{"id":4854,"date":"2016-11-30T07:31:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T15:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/?p=4854"},"modified":"2016-11-25T19:32:05","modified_gmt":"2016-11-26T03:32:05","slug":"link-pastors-committing-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Link &#8211; Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:2332,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\\\/article\\\/why-pastors-are-committing-suicide&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20241101164819\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\\\/article\\\/why-pastors-are-committing-suicide\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-02 09:45:21&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-06 16:58:29&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-19 04:45:38&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-19 04:45:38&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<blockquote><p>Pastors aren\u2019t\u00a0immune to the rising suicide rates. More than half of pastors have counseled people who were later diagnosed with a mental illness (59 percent), and\u00a0about a quarter say they\u2019ve experienced some type of mental illness themselves (23 percent). According to LifeWay, 12 percent have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.<\/p>\n<p>Chuck Hannaford, a clinical psychologist who consults for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), said he believes the rate of pastor suicides has increased during his 30 years of practice. And he\u00a0expects the number will continue to rise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing a pastor is a dangerous job,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially in certain evangelical circles, where you have more of a fundamentalist orientation theologically, you find pastors who will reduce their depression or their negative thought processes to strictly spiritual problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, a 2013 LifeWay survey found that\u00a048 percent of self-identified evangelical, fundamentalist, or born-again Christians believe prayer and Bible study alone can overcome mental illness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I wish I was surprised by the growth in suicides of pastors, but unfortunately that last line tells us everything we need to know. Too many believers are convinced that mental illness is a problem of faith instead of health, and they are being led by pastors in that believe.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also a belief that is costing people their lives. It needs to stop.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/why-pastors-are-committing-suicide\">https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/why-pastors-are-committing-suicide<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"syndication-links\"><\/div><span class=\"kt-load-after-post\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pastors aren\u2019t\u00a0immune to the rising suicide rates. More than half of pastors have counseled people who were later diagnosed with a mental illness (59 percent), and\u00a0about a quarter say they\u2019ve experienced some type of mental illness themselves (23 percent). According to LifeWay, 12 percent have been diagnosed with a mental health condition. Chuck Hannaford, a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mf2_syndication":[],"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[16,17],"class_list":["post-4854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-depression","tag-mentalhealth"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Link - Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Link - Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pastors aren\u2019t\u00a0immune to the rising suicide rates. More than half of pastors have counseled people who were later diagnosed with a mental illness (59 percent), and\u00a0about a quarter say they\u2019ve experienced some type of mental illness themselves (23 percent). According to LifeWay, 12 percent have been diagnosed with a mental health condition. Chuck Hannaford, a...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Survivors News and Reviews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mikemac29\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mikemac29\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-30T15:31:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/15189291772_1d4be96633_k.jpg?fit=2048%2C1371&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1371\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MikeM\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CA_Survivor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CA_Survivor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MikeM\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/30\\\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/30\\\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"MikeM\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dbc4a41a301b6455b3717df14ea3533e\"},\"headline\":\"Link &#8211; Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-30T15:31:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/30\\\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dbc4a41a301b6455b3717df14ea3533e\"},\"keywords\":[\"Depression\",\"Mental Health\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Links\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/30\\\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/30\\\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/30\\\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\\\/\",\"name\":\"Link - Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-30T15:31:22+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/30\\\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/30\\\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/30\\\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Link &#8211; Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/\",\"name\":\"Survivors News and Reviews\",\"description\":\"News and media reviews for the Child Abuse Survivor community, from fellow survivors\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dbc4a41a301b6455b3717df14ea3533e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dbc4a41a301b6455b3717df14ea3533e\",\"name\":\"MikeM\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/DSC_0625-scaled-e1599775106108.jpg?fit=860%2C576&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/DSC_0625-scaled-e1599775106108.jpg?fit=860%2C576&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/DSC_0625-scaled-e1599775106108.jpg?fit=860%2C576&ssl=1\",\"width\":860,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"MikeM\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/DSC_0625-scaled-e1599775106108.jpg?fit=860%2C576&ssl=1\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/mikemac29\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/CA_Survivor\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\\\/reviews\\\/author\\\/mikem\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Link - Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Link - Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide","og_description":"Pastors aren\u2019t\u00a0immune to the rising suicide rates. More than half of pastors have counseled people who were later diagnosed with a mental illness (59 percent), and\u00a0about a quarter say they\u2019ve experienced some type of mental illness themselves (23 percent). According to LifeWay, 12 percent have been diagnosed with a mental health condition. Chuck Hannaford, a...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/","og_site_name":"Survivors News and Reviews","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mikemac29","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mikemac29","article_published_time":"2016-11-30T15:31:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1371,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/15189291772_1d4be96633_k.jpg?fit=2048%2C1371&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MikeM","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CA_Survivor","twitter_site":"@CA_Survivor","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MikeM","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/"},"author":{"name":"MikeM","@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/#\/schema\/person\/dbc4a41a301b6455b3717df14ea3533e"},"headline":"Link &#8211; Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide","datePublished":"2016-11-30T15:31:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/"},"wordCount":232,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/#\/schema\/person\/dbc4a41a301b6455b3717df14ea3533e"},"keywords":["Depression","Mental Health"],"articleSection":["Links"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/","url":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/","name":"Link - Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-11-30T15:31:22+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/30\/link-pastors-committing-suicide\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Link &#8211; Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/","name":"Survivors News and Reviews","description":"News and media reviews for the Child Abuse Survivor community, from fellow survivors","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/#\/schema\/person\/dbc4a41a301b6455b3717df14ea3533e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/#\/schema\/person\/dbc4a41a301b6455b3717df14ea3533e","name":"MikeM","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC_0625-scaled-e1599775106108.jpg?fit=860%2C576&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC_0625-scaled-e1599775106108.jpg?fit=860%2C576&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC_0625-scaled-e1599775106108.jpg?fit=860%2C576&ssl=1","width":860,"height":576,"caption":"MikeM"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC_0625-scaled-e1599775106108.jpg?fit=860%2C576&ssl=1"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mikemac29","https:\/\/x.com\/CA_Survivor"],"url":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/author\/mikem\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pjdxv-1gi","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}