Good (mental) health in grace-shaped community

This Thursday evening, we will be joined by Andrea Groenewald, a partner counsellor with Shalem Mental Health Network (http://shalemnetwork.org/).  She will speak with us and whomever wants to join us about anxiety in children.  As parents, one of our greatest fears is the peril of our children, whether that be an injury, trauma, or stress.  It is near impossible to shield our kids from these, so our tactics need to focus on prevention and setting them up to meet risk and challenge in life and develop good coping skills for when they do experience hardship.

Dr. Syd Hielema is no stranger to stress in children and families having worked for many years as an educator and chaplain supporting students and families through difficulty.  He believes that Christian educational institutions, as communities shaped by grace, are positioned to develop the needed response to the crisis of increased mental health struggles.  "We need holistic treatment regimens that combine the wisest guidance we have for chemical, psychological, relational, and family history issues.... a touch of heaven arrives on earth when all of the above are enfolded within communities being transformed by grace." (CEJ, Feb 2015, p 4-6)

So what is a grace-shaped community?  He outlines two dimensions:

1) a community with an enhanced capacity for respect.  
This means seeing one another not in their present form, but as works in progress - as new creations in which Christ is at work... confident that He will 'bring it on to completion until the day of our Lord Jesus' (Phil 1:6)

2) a community that practices disciplines that unlock the 'Image of God'.   These practices include being transparent, noticing one another, giving voice to one another (listening well), and encouragement.  These four practices, Hielema says, begin to form a community that 'smells' like the aroma of Christ (2 Cor. 2:14-15)

Pray that Covenant Christian School, in its daily activities, and in the activities of its parents and supporters, may become a grace-shaped community.