Thinking Thursday: What Christian Faith Means to the Mental Health Crisis and Your Life Problems Big and Small with Michael Gembola
Mental health trends in recent years require no dramatization to trouble anyone, but especially Christians wanting to love their suffering neighbors. Christians aren’t immune from that suffering, too. We struggle with what the field of mental health can and can’t provide, as problems like anxiety and depression worsen even for populations with the most access to services.
How might Christian faith relate to psychopathology–our most complex problems? How might Christian faith relate to positive psychology–-our vision of the good life? In this seminar we’ll look not only at Christian perspectives on life troubles, but also help you know when to ask for help for yourself or others. We’ll discuss together how the particularly hard seasons, as well as chronic mental health troubles, can drive us to rethink life itself, how we live, and what makes life worth living amid all the suffering.
More about our speaker:
Southwest Virginia. He is a licensed professional counselor and ordained minister (PCA), and
has taught counseling courses as adjunct faculty at several seminaries. He also serves as
consulting editor for the Journal of Biblical Counseling and as a fellow at the Christian
Psychology Institute. His areas of counseling focus include marriage, anxiety, and ministry
leader issues, and he is the author of several books and articles. His most recent publication, co-
authored with Darby Strickland, is When Divorce Is Mercy: Finding Biblical Answers for
Questions You Never Wanted to Ask (P&R, 2026). He and his wife Kelly live in Roanoke with
their three children.