wfn.org | Issue is mental illness resource

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3212 notes).

Note 3207 by UMNS on Oct. 4, 1996 at 15:25 Eastern (3783 characters).

SEARCH:   mental illness, Christian Social Action
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

Contact:  Joretta Purdue                          493(10-71){3207}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722            Oct. 4, 1996

Magazine's October issue focuses 
on church and mental illness

     WASHINGTON (UMNS) --  Mental illness may, in some ways, be
the last dark place for the light of the gospel to reach in the
church, but some United Methodists are working with others to
illuminate the darkness with love.
     Some of their stories appear in the newly published October
issue of Christian Social Action, a monthly magazine of the
churchwide Board of Church and Society, based here. This theme
issue on mental illness is illustrated with artwork by and on
behalf of mentally ill people.
     "Jesus' response to the physically and mentally ill expressed
God's love and desire for healing and restoring in all creation,"
said the Rev. Reginald D. Burgess, deputy executive director of
the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, in "Where
'Normal' Ends and 'Not Normal' Begins," the opening article.
     Much work needs to be done in congregations and communities
to continue the work Jesus began, he said.
     In an article called "Illness That Is Mental," author H.
Newton Malony, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, urges a
change in attitudes and behavior toward people who are mentally
ill.
     The Rev. Ross Ann Biotte, psychiatric chaplain at the
Lakeshore Mental Health Institute in Knoxville, Tenn., said in
another article, "For some of our patients, a supportive,
understanding church or synagogue is all the aftercare they will
ever need. 
     "I can only pray ... that we do not disappoint the mentally
ill or discourage them in their religious quest" by lack of
patience, understanding or love, she concluded.
     Accounts of the creativity of a woman who was hospitalized
for 26 years, of a young man's struggle concluding with his
suicide at the age of 26 precede an article calling for seminaries
to teach pastors how to respond to families experiencing the
crisis of mental illness. 
     Caring Communities, the United Methodist mental illness
network, is described, and an excerpt from a speech by the Rev.
Joseph W. Alley recounts some experiences as the congregation he
serves interacted with one of the mentally ill members.
     "When God Wants to Move Mountains" by Barba Schneeberg tells
about the Second MILE (Mental Illness, a Loving Embrace) Ministry
of First United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Okla.
     "We helped implement Journey of Hope," she wrote. "Three
years and lot of work later, with over 500 families participating,
we continually receive encouraging words of saved marriages,
reduced hospital stays and better undersanding among hurting loved
ones."
     The Second MILE Outreach has also formed three trained teams
that take the initiative with homeless mentally ill, befriending
them while providing the support needed to make a transition to a
stabilized and more healthful living situation.
     A pilot training event in Virginia is also highlighted.
     An except from the church's resolution on "Ministries on
Mental Illness" is included, as is a brief guide to using the
issue as an educational and motivational tool. The issue also
offers a list of resource organizations, publiations and
videotapes.
     Christian Social Action is available by subscription or extra
copies of this or other issues may be obtained for $1.50 each from
Christian Social Action, 100 Maryland Ave. NE, Washington DC
20002.
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