One of the most difficult things that Christian couple Rick and Kay Warren of Saddleback Church had to go through was the suicide of their son Matthew, who battled mental illness for several years.
What got the couple through the horrific ordeal was their steadfast faith and hope in God. Eventually, they decided to start the Hope for Mental Health ministry by teaching the faith community how to help people who are living with mental illness.
Kay says that people, even faith leaders, did not really understand what mental illness was before they started their ministry. Some even classified it as a weakness or a character defect. But now, things are different.
Through the ministry, Kay says people with mental illnesses have "increase[d] their sense of being accepted and loved and cared for in the faith community," while church leaders are being educated and equipped with the proper knowledge on how to assist those who suffer from mental illnesses.
That, says Kay, is ultimately how she hopes to "serve God's purposes" in this generation. "I would like our legacy to be that. Because of us, the faith community, the church of Jesus Christ recognised the worth and the value of people living with mental illness and became willing to incorporate them fully into the body of Christ," she tells The Blaze.
"Not as people in the margins, not people who were projects, [but] recognised the humanity and the beauty of each person's life to extend the radical friendship of God to those living with mental illness."
Kay recalls that the death of her 27-year-old son was "extremely difficult [and] extremely challenging", something she wishes no other mother would have to go through. And because of Hope for Mental Health, she is on the path to fulfilling that wish.
