Two wings of the Evangelical church tend to suffer from a bit of stereotyping. On the one end are those frequently accused of focusing so much on the emotional aspect of worship that they forget exposition and doctrine, requiring you to leave your brains at the door. At the other end are those who are… Continue reading Must we leave our trauma at the door?
Tag: Emotional Health
When the wounds do not heal
In my review of “The Wounded Christian” I raised one small point where I felt the author hasn’t quite hit the nail on the head. I felt that the book whilst rightly talking about how healing happens may have given the impression that it always will or at least should happen in this life time. … Continue reading When the wounds do not heal
When your pastor gets depressed (3) Is it sin?
You may remember that a few weeks back I wrote about being offered Biblical Counselling when depressed and the implication behind that approach to counselling that the cause of depression is some buried sin from the past. There is a real danger when dealing with the problem of depression that we immediately assume that the… Continue reading When your pastor gets depressed (3) Is it sin?
When your pastor gets depressed (part 2) -a look at some potential risk factors
In part 1 yesterday, I highlighted 3 causes of depression that pastors might be particularly prone to because they are high risk factors in church and ministry contexts: social isolation, conflict and abuse. However, these are not the only causes of depression. It’s worth observing at this point that depression and anxiety disorders can strike… Continue reading When your pastor gets depressed (part 2) -a look at some potential risk factors
Long COVID and long lockdown
A number of people have reported long term symptoms after suffering from COVID-19. This has led to the term “long COVID” being coined. The symptoms observed include:[1] extreme tiredness (fatigue) shortness of breath chest pain or tightness problems with memory and concentration (“brain fog”) difficulty sleeping (insomnia) heart palpitations dizziness pins and needles joint pain… Continue reading Long COVID and long lockdown
If someone says they have depression, please take them seriously
I saw this tweet the other day and would like to respond to it. The background to the tweet is that the pastor concerned had a high celebrity profile due to Justin Bieber attending his church. Sadly, as with so many pastors over the years behind the public persona was something different and his marriage… Continue reading If someone says they have depression, please take them seriously
Pastors get depression too
I want to share with you the results of a little survey I did via twitter. It is important to emphasise that these twitter polls don’t count as scientific surveys with appropriate proportions of people and adjustments. Therefore, the percentages are a little meaningless. So, what I’d encourage you to do is to look past… Continue reading Pastors get depression too
What drives false teachers, bullies and abusers?
False teachers also tend to be bullies and abusers. The reverse is also true, abusers and bullies tend to be false teachers if they happen to be involved in church life and leadership. There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, false teaching is itself a form of spiritual abuse, secondly false… Continue reading What drives false teachers, bullies and abusers?
Demons
Last Sunday, I preached on Jesus casting out demons. I highlighted three points in reference to this. Demon possession is possible today though I suspect rarer than in Jesus’ day Christians cannot be demon possessed because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit The demon exorcisms in the Gospel help us to understand the wider… Continue reading Demons
The role of Scripture in treating mental health issues
I have read reports recently from people experiencing “Christian counselling” for mental health issues where this amounted to giving them a few bible verses to read and memorise. So, I thought I would outline a few reflections around this. The first thing to say is that this is sometimes described as Biblical Counselling. However, this… Continue reading The role of Scripture in treating mental health issues
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