Reformed Presbyterians know that God can transform any city, town, or nation He chooses. In past years we’ve featured stories about how concerted, multi-pronged efforts have been blessed in transforming lives and in impacting both small and large communities.

This month we are privileged to see the handprint of God’s work over several decades in Indianapolis, a city that serves as a central point for a significant concentration of RP churches—and not accidentally so. What a treasure to be able to see this work through the eyes of a veteran Indianapolis journalist who is also a Reformed Presbyterian (read the article here).

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The suicide last fall by megachurch pastor Jarrid Wilson brought renewed attention to the problems of severe depression and suicide within the Christian community. Reformed believers are also affected, as is clear from the suicides of at least three Reformed ministers (that I can think of) in the past few years, two of them after long careers.

While medical advances have decreased the death rates for heart disease and cancer, deaths from suicide and drug addiction have surged. According to the CDC, suicides increased 24 percent between 1999 and 2014 and have continued to rise ever since. The rates are highest among adolescents and among middle-aged white men.

For those in church leadership roles or who attend churches where mental illness is not discussed, solutions to the problems can become harder rather than easier. First, many of those with anxiety, depression, or suicidal thoughts suffer from medical conditions or side effects of medications they take (to treat medical conditions or relieve pain). In their typical daily lives, many of these people have no desire to do anything to cut short their earthly service for Christ. But Christians around them might oversimplify their condition, which can lead to greater isolation.

As the problems are not simple, neither are the solutions. But one key is openness. More than half of evangelical and Reformed pastors told the Schaeffer Institute in 2015–16 that they don’t have any good and true friends (58 percent). In “Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide” on TheGospelCoalition.org, “Part of the trouble is that the church has separated the care of the body, soul, and spirit,” said Chuck Hannaford, a researcher for the Southern Baptist Convention. “In the days of the Reformation or the later Puritans, a pastor would be consulted for any malady and be somewhat knowledgeable about all areas. Today, a physician treats the body, a psychologist treats the mind, and a pastor treats the spirit. But that separation can lead to trouble, since the spiritual, emotional, and physical affect each other.”

In the same article, one pastor said he found significant help in reading the Puritans, who often were transparent about their struggles and were closely in touch with their members’ problems. While not all the solutions are clear or easy, the article on page 12 (read here) says the path of healing, for leaders and for members, includes openness on the part of the hurting and the helper, and a focus on the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.