It’s a statistic often quoted in the UK: In any given year, one in four of us will experience some kind of mental health struggle. We have an epidemic on our hands. Already mental illness is the most common cause of work absence in Britain and, globally, it constitutes the largest single source of world economic burden ($2.5 trillion per year). If you aren’t struggling with mental illness, someone close to you is.
How should we respond in the church? Here’s one suggestion: apologetics. Not “destroy your opponent in debate” apologetics, but apologetics of the true 1 Peter 3:15 kind. In the midst of struggle and despair, we’re to share “reasons for the hope that is in us.”
This approach helps those who are suffering, and it also makes for effective evangelism.
If I speak at an event titled “Answering Thorny Questions,” people come looking for a fight.
If we do an evening titled “Hope in the Darkness,” people come for help, and in Jesus there’s abundant and unparalleled help. At these events I sometimes show a five-minute video featuring Stephen Fry, an actor and comedian with bipolar disorder. He’s an atheist, but I find his analysis of mental illness profoundly illuminating. His solutions, however, are lacking, so we turn to the Bible in search of better ones. Fry likens our psychological state to the weather. If it’s pouring rain, there’s no point in denying reality or shaking your fist at the heavens. The rain is falling. You’re getting wet. That’s a fact. When it comes to a depressive state, the feelings are real and need to be acknowledged.
The Scriptures affirm the reality of terrible feelings. One-third of Psalms can be categorized as psalms of lament. Psalm 88—the one that ends “darkness is my closest friend”—includes lines like this: “I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death” (v. 3).
