Total Number of Pages: 7
Suggested Title: Suicide: A Pastoral Response
New Resolution
General Church Budget Implications: None
Global Implications: Yes
The apostle Paul, rooted in his experience of the resurrected Christ, affirms the power of Christ to overcome the brokenness of human life, including the devastating experience of suicide: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 NRSV).
As United Methodists, we affirm that the Church’s response to those who have contemplated suicide in the past and those who may be contemplating it in the present must be grounded in compassion and love. Similarly, we believe that local congregations, grounded in an affirmation of God’s ultimate power over brokenness, suffering, and death must be prepared to accompany grieving families and loved ones on the difficult journey to spiritual, mental, and physical health.
A Global Challenge
Suicide poses a complex, global challenge that negatively impacts individuals, families, congregations, and entire societies. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that every year nearly 800,000 people take their own lives, which roughly corresponds to one person dying every forty seconds. Additionally, for every person who completes a suicide, another ten to twenty more make unsuccessful attempts to end their lives (World Health Organization, Mental Health: June Suicide Prevention: http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide prevention/en. Accessed February 7, 2019).
Though suicidal behavior is present in all social groups, suicide rates are particularly high among
young people, minority populations, and people living in poverty. In some countries, suicide is among the top three causes of death for those aged 15 to 44 and the second highest cause of death for those aged 10 to 24. These numbers do not include attempted suicides by young people, estimated to be three times the number of reported deaths (World Health Organization, Mental Health: Suicide Prevention:
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/. Accessed February 7, 2019). Rates of suicide are above average in the LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual/Allies) community and among military veterans.
Around the world, minority populations are at increasing risk of suicide. Recent studies for example have reported high rates of suicide among the aboriginal peoples of Australia and New Zealand, Native Americans and Asian-American women in the United States, and Caribbean and East Indian immigrants in the United Kingdom and other parts of the globe (Michael Crawford, “Suicide in Ethnic Minority Groups,” in BJPsych: The British Journal of Psychiatry: http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/183/2/100.short. Accessed 15, 2014).
Other studies have corroborated a long-suspected link between suicide, mental illness, and poverty. Not only are alcoholism, depression, and other forms of mental illnesses more prevalent within impoverished communities, the accompanying social stresses of malnutrition, poor education, lack of income, and displacement all lead to higher risks of suicide among the world’s poor (See, for example, Vijaya Murali and Femi Oyebode, “Poverty, Social Inequality, and Mental Health,” in Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 2004, 10, 216-224: http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/10/3/216.full. Accessed online August 3, 2014. Published online January 2, 2018.).
Changing Theological Perspectives
While the biblical witness, particularly the teachings of Jesus, offers no explicit guidance on the issue of suicide, Christian tradition has generally regarded suicide as a continuing sign of human brokenness and woundedness in a world desperately in need of God’s restorative love. Furthermore, while some theologians of the past have harshly condemned those who have taken their lives, theological perspectives from the late nineteenth century onward have stressed the need for a more pastoral and caring response.
Additionally, while some faith communities have stressed the finality of suicide and described it as “an unforgivable sin,” such an attitude roundly contradicts the central Protestant emphasis on the ultimate power of God’s justifying and sanctifying grace. Indeed, over the past seventy-five
years a more nuanced theological understanding of suicide has developed as mental health experts have uncovered the complex psychological, social, and economic factors that contribute to suicidal behaviors.
As early as the 1970s, United Methodist scholars, including the late Dr. James T. Clemons, sounded the call for pastors and congregations to refrain from condemnation and to commit themselves to compassionate and caring ministry to those affected by suicide inside local churches and in the community at large. Adding to this, Henri Nouwen, another leading theological voice, emphasized the importance of grounding our responses in the humble recognition of own experiences of woundedness and vulnerability.
The Church’s Response
Grounded both in the collective recognition of the ongoing brokenness of the human community
and the affirmation of God’s transformative power over suffering, grief, and death, we the General Conference of The United Methodist Church urge United Methodists at every level of the denomination to recommit ourselves to the task of providing life-giving prevention and care to those considering suicide as well as the families and communities that have been affected by it.
In urging that suicide education, prevention, and care remain a priority, the General Conference affirms that because of its past history of condemning those who attempted suicide and their families, the Church has a special role to play, particularly in building networks of compassion and support in social environments where condemnatory and punitive religious and social attitudes still hold sway.
With one accord, the General Conference supports the creation and deployment of major public and private initiatives aimed at educating the general public about the prevalence and complex causes of suicide, following guidelines and recommendations issued by the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and similar governmental and nongovernmental organizations.
Within the structures of The United Methodist Church, we urge general boards and agencies to continue making issues related to suicide education, prevention, and care a top priority.
We call upon
1) the General Board of Church and Society to continue to support international and national public policies that: (a) promote access to mental-health services for all persons regardless of age, (b) remove the stigma associated with mental illness, and (c) encourage "help-seeking"
behavior;
2) Discipleship Ministries to develop curriculum for biblical and theological study of suicide as well as related mental and social problems, and to promote programs and strategies recommended by the World Health Organization, the American Association of Pastoral Counseling, and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations, such as the National Council of Suicide Prevention in the United States;
3) the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry to develop materials for United Methodist-related seminaries to train church professionals to recognize treatable mental illness associated with suicide, e.g., depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and to realize when and how to refer persons for treatment; to ensure that all pastoral counseling programs include such training and strategies for ministry to survivors of suicide loss and suicide attempts; and to seek attention to suicide in courses in Bible, Christian Ethics, Preaching and Religious Education, as well as Pastoral Care.
As a General Conference, we also affirm that local churches have perhaps the greatest role to play in promoting suicide prevention and care. We urge pastors and congregations to avoid the harsh and punitive measures imposed on the families of suicide victims in the past and to create instead new educational and outreach ministries that provide increased support and work to reconnect those who attempt suicide and/or their loved ones to the community of faith.
We specifically urge local congregations to:
1) affirm through worship and other means the saving power of God’s redeeming love, particularly in instances of suicide, suffering, and death;
2) embrace all persons affected by suicide, including young children, in loving community through support groups and responsive ministries and programs;
3) call upon the media and other social institutions to emphasize the importance of human life and dignity and to avoid the glamorization of suicide, particularly among teens;
4) advocate for social and economic policies that promote mental, spiritual and physical well being and increased health and wellness;
5) denounce policies and practices that devalue human life and lead to increased risk of suicide among high risks groups, e.g., growing economic disparities, outbreaks of war and conflict, and the persistence of institutional racism.
6) support United Methodist institutions that provide suicide prevention and care services for emotionally troubled children, youths and adults, as well as retirement homes that provide care and support for older adults.
7) strengthen outreach and ministry to local youths, helping young people to experience concretely the saving grace of Jesus Christ in the context of caring and supportive church community.
Date: August 26, 2019
The Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe
General Secretary
Bishop Sally Dyck
President of the Board
General Board of Church & Society Phone: 202-488-5629
E-mail Address: gso@umcjustice.org