The holiday season and winter can be lonely and bring to light our insecurities, failings, despair, and disappointments, especially with our family and with ourselves.
What’s the best way a gospel-preaching church can help its members who struggle with depression and anxiety?
Pastor and author Paul Tripp sat down with David Powlison, TGC Council member and executive director of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF), to answer this question. They agreed that the two key qualities most needed when ministering to a Christian suffering from anxiety or depression are humility and patience. We should not focus solely on “fixing” people, but on helping them draw near to God as long as the struggle continues.
Tripp counsels, “I want the person to remember that God is near, that he is present, that his grace reaches to the depth of those struggles—rather than if you do this, this, and this, you can become unanxious.”
Covenant Presbyterian Church 