The Essentials of Suicide Prevention: A Blueprint for Churches
Ebook
Suicide is a growing tragedy in the US and in the church. We can stop the climbing numbers of suicide deaths, but it is going to take everyone working together, including the church. Without the church, suicidal people may not hear the life-affirming messages they need to hear. Without an informed church, people who have lost loved ones to suicide may leave the church. Too often, the church watches from the sidelines not knowing what to do. Why is it that the wider (secular) culture is more engaged in suicide prevention than God's people, especially given that Christians care deeply about the sanctity of life? The apostle Paul modeled suicide prevention for the church when he stopped the suicide of the Philippian jailer. But pastors and congregants may not know how to follow his example. The result is that people who struggle with suicide or who have lost loved ones to suicide wonder if the Bible or their church have anything relevant to say about suicide. This book will provide the resources needed to help prevent suicide in a church, even when a church does not want to start one more program.
“As a leading expert in the church’s role in suicide prevention, Karen Mason has compiled a tremendously helpful resource on the ‘essential elements’ for the church’s role in preserving the lives of suicidal individuals. This book will be invaluable for church leaders who want to provide a skillful, compassionate, and life-affirming response to people’s suffering and distress.”
—Curtis Lehmann, licensed psychologist, Center for Flourishing
“The Essentials of Suicide Prevention is an essential resource for pastoral leaders. Karen Mason’s research and insights thoroughly integrate the disciplines of theology and psychology, duly recognizing the purpose and mission of the church as an important part of preventive care and holistic health. Church leaders will be simultaneously informed and inspired as this book raises awareness and better equips leaders to serve this present age via the life-affirming hope of the gospel.”
—C. Guy Robinson, pastor, Tabernacle of the Lord Church
“Persons experiencing suicidal desperation are often considered sick people who need to be fixed so they can fit into the faith community again. The Essentials of Suicide Prevention takes an important step in the opposite direction: changing faith communities to become places where the suicidally desperate find remedies to issues that made them desperate in the first place.”
—Fe Anam Avis, author of A Second Day: A Hopeful Journey out of Suicidal Thinking
“The Essentials of Suicide Prevention is a gift to the church. In a winsome, well-researched, and accessible way, Mason engages with one of the most slippery areas of ministry in which a church can take part—suicide prevention. There isn’t a person in a congregation who hasn’t been affected by suicide. The ‘essentials’ in this helpful book provide concrete steps for suicide prevention that any church can implement and from which any church can benefit.”
—Scott M. Gibson, George W. Truett Theological Seminary
“After reading this work my immediate reaction was to rise to action. Karen Mason’s
careful and expert research on the topic not only illumines the problem (stigmas
and a faulty anthropology) but provides a doable way forward for the church. In
this case, reading and following the blueprint she offers truly is a matter of life or
death.”
—Donna Petter, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
“The Essentials for Suicide Prevention is a must-read for clergy and other leaders who want to stop being observers and take action in helping those who may be suicidal. Through her extensive research, Mason provides encouraging resources that will make measurable differences in the well-being of its members and visitors.”
—Jeff Elhart, Executive Committee member, National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention
- Title: The Essentials of Suicide Prevention: A Blueprint for Churches
- Author: Karen Mason
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666709780, 9781666709766, 166670976X, 9781666709773, 1666709778, 1666709786
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666709780
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-07-20T10:45:47Z
Karen Mason is professor of counseling and psychology and the director of the MA Counseling program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She is the author of Preventing Suicide: A Handbook for Clergy, Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors (2014), and co-author with Scott Gibson of Preaching Hope in Darkness: Help for Pastors in Addressing Suicide from the Pulpit (2020).