3 Powerful Reasons Why I Led Our Youth Group through a Mental Health Equipping Series – A Youth Pastor’s Insights
Article by Jonathan Fitzgerald | Youth Director, Reality Church of Los Angeles
Over the last year and a half, I have heard from more and more students in our youth group who are struggling with depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness. For some of these students, these feelings are so heavy that they are questioning whether or not life is really worth living. Some of these students take medication; some see therapists; some have strong relational support systems to lean on; some have nothing at all.
God created us as complex beings - we have bodies, minds, souls, personalities, emotions, and more. Being healthy as humans means we pursue health holistically, not just focusing on one part of what makes us human over the others.
Mental health is not discussed within the church very often, and it leaves many people feeling either alone in their struggles or unequipped in how to follow Jesus while struggling with their mental health. This is what led us to do a three-month series in our youth group on mental health.
We didn’t want to take a clinical or therapeutic approach. I’m not qualified in either of those areas, so we encourage students to talk to professionals to help them determine what help they can get in those fields.
Yet, I knew that we needed to address mental health in a way that would speak both to people with mental health difficulties seeing trained professionals and those simply struggling to take care of their mental health, whether based on internal or external circumstances.
This is what led me to Redefine Grace. For three months, we spent 1.5 to 2 hours going through each lesson in the Redefine Grace workbook each week. I chose to use Redefine Grace as our guide because I saw a three-pronged approach that I thought would be super helpful for the students: 1) the power of truth, 2) the support of relationships, and 3) the importance of healthy habits.
1. The Power of Truth
Each Redefine Grace lesson begins with time in God’s Word, where we learn important truths from Scripture that we can hold onto as we care for our mental health. In John 8:32, Jesus reminded his disciples about the power of truth, saying,
“and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
We are constantly being bombarded by what people think is true. Parents, friends, teachers - they’re all selling us their truth. But we believe God’s Word is the ultimate truth, and we can take what we hear others say is true and test it according to Scripture.
Knowing what’s true has incredible power in pursuing mental health. Let me give you an example.
There’s a lot of pressure in our society to be successful. And all it takes is a quick scroll on Instagram to see how the world defines success: gaining money, power, influence, relationships, followers, having good looks, etc. We don’t always realize that as we see images of “success,” we are being sold a message about what is true about humans and what could / should be true of us. No amount of success can ever be enough because it cannot provide the meaning, satisfaction, or lasting approval for which we long.
“We don’t need to feel less than others because, in Christ, we’re complete. We don’t need to feel like we’re in a race to be seen by others as successful.”
But the Bible gives us a different understanding of success. Through the work of Jesus, we are truly and eternally successful, we don’t have anything to prove, and we don’t need to look for satisfaction in anything because we already have it in Jesus. When we realize these truths, we can see the messages of our world about success and not be swayed by them.
This means that in Christ, we are forgiven; in Christ, we are made new; in Christ, we are justified; in Christ, we are children of God; in Christ, we have been given every spiritual blessing; and the list goes on.
We don’t need to feel less than others because, in Christ, we’re complete. We don’t need to feel like we’re in a race to be seen by others as successful. We can’t and must not feel superior to anybody else because success isn’t about our accomplishments at all, but rather about Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross.
Knowing what’s true about God and ourselves has real power in our lives. When we meditate on what’s true, we can identify what is false and believe what is true instead. Redefine Grace ensures students are given truths that they need to hear to fight off various false beliefs that can negatively affect our mental health.
2. The Support of Relationships
After spending time learning truth from God’s word, Redefine Grace gives students a space to connect with each other through discussion questions based on the theme of the lesson.
These questions were helpful not only in growing their self-awareness but also in growing awareness of how to support one another. Students could share openly and honestly about their struggles and hear that they aren’t the only ones struggling. Caring for our mental health is much easier when we do it together rather than trying to do it on our own.
3. The Importance of Healthy Habits
Finally, Redefine Grace offers tools that students can use to help them form healthy habits that will benefit their mental health. Often, we allow unhealthy habits into our lives without even realizing how they affect our mental health. We must identify what unhealthy habits we have and replace them with new and healthy habits that help us better take care of our mental health.
Using the example from above, students were given a list of truths about who they are in Christ.
Through discussion, students creatively considered ways they could spend time that week reflecting on those truths. Some students read them out each morning. Other students wrote them in their phones and put them on their backgrounds, reminding them of the truth of who they are in Christ before doing anything else on their phones.
If you are considering taking your youth group through a series on mental health, I’d highly encourage you to use Redefine Grace.
Jonathan Fitzgerald | Youth Director, Reality Church of Los Angeles
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