Mental health and pastoral ministry
The Holy Ministry does not bubble wrap pastors. In fact, it can compound mental health stressors in ways that many other vocations do not.
The Magazine
Are you an eye, a little toe or a spleen?
The Lord put His Church together so that each member is an important part of the Body. We are incomplete when even one of our members is missing from our fellowship.
Walther’s breakdown
Even the greatest of Christians can suffer from mental illness. In this letter from C.F.W. Walther to his congregation, Walther describes his debilitating depression and the beginnings of respite and healing.
Lutheran Witness: October 2018
It’s well documented that church workers experience high rates of burnout, depression and mental illness. But why is this? And what can be done?
Of handshakes and holograms
“You’re going to be out of a job soon, Pastor Bob,” I said to our pastor in the handshake line the other Sunday. “Not you personally. But preachers everywhere.”
‘Now’ is a good time to pray
Every “now” of our lives is a good time to pray. Whether we are content or troubled, each day is a good day to pray to the Lord.
Pray, praise and give thanks
Our life together should certainly include bearing one another’s burdens and interceding for the sorrowful, but it is also important to celebrate together — to “rejoice with those who rejoice” even as we also “weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15).
To number our days
“When I am at the bottom of my strength. When I am at the lowest of lows. When I am sinking in fear, that’s just where God’s grace meets me.”
Ordinary superheroes
God does not call on us to don a cape and trounce bad guys, vigilante style. But He does take care of our neighbors through our rather mundane actions as we fulfill our various vocations.
About time
The Bible has a shocking plethora of things to say about time, and much of it is of the blessed Gospel! In fact, it lifts the pall on time and reveals Christ in eternity.
Lutheran Witness: September 2018
Learn to “number your days” and come to grips with the reality that “you can’t do it all” in LW’s September issue on time and limitations.
From left to west: Sinners made right
As far as the east is from the west, so far does Christ remove our transgressions from us.