Restoring Hope/Inspiring Action

Imagine 490 ELCA members lost to suicide in 2017! Based on national averages and the number of Americans who are ELCA members, 490 represents the number of members who may have died and will die each year to suicide. 

The number, 490, seems more impactful when stated in terms of losing an entire congregation — for example, Bethlehem Lutheran in St. Charles, Ill. But when you add to that the impact on the entire community, suicide deaths are devastating! And, realize, the ELCA lost that same size “congregation” to suicide last year — and will lose the same size congregation next year. When does the tragic toll begin to turn downward?

Because suicide deaths are singular and not mass events, their impact tends to become normalized as something we expect and can’t do anything about. If you happen to be impacted by the death of one of those 490 ELCA members lost to suicide, that death completely blows your life apart. Time for you is henceforth marked as before the suicide or after the suicide. 

Suicide deaths in the U.S. reached a record high in 2017. Over 47,000 people died by suicide — about 14 people for every 100,000. All our cumulative prevention efforts of the last 40 years failed to turn downward the ever-increasing number of suicide deaths! 

In a recent video, Presiding Bishop Eaton challenged the ELCA to “break the silence” surrounding suicide. The stigma attached to suicide has prevented us from even talking about suicide. It is time for this silence to end! 

The Suicide Prevention Ministry, an independent Lutheran organization, is implementing in the Southeastern Synod a “no cost/low cost” congregational suicide-prevention program titled “Breaking the Silence.” It consists of the following three parts: 

1. Pastors preach on suicide in September and on mental illness, alcoholism or substance abuse in the spring.

2. Congregation members ask their doctors to routinely screen for depression, which is present in about 90% of completed suicides.

3. “Talk Saves Lives,” a suicide-prevention educational program offered by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), is offered to congregation members at no cost.

Join the growing ELCA suicide-prevention movement by contacting the Suicide Prevention Ministry at jerryweyrauch@gmail.com. Be a lifesaver in your corner of the world. Reach out to an at-risk person before another life ends in suicide! You can make a difference.