the deceased and living donors and for the benefit of the
recipients, and following protocols that carefully prevent abuse to donors and
their families.” Open Doors
t Hold a
Transplant Sabbath at your church. Have
someone who has received a transplant come and speak or a family member. As part of the dedication section of the
worship service, participants have the opportunity to sign the back of their
driver’s licenses. Others present can
serve as witnesses signing other’s cards.
t Contact
Shepherd’s
t Invite
a church member or two to volunteer to serve as official transportation for
organ transplantation. There is a severe organ
shortage in this country. Despite
continuing efforts at public education, myths about donation persist. It’s a tragedy if even one person decides
against donation because of a myth.
Copyright
1998, United Network for Organ Sharing, all rights reserved. |
