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Most congregations have not wrestled with issues surrounding suicide and, Weber says, their members may believe that suicide is an unforgivable sin. When Stidwell visits churches, she often presents several questions for discussion:

• How can we as a church discourage suicide and still support, without condemnation, those whose loved ones have committed suicide?
• How can we encourage our congregation to support isolated and depressed people among us?
• How can we reduce the stigma of suicide (in order to encourage open discussion) while still emphasizing the fallout of suicide on families and friends (in order to discourage suicide attempts)?

Gary McCann, pastor at the New England Congregational Church in Aurora, Ill., has posed questions like these to his congregation.

"We must provide a community where everyone is included and accepted," he says.

McCann helped organize a Suicide Prevention Sunday to help bring attention to the issue. The church displayed a quilt featuring pictures of people who have committed suicide.

"Whenever it becomes personal, people start to deal with it," he says.

During the Suicide Prevention Sunday service, church member Nancy Hopp told the moving story of how her brother's suicide changed her forever. Hopp encourages Christians not only to focus on suicide prevention, but also to cultivate full relationships with loved ones. Her brother wrote his own obituary in advance, advising others:

"Take someone you know out to lunch this week and tell them how much you love them."

Peri Stone-Palmquist attends St. Martin's Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas.

See also today's other stories on suicide," Suicide and the Silence of Scripture Though the church has come to opposing conclusions about the fate of victims, we have a mandate to minister to those left behind "and " Is Suicide Unforgivable? What is the biblical hope and comfort we can offer a suicide victim's family and friends?"

The home page of Suicide Prevention Services offers more information on its suicide prevention ministry, including danger signs to watch for in friends and relatives.

"The Surgeon General's Call To Action To Prevent Suicide" is also available online.

Extensive information and resources on preventing youth suicide are available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Suicide & Parasuicide, Suicide Awareness\Voices of Education, and the American Association of Suicidology all offer helpful resources about suicide and suicide prevention. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America offers a Christian perspective on suicide prevention.

Biblical views on suicide can be found at ChristianAnswers.Net and the Christian Medical & Dental Society.

Last fall, Today's Christian Woman published the moving story of a woman who lost her brother to suicide. Leadership looked at how a church can cope with the suicide of one of its members. A 1998 issue of CT focused on the reality that Christians sometimes have emotional problems.

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June 12 2000, Vol. 44, No. 7