A number of years ago, I heard the news that Pastor Rick Warren from Saddleback Church in the USA, lost his son to suicide. Ps Rick outlined in a quick post that his son had suffered from depression and mental illness for the majority of his life and despite all the best counselling and the doctors and years of prayer, he was unable to overcome this illness. I have since read about cold and callous comments directed at this grieving Pastor from people who claim to be fellow Christians, essentially blaming Ps Rick for his son’s illness and ultimate death.

This whole episode has struck a chord with me. And it has shown me how much work needs to be done to educate Christians about the whole realm associated with mental illness. You see for the majority of my life I have suffered from mental illness, in particular from depression and suicidal thoughts. There have been times where I have plunged deep into a dark and horrible place where I, like Matthew Warren, thought the only way out was suicide. But what has been worse, is the complete lack of knowledge and understanding that comes from the Church. Churches in this day and age do not know how to handle people like Matthew and I. They are brainwashed to put away negative people and to have nothing to do with those who are not always happy and who suffer.

We have erroneously been taught that depression and mental illness is a sin. It is where we trust ourselves over God and that we are not in faith if we think this way. The Church has bought the devil’s lie in this area. It is not sin, it is a disease, perpetrated upon us by the one who wishes to steal, kill and destroy destinies, lives, family, churches and nations. Like cancer, aids, bronchitis and other diseases, it is a life sapping disease used to render the carrier useless and ineffective. I know it has for me. And sometimes, this disease has a small hold on a carrier’s life, other times a large one. But it is something that must be stamped out.

A depressed person doesn’t want to be depressed any more than a cancer victim wants to be living with cancer or be defined by their cancer. And sometimes like some forms of cancer there is a cause that created the depression. I know there was for me. Yet we in the church try to treat the symptoms by telling people to be positive, smile or fake it ‘til they make it. There is a place for this, but will it help the depressed person if we don’t deal with the root.

I don’t know what caused Matthew Warren’s depression but did the people in his church see his behaviour or his attitude or his personality as bad or did they look deeper. Maybe there was a person who could have helped Matthew overcome his disease, but they were too self-righteous to see the hurt in his life or the daily and even hourly pain. God is looking for people who will not reject the unlovely, just like Jesus accepted the lepers and the tax collectors and the prostitutes and ministered to their real needs. Depression is like our 21st century version of leprosy, it is too much for the religious people to handle. But true disciples look past the personality quirks, the moodiness, the rudeness, the anger, the pain and dig deeper into the person, helping those who need helping.

I don’t fully understand why God has allowed this to happen to Matthew Warren, nor do I understand why it has happened to me. All I know is that as I trust in His mercy, His grace and His plan, He will use my situation to help others.

I pray for those who depression has effected whether it be the person with depression or those who surround these people. I pray for those who are in our churches who don’t understand depression – I pray that the eyes of their understanding are illuminated to see what God sees – a hurting, broken person who God loves with everything He is.

Now is not the time to give up on hurting people. It is time to reach out and help them. If we as Christians cannot help those who we say are brothers and sisters in Christ then how can we help the poor, the needy, the lonely, the broken in the world around us.