We believe God sent His perfect son, Jesus into a profoundly imperfect world. A world marked by brokenness, illness, and sin.
Jesus always engaged lovingly with people who had “fallen through the cracks” of the social systems of his day.
Jesus did not shy away from messy people, situations or institutions. He engaged these people with love and compassion. The Lord showered love and compassion on all kinds of messy people.
Jesus awed the people of his day by creating meaningful connections with lepers, outcasts, and the broken. He healed the epileptics and those we would describe today as suffering from “mental illness.”
We believe followers of Jesus are called to emulate Jesus’ example by loving those suffering from the effects of serious mental illness.
Just as Jesus did not overlook the mentally ill, the church must not either. Churches are full of imperfect, broken, and sick people. You can help them.
We believe mental illness is not something to fear. To be faithful to our God-given mission we must move to serve these dear people on the margins of society.
We believe those suffering from mental illness are members of our community to serve like the widows and orphans.
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27
Like widows and orphans, those suffering from serious mental illness are afflicted as well. They need more help than you know. If our churches fail to move toward people suffering from mental illness – we fail to meaningfully show the love of Jesus.
Amid the storms of mental illness, we can offer a shelter to the seriously mentally ill. When we help, serve, and love them and their caregivers, we show the practical love of Jesus.
We believe the church must be a place of acceptance, healing, and inclusion for everyone, including those often excluded like people suffering from serious mental illness.
It’s the way Jesus modeled for us.
We believe in the sufficiency of scripture for all of life, especially concerning serious mental illness. The scriptures say a diagnosis is not an identity.
America’s mental health system is broken. Faithful churches must step in and advocate for those who can’t ask for help. Some people afflicted with serious mental illness are so sick they cannot even ask or access care for themselves. We must ask for them!
As Christ followers, we desire to answer the call of James 1:27. We must share and live the gospel of Jesus to both preserve and illuminate the truth to those living with serious mental illness.
When our son began to struggle with serious mental illness, our church did not shy away from entering our messy situation. Our church walked with us – many churches run away.
We’ve heard from many other families who experience alienation of or exclusion from their church when they need help the most. This broke our hearts.
P82 Project Restoration began as a way to spread our positive experience with our local church to other churches in order to equip them to better serve families suffering from mental illness and recapture the heart of Jesus for the broken, the outcasts, and the suffering.
We exist to help churches serve vulnerable, marginalized people who have nowhere else to go. We desire to bridge the gap between local churches, families suffering from serious mental illness, and professional mental health services.
Jesus was a master at bringing hope and healing in the most difficult of circumstances. We hope to do the same for those suffering from the effects of serious mental illness.
You are not alone!