Resources for Congregational Health Ministries

published on Thursday, February 10, 2011 by jbjames@duke.edu

I'd like to return to a theme I've touched on before: that the local church is a great venue for health-promotion activities.

Below are a few resources for churches that are intentional about caring for the bodies of congregants and community members.  All of these program templates have some basic principles in common:

  • They all urge churches to offer healthy food choices at church-sanctioned meals. 
  • They all suggest that churches incorporate programs and facilities for outdoor play among children and walking and other healthful physical activities among adults. 
  • They all stress that churches educate laity on healthy behaviors and ask that clergy to set a positive example and even preach on health topics at regular intervals. 
  • And all of them recommend policies on tobacco-free buildings (especially the ones based here in the Tar Heel State).

Partners in Health and Wholeness is a program sponsored by the N.C. Council of Churches to promote holistic health as a faith issue.  It offers a certification program that guides congregations in developing sustainable health ministries.  The Bronze level of the program is fairly simple; the more ambitious Silver and Gold levels help churches carry the program further.  Partners in Health and Wholeness is particularly strong on scriptural, prayer and worship resources related to health. 

Eat Smart Move More North Carolina is a public-private partnership aimed at fighting obesity and other lifestyle-related illnesses.  Its Faithful Families section  is tailored for congregations.  This program has a more “professional” feel to it than Partners in Health and Wholeness, emphasizing assessment before and evaluation after a wellness program.  But it's sound.  Their site is especially good for its informational resources, including bulletin inserts and wall posters. 

First Lady Michelle Obama's federal campaign against childhood obesity has created a Let's Move Toolkit for Faith-Based and Community Organizations.  It is particularly good for outreach to schools and families with young children.

Let us know what you think of these resources.

 

John James, M.A.
Research Analyst, Clergy Health Initiative

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Healthful eating guidelines from USDA

published on Monday, February 7, 2011 by jbjames@duke.edu

Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture updates its Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the newly issued iteration is receiving a lot of praise for its simple, straightforward recommendations. 

Among them:

  • Cover half your plate with fruits and vegetables.
  • Enjoy your food, but eat less.
  • Switch to fat-free or low fat (1%) milk.
  • Drink water instead of sugary sodas.
  • Focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages.

In addition to specific and actionable diet advice, the new USDA publication supports an important idea: Social and economic environments matter.  At the community/civic level, we need to improve access to fresh food, to build skills for healthy living, and to change social norms to support healthy lifestyles.

The choices of individuals and families are shaped and constrained by the range of choices available to them.  If families can only afford or only have access to processed foods, that’s what they’ll buy.  So these guidelines are written not only for consumers, but for the institutions and policy makers that can influence food producers and retailers. They should influence the the types of products that food processing firms introduce, the portion sizes served by restaurant chains, and the content of educational materials, such as the famous Food Pyramid. 

There is a long way to go to reform U.S. food policy and improve Americans' eating habits.  The presence of these refined guidelines won't magically cause Americans to replace every sugary or salty snack with a leafy salad.  But this is a step in the right direction.

John James, M.A.
Research Analyst, Clergy Health Initiative

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Update on the Spirited Life Retreats/Workshops

published on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 by jbjames@duke.edu

As many of you know, all Spirited Life participants in Group 1 are attending a three-day retreat this winter.  We have three of these events under our belts, so to speak, with six more to come in February and March.

One thing we've heard from many pastors is that retreat may be the wrong term for this event.  I'm inclined to agree: workshop is a better term.  We will change our language accordingly in the future.  More about this change in a moment.

In our own research on United Methodist pastors in North Carolina, the Clergy Health Initiative has documented high rates of chronic disease, notably overweight and obesity.  Given this situation, why start our wellness program for pastors with an educational event that focuses on stress and spiritual awareness?

Let's be clear: Spirited Life absolutely has the goal of helping pastors lose weight and keep it off.  The "keeping it off" part is significant.  The overall track record of weight-loss interventions is short-term success that is not sustained.  Participants lose weight in the first 3 to 6 months, but are back where they started at about 12 months.  With Spirited Life, our goal is to help overweight pastors lose weight and maintain that weight loss for the long term.

How to do that?  One way is to design and deliver a two-year intervention.  Weight loss programs and research have tended to focus on a 12-month timeframe, because most employers review their health plans annually.  Thanks to the support of The Duke Endowment and the partnership of the two annual conferences, we can take a longer view. 

Another way is to incorporate stress reduction.  Research shows that stress contributes to overweight, high blood pressure, and other chronic conditions.  The Clergy Health Initiative's research has convinced us that stress is a major feature of our pastors' lives.  Moreover, stress interventions have a better record of long-lasting positive effects than weight loss programs do.  For these reasons, integrating stress reduction with another program component that promotes healthy eating, and thus weight loss, as Spirited Life does, is a promising innovation. 

Since Spirited Life is an ambitious program, we want to make a big impression on our pastors at the beginning.  Taking pastors away from their everyday settings for three days and casting our event within a framework of Wesleyan theology and spirituality is our way of doing that.  The other key is to provide -- right off the bat -- a better understanding of the stressors pastors face, along with a proven toolset for combatting (or diffusing) these stressors, so clergy can be more successful in losing weight or otherwise enhancing their health.  

As I mentioned above, the early participants have commented that this three-day immersion is less a retreat than a training event, and this observation has influenced our staff in making adjustments as we go along.  We have enhanced the worship aspect of the event by adding a healing service that has proved valuable for many.  And we are striving not to overload pastors with instruction, but to leaven the skill-building sessions with engaging small-group activities, and to provide a good amount of unstructured time. 

The workshops have been great venues for pastors to get to know their wellness advocates, who will provide support for the whole two-year duration of Spirited Life.  We're also gratified to see some friendships bloom among clergy peers who've gotten acquainted at these gatherings.  Spirited Life doesn’t mandate peer group activities, but we hope that clergy friendships will bolster and nurture you along your journey toward wellness.

Our road show has its next stop in Greenville, Feb. 9-11.  If you attend the Greenville workshop, please let us hear your impressions, here at The Connection or on Facebook.

Shalom y'all,

John

John James, M.A.
Research Analyst, Clergy Health Initiative

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