I began my career in Peer Support back in the days when the Independence Trust existed and when I landed the job I had very little idea as to what it would entail. I had an idea that they needed someone with lived experience of a or few mental health conditions but I never thought it would essentially involve my acting as a facilitator, advocate and mediator for a group or groups of people all with their own mental health troubles; I just thought I would be supporting people to get more involved in their communities. The job was nuanced and complicated because it required you to be many different roles rolled into one. Although I enjoyed the exposure to lots of different people from wide and varied backgrounds I always felt there was a gap in the market for the kind of Christian specific and Bible lead, tailored mental health support within churches. It's a niche I have felt I have wanted to explore for sometime.
Peer support is for everybody, it has no barriers as to who can join, but peer support for churches I imagine will be for those that fundamentally believe in Christ, or for those who would like to believe in Christ but perhaps are struggling with their faith rubbing against their experiences with mental health and are thus fundamentally seeking to belong. It could potentially be for those that have lost their faith entirely and want to mentally spar with those that still retain their faith despite their mental health challenges, so long as they would adhere to the group rules and therefore be respectful of others. But Christ would be the main focus whatever anyone's understanding of Christian peer support is, you can't take the Christ out of Christian otherwise you'd just have "Ian" and what does "Ian" mean to anybody? Possibly a lot to those that know an "Ian" of course but not anywhere near as much as Christ would mean to a true born again Christian.
How do I imagine it will look to run Church foundational, mental health peer support groups? It would depend somewhat on the peers that joined, because although I say it will be Church foundational, the peers will have a say in how the groups take formation. There will be limitations to where we can go with some things because the way is narrow, as if anyone joins who has previous experience of groups and how they ran, their focus will not have been on Christ. We have to reflect the light we each shine through the lens of Christ and His works to get the Church foundational, mental health peer support groups to operate as though they are carrying the cross along with Jesus. So in a practical sense if the teachings on how to circumnavigate your mental health are not based in Biblical teaching somehow, then it will likely be explored verbally but with caution, on the proviso that you don't explore it further or put it into practice in your life if you wish to follow Christ then other methodology may be better suited. Afterall you have to be warned about what is out there and what is being used by people to "heal" themselves, because not all methods of healing are true, and from the source of Christ.
It may sound restrictive but Jesus said He was the way and that the way is narrow. If Christianity was not exclusively for those that believe then we would not be talking about Christianity, it would be about "new age" for example. Whereas Christianity preaches tolerance of those around you who have different ways or paths to follow, preservation of the basic tenets of Christianity must not be muddied by other practices. For example, some Eastern practices or knowledge particularly is being explored by Science because the world of Science is curious in the use of their spiritual applications; although they are valid and need to be understood by Christians to know what is of the way and what is not, they still should not be amalgamated into the Christian way of life and used by Christians necessarily unless there is evidence in the Bible to support their uses. Anyway more discussions can be had within the groups themselves to explore such theology and understanding of what is Biblical and what is not if that is required. How deep the groups go depends on the individuals who join, some like to eat meat others can only stomach milk. So maybe Christian peer support is for you or it isn't, you will only know if you dare to try it!
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