Although the Well Community offers activities, programs and services to adults living with severe mental health issues, its most important mission is to foster a community that is welcoming, caring and safe. It is a place to belong for those who find closed doors more often than open ones and stigma more often than acceptance.
“At the Well,” says Executive Director Alice Zacarello, “we offer holistic care. Beyond addressing physical and emotional needs, we undergird all our programs to also tend to the spiritual needs of our members.” One of the ways we do this is to invite local churches to engage regularly by providing meals and leading worship at Thursday Night Life.
Eric Folkerth (photo), Pastor of Kessler Park United Methodist Church, sees such opportunities as a blessing not only to the members of the Well but also to members of his congregation. “Serving others is a deeply important piece of what we’re called to do. It’s Jesus’ command, of course, to love others and to serve a community,” he explains. “But specifically, what you find is when we serve others, the shocking and surprising benefit that we don’t always expect is we ourselves are often changed in that.”
He continues, “We grow in ways that we don’t expect. We grow spiritually. It changes our lives and it changes our perspective often in terms of how we see the world and how we see other people, I think particularly for those of us who are middle class or upper middle class. We often get so tied up in the things that give us anxiety and fear and our own worries. We get tied up with things that are going on in the news and maybe our own families or … what we think are financial issues.
Serving others, he says, gives us a broader, more compassionate mindset. “When we go out and we serve others, we realize that often we’re doing pretty well, and it sort of softens our own heart, if you will. And we see the whole world a little differently. The more you deal with people who are not like you, whoever they are, whether they’re people living with mental illness or whether they’re another race or culture, whatever that difference, the more you deal with folks in cross-cultural situations like that, the more compassion you develop for everybody. It really does change us as much as we serve.”
Eric has personally been changed and encouraged as he interacts regularly with Well members. As he listens to their prayer requests, he is touched by the concerns they have for others. “Yes, they ask for prayer for their own, very specific, basic human living issues, such as having to move or finding money for a bill or a medical need or something like that,” he explains. “But there is a really beautiful number who are always praying for their own families and friends. It’s not them that has a specific issue, but they have a family member who’s going through something that they want to pray for.”
Over the years Eric has also recognized that members are eager to express their spiritual life. “Many clearly have a history, a Christian, faith-based history. And it’s really a joy to hear them share. There’s a kind of sweetness and an innocence to it, I think, that I don’t always see among other church folk.” He continues, “It’s a lovely thing to experience and be a part of. It’s important really, because just like every other person, [Well members] have spiritual needs that need to be addressed and they need to know that people see them as spiritual beings, the way we would see any person.”
You can join in praying with and for members of the Well Community by becoming a part of our PrayWell team. Just sign up here to receive a monthly email of prayer requests.