(CHRISTIAN HEADLINES) – A majority of pastors in the U.S. say they have known of at least one church member who has been diagnosed with severe mental illness, according to a new Lifeway Research survey that also reveals an uptick in the percentage of pastors who say they themselves have struggled with mental illness.
The poll, released Tuesday, shows that 54 percent of Protestant pastors in the U.S. say they know of at least one church member who has been “diagnosed with a severe mental illness such as clinical depression, bipolar or schizophrenia” in the churches they have served. Nearly one in five (18 percent) pastors say they know of three to five members who fit that description, and eight percent of pastors know of six to 10.
“There is a healthy generational shift occurring as younger and middle-aged pastors are much more likely to have encountered people in church with severe mental illness than the oldest pastors,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.
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