A roadmap to building mental health–friendly churches

The notion of mental health–friendly churches has been proposed recently by some church leaders. However, effective strategies for translating this aim into reality have not yet been realized. This study conducted two focus group sessions with four pastors, five fellowship leaders, and one lay church member in Hong Kong to solicit their experiences and observations about churches’ responses to mental health issues. Through the conceptual lens of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), three interrelated themes were identified: (a) church members have a fearful attitude toward people with mental health difficulties, (b) mental health problems are regarded as nonissues in churches, and (c) church leaders and lay members lack the capability to deal with people with mental health difficulties. Accordingly, churches may become more mental health–friendly by making efforts to improve these issues. More fundamentally, churches may need to seriously re-examine their role in tackling mental health issues from a broader perspective.

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023