The Church Project
Few institutions offer such promise and at the same time pose so much threat to the mentally ill as the church. I have known many people whose relationship with the church has been an intergral part of their recovery. That is certainly true of us. Whatever we have or whatever we done we credit in large part to the grace of God.
The church though, is a human institution too, and like all human institutions has a problem with treating the mentally ill as somehow stigmatized and out of God's will. Far too many people have walked away from church with the message that their illness is God's punishment for their sins or that somehow they lack character or faith and just don't try hard enough.
Hopeworks is starting a new project called simply "The Church Project". The goal of this project is to present an option to the stigma that so often is applied to the mentally ill in the church. That project is described more in depth in the following letter. If you feel like your church can profit from exposure to the "Church Project" please feel free to contact us for more information.
Dear Sir;
Mental illness is by any measure a plague on this society. The National Institutes of Health tell us that 26.2 % of the people in this country suffer from a major mental illness. In the 16 counties of east Tennessee that means that 294,574 people suffer from one form of mental illness or another. Rather you know it or not the odds are great that you know someone on a personal level whose lives have been impacted by the ravages of these illnesses.
My wife and I recently started “Hopeworks” the Blount county chapter of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. You can go to our website- hopeworkscommunity.com – for a more complete description of our story. Briefly though we started our group after Linda was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder and we found out there were basically no resources in this county or surrounding counties to help. We have been meeting twice a month since January and already have about 40 people involved in one way or another. We continue to get calls and our numbers seem destined to grow. We are in the process currently of starting our second group.
We owe much to our church and pastor: Blount Christian Church and Pastor Barry Clanton. They have given us a place to meet, but more importantly have supported us in their prayers and actions. They have welcomed us with open arms and in the process have become part of sharing God’s love and grace with many people who will probably never be members of that church.
There is a tremendous amount of confusion about mental illness. Some people believe that mental illness reveals a lack of character or morals. Some believe that it reveals a lack of motivation. They think people don’t try hard enough. Some people think the mentally ill are faking to have an excuse for their irresponsible behavior. Tragically some people believe that mental illness is an indication of sin and lack of favor in God’s eyes.
For many people with mental illness their greatest problem is not always their illness. Sometimes their greatest problem is other people and the stigma and judgements that these people apply to them. The mentally ill often learn to be wary around other people for fear of what “being found out” can mean. More than any thing else they need other people, but too often are left isolated and ashamed to reach out to those they need the most.
The church can offer much to the mentally ill. Above all they can teach that we are all creatures of God and none of us are defined by any illness or disability we may have. For many this has been the experience they have had of church. One lady with bipolar disorder that I know has made about 12 suicide attempts in the past 3 years. She told me one night, “If it wasn’t for Jesus Christ I would not be alive.” Her life is now reaching stability and her religious faith is a cornerstone of that recovery.
Our goal and hope is to help the church be the source of blessing for the mentally ill that God intended it to be for all of us. Our hope is to be a resource to you. Many people in churches suffer with mental illness or have family members that suffer. Too often, out of a sense of shame or fear, they try to hide the truth from others. They find themselves trapped in living a lie in the one place they should feel the safest in telling the truth. They find themselves more afraid of what the people they worship God with will think about them than anything else. I am sure you have probably seen this dynamic play out more often than you care to see. There can be no greater gift than the grace of God and it is, I believe, a tragedy when we let anything detract from that.
We are asking two things of you. First of all we would like, if you are open to it, to have a chance to meet with you personally and just describe in detail more about what “Hopeworks” is about and answer any questions that you may have. It may well be that you may find that we can be a positive resource for someone at your church and we would be thrilled and honored to do that. It would be entirely appropriate and okay with us if, before you talked with us, that you contacted Pastor Clanton at Blount Christian Church and asked him to tell you about his experience of “Hopeworks.” Not only has he supported us holding meetings at his church, but at one meeting he was the guest speaker talking about the subject of “finding hope in hurting times.”
Secondly, we are in the process of developing a program that we would like to offer to you. This program would be our effort to share both the facts and the human face of mental illness. The presentation would consist of three segments and last about an hour. The first part would be a brief video presentation about mental illness. We would talk about mental illness in adults, in children and in older adults. The second section would be a segment where one or more people from “Hopeworks” would share their testimony and tell what mental illness has meant in their life, how they have tried to put their lives back together again and the role of the church in that. The final section would be a question and answer period.
You may have many questions to ask before you are willing to consider allowing us to do this presentation at your church. That is fine. We are willing to help in any way we can. “Hopeworks” meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at Blount Christian Church in Maryville. You are more than welcome to visit any of our meetings. We have a website, as mentioned before-hopeworkscommunity.com- which also shares a lot of information about us. If you would like to know more about the materials used for the program we can do that also.
Please let us hear from you. In helping you we help ourselves. There is a saying that is used a lot at “Hopeworks.” “Hope doesn’t work unless we make it work.” I know that Jesus is my savior and without Him I don’t know if I would have made it through what I have made it through. Help us to help every church offer the opportunity of that message to everyone who comes through the doors.
God bless and thank you for your time.
Larry and Linda Drain
“Hopeworks”- the Blount County chapter of the DBSA
865 9514252
hopeworkscommunity.com