Light in the Darkness: Discipleship and Witness for Christians with Chronic Mental Illness

The Faith and Illness Initiative at Western Theological Seminary, hosted by the Girod Chair, hosted a panel discussion titled “Light in the Darkness: Discipleship and Witness for Christians with Chronic Mental Illness.”

About this event

While modern medicine has advanced in many areas, serious chronic illness is on the rise. For many, the gift of life continues amid affliction, including chronic pain, fatigue, and other forms of physical and mental distress.

Most Christians rightly seek healing through prayer and medical interventions. We pray and long for a bodily cure. But what happens when illness persists?

Christians today can often live within a narrow set of storylines about how God works in relation to illness. The chronically ill and their communities often assume God’s calling–to bear witness to God’s love–is paused while they are ill, that a life of discipleship can only resume once they are “healed.”

Scripture and church history offer compelling visions of God’s ongoing calling and work. We need these pathways, which have been forgotten or obscured, to revitalize the modern Christian imagination.

For this reason, the Girod Chair launched the Faith and Illness Initiative (FII), a think-tank-like set of gatherings with a lofty goal: to discover a theology of vocation and virtue for Christians living with chronic illness.

During the September 2023 gathering, this panel discussed key questions about the Christian life and witness in the context of Christians experiencing ongoing mental health challenges. 

Panelists included 

• Dr. Kate Finley, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Hope College; 
• Dr. Irene Kraegel, Director of the Center of Counseling and Wellness, Calvin University;
• Dr. Elizabeth Pennock, Director of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Western Theological Seminary, 
• moderated by Dr. J. Todd Billings.