Let’s End Awareness and Begin Acceptance
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Although awareness is a good thing, it is time to move on to acceptance. One in four suffer with a mental illness, and most Americans are aware of mental illness. Most Americans live with or know someone with a mental illness. However, there is much misleading information which causes confusion about true awareness. Awareness is not understanding. Let’s move on to acceptance, especially in our church community.
Acceptance creates a community of belonging, not “including.” Generally, people, even Christians, go through several steps when confronted with the disability community. First people avoid; they want to avoid the unknown, strange, and weird. Secondly, they tolerate through inclusion, but not truly caring or loving. Third, they serve out of empathy. Finally, they love through compassion like Jesus. In some cultures, the person starts at denial, because there are no disabled or mentally ill people in their country that are seen in public. This situation can be especially challenging for the disabled community. These are churches led by pastors that deny hurting people worship, because of their disabilities .
The New Testament is filled with stories of Jesus healing and looking on them with compassion. He accepted the outcasts as His children. In Mark 5:25-34, Jesus is aware of the suffering woman, but He lovingly accepts and heals her and calls her daughter. (The version in Luke 8:43-48 is beautiful too.) Many of our churches don’t look on these ill people with compassion. We are to be in the world but not of this world, but too many treat the mentally ill worse than non-Christians, even labeling serious illness as sin or from not praying enough. This creates a hurtful environment that turns the afflicted person away. Acts 3 is another beautiful story where Peter and John met a lame beggar at the temple gate called Beautiful. This man could not worship in the temple due to his disability. Peter and John stopped, talked with him, and then healed him. They all would worship in the temple (Acts 3). Although this man was physically disabled he was not welcomed. Today, many churches don’t welcome the mentally ill.
Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, but He didn’t define who our neighbor is. This command was written eighteen times in the Bible. The phrase shows up first in Leviticus 19:18; God is warning against vengeance, and commanding us to love our neighbor as yourself. Who is this neighbor? Our neighbor is those around us locally, regionally, and globally. Many of them are afflicted, without hope, love, or a community, rejected, outcast, and marginalized by us. How are we loving our neighbor by awareness? In America, Christians are aware of the horrible living conditions of the afflicted in many countries. These may be countries with rich traditions of church and mission work, but these people are still hurting, still hopeless, and still unreached. Even in America, too many are outcast, rejected, and marginalized by the church as sinful trouble, not His child. The great commission is not meant for only the healthy; it is for all. The grace of Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection is for all that repent and believe. Jesus is our salvation!
Another harmful aspect of awareness is the perceived need for the mentally ill to be fixed. It is true that we need to be stable from our symptoms, but we don’t need to be fixed. Many of us love our life and understand that God made us wonderfully in His image. He weaved our DNA with these so-called disorders. Praying for our struggles and symptom relief is a must. Always ask the person how can I pray for you or can we pray together. With acceptance, there is belonging. We are all God's children, but He made us uniquely different with parts that the world sees as good and bad, to glorify Him. In John 9:1-3, the blind man was not blinded by his sin or his parents' sin, but created wonderfully to glorify God. We need to move away from awareness and to acceptance. The church community should be a welcoming, safe, belonging place for all of His children.
Verse References on loving your neighbor:
Leviticus 19:18; Leviticus 19:34; Matthew 5:43; Matthew 5:44; Matthew 5:46; Matthew 19:19; Matthew 22:39; Luke 6:32; Luke 10:27; Mark 12:31; Mark 12:33; Romans 13:8; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8
Disability and the Church Conference
Timofey and Linda hosted a workshop at Disability and the Church Conference presented by Key Ministry sponsored with Tim Tebow Foundation in Cleveland Ohio. (April 28-29) This conference had over 1,200 applications for speakers.
The worship was conversation between Timofey and Linda. Timofey is an architect, business owner and Linda's employer. Linda is a person afflicted with bipolar disorder and Asperger's. They shared how God, through a healthy Great Commission church culture, impacted their individual lives and brought them together not only to serve in ministry, but to work together in a high-end Design Build company. Seventy people attended the workshop.
Joni and Friends interviewed Linda for an upcoming three-part video series on autism.
Timofey spoke during the Quick Takes on Avoid | Tolerate | Serve | Love. The Great Commission is for everyone, including people with hidden disabilities. A Great Commission church culture should not just be for everyone but should be lived out through everyone. In this presentation, learn how lead pastors, by promoting a Great Commission culture, can bring awareness to disabilities and equip every member of the church to live on mission. (Video will be posted.)
They had lunch with Michael’s mother, Kim. Michael was a little boy that bugged Linda to go to church. Kim is a director of an access ministry in central Maryland. She was there with her team.