Church leaders and churches are turning backward on mental health just as people are most likely to seek their help …

Long before someone schedules an appointment with a clinical therapist, fills a prescription, or checks into a treatment center, there is often a quieter moment. A private struggle. A sleepless night. A breaking point. And when that person finally decides to speak, the first call is frequently not to a clinician but to a pastor.

That reality has been documented for years in mental health research. Ministers remain among the most common first points of contact when individuals seek help for emotional and psychological distress. At the very same time, federal data from agencies such as the National Institute of Mental Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to show elevated rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and drug overdose across multiple age groups. Whether measured by rising suicide rates over the past decade, record levels of adolescent depressive symptoms, or increasing demand for behavioral health services, the conclusion across government and clinical sectors has been consistent: the United States is facing a sustained and serious mental health crisis.

Now place that national crisis alongside the newest findings from Lifeway Research.

The 2025 Lifeway Research study, surveying more than 1,500 current Protestant pastors and more than 700 former Protestant pastors, reveals a pattern that should command the full attention of church leaders. Compared to a decade ago, pastors are less engaged in developing counseling competence and less prepared to refer people to professional help.

Nearly three in four pastors (72 percent) say they refer someone to a professional counselor after a couple of visits. That may sound encouraging until it is placed in context. In 2015, 76 percent reported doing so. In 2021, 77 percent did. The direction is not forward but backward.

Even more concerning is the decline in referral readiness. In 2015, 67 percent of pastors maintained a list of trusted counselors to whom they could refer individuals. By 2021, that fell to 60 percent. In 2025, it dropped to 52 percent. Nearly half of pastors now report that they do not maintain a counselor referral list at all.

Inside the church, the infrastructure is also shrinking. In 2015, 34 percent of congregations had a lay counseling ministry. In 2021, that number fell to 28 percent. In 2025, it slipped downward again to 27 percent.

Meanwhile, training is eroding. Only 9 percent of pastors hold a graduate degree in counseling, a number unchanged over the decade. But the informal avenues of training are declining. Attendance at counseling conferences has fallen from 64 percent in 2015 to 48 percent in 2025. The percentage of pastors who have read several books or articles on counseling has dropped from 90 percent to 81 percent over the same period.

Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, summarized the trend directly: “We are seeing a simultaneous decline in pastors developing their counseling skills, having lay counseling ministries, and being ready to refer people to counselors they trust. If only one of those were down, we would say pastors’ methods were changing, but counseling appears to be getting less attention in general.”

That sentence should not pass quietly.

A nation in crisis is increasingly turning first to the church, and at the same time the church is becoming less equipped to respond and less prepared to refer.

Why this trajectory matters
When a person wrestling with severe emotional distress finally reaches out, that moment is fragile. It may represent weeks or months of internal resistance. It may be the first time they have said the struggle aloud. If that moment is mishandled, minimized, or stretched beyond a pastor’s competence, the consequences are not theoretical.

Scripture does not call pastors to function as solitary experts in every domain of human suffering. It calls them to shepherd faithfully and wisely. Proverbs 27:12 states, “A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” Prudence includes recognizing limits. It includes anticipating harm and taking appropriate protective action before damage occurs.

Referring someone to a qualified mental health professional when the situation exceeds pastoral scope is not weakness, it is prudence. It is foresight. It is protection.

Yet the Lifeway data show that fewer pastors are building those bridges, fewer churches are sustaining lay counseling ministries, and fewer leaders are investing in ongoing education about mental health. The net effect is predictable. More people will sit longer in distress within church settings without being connected to appropriate care.

Why this regression may be happening
One factor may be the increasing complexity of the issues pastors are encountering. Mental health challenges today often involve trauma histories, neurobiological components, substance use, and suicidal ideation. Without structured training or referral networks, leaders can feel ill-equipped to navigate that complexity. When confidence decreases, avoidance often increase.

Another factor may be uncertainty about the relationship between spiritual care and clinical care. Some may worry that involving mental health professionals signals spiritual deficiency. Scripture never frames wisdom as isolated. Proverbs 15:22 declares, “Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.” The biblical principle affirms the value of counsel and collaborative wisdom, not isolation. Professional expertise does not replace pastoral ministry; it strengthens outcomes when integrated responsibly.

What makes the present regression even more troubling is that it is occurring at a time when credible Christian resources have never been more accessible.

Reputable Christian organizations have, for years, been making an array of resources available to church leaders, churches, Christian organizations, and the individual Christian. For example, the American Association of Christian Counselors – directly and through its affiliate, Light University – has been offering free training to churches to equip members to serve as certified Mental Health Coach first responders and certified Youth Mental Health Coach first responders. Carey Nieuwhof recently featured on his podcast Shaunti Feldhahn and James Sells to discuss their book “When Hurting People Come to Church” which is a tool to introduce the structured training available through the ministry website thechurchcares.com to help any church better respond to mental health needs in their congregations and communities. And since 2014, Scott Free Clinic has been a leader in providing counseling and other ministry services to people, church leaders, churches, and Christian organizations across the U.S. and around the world at no cost.

Churches are not without tools. They are not without pathways. They are not without models.

The problem is not scarcity, it is disengagement.

What church leaders should do now
If the trajectory continues, people will suffer unnecessarily. That reality demands more than awareness; it requires decisive and informed action.

First, every pastor should establish and maintain an active, vetted referral network of competent mental health professionals. This should not be a static document stored in a file drawer; it should be relationally grounded. Pastors should know who they are referring to, understand their clinical orientation, and confirm their doctrinal compatibility where appropriate. A referral list that is outdated or impersonal is not protection.

Second, pastors and church leaders should commit to ongoing education about mental health issues appropriate to their role. This means intentionally reading relevant books and research, attending conferences or workshops, cultivating relationships with qualified mental health professionals for referral purposes, and considering an ongoing and personal mentor relationship with a trusted mental health professional who can directly provide guidance and insight (for more about this idea, read my article titled “12 reasons for pastors to have an ongoing counseling relationship with a competent clinical therapist” which you can find here). These steps provide the knowledge and context needed to identify risk, respond effectively, and make timely referrals without overstepping pastoral boundaries.

Third, churches that have allowed lay counseling ministries to dissolve must evaluate what replaced them. If internal ministries have been discontinued, external partnerships must be strengthened proportionally. Removing one layer of support without reinforcing another leaves gaps that struggling people will fall through.

Fourth, leaders should teach clearly that collaboration with mental health professionals is not theological compromise, it is responsible shepherding. When pastors publicly affirm the legitimacy of professional care where appropriate, stigma decreases and help-seeking increases. Pastors must understand they do not need to face the mental health challenges in their churches and communities alone. They do not need to pretend to be therapists, nor try to carry every burden themselves. There are outstanding, qualified partners — both organizations and individual professionals — ready to walk alongside pastors, equip church members, and help entire congregations respond effectively to America’s mental health crisis. If pastors take advantage of these available resources, they can strengthen both individual care and community resilience in a way that was previously inaccessible.

Galatians 6:2 commands, “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” Sharing burdens requires discernment. Some burdens can be carried through pastoral conversation and discipleship. Others require multidisciplinary care. Obedience to Christ includes recognizing which is which.

The weight of the moment
The United States is not drifting into a mental health crisis, it is already in one. In fact, Tim Clinton, president of the American Association of Christian Counselors, has said one outcome of the COVID pandemic is that the U.S. moved from a mental health crisis to a mental health disaster. In that environment, the church is often the first doorway people walk through when they decide they cannot carry their suffering alone.

If referral networks shrink, if education and/or training declines, if engagement recedes while national need escalates, the result will not be neutral. It will be measurable in delayed care, preventable deterioration, and in some cases, irreversible outcomes.

Pastors are not called to be clinicians, they are called to be faithful shepherds. Faithfulness in this era requires clarity about limits, courage to collaborate, and commitment to preparation.

The direction of the data can change, but it will not change accidentally. The church has both the tools and the responsibility to respond. And when it does, lives can be protected, hope restored, and God’s care made tangible to those standing at the edge of despair.

Scotty