Mental Health and Your Church: A Handbook for Biblical Care

by Helen Thorne, Steve Midgley

Helping you and the whole church family understand, nurture, and support those with mental-health conditions. Many people are struggling with mental-health conditions, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and life in our image-conscious culture. Statistics tell us that, worldwide, one in six of us will have experienced a mental-health struggle in the past week, and serious depression is the second-leading cause of disability (Mental Health Foundation). That means there are brothers and sisters in our church families battling with thoughts, feelings, impulses, and even voices that distract, drag down, and nudge them towards despair. But when it comes to helping, it can be tricky to know where to begin, especially if we have very little knowledge of mental illnesses and are afraid of making things worse by saying and doing the wrong things. This wise, compassionate, and practical book is written by Steve Midgley, psychiatrist and Executive Director of Biblical Counselling UK, and Helen Thorne, Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK. It will help readers understand and respond with biblical wisdom to people who are struggling with their mental health. While acknowledging the importance of liaising responsibly with medics and counsellors, this book focuses on equipping readers to play their part in making churches places where those who struggle with mental-health conditions are welcomed, understood, nurtured, and a foretaste of the new creation. This is a useful book for anyone who cares for others pastors, elders, small-group leaders, and congregation members.

Genres: Christian, Mental Health, Counselling, Theology, Nonfiction, Church

144 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2023

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Helen Thorne is Assistant Director of the Open Bible Institute where she oversees the Cert HE Theology courses validated by Middlesex university and offers general student support. She is also a trustee for Capital Youthworks, the charity behind Sorted - an annual youth event held in London.

Reviews

[Brandi Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

For reasons that I still don’t fully comprehend, mental health struggles and mental illness can be such taboo topics—especially amongst believers. I’m grateful for this book by Helen Thorne & Dr. Steve Midgley. This book is a much-needed resource for the Church. Their goal in writing this book was to equip ordinary Christians to walk alongside those in our local churches that suffer with mental health struggles.

In three sections, the authors help us to understand what mental illness is and why it’s so much more complex than physical illness. They also help us to gain a vision for how we as the body of Christ can best love and care for those in our congregations with mental health struggles. Finally, the authors give us practical application of those ways to love and care for our fellow church members.

This book was easy to read and the authors did a masterful job of providing us with tools that feel applicable and not overwhelming. This book needs to be in the hands of every church member! If there’s one place that should be free of stigma around mental health, it should be the Church. Highly recommend!!!

I received a copy of this book from The Good Book Company in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Tracy Adair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wise, compassionate and realistic

[Joel Lomman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely practical and helpful look at how the church can love and pastorally care for those who are struggling with mental health challenges.

[Tess Mortimer · Rating 4 out of 5]

was disappointed by the first chapter of this book that felt too brief to be helpful and just said kinda obvious things (medications can be good but are imperfect, all therapy models come with underlying beliefs about humanity and the world)
but then the rest of the book so truly amazing!! would recommend to anyone.
our doctrine is useless if it becomes nothing more than a topic for conversation with those we find comfortable to engage with. a church that does not care for people where they are at is not a new testament church. i love how this book pointed out how healing is not linear and in this life, will be incomplete. some will follow their shepherd with a more pronounced limp than others but weaker parts of the body are to be treated w special honour- and it shows some ways to do this practically #amen

”If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.“
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬ ‭

”Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.“
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭27‬ ‭

[Addie · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The worshipping community is designed to be a place where all followers of Jesus can come and flourish in their faith - and where no one is excluded.' (p. 11)

Thoughts, book club edition:
- Original review below. This time - a few thoughts about the experience of reading it with a few people.
- This was my first time organising a book club. In hindsight, there were some practical things that could have been handled better from my end. I think I bit off more than I could chew at the beginning, only to find that life quickly got a lot busier than I expected - it's a learning experience for next time.
- The aim was to encourage one another by making a solid resource available (including for people to read at their own pace if they weren't able to join group discussions) and to generate some intentional dialogue about mental health in our church context. We brainstormed ideas to keep the conversation going post-book and post-club.
- As much as I enjoyed getting to yap about the intersection of faith and mental health care, what I loved most was getting to hear others' thoughts, reflections, and stories. It was great to hear from some people I've been seeing on a near-weekly basis since I was something-years-old (but hadn't talked to much about these topics before).
- Our discussions about cultural/generational influences on stigma hit particularly hard.
- As the group discussions went on, I felt increasingly thankful for the many people who have shown me immense grace and patience over the years, especially when I was younger and far messier.
- 'The Bible doesn't see faith as a kind of protective bubble rendering us immune to the effects of our fallen world' (p. 39). How reassuring it is to know that our God truly knows and sees every doubt, every fear, every struggle. How comforting to have Christ as a firm foundation to help us to weather the storms of life. How good that we have each other for support, encouragement, and mutual refinement.

(original review)
Thoughts:
- I was a bit nervous opening this book. I'm thankful for the many people in my church community who are sensitive, wise, and understanding about the topic of mental health, but I've also heard some bad (or at the very least unhelpful) takes - mainly in online forums and blog posts - by Christians who may be well meaning, but end up unintentionally hurting those they are trying to help by presenting a view of MH that is not sufficiently nuanced, informed, or realistic. I got this ebook for free last year, and would not otherwise have picked it up for fear of buyer's remorse. I ended up enjoying this book a lot, and will get a physical copy to lend to friends.
- The authors do a brilliant job at addressing how the local church can support and care for members who struggle with their mental health. As a future clinician, a person with lived experience, and a regular churchgoer, I think this book strikes a good balance between informative and educational, as well as practical and pastoral. It's also quite nuanced, and I appreciated little bits of wisdom like suggestions for navigating confidentiality and safeguarding, and instances where we should not remind people too strongly of eschatological hope.
- It's important to say that this book is written with the aim of encouraging regular Christians to see how everyone in the church can play a role in caring for those who are finding life difficult. It is not a theological textbook aimed at ministers (it's not a systematic theology of mental illness), it's not a medical textbook aimed at trained counsellors (it gives a good basic overview of types of illnesses and the treatments available, but in laymen's terms), it's not a book for people in active crisis (although those with personal experience will likely appreciate the compassion and care shown by the authors). I like how some common misconceptions are addressed (e.g. the belief that spiritual maturity prevents depression), how there was a consistent emphasis on knowing your limits as a helper and seeking professional services when needed, and how empathically the case studies were handled.
- For an introductory level book, I really like that some lesser-known topics are addressed, such as spiritual abuse, psychosis, and the pressures full-time carers face. This may not be the most comprehensive book ever (e.g. I wish domestic violence was also addressed), but I think it does a great job of raising awareness and putting forward positive strategies to 'start churches on the path to being places where lives are honestly shared, burdens are mutually carried and gospel hope flows freely between congregation members in ways that build everyone up.' (p. 62)
- Feeling encouraged to reflect on how I can be using my knowledge and experience to serve others. Going to make a list of things I'd like to discuss with leaders within my church, to think about how we could be better equipped to support each other and to welcome whoever walks through the door, regardless of the hidden (or not-so-hidden) burdens they may be carrying.

'There are many ways in which we can serve and encourage others. Our service won't take away mental-health struggles, but it will mean that people come to battle their struggles alongside others rather than on their own, and it will build their experience of positive relationships that can begin to heal some of the experiences of the past.' (p. 68)

[Dylan Q-V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balanced, compassionate and practical! Definitely not exhaustive, but a very helpful resource for the church

[Jessica Lau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended it! As it talks about medication and therapies which not many Christian mental health books that actually covers on! And it is really practical to apply it in your life (if you are going through mental health) and how can we best help/ support those in church that are going through mental health issues!

But most importantly, it is to bring awareness in the church!

[Molly Start · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written with great compassion and understanding.
A really helpful look at better understanding mental health and thinking about how we can best care for those within our churches who struggle with their mental health, ensuring they are welcomed, loved and graciously pointed to Jesus.

‘Chi is finding life hard.’
‘Chi doesn’t need fixing, she is not a project, nor does she need rebuking as there’s no wilful sin dominant here…’
‘the call is to love her as the bible commands us to do’

[Tim Goldsmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful resource for anyone who wants to understand mental illness a little better, or for people are keen to think through how we prepare ourselves to care for others and understand a little of what they are going through.
The authors do a great job of exploring different types of illness, different methods of care, and different ways that individuals and churches might approach supporting people with mental health struggles.
Well worth the read!

[Joshua Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book. Just mediocre. I did appreciate the practical case studies in the final section of the book. I do think churches can benefit from certain aspects of this book!

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

[Deborah Macaulay · Rating 1 out of 5]

For many reasons, I was excited by the prospect of reading this book. Sadly , I was hugely disappointed. Some nuggets of wisdom, however it is mostly over simplistic, making generalisations, and sweeping statements, with no evidence to back them up. I am not sure who this is aimed at, but I would not recommend it, whoever you are. If you are genuinely interested in mental health, this is not the place to become more informed.

[Mdmaurer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it to be a simple read with good information for a church who wants to begin ministering to people struggling. It is not a "how to" book, as people are individuals and everyone is unique. But it is a good source for leaders to begin this conversation with some practical ideas to do it in a sensitive, responsible way.

[Phil Butcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in my book group, this is a really clear, Bible-centred, applied book to help everyone understand mental health and how best to care for those in the church who struggle.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent book addresses an important topic in a timely, compassionate way, giving church leaders and members the information they need to better understand and support people struggling with mental health issues. The first section explains core concepts related to understanding mental illness, introduces different types of treatment, and helps readers relate this to a biblical view of humanity. The second section focuses on what people can do in their churches to raise awareness and provide practical assistance, and the final section shares fictional case studies for how churches could rally alongside individuals and families affected by specific struggles.

Throughout Mental Health and Your Church, Helen Thorne and Dr. Steve Midgley write with great compassion and understanding, providing balanced and helpful advice for what mental health support can look like in the church. The authors warn congregations against taking on an inappropriate level of care, but even as they encourage churches to partner with mental health professionals, they also warn churches against completely outsourcing care and not providing the practical, relational, and spiritual support that suffering church members need. The authors also strike a great balance between challenging stigma and acknowledging those who suffer from compassion fatigue.

As they empower church members to make a difference in people's lives, Thorne and Midgley share ideas for how churches can prevent or repair unhealthy dynamics in helping relationships. For example, they encourage churches to organize teams of helpers, rather than allowing a suffering church member to become dependent on one person. This protects the helper's time and emotional margin, and protects the person needing help from feeling rejected and abandoned when their friend inevitably burns out and has to back off. The authors also include helpful insights for how pastors and church members can handle spiritual trauma cases where people have experienced rejection at previous churches or find the Bible triggering because of others' misuse of it.

Mental Health and Your Church is an excellent book for church leaders and members, and I have never read anything quite like it. It is compassionate, insightful, and filled with practical information. My main critique is that I wish the book had included more types of mental struggles and differences, such as developmental delays and autism, and that the authors had better defined OCD, which only came up in passing. However, even though this book would be even better with additional topics included, the authors repeatedly acknowledge the book's limited scope. They knew that they couldn't speak to everything, but still provided wide-ranging insight and practical ideas for positive, lasting change in church communities.

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can the church come alongside God’s people in their mental health struggles? In Mental Health and Your Church, Helen Thorne and Steve Midgley present a handbook for Biblical care.

We must all be aware of mental-health conditions exacerbated by the pandemic. It is something not really talked about in my Asian American church context. This book is a welcome help, full of wisdom and practical tips for helping those who are hurting.

Biblical Understanding

What I most appreciate about this book is that it is comprehensive in what it is trying to accomplish. Section 1 helps you better understand mental illness, looking at diagnoses, developing a biblical understanding, medication, and talking therapies. In regards to a biblical understanding, I respected the way the authors acknowledged both body and heart. In addition, we all have cultural considerations that affect our mental health.

Section 2 asks: What can we do? The church has a specific call to raise awareness, relate, remember, refine, and practically resource. As a youth Sunday School teacher, I was convinced I need to do more in regard to mental-health awareness. I can help my students feel welcome, safe, and hopeful while helping them see God as fundamentally good, gracious, and kind. Refinement is a word I would like to use when talking about change and growth as a Christian over the years.

Caring in Practice

Section 3 looks at caring in practice, using case studies of anxiety, depression, addiction, and psychosis. Using Scripture and working through the Gospel can help others see their identity in Christ more clearly. Compassionate care means coming alongside others in community with practical help and personal friendship.

This book acknowledges the importance of professionals, but also equips the church for service. Pastors and church leaders would be prudent to read this book. Sunday School teachers, youth counselors, and small group leaders will feel better prepared to help their people. God cares about the whole person, and so should the church. This book is a useful help.

I received a media copy of Mental Health and Your Church and this is my honest review.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is much stronger than Murray and Karel, but still fatally flawed with one basic issue. The strengths come from a deep love for the church and the people of God, much wisdom about how to help strugglers, and a fairly clear and nuanced engagement with, and critique of, the secular therapies. If it had contained that, and only that, I'd have loved this book. But here's the problem: the very term "mental health" used throughout.

What do we mean by that? Midgley and Thorne actually never define it, but instead give a good, biblical analysis of why we suffer and struggle that includes the heart, sin, repentance, faith, sanctification - in short, classic Christian wisdom. But then they leave an open door by saying that we'll need engagement with mental health "professionals" to adequately treat struggles - even as they acknowledge that the secular therapies are often (they even say, "perhaps always") at odds with biblical teaching. It's almost as though this is a biblical counseling book that is tired of fighting the integrationist battle, and so just concedes "hire a therapist, too."

So, all told, not the book I would give my church, and a book that helps to fight the trend towards medicalization of all human struggles (even though they acknowledge that secular voices are concerned about this trend as well).

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book and I agree with the assessment of Christopher Ash, “soaked in wisdom and informed by years of caring”.
It is, in my view, balanced, practical and empowering. I was delighted by the sensitivity, realism and humility which we all feel (or should feel) when encountering such complexities. We are all ‘wonderfully complex’.
Where I struggle, and it is not a major focus of the book, is how we use the bible. I sometimes sense an almost magical or mystical approach to the use of the bible text. In the ‘biblical counselling’ approach there seems to be an obligation to open it and read from it. For me it is not the words used and heard out aloud but the truth that is contained as the bible speaks of the Father, Son and Spirit.
Brian, described on p156, reflected Jesus in his care. He was ‘marinated’ in the word and so ‘leaking the ‘truth’. This makes so much sense to me!
Related to this disquiet (if we are reaching for the bible) I would use a much more vernacular translation in order to strip the words of artificiality and religiosity and make more personal and immediate its impact.
I look forward to exploring this with others reading the book in our church family.

[Kyleigh Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is excellent. While not every church member needs to read it cover-to-cover, I think every Christian should read at least the first part about understanding mental illness and many should read the second and third parts about what to do and the case studies. Thorne and Midgley discuss diagnoses, medication, therapy, and developing a biblical understanding of mental illness, and then suggest people around those suffering with mental illness should work to raise awareness, continue relating to them, call them to remember their identity in Christ, help them refine in sanctification, and also come alongside them to practically resource.

It is basic and broad, but for most church members it's a great starting point.

There’s still a huge need for a book specifically addressing postpartum depression and other perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, but this book also says much of what I want to write foundationally on the topic and I highly recommend it.

A favorite quote:
“Chi doesn’t need fixing (she’s not a project), nor does she need rebuking (there’s no willful sin dominant here), neither does she need simply affirming as she is (some affirmation would be good of course, but some things need to change)—the call is to love her, as the Bible commands us to do.”

[Elliot Mok · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on understanding mental illness and the role the church should play in journeying along side our brothers and sisters who have struggles with mental health. The authors, being former psychological and psychiatric professionals themselves, make clear the distinction between the work of the church and the work of medical professionals. They also treat the subject with gospel hope and with the grounded realism of living in this fallen world.

The first part gives an overview on the mental health scene, enlightening the reader on basic mental health concepts and illnesses.
The second part provided a framework on how we can journey along side those struggling with mental health issues, pointing them to the Gospel and fulfilling our role as the church for them.
The last part goes into case studies as to how this framework works itself in real life scenarios and illnesses. There is even a section on caregiver stress which is much appreciated.

Overall, this book is filled with practical wisdom, realism on the reality of mental health, compassion and Gospel focus. A must-read for Christians who want to educate themselves and who want to fulfil their churches calling of being the Body of Christ.

[Lynette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so thankful for the books being published on this subject! It's so important to equip churches with some practical ideas to know how to help those struggling with any kind of mental health issue. In this book, they go through several different kinds of situations and offer some practical counsel on how a church could walk well with someone in each kind of situation. There will often need to be some healthy boundaries in place, and often there are not a lot of people in church who are trained as counselors or therapists, but there are other ways a church can offer meaningful help (even if that's just going for a walk together).

This book isn't exhaustive, but it is a way for the church to dip their toes into ministry to those with mental health struggles! I hope many churches will read this book together, and learn to be a welcoming community to those who are suffering and hurting!

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent introduction to how those in the church can think differently about those struggling with mental health. I appreciate Midgely and Thorne's focus on the person's identity first (in Christ; a saint, sufferer, and sinner) before jumping to their specific problem - a biblical model through and through. I wouldn't call it my go-to handbook for biblical counseling but for those looking to get a start in this area, it would serve them fairly well. It is my understanding that this was birthed out of COVID when the whole world saw an uptick in both mental health struggles and a willingness to talk about it.
A limitation: This book assumes a church is fairly good sized and has resources (both internal and communal/federal) to support strugglers actively. It also heavily relies on the "awareness" piece of the puzzle in its examples, which felt a bit simplistic in reading yet practical in a basic first step.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with biblical wisdom and practical advice, this is a must-read book to help educate us as a church family about how to care for and love those who are struggling with mental health issues, as well as how to support those who are caring for them. I thought the case studies were particularly helpful in thinking about the experience of those who are struggling, as well as how we can be practically and patiently loving and serving people, particularly in instances where we might feel we are ill-equipped to help. (Though the authors give clear reminders of the importance of knowing our limitations and when to seek professional help.) It has encouraged me to be thinking carefully, and creatively, about how to be welcoming and serving people so that they can know and experience God’s love for them in Christ, and feel truly included as part of the church family.

[PD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeks to equip churches/christians to move toward people by building bridges between Christian community, life in Christ, and raising awareness and helping people connect with mental health resources.

Certainly not exhaustive, but neither is it simplistic. There are real psychological, mental, and emotional challenges that are not helped by abstract theology or sappy self-help slogans.

Likewise, there are real challenges that go deeper than merely receiving therapeutic help. Let us think deeply about theology and psychology. May truth, grace, and love be lived out alongside brokenness, pain, and affliction.

[Gabi Zielinski · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this is a starting point, and they make it clear in the text, it is very watered down and does not give much evidenced based input. Feels as though I was reading case vignettes the entire time. The authors offered practical ways for the church at large to be involved in supporting those with mental health concerns but would have been wise for them to have a mental health professional contribute. Would love more practical resources on this matter.

[John Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overviewing a topic as nebulous as mental health in the church is difficult. Midgley and Thorne do an excellent job overviewing different topics (medication, diagnosing mental illness, therapy, etc.) and providing counsel for churches to help their members.

The second half of the book is particularly helpful with its applications and examples.

[Alastair Gooderham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to this issue which helpfully challenges the silence on these matters that often pervades churches. Encouraging theological depth and practical compassionate care and a realism about long term commitment and the need for a care team it charts potential ways forward for churches without promising solutions or every answer.

[Jake Cannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful and practical stuff here. This is a complex topic with even more complex solutions. It was refreshing to hear wise Biblical counsel that diagnoses are descriptions, not explanations. Navigating mental illnesses requires giving strugglers language to describe their experience while empowering them with the responsibility to change.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid book looking at the way in which all church members can welcome and support those who struggle (for any time period) with their mental health. A carefully structured book giving some solid advice on how every church member can help.

[Amy Deutscher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would recommend this for any person who goes to church. Clear, practical, and wise guidance. Doesn’t aim to make you an expert or have all the answers but conveys the role of the church in caring for those living with mental health challenges.