Fighting Depression and Discouragement in the Ministry

This seems like such a 21st century topic. It sounds like I am joining the modern legions who are preoccupied with and find comfort in discussions about their mental health. But the springboard for this discussion comes from a text written 150 years ago. It was a recognized problem them, and it still is today—maybe even more so.

Every preacher should go back and read Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students. Too often students preparing for ministry read it in college or seminary and then fail to pick it up again. After a decade in ministry (or more) it strikes a more familiar chord than for seminary students. In this article, I am focusing on chapter eleven—“The Minister’s Fainting Fits.”

Discouragement is common among those in ministry.

Here is how Spurgeon so eloquently admits that he struggled with what we would today call depression. …

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