The Work of Wholeness: Navigating Faith and Mental Health
At a gathering of The Congregational Collective, prayer, honest conversations, and practical exercises helped one woman imagine how her church might better care for those struggling with mental health.
Photography by Joshua Nolden
The morning light cast soft, warm colors across wooden pews and gray tile as it filtered through the surrounding stain-glass windows of Christ Lutheran Church. Senior Pastor Leslie Price broke the calm silence from the pulpit:
“Oh Lord, increase our awareness, compassion, and sensitivity so that we can embrace those who wrestle with mental illness. Lord, in your mercy—”
Then from the pews, “Hear our prayer.”
This was the prayer of several pastors, ministry leaders, and church volunteers from across San Antonio early on a Saturday morning. Coming from different denominations and neighborhoods, they sat side by side in the sanctuary with a common question: How do we better care for the mental wellbeing of our congregations?
Among them was Linda Cornwell, a San Antonio transplant and member of Christ Lutheran for three years. Her church was one of the newest participants to join the work of The Congregational Collective, a nonprofit launched by the H. E. Butt Foundation in 2023 with the goal of making San Antonio’s congregations the safest places in the world for people seeking mental wellness.
On this particular February morning, at one of The Collective’s quarterly gatherings, the church leaders and care team members like Cornwell—selected church members who work closely with pastoral staff and leadership to implement and build a positive culture regarding mental wellbeing—all participated in several workshops focused on the intersection of everyday life, faith, and health.
But first, worship and prayer. “It set the tone for the entire day,” said Cornwell.
But first, worship and prayer.
“It set the tone for the entire day,” said Cornwell.
Pastor Price crafted the liturgy for the morning to center around mental health. The prayers recognized a spectrum of needs from anxiety and sleepless nights to addiction and self-harm.
As a member of the Lutheran church hosting the event, the formal liturgy felt familiar to Cornwell. Yet looking around the sanctuary, she knew that not everyone in the room shared that same familiarity. Leaders and members now praying in unison represented Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, non-denominational churches, and more.
Together, they acknowledged that people walk through their church doors not just with spiritual needs, but often carrying mental burdens as well.
Starting with What Already Exists
After worship, the group moved from pews to tables, and Cornwell found her assigned seat at Table One.
She glanced around at the unfamiliar faces from different parts of the city and introduced herself to friendly strangers.
As introductions wrapped up, Stuart Nelson of the Institute for Spirituality and Health with Texas Medical Center took the mic at the front of the room and began the first workshop. Faith and spirituality intersect with health and healing, he explained. Each deeply impacts the other, and places that avoid conversations about faith often miss an essential part of caring for the whole person. Churches, he suggested, are uniquely positioned to respond to mental health challenges in this way.
Cornwell believes every person is made up of mind, body, and spirit. It makes sense that each part needs care, but the three parts are also intimately linked.
Then Nelson turned it over to the tables: “How can your church pair the physical practices and traditions that already exist within your congregation with caring for peoples’ mental wellbeing?”
“Every person is made up of mind,
body, and spirit.”
At Table One, the question lingered for a moment. Then one woman said nearly everyone in her church was part of a Bible study where purposeful scripture passages could open the door to conversations about grief, burnout, and lament.
The ideas felt both practical and encouraging. “We don’t have to reinvent everything,” another participant said. “We just have to be more intentional in what we are already doing.” Heads nodded around the table. Since the beginning of Cornwell’s time as a navigator for Christ Lutheran (roughly a year), she has seen her church’s role as more tangible.
“With each meeting and gathering, the direction for our specific church feels clearer. Every church has its own rhythm and needs,” said Cornwell. “Mental health isn’t one size fits all.”
According to Cornwell, this non-prescriptive and flexible approach is The Collective’s greatest strength. Instead of step-by-step instructions on how to create a safe space for those carrying mental health challenges, Nelson asked the participants how their church can make the spaces that already exist safer.
Thirty Days of Hard Decisions
Our mental wellbeing is often shaped by outside pressures—heavy work demands, chronic illnesses, or relationship conflict. But the real-life stressor that The Collective chose to focus on that day is one that affects 46% of San Antonians: Financial strain.
That afternoon, Cornwell gathered around an iPad with the participants at her table. Together they went through a simulated “30-day journey” in the shoes of an ALICE family (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), where they used a limited monthly budget to make financial decisions as scenarios were presented with multiple choice options.
The income of ALICE families is above the Federal Poverty Level but still below the basic cost of living as determined by the Household Survival Budget—in other words, these are working families who are still unable to afford basic necessities like housing, childcare, food, or transportation.
Stephanie Smith, the impact council director at United Way San Antonio and Bexar County, facilitated the simulation, as each day of the month prompted a new financial fork in the road. Should Cornwell and her new Table-One family own a car and pay for insurance on their meager budget or risk relying on the VIA Metropolitan Transit with long wait times and limited coverage? Which type of childcare should they choose? The lowest cost option of $500 still took a good chunk of their monthly income.
We don’t have to reinvent everything,” another participant said. “We just have to be more intentional in what we are already doing.”
Some decisions carried even heavier emotional weight.
In one scenario, their child’s friend was having his birthday party at an arcade, and instead of a gift the host asked that each child bring their own spending money to play the games.
“We had to decide whether to use what little money we had left for the month to take our child to the party or decline the invite and our child would be left out of the fun,” explained Cornwell.
“As a mother, this was one of the harder decisions,” said another participant. “You never want your kid to be left out.”
Cornwell felt the tension at her table. There wasn’t always a clear, right answer.
The simulation opened her eyes to what people are living with every day. “I had been somewhat naïve to the fact that mental health isn’t just about what’s happening internally,” said Cornwell. “It’s connected to everything else going on in someone’s life.”
Clarity in the Next Step
The day’s exercises provided Cornwell with more than just awareness of the weight of financial strain—she now sees her role on the care team at Christ Lutheran as helping the church develop ways to care for the unseen pressures its members face.
After the workshop, Cornwell and the team at Christ Lutheran are focusing on the many clubs and small groups that already exist within their congregation—small groups like the book club, the quilting club, the men’s breakfast meeting at Bill Miller BBQ, or the mom’s group who gathers once a month at Olmos Perk Coffee.
Trust and story sharing is already happening within their church. Christ Lutheran’s pastors and navigators want to train, equip, and invest in the leaders of these groups, so that they can recognize and better attend to the mental wellbeing of their members.
For Cornwell, the path forward is not fully fleshed out, but is becoming clearer. And with The Collective’s citywide effort to reshape San Antonio’s churches into one of the safest places in the world for people seeking mental wellness, she knows her church is not walking that path alone.
