Depression In The Pulpit And Personage… Really?
By John Coulombe
Depression, Anxiety, Fear, Loneliness. Yep, it’s a real malady, frequently found in godly leaders that often cannot be dispelled by fasting, prayer, or medication. I recall my father after Sunday services sitting quietly in his chair in the parsonage, quietly slumping into dark clouds on Mondays, fighting depression. It was Mom who regularly talked Dad off the cliff of despair and from resigning. I am more aware that in today’s culture, this disorder is quite normal among pastors!
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, known as “The people’s preacher” and “The prince of preachers” in merry olde England, struggled with acute mood swings! An artist once tried to paint a portrait of Charles. After much frustration, he said, “I can’t paint you. Your face is different every day. You are never the same.” The curator of Spurgeon’s library, Dr. Christian George comments: To be sure, the most popular preacher in the Victorian era was also one of the most burdened. He owned more than 30 books on mental health. He read about depression, wrote about depression, and suffered from depression. He often called himself a ‘prisoner’ and wept without knowing why.
Spurgeon, some claim, suffered from bipolar disorder, oscillating between highs and lows, ups and downs, productivity and inability. Others suggested his ‘fainting fits’ were caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Spurgeon’s doctors believed one reason for his depression was the “extra pressure of care or labour.” Charle’s wife thought maybe the weather affected his mental stability and “dull and dreary days depressed him.”
The question that often surfaces is whether depression is just a spiritual problem. Spurgeon acknowledged soul sickness can occur, but he also believed the brain can be as broken as the body. If the body needs medicine, why not the mind? Victorians didn’t have the understanding of mental health, but viewed depression as a disorder rather than a disease and believed each person could be cured. The most common treatment for serious cases was to admit the patient to a public asylum…and Spurgeon’s first church in London was located beside a “lunatic asylum.”
Spurgeon listed 11 reasons for his depression as distilled from his writings: 1. Chemical Imbalance 2. Illness 3. Trauma 4. Loneliness 5. Increased Mental Exertion 6. Fame 7. Failure 8. Weather 9. Conviction 10. Nervousness 11. Controversy and Criticism.
Capturing in Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s own words his struggles perhaps will better clarify that like us, he was not ‘bullet-proof’ and struggled with his mortality and long periods of physical and mental illness. He was constantly plagued by disease and depression, always oscillating between gout and doubt, writes his biographer, Dr. Christian George. Spurgeon was no stranger to suffering, which is probably why he appealed to the common working class. Perhaps it was because he suffered as one of them.
Such is pastoral ministry and the challenge many leaders today face. And such is what calls us to do this work of the ministry with pastors and their families through FBM, offering hope, encouragement and friendship!