Since its inception, the Church has been known for its care for the poor, the sick and those deemed socially “untouchable.” This disposition was a way of following and mimicking Jesus Christ, whose life and example challenged the social norms of the ancient world. Christians across cultures and centuries followed suit, especially in times of plague, famine and natural disaster. Eventually, this behavior changed the world. The modern health-care system, disaster relief work and many other charities exist because the Christian ideal that all people have dignity was embodied by people of faith.
Today, health care is the purview of professionals with medical degrees and badges. Disaster relief is shared by nonprofits and government entities. Still, in both areas, Christians are making an incredible difference.
For example, according to a recent Religion News Service article, Christians are at the forefront of helping those with mental health struggles. New research from New York’s largest health-care system has found that Christian clergy, faith leaders and other “nonspecialists” are often more effective than specialists “in treating and even preventing symptoms of anxiety and depression.” They’ve been so effective, in fact, the network is recruiting more clergy to serve more patients struggling with mental health issues.
This aligns with other recent findings in the field of mental health. For example, a growing body of evidence is raising doubts about how effective psychotherapy is in addressing mental health issues, especially among Gen Z, the generation that is faring the worst when it comes to psychological health. Today, over 40% of young adults have a mental health diagnosis, twice the rate of the general population. As Abigail Shrier argued in her new book,” Bad Therapy,” psychotherapy can be a helpful intervention, but its overuse has fueled an unhealthy fixation on pain that “can hijack our normal processes of resilience, interrupting our psyche’s ability to heal itself in its own way at its own time.”
At the same time, other research has found a positive correlation between physical and psychological health and spirituality. As early as 2001, a group of Mayo Clinic researchers argued that “religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes,” including “less anxiety, depression and suicide.”