The Informed Pastor
Part Three
Helping your pastor understand hurting people
(True story) The pastor didn’t believe in spiritual warfare. Then a hurting person came to his church with obvious spiritual issues. Through working with her, he learned about the reality of the demonic world as well as our authority in Christ. As a result, he began to see everything as being a demonic/spiritual problem.
So, when his wife and daughter’s signs of depression began to increase, he assumed that they were both having demonic problems and refused to allow his wife to seek help with a counselor, insisting that it was a spiritual issue.
Tragically, one day the pastor returned home to find that his wife had killed her daughter and then shot herself.
Also, tragically, after the pastor left the church, the church now is very alarmed whenever anyone suggests that people might have spiritual problems and now sees every issue as an emotional or physical one.
Let’s assume that of all the issues that hurting people are dealing with in your church – past sexual abuse, marital problems, problems caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, DID/SRA issues, grief, divorce, sexual addictions, etc. – you decide to begin helping him understand a balanced view of how to minister to the needs of those suffering from depression.
