A
BRIEF HISTORY OF EMERGE
EMERGE has
its taproot in a painful chapter of Dr. Dobbins’ personal
life. When he and his wife, Dolores*, were expecting their first
child, Dolores became highly toxic in the last trimester of her
pregnancy. This precipitated a Caesarean-section birth and Dolores
subsequently experienced severe postpartum depression. She was
actively suicidal for six months; during this time, she made three
serious attempts to take her own life. This was during the late
1940s, a time when an intense antipathy existed between psychiatry
and religion.
Dr. Dobbins
recalls that episode in their lives this way:
“When
we looked to the medical world for help, they blamed her problem
on religion and urged us to get her out of her ‘crazy religion,’
reassuring us that this would result in her recovery. On the other
hand, when we looked to the church for help, her devotional life
came under scrutiny. We were told that she needed to spend more
time in prayer and reading God’s Word every day. Dolores
was always a very devout person. All during this time, she was
spending from 30 to 45 minutes a day reading her Bible and praying,
even though she believed she was condemned and abandoned by God.
She had no conscious awareness of God’s presence in her
life. But from her exemplary devotional habits, I knew her symptoms
were not the result of neglecting this area of her life.
“Many
months into this experience, one morning during our devotions,
the Lord miraculously healed her. From that time, she and I carried
a deep compassion for Christians with mental health problems.”
After eight
more years of pastoring, Rev. Dobbins enrolled at the University
of Akron to study the behavioral sciences in order to better equip
himself for ministry to parishioners with emotional problems.
He earned a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and,
in 1970, a Ph.D. He is convinced that the Scriptures contain the
wisdom for living and the basic principles for managing life’s
problems. The Biblical “ought to’s” often need
some practical “how to’s” to help Christians
apply what they believe to the practical problems of life. This
is how he sees the behavioral sciences serving the church; not
as a substitute for theology, but as an adjunct to it, explaining
how Biblical truths can be applied to everyday life. Dr. Dobbins
founded EMERGE Ministries, Inc., Akron, Ohio in 1969. Through
a wide range of counseling services, thousands of lives have been
wonderfully restored.
For many years,
Dr. William Morrow and Rev. Al Saunders dreamt of establishing
a Canadian franchise. In June 2004, they requested that the Board
of Trustees of EMERGE Ministries Inc. Akron, Ohio approve a franchise
agreement between EMERGE Ministries Inc. and EMERGE Ministries
Canada. In 2005, EMERGE Ministries Canada was approved as an independent
franchise. With Dr. William Morrow as the Chairman, EMC is being
designed to offer biblically sound mental health services
and programs to hurting people in Canada.
