When Tragedy Strikes

Suicide is a difficult topic to discuss— so we remain silent. But what if we practiced what we preached about hard conversations?

This is part of a series, sharing the self-authored book, “The Hard Way: Honest Conversations about mental health in our homes, churches and communities,” which is introduced in this free post as well as this one. The funds given by paid subscribers for this post will be donated to the Open Path Collective.

TW: Suicide

In recent years, I’ve heard way too often of the suicides of church professionals. One was a friend and colleague, Scotte—three others were pastors in different denominations. I found myself unpacking all these experiences, trying to better understand mental illness. I began to pray for and connect with their families via social media, grieving with them and searching for answers.

The families and stories behind these tragedies do not belong to me, therefore I will not go into further detail. However, it is my responsibility to wade through my own feelings, grieving and wrestling with the questions that come from these tragic events.

When my friend, Scotte died, many conversations took place in our professional community. We were surprised, devastated, and reeling. We came together through the gift of social media for one on one and group conversations about our friend, but also to check in with one another. It didn’t matter if someone knew him or not—we were all shaken by this tragic event. He was a friend to many, but more than that, we had shared a common profession, ministering to others. We felt the highs of sharing Jesus and the lows of burn out and stress.

But the conversations we’ve had can’t remain in our online communities: the conversation must continue face-to-face…