May/June 2025

According to the World Health Organisation, 1 in 8 people around the world live with a ‘mental disorder’, as they term it, the most common of which are forms of anxiety and depression. Christians are not immune. Just as we suffer everything from colds to cancer, so we are prone to suffer from the variety of mental health challenges. There will almost certainly be people in your church who are undergoing some sort of mental health struggle, perhaps even in your family, perhaps you have struggles yourself.

There’s no simple answer for how we support those who are struggling. Of course, we pray. As I’ve become more aware, I’ve increasingly prayed publicly in our services for people struggling with mental health struggles (without referring to individuals). But what support can we offer beyond that? We have three articles in this edition that are intended to help us make a start and they are designed to be read in the order they’re set out. Start with Phil Swann’s article as he helps us consider coming alongside strugglers as a friend, next, Sheila Stephen encourages us in our spiritual support, and finally, Karen Hayward’s article brings us some practical pointers. All three articles work together well and I’m sure you will learn from them as I have.

We have two other articles that relate to mental health. Catherine Haddow suggests that we might consider professional counselling and Adam Thomas probes the challenges of perfectionism and the hope we find in the perfect God. You could pass this article on to someone who isn’t yet a Christian. Beyond these, we have our usual variety of articles that we pray will bless you, including our ongoing strands, updates and reviews.