Aiming to deepen the church’s relationship with those who experience mental illness, Boarding Homes Ministry is distributing curriculum kits for free to congregations across Canada.
BHM, an ecumenical ministry, creates Christian community by linking residents of privately operated boarding homes with visitors from congregations.
Currently, 19 boarding homes in southern Ontario are participating in the ministry. In 2011, BHM was awarded the E.H. Johnson Award in recognition of the ministry’s cutting edge work.
The curriculum, named “Cat Jeoffry,” is inspired by an 18th century poem written by Christopher Smart. Committed to a crude mental institution, Smart yearned for the company of his cat, Jeoffry. After a friend brought Jeoffry to the hospital, the poet wrote the famous 124-line ode, “For I Will Consider My Cat, Jeoffry.”
“Jeoffry represents the ideal Christian,” explained Rev. Rodger Hunter, BHM’s chaplain.
“He brings joy in the midst of agony and affliction. He is God’s emissary in a difficult place. He is joyful, prayerful, worshipful, compassionate, desires justice, is fun and brave.”
“The curriculum turns to this poem to help illuminate the issues of caring for those with mental illness,” writes Hunter in the kit’s introduction.
“The lessons aren’t just specific to what I do in these homes. They have to do with life within families, within the church. If one in five people experience mental illness, chances are we all know someone who is struggling.”
Though the material exists, in part, to raise awareness, it’s meant even more to generate action.
“Really, we don’t need more information. We need more heart,” said Hunter.
To make the subject matter connect with the heart and the mind, Hunter commissioned a variety of visual artists to recreate key moments in Jeoffry’s ministry. Only after he saw their work did Hunter begin writing the lesson plans, using their artwork and lines in the poem to frame discussion questions. Adding audio to the visual components, Hunter also co-wrote 12 of 14 songs that appear on an accompanying album.
Funded by the Women’s Missionary Society and the Ewart Foundation for Theological Education, the curriculum took about three years to complete.
In part, it was the artistic process that extended the timeline, but Hunter also wanted the material to be accessible to people of varying ages. So he developed three separate, age-specific studies.
“On a gentle level, we want to introduce children to the language of mental illness. Because often the language is brutal, ugly. There’s a need for better language.
“I needed something to put in churches’ hands. To start the discussion and then lead it in the direction of nurturing communities. The goal of this is to celebrate God-among-us in community,” said Hunter.
In order to properly celebrate, there needs to be a reciprocal relationship, said Hunter. While offering care to those living with mental illness is important, the caregiver should be aware of how they, too, are blessed by the relationship.
After he received the E.H. Johnson Award on behalf of BHM, Hunter told the church’s General Assembly his hope for BHM’s ministry is to help the church and people living with mental illness join together in “a shaggy choreography of community.”
Hunter said the goal now is putting the kit in the hands of anyone interested, free of charge. (But if congregations donate $100—the expense of putting one kit together—it would allow BHM to produce more.)
“I’ll mail you a copy, give you a call in three months and we’ll talk.”
