The church, if it is to act as Christ’s body must “metanoia” as Biblical Greek requires.  To “metanoia”, we as Christ’s body must repent of these patterns and turn towards different Godly patterns.  We must acknowledge that we are following worldly patterns and not only stop those patterns, but also move in a different direction towards Godly patterns under covenant.  In contrast to the above patterns, churches should relearn to function by families rather than age groups.  The older generations have much wisdom to impart to the younger at multiple levels.  The younger generation will have many opportunities to provide for the needs, tangible and intangible, of the older generations. 

               In contrast to the fear of offending someone sitting in the pews, pastors should preach what the word says without sugar-coating the clear condemnations of sin where simple or stylish.  Paul did not water down his message to the Corinthian regarding their member who married his father’s wife (I Corinthians 5:1). Jesus did not hold back in calling the pharisees “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27-28).  This should be done in a loving way whether addressing the unconverted or the one already professing a faith.  Either way, churches need and deserve a clear trumpet sounding (I Corinthians 14:8) in order to guide them away from worldly patterns of life.

               In contrast to attempts to modernize church services and functions for the sake of making them more seeker sensitive, we should focus our attention more on God in the service and life of the church.  While different churches in different cultural settings do have room to express their cultural tendencies in music styles or building decorations, the focus should be on loving God and loving one another in Godly ways.  Loving God includes honoring and glorifying Him in ways He has prescribed while avoiding the ways which diminish His honor.  Attempts to make visiting sinners feel comfortable in God’s presence do not introduce them to the real God, but a caricature which is powerless to save them from their sins.  Churches must be God-centered rather than man-centered.

               In further contrast to these vain attempts to make God and His church more attractive to the world, churches need pastors and teachers who understand the critical role of covenant in believer’s relationship with God and the church’s responsibility regarding family.  While other essays explore covenant in great breadth and depth, for now we must at least acknowledge that frequent and foundational use of the Greek word “diatheke” in the New Testament provides convincing proof that New Testament believers are to approach God through Christ in a covenantal framework.  Christ proclaims at the last support that He fulfills the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:31-34.  Hebrews repeatedly emphasizes the continuing reality of covenant built on the prior Old Testament covenants, Christ having fulfilled them and inaugurated the New Covenant. This covenant framework confirms that although Christ’s work of salvation is complete in the believer, the believer’s response is expected as they are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), indwelt by the Spirit (John 7:39 and 16:7), whose change of heart should be proven by loving one another (I John 4:20) and obeying Christ’s commands (I John 2:3-6).  We were created and chosen for good works according to God’s design (Ephesians 2:10).

               Based on this covenantal understanding which the Bible tells us continues through generations of families in Acts 2:39 (“For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself”) churches should put a greater emphasis internally and externally on the role of family in the growth and function of the church.  The internal emphases could begin by equipping fathers to lead families spiritually and holding them accountable to do so.  Under this leadership churches should train young boys and young men to become Godly men capable of leading at home, in the church, and further in the broader society.  Likewise, the church should train young girls to become Godly women in the likeness of Proverbs 31, capable of leading alongside their husbands, providing for their children and providing a model of godliness for their broader community.  In this model for family, each member is trained for strength and resilience to stand against not only the temptations of the world, but the inevitable storms of life in a fallen world. 

               In further contrast to the average present-day church, a covenantal church which understands its relationship to the God ordained institution of the family will seek to move beyond this internal strengthening and provide external support against the world seeking to undermine God’s design for the family.  As efforts build to refashion Godly families comprised of a father and mother into an endless variety of two or more fluid genders, the church must proclaim that God’s design stands firm and unchanging.  As efforts build to replace the role of parents with the services of the state and/or its experts (educational, psychological, sociological, bureaucratic, or others), the church must stand firm that God ordained parents, not a village, to raise children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  No other institution was delegated that responsibility. 

               As efforts build and continue their perversion in the entertainment industry to draw children into all sorts of sinful behaviors, the church must speak against not only the obvious vileness of pornography, but also the superficially benign, yet truth undermining worldviews promoted in children’s entertainment.  These deceitful entertaining worldviews include not only Disney and its subsidiaries, but also a multitude of new children’s shows as well as the distorted remakes of past children’s stories which replace traditional values with various forms of contemporary propaganda.  Until church leaders overcome their fear of offending their members with the truth of God’s word, families will continue to be overly influenced by these ungodly entertainment industry sourced worldviews.

               So, how does such a return to a family and church focused on a Biblical and covenantal model of life address the statistics and description provided in prior essay editions.  Here are quick summaries of how those issues are addressed.

               Diagnoses:  Instead of diagnoses, insurance, more mental health providers, more legislation, and more money spent, we produce more resilient individuals through family and church with support networks of family and friends.  This will cost far less, be more personal and personalized, and avoid the underlying bad worldviews which try to use the crisis to control us.

               Technology:  Rather than being ruled by technology we apply technology towards Godly goals.  Rather than the advance of technology serving as a goal, we should use technology to advance family and church for God’s glory.  The vices and trappings of technology can be minimized or avoided when we know the correct purpose of technology.

               Sinful behavior:  By learning what constitutes sin from family and church as well as having those institution steer children away from sin, we avoid patterns which would ultimately harm us and contribute to mental illness.  The relationship of family and church will serve as bulwarks against individuals pursuing sinful lifestyles which contribute to mental illness.

               Government interference When family and church produce resilient adults with support networks, we will need less government programs, money, and interference. We as a people will stop looking to government for answers and solutions.

               Isolation:  The presence of family and church pulls the mentally ill out of isolation, lessening the severity and impact of these conditions.

               Need for medicines and experts:  Between the prevention of mental health triggers and the handling of mental health within family and church without the need for experts, both experts and their medications will be used more rarely.  Experts and their medications will be reserved for the most severe and the ones who have truly biochemical dysfunctions.

               Speed of life:  The steady force of family and church will slow down the speed of life providing greater fulfillment without the need to press full throttle on life’s gas pedal.  As relationships are valued more highly, priorities will shift time away from speed and towards family and community.

               Economic pressures:  Resilient adults will be more productive when mentally healthier and less likely to pursue self-destructive work patterns.  Wiser and mentally healthier adults will make wiser decisions leading to better financial situations. 

               Work life balance:  Well-grounded adults will then be more fulfilled and less stressed as they pursue Godly goals.  Better financial decisions will enable the possibility of better life balance.

               Toxic environment:  By applying the concept of stewardship to the environment and holding companies responsible for their poisoning us, we can lessen the impact and frequency of toxins on our health.  By acknowledge the stewardship of our bodies before God, we will make better everyday decisions in how we care for our physical health which impacts our mental health.

               Therefore, the reorientation of family and church towards a Biblical view of mental health will move us as individuals and as a society towards mental wellness.  These Godly goals of “shalom” and “eirene” applied through the work of families and church following God’s design in covenant rather than the world’s design will bring about a faster, deeper, and longer lasting resolution to the mental health crisis we face.

SUMMARY

               With the acknowledgement at the beginning of this essay that the mental health crisis as portrayed by the medical system and echoed by the media does exist, Christians can agree that such a situation deserves a response by society.  While there is a measure of shared self-interest given the burden of mental health on not only the medical system, but on society in general, Christians can also recognize that fellow man made in the image of God deserve a metaphorical cup of cold water (Matthew 10:42).  At this point, the individual Christian and the church as a body, should not follow the simplistic and superficial plans of the world.  The world’s methods led us here in its materialist worldview which erroneously believes that more money, more experts, and more state control will somehow lead us out of this crisis.  By pressing deeper into the roots of the problem, not just into the reality of living in a fallen world nor the reality of sin in each of our hearts and lives, but into the absence of a Biblical view of the causes and a resulting lack of a Biblical response, we can hope for untangling the woefully knotted mental health shoelaces.

               We as Christians must not get drawn into the world’s simplistic and reflexive response out of guilt.  We must return to the basics of God’s design for society based in covenant, grounded on Godly functioning families within churches leading according to Biblical principles.  The emotionally resilient citizens of the broader society which will arise from this approach will produce self-supporting communities of people who provide further support beyond themselves rather than requiring continual care by the state or any other external source.  God’s fingers working through His people operating according to His design through families and the resulting church bodies will untie the knots otherwise choking our society not only in terms of mental health crises, but other societal challenges as well. 

Praying for Reformation, Dr. Eric Potter