Most Churches Do Not Address Congregants’ Mental Health Conditions

Protestant clergy rarely preach about mental health conditions to their congregations and only a quarter of congregations have a plan in place to help congregants deal with mental health challenges, according to a new LifeWay Research survey of a thousand Protestant pastors. Sixty-six percent of the respondents reported that they mention mental health once a year or never; 26 percent talk about it several times a year; 4 percent mention it once a month, and only 3 percent talk about it several times a month. Although 68 percent of pastors said that their church maintains a list of local mental health resources for congregants, only 28 percent of families are aware of such resources, the survey found. Ironically, nearly a quarter of pastors surveyed – 23 percent – said they had personally experienced a mental health challenge. For the LifeWay report, click here. For the article about the study, click here.