Emotional Discipleship

Emotional discipleship is critical,
but often overlooked.

An essential and often overlooked aspect of disciple-making, especially in stressful contexts, is the individual’s mental health and emotional maturity. Much recent work is recognizing the inherent hindrances that come from incomplete discipleship and fractured emotional health. In many cases, the drive to government service and leadership comes from a genuine desire but gets hijacked by emotionally unhealthy character traits. Some of these individuals are attracted to government service and similar contexts by their insecurity and the need to fill a void that only Christ can fill. In recent years, the number of individuals carrying unresolved family of origin issues, emotional and sexual abuse, chemical dependency, and other mental health struggles have skyrocketed. Imagine trying to help guide this country in the midst of these issues.

Our leaders must not only be emotionally healthy themselves, but they must also be able to help others move towards emotional health. Emotional discipleship takes seriously a critical aspect of our lives and seeks to apply the open, honest, and authentic narratives of Scripture to our mental and emotional health.

Resources