A few years back I was asked to cover a couple of sessions for a ministry training course. One of the sessions was on “failure.” The request came with a couple of those expected awkward jokes along the lines of “we aren’t picking you for any specific reason.” Indeed, at the time, arguably I’d not… Continue reading Why do we struggle to talk about pastors and depression?
Tag: Depression
Your pastor has considered giving up
That’s perhaps not the headline you wanted to read is it? However, this is the challenging reality. At some point your pastor/vicar/elders have thought “I could just walk out the building after the service finishes, in fact, I could do it right now. I could shut the Bible, walk out and never come back here.”… Continue reading Your pastor has considered giving up
The other cost of COVID
Here’s this week’s podcast
The pandemic – faith and emotional health
Earlier this week, I shared the results of a survey that I had done among my twitter followers picking up on the impact of the pandemic. The survey showed that whilst quite a few people are able to talk positively about the impact on their spiritual health in terms of relationship to church family and… Continue reading The pandemic – faith and emotional health
A magnifying glass on my sin
Back in 2019 I was becoming increasingly irritable and snappy. I found that my patience was in short supply and that I struggled to find joy and delight in things. Perhaps it was no surprise then when towards the end of the year I found myself diagnosed with Mixed Anxiety and Depressive Disorder. Things had… Continue reading A magnifying glass on my sin
When did you last hear a pastor talk about mental health issues?
In my recent survey about application and what pastors talked about, I asked respondents to indicate whether or not they’d heard pastors address particular issues within the last 5 years. One issue concerned mental health. This is such an important subject to address within our churches because as we preach and pastor we are so… Continue reading When did you last hear a pastor talk about mental health issues?
Three anxieties
Is it a sin to be anxious or is it simply a mental health condition that you don’t have control over? I’ve heard both extremes. In the church we often emphasis the former whilst it is increasingly the norm to hear people saying “I have anxiety” and using that as a reason not to be… Continue reading Three anxieties
The pastor with a thorn in his side – reviews
There have been a couple of reviews published for the book I contributed to “The pastor with a thorn in his side.” Obviously I think the book is worth buying and will prove helpful both for those facing depression and those who are wanting to walk alongside others that are -but this is why other… Continue reading The pastor with a thorn in his side – reviews
Facing Depression – When healing does not seem to come
Is it all in the mind?
“The body keeps the score” is the title of a book by Bessel Van Der Kolk about mental health and the affects of trauma. We sometimes describe particular health conditions as “all in the mind.” At one level, what we might simply mean by that is that we cannot find a specific and direct organic… Continue reading Is it all in the mind?
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