The Rev. Frank Park, campus pastor, said the program came to fruition after a question during a staff meeting.
PLAIN TWP. A local church is taking on the tough topic of suicide in hopes of equipping and helping families that may be struggling with the issue.
On Wednesday, NewPointe Community Church will host a free seminar on suicide awareness and prevention from 7 to 9 p.m. at its Canton campus at 5305 Broadmoor Circle NW.
The Rev. Frank Park, campus pastor, said the program came to fruition after a question during a staff meeting.
"I think everybody knows about the string of suicides at Perry," he said. "We had a meeting and I asked what can we do as a church, in addition to prayer? Can we do something practically to help the community?"
Five Perry Local students have died this school year, incidents investigators described as suicide. It is not known if any were connected. Earlier this week, a Jackson High School student committed suicide, according to police.
As it so happened, the Rev. Joe Anderson, adult ministries director and a counselor, recently completed a suicide awareness and prevention curriculum he had been working on for years.
"The desire is just to help the community however we can," Park said. "We want to help parents and school counselors to know what to look for, the risk factors. We want to present them with hope as well."
Growing problem
Anderson said the goal of the seminar is to provide resources to people who may be grieving from loss due to a loved one's suicide and to offer resources to those currently struggling "in the hope that they can work through this without following through with the act."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates doubled for girls ages 15 to 19 between 2007 and 2015, and increased by 30 percent for boys in the same demographic.
"That age group seems to be very influenced by the concept of suicide," he said. "So it's not statistically uncommon."
Though the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention lists suicide as the 10th leading death for Americans, claiming 44,965 people a year, Park said churches have avoided talking about the issue.
"I think churches are sometimes scared to confront this or even mental-health issues," Park said. "We want to help if we can."
"I can't speak for other churches, but I can speak for ours in that we're concerned about people wherever they are in their walk," Anderson said. "Mental-health issues inside the church are as prevalent as they are outside the church. We've hidden our heads from it. But (NewPointe has) decided not to hide our heads."
Ultimate source
The most well-known reference to suicide is found in the New Testament's Gospel of Mathew (27:5), which records that Judas hanged himself after betraying Jesus.
Partly because of this, many churches for years considered suicide as unforgivable. That stance is evolving as understanding about mental illness increases.
"I think there is that stigma that suicide is the unpardonable sin, but I don't see biblical support for that," Park said. "I think part of it also is churches are scared to get into people's messes, a lot of the things that are at the root. But Jesus, the God I believe in, gets into people's messes."
Park said Wednesday's seminar will look at statistics, offer practical steps parents can take, and will include a discussion panel with clinical counselors, teachers and mental-health experts.
Anderson said the program is about the families, not about NewPointe.
"It's about people that are hurting, that's all we care about," he said. "It's about trying to minister to them."
Most importantly, Park said, NewPointe Church wants to offer hope.
"I believe God is the ultimate source of hope," he said. "Our goal is that people would walk out of church that night with a sense of hope; that parents would feel a little more equipped."
The program is open to children in grades seven and up. No child care will be available. For more information, call the church at 330-493-0369, or visit www.newpointe.org or https://www.facebook.com/NewPointeCanton/
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @cgoshayREP