Washington churches connect with communities on mental health

To reach people outside their walls, more than 200 Seventh-day Adventist churches across North America, including several in the Washington Conference, hosted a short series on mental health called MindFit last spring. Voice of Prophecy organized the event to empower churches to provide practical and spiritual support to their congregations as they battle a continent-wide mental health crisis.

“Globally, one in eight people suffer from mental illness every day – in North America, that figure is one in five. The conclusion is clear: it is nearly impossible to live on this earth without being affected by mental illness,” said Alex Rodriguez, deputy spokesperson for Voice of Prophecy.

Each session of MindFit, a four-part event, begins with the audience watching a 30-minute episode of a docuseries hosted by Rodriguez, who traveled across North America to speak with mental health professionals and patients. The series examines the history and prevalence of mental health issues, emphasizing that effective treatments are available and supported by biblical principles. After each episode, a local church leader leads the audience through a provided study and discussion.

Karen Hackett, elder of Enumclaw Adventist Church, and Kaori Ominato, director of health ministry at Enumclaw Church, coordinated MindFit at their church and both saw the event make a lasting impact on participants.

“It really helped a lot of people who came,” Hackett explained. “Some didn’t know the statistics that show how many people suffer from mental illness and it was good for them to hear that there are services available. Even those who may not have problems were happy to get the information to help others they knew.”

Ominato was impressed by the audience’s engagement, saying that several people, including herself, felt encouraged by the documentary series and the discussions.

“We had a very good interactive follow-up,” Ominato said. “After the video, we split into groups and people really opened their hearts to us. We prayed. Those were very powerful experiences.”

Nearly 60 people attended the event, about 10 of whom were non-members. Hackett plans to repeat the series and hopes to attract even more participants.

MindFit brought a record number of event attendees to Bellevue Adventist Church, said Ritchie Hammen, health director at Bellevue Church, who organized the series for his congregation. Each session averaged 80 people, about 10 of whom were from the congregation.

“Eighty was unthinkable in our church, at least in the 20 years I have been here,” Hammen enthused.

Hammen was also excited by his audience’s curiosity about the material presented. A non-Adventist couple came to each session, even driving an hour and a half at night to attend. Some participants expressed interest in helping out at other church events on mental health. A regular churchgoer approached Hammen one evening and told him about a traumatic experience.

“It was a very special moment when the person said, ‘These are the horrible things I’ve been through, but I feel like I’m already on the road to healing. And this event helped me even more on that path,'” Hammen recalled.

“I always expected quality from Voice of Prophecy,” he continued, “and this was a quality program – something that people outside the church would pay for. I liked how the spiritual elements were presented in a compelling and evidence-based way. They didn’t feel contrived. I was blown away by the quality of the presentation, the content, the recordings – I thought, ‘Our church needs more of this.'”

For churches interested in hosting the event and receiving a promotional boost to attract more congregants, Voice of Prophecy will run a continent-wide MindFit campaign from September 19-21, 2024, and again from January 2-4, 2025. In the weeks leading up to these dates, host churches will benefit from a mass social media campaign promoting the event series.

“With approximately 6,500 Adventist churches across North America, our denomination is in a unique position to be a center of healing for those in need,” noted Rodriguez. “We filmed MindFit to bring churches to the forefront of the mental health discussion. May the love of Jesus be reflected in us as we partner with the Holy Spirit to bring physical and spiritual healing to a world drowning in hopelessness.”

Visit MindFitEvent.com/host to join the countless churches supporting their communities through this unique evangelistic event.