I am currently a student of Doctor of Ministry at Fuller Theological seminary. I am also a licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in the State of Maryland and a graduate of Christian Counseling and Discipleship Program from the Capital Bible Seminary. I served at Gaithersburg Chinese Christian and Alliance Church as Counseling Minister for five years and recently joined Centre Pointe Counseling center to be one of the professional counselors. I am married and have two college-aged children. My husband recently announced his intention to quit his full-time job and entering full-time ministry. To the dear friends of ours who also received the call to enter full-time missionary work, “It is like walking on water – both exciting and unnerving.”

In 1978, Chairman Deng Xiaoping initiated the “Open Door” policy with the intent to transform the economy of China. China went through drastic changes for three and half decades since then. Such drastic changes brought turbulence to families and society as a whole. Many people exhibited psychological symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, and depression due to various stresses. In my previous article, I shared the various psychological issues that effect parents, children, marriages, individuals, teenagers, and even college students.

Ms. Betty Chou also mentioned 2 cases connected with parenting issues with root cause related to one’s family value and worldview. Some Chinese government officials I talked to agree that mental health is a prevalent issue that they do not know how to tackle. Some people blamed Chairman Deng for his policy and some blamed invasion of modernity in China. In this article, perhaps instead of blaming and complaining, we should consider thinking about what you can do to tackle and fulfilling the psychological health needs of China.

Some people may feel that if you are not a pastor, psychologist or professional counselor, how can you help meet the needs stated above? I would like to propose a team model in filling the psychological, emotional and spiritual needs of people in China. The team would consist of people with different skills, talents, and spiritual gifts. The first group in the team is the believers who have the hearts to care for themselves, their families (spouse, children, parents, siblings, and relatives), friends, and colleagues by “care for one another.” The second group is for those who are willing to care for people with special needs, such as divorce, elderly, terminally ill, lost loved one, hospitalized, and mild mental issues, such as depression, anxiety, etc. My writings will focus on developing believers who are interested in joining these two groups. The third group is the Christian professional counselors, psychologists and psychiatrist who have received rigorous professional training to handle the cases such as A.D.H.D., marital and family therapies, moderate to severe mental illness including child mental illness such as A.D.H.D. or teenager self-harm, bulimia, suicide issues. It is exciting to learn that some people have burden to become professional counselors. However, the needs are great and the workers are few. The fourth group is the clergy who are trained to care for people’s spiritual needs. Professional counselors or clergy who are passionate at sharing pastoral counseling can provide teaching and training for those who are willing to care for others.

Caring for hurting people doesn’t need license or trained professional to do so. Christians are called to practice caring in their communities. If you survey the New Testament, one would find over 100 verses of “loving one anothering”. For the sake of the length of this article, just to name a few that we are to love one another (Rom. 13:8-10, 12:10), encourage and build up one another (Rom. 1:11-12, 14:19, 15:2), don’t judge or criticize one another (Rom. 14:13; James 4:11), bear one another’s burden (Gal. 6:1-3;Rom. 15:1;), care for one another (I Cor. 12:25), bring comfort to one another (I Thess. 2:12), rejoice and weep with one another (Rom. 12:15), and accept one another (Rom. 15:7). No one should journey alone in their miseries and suffering. My old professor used to tell us that if all Christians practice “one anothering,” all the counselors would be happily out of job. And that is the way it should be.

Hence, I propose 3 tiers of filling the emotional and spiritual needs of China, living “one anothering” will be fitting in the first tier. Most of the believers know and agree that the Christians should live out one anothering. Here come another question – how do we do that? Most people are at a loss of what say to young widows who recently lost their spouses or parents who lost their children? Do we chastise them that their loved ones are in heaven and thus, they should rejoice instead of dwell in grief? How about the terminally ill faithful servant of the Lord? Do we pray fervently for healing and persuade the family members to accept the will of God when the patient dies? If you are willing to care, yet don’t know how, there are some suggestions. You need basic training to care for people with psychological and emotional needs, such as skills of empathy and listening, Christian caring for people with special needs. One excellent source of training is Stephen Ministry. Stephen Ministry is a nonprofit Christian organization that train layman to provide pastoral kind of care for churches. Stephen Ministry training provides essential knowledge in caring, hands-on role play and practice, and supervision, support and continuing education for those who actively in service. There are many Chinese churches in America are members of Stephen Ministry. They all provide free training. You can also obtain the training from China Evangelical Seminary in North America. You may also find similar training from other institutions. For example, Gaithersburg Chinese Alliance Church in Maryland provide Stephen Ministry training topics including Being a Caregiver; Understanding Your Emotions and Others’; The art of Listening; Christian Counseling; Caring Process and Outcome; Validation training; Keeping Boundaries; Crisis and Turning Point; Confidentiality. It also includes people with mild depression, elderly, terminally ill, divorce, lost loved one, etc. There are many organizations provide similar trainings. The most complaints I have heard is that the trainees do not know how to practice the book knowledge they learned. For those who are interested in receiving training, I hope that this will be a good pointer for you. Are people like the Chinese student at Iowa University or the 29 years old Chinese who received his doctorate and ended up killed his parents and then suicide severely mentally ill? They may not be so different from the people around us. Is it possible that the tragedy could have been prevented if they have a friend or friends who would listen and care for them when they are lonely and depressed or detect the signs of danger themselves and others and refer them to Christian professional? Dear brothers and sisters, let us not merely talk “one anothering”, but live it. Learn the skills and use it on your family, spouse, children, friends here and back home whether in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or somewhere in Asia. In addition, you can also participate in Go and Love English Character-building Summer Camps short term service teams. As my professor in seminary, Dr. Robert Kellemen used to say, “Be Jesus with skin on.” May the Lord who call us to bear the burdens of others, also call you to join in. Next article, I will share more about how to be a “person of care.”