Elder Gloria Rentrope, MSSA, Christian Revival Ministries – “Soul Shop™ for Black Churches Suicide Prevention Workshop: From the Eyes of One”

  “Soul Shop™ for Black Churches
Suicide Prevention Workshop:
From the Eyes of One”

--Elder Gloria Rentrope, MSSA,
Christian Revival Ministries



The statistics are startling:

  • Black Children between the ages of 5 - 11 years are dying by suicide at TWO times the rate of their white counterparts.

  • Black American suicide rates rose THIRTY percent between 2014 and 2019. 

  • Black men die by suicide at THREE times the rate of black women. 

  • Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for black youth between the ages of 15 to 24 years. 

I did not initially jump at the chance to help host a Soul Shop Workshop as part of the FCMI Suicide Prevention/Reduction Task Force. That’s a huge commitment of effort and time!

But my hesitation was short-lived as those horrific numbers were revealed while investigating the Soul Shop™ for Black Churches program. The more I learned, the more my passion rose to “Do something!”  After dual careers as both a Clinical Social Worker and a Pastor’s wife (now retired from both), I felt uniquely positioned to help evaluate if sponsoring Soul Shop was right for us.  

From first-hand experience, I am keenly aware that pastors of Black churches – especially small Black churches – typically must make do with significantly fewer resources than like-sized white churches. I know how quickly their plates get filled, especially those who are bi-vocational. Working a second job to support yourself and your family while preparing one to three messages a week and attending to the spiritual needs of your congregation takes a lot of time and energy.  Dealing with obvious or known issues is hard enough. Assisting with unspoken pain – often kept hidden because of shame, stigma, and fear – is a daunting task. How can a pastor help with an issue when congregants put on a happy face, when they are hurting but won’t admit it?  If someone does open up, what is the pastor supposed to say?  Most have little to no training with mental illness, and especially with suicidal thoughts.

As part of the Task Force’s exploration of the program, we met via Zoom with key staff of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), including their local trainer, Victor Armstrong, MSW. Married with three children, Victor is himself the son of a Black church pastor. He has an impressive background in the mental wellness space, particularly suicide prevention. Victor is also Soul Shop™ Movement’s Director for Black Churches and an AFSP North Carolina board member. This quote from Victor particularly resonated:

"In my experience, the Black Church has always been the gateway to the Black community, and as such, it has always been revered as a place of hope and healing. Soul Shop is an excellent resource for giving clergy and other faith leaders effective tools, to help them talk with their congregants about the desperation that accompanies suicide and the impact it can have on those touched by suicide."

Along the way, I had some questions, some of which follow. 

1. Why the formation of Soul Shop?

Soul Shop’s creator, Fe Anam Avis, began to explore the response of faith communities to suicide in 1999. At the time, he was the pastor of a suburban church where three students died by suicide in a seven-month period. As he started doing suicide prevention in the community in response, he found that, in spite of the number of engaged community stakeholders, most of the time, there were no pastors showing up.  So he developed Soul Shop around the question of how to engage the theological imagination of the church and of clergy to help them see that the issue of suicidal desperation and hope are issues that the church should care about.  

 

2.  Why did Soul Shop for Black Churches develop as a different entity from Soul Shop?

While the skeleton of the content is the same, Soul Shop for Black Churches is significantly enhanced by conversation around the experience of being black in America and the impacts that discrimination and oppression have had on the experience of hopelessness among black folks.  There are also more statistics on Black and African Americans, the graphics used are all of black people, and the trainers are all people who have lived the black experience.   

 

3. What relevant statistics regarding suicide would grab the attention of Pastors?

Those statistics I learned were so startling, that I started this essay with them. I also read articles from the local newspapers about the suicides that were taking place on local Universities campuses. This topic was touching too close to home!

 

4. What is Soul Shop™ for Black Churches?

Suicide is a public health crisis which requires our communities to respond. The Soul Shop™ Movement exists due to the need of desperately hurting people to be heard, noticed, and seen within their faith communities.

 

As important social pillars in Black communities, religious organizations play an incredibly influential and supportive role in the well being of their communities and have a documented history of helping catalyze social change. Soul Shop™ for Black Churches equips these leaders, who are on the front lines of the mental health crisis, to minister to those impacted by all the faces of trauma and struggle with regard to suicide. Soul Shop™ for Black Churches focuses on:

  • The role of societal discrimination in suicide rates among Black and brown young people

  • The prominent role of the church in Black communities and how it can be leveraged for a positive impact related to suicide prevention and loss and healing

  • Statistics, trends, and rates of suicide among people of color

  • Challenges of and ideas for engaging issues of mental health and suicide in Black churches

We know that the Church in general and the Black Church in particular has historically played a crucial role in the Black community and has been at the center of much civic engagement during times of social tension and crisis.  Suicide is a crisis, and the Church can play an essential role in saving lives and bring hope to those impacted by desperation.

And so, on Saturday, April 29, 2023, Soul Shop™ for Black Churches was held in a Black Church in Durham.  The Pastor of the Emmanuel AME Church had heard my presentation in January, and she immediately volunteered her church for the gathering.

Thirty-seven people registered for the free workshop; 21 attended. Post-event evaluation forms were returned by 16 individuals.  All were positive regarding content, setting, trainer, training, and food.

The one disappointment I had with the event was that only two of the attendees were Pastors. However, those who did attend were persons who could take the information back to their local churches and, with the permission of the Pastors, can at least share the information.  We look forward to holding future workshops and a Train-the-Trainer event.

Gloria Rentrope
Member, Suicide Prevention/Reduction Task Force
Faith Connections on Mental Illness (FCMI)

_____


The Clergy and Mental Health Blog is a forum for faith leaders to share insights and observations, sometimes speaking from personal experience, about faith and mental health.  We welcome diversity of thought and perspective.  The view of authors are their own and do not represent the views of the blog as a whole.

 

Please send comments and questions to: ClergyMHBlog@gmail.com



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