Live Well, Live Together
Teachers: Rachel Semrow, Jim Gates
Course Objectives:
1. Explore the power of Christian community for healthy living.
2. Understand the nature of clinical depression and related afflictions.
3. Reflect on how Christian community can support those with depression, etc., and their caregivers.
Course Outline:
We were made for community, by the God of community. We live in a culture that is decidedly anti-human in its isolationism. But into this individualist culture the church can offer extraordinary hope.
January 10 – Live Poorly, Live Alone – Why Community Matters
January 17 – Live Well, Live Together – The Church as Family
January 24 – Understanding Depression
January 31 – Caring for the Caregivers
February 7 – The Church’s Role – Cure and Prevention
Recommended Resources:
There are so many excellent books on both community and depression. We highly recommend the following:
Tribe by Sebastian Junger. Junger’s book has been enormously influential in Jim’s life and thought around the topic of community.
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison. Dr. Jamison’s memoir of her own mania and depression is powerful and insightful.
Finding God: Praying the Psalms in Times of Depression by Thomas Lewis. Pastor Lewis wrote a short and very practical guide sharing how the Psalms helped him through his own experience of depression.