Finding Hope

FINDING HOPE HOW A LIFELONG STRUGGLE BECAME A CATALYST FOR THE CALLING OF A LIFETIME

by Brooke Lawrence

It’s time to break the silence about mental health in the church. Stigmas and stereotypes are plenty, but there is an ongoing shortage of education and understanding when it comes to mental health. Mental health is a category that is often treated differently from other areas of health. In many instances of physical illness, church families and communities rally together to pray, raise support and awareness, and to stand in unity with the victims. When a couple is struggling to find relational health within their marriage, or an individual suffers the loss of a loved one, there is a clear path for healing through counseling, a community of accountability and support, and even mentors who have walked that road before. Yet the response to a person with a mood disorder, or mental illness, can often be ambiguous, fearful, and minimal.

According to the World Health Organization, one in four people suffer from mental illness also referred to as mood disorders. Amongst other things, mood disorders include PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar, and schizophrenia. For the three in four people who do not struggle with mental illness, it’s easy to ask the questions like, “Why can’t you just snap out of it?”, or “What did you do that caused this to happen?”. For Pastor Dale and Martha Rose, these questions became painfully familiar after their son, Stephen, was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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Stephen had graduated with a degree in Biblical Studies from Southern California College (now Vanguard University) and accepted a youth pastoring job in Hawaii. His diagnosis came about 9 months after graduation and it turned his life upside down. Stephen became paranoid to the point of psychosis, eventually believing that people were out to kill him.

that God had prepared them for and called them to this ministry. In the months following Stephen’s death, Pastor Dale and Martha began the first Fresh Hope chapter in California. They consider Fresh Hope to be Stephen’s legacy. It was his greatest desire to see people find hope and healing in the word of God and through community in the Body of Christ.

“What he believed was truth to him,” Pastor Dale commented on his son’s struggle. “Many times, mental illness can take on a spiritual pronouncement when the person is a Christian. One night he came to us, completely devastated, and he said, ‘God told me that He’s through with me.’ He crawled into our bed and just laid in the fetal position.” Despite a lifetime of guidance, Christian education, and personal experiences that affirmed the truth of God’s love for him, Stephen’s reality had been shattered and reshaped by his illness.

While medication helped stabilize him for the most part, his sickness was an ongoing battle. Because of his sustained state of distress and anxiety, Stephen unknowingly suffered from hypertension and heart disease. Ultimately, this culminated to the point of a heart attack which resulted in Stephen’s death at the age of 44.

Everyone has the freedom and right to fullness of life when they are in Christ. A full and rich life is provided for in Jesus regardless of who you are, what your social standing is, or what your diagnosis may be.

Some time before Stephen’s death, Pastor Dale and Martha Rose were invited to a seminar, “Mental Health and the Church”, at Saddleback Church. It was at this seminar that they learned about a ministry called Fresh Hope. Fresh Hope is a Bible-based, peer support group that ministers to people who have been diagnosed with a mood disorder. It also serves as a support system for family members and loved ones of those who have been affected by mood disorders. Upon hearing the testimony of the ministry’s founding pastor, Brad Hoefs, who himself had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the Roses knew

Mental health issues know no boundaries and affect people in all walks of life. Those who attend the weekly meetings at the Main Campus, include professionals, students, homemakers and blue collar workers. John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Everyone has the freedom and right to fullness of life when they are in Christ. A full and rich life is provided for in Jesus regardless of who you are, what your social standing is, or what your diagnosis may be.

Fresh Hope exists to give biblical support to families and individuals affected by mood disorders, to end the stigma attached to mental health issues, and to get more churches, locally and globally, involved. There is a need for the body of Christ to speak healing and life to such a large part of the Church. It is time to end the silence.

If you or someone you love struggles with a mental health disorder including bipolar, anxiety, depression or other diagnosis, you are not alone. Visit our app to find more information about our weekly Fresh Hope group meetings. Learn more about Fresh Hope at freshhope.us.

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