Title: Congregational Health and Wellness Ministries
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2Congregational Health and Wellness Ministries
- St. James Episcopal Church
- February 8, 2009
- Brita L. Gill-Austern, M.Div., Ph.D.
- Austin Philip Guiles Professor of Psychology and
Pastoral Theology - Andover Newton Theological School
3Health and Wellness Ministries
- I. Why should a church consider a health
ministry? - II. What is congregational health ministry and
what forms does it take? - III. Where does St. James feel called to
extend its ministries of health and healing?
4I. Health and Healing in the Bible
- Hebrew understanding of soul
- nephesh
- Representative of whole person
- No duality between body and soul
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6How shall we understand health?
- In Hebrew scriptures health is portrayed as one
of Gods great gifts and responsibility is placed
on people to live lives that cherish and protect
this treasure. - The most complete word for health in the Hebrew
Scriptures is shalom which refers to the unity
and harmony of all things in the commonwealth of
Gods love where personal, social and cosmic
wellbeing come together. - To be healthy for the Hebrews meant that ones
life was centered in the peace and wholeness of
God. -
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- Jesus healed souls (mind, body and spirit).
8Ministry of Jesus
- Teaching, preaching, healing
- 1/5 of gospel devoted to healing
- 41 distinct instances of healing
9How did Jesus heal?
- By touch
- By command, word
- By using physical elements
- By evoking the faith of the person
10Intent, not method primary
- Compassion
- Greek word splangnidzomai refers to
being moved in ones intestines - Way of the healer is to share in the pain of
the other - Less about method, more about relationship
11What was primary for Jesus in healing?
- Bringing people out of isolation and into
community - Treating them holistically mind, body, spirit
(soul care)
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13What did Jesus heal?
14Disease
- Disease is something an organ has
- Medically identifiable physical or mental
disorder - Usually accompanied by pain, psychological,
physical and spiritual
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16Cure
- A therapy or treatment to remove the disease
- Restores one to ones original condition
17Illness
- Illness is the experience of the person with the
disease - Suffering from an illness is not only physical,
but also psychological, social and spiritual. It
involves how we make meaning of what is happening
and it impacts many dimensions of our lives. - Illness impacts the whole family and network of
ill person When the chief is sick, the whole
village is ill
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19Healing
- Is directed toward illness
- Toward the personal and social meaning one makes
of the illness - Aims at bringing a sense of peace and wholeness
to ones life whatever the circumstances
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21II. What is a health ministry?
- Congregational Health ministry is a holistic
approach to health that builds on the strengths
of both the congregation and the community it
emphasizes wellness, health promotion, and
disease prevention encompasses congregational
and community resources and partnerships and
focuses on body, mind and spirit for the health
and healing of the community. - Health Ministry Association
22Holistic Healing
- Restoring the unity of the whole person.
- Mind/body/spirit (soul)
- Does not replace allopathic medicine, but seeks
to expand its vision - Not all causes of disease are genetic or
physical, so may have other ways to impact
disease - Recognizes that most diseases today are chronic
and many ways to help other than allopathic
medicine
23Psychoneuroimmunology
- Mind body medicine/ Behavioral medicine
- Examines the interaction of the neurological,
endocrine and immune systems - How emotions and mental states influence our
health
24The limits of western medicine has brought
- Alternative Medicine/Therapies
- Complementary Therapies
- Integrative Therapies
25What Causes Disease? Disease is Multi-factorial
- Biological Factors
- Genetic Makeup
- Viruses
- Bacterial infections
- Environmental Factors
- Psychological Feeling States
- Spiritual components
- Stress
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27Four Categories of Health Ministries
- Abigail Evans
- The Healing Church
- United Church Press, 1999.
- See especially pp. 70-123.
281) Liturgical, Sacramental and Devotional
- Development and dissemination of resources for
healing and anointing - The offering of the sacraments
- The practice of prayer
- The ministry of deliverance,
- The holding of retreats
- The proclamation of the Word
- General worship life of the congregation
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30Liturgical, Sacramental and Devotional
- Healing prayer at services
- Lay Eucharistic ministers
- Weekly worship with Eucharist
- Music ministry
- Prayer groups
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332) Direct Health Care
- Delivery of patient care that embraces prevention
and wellness initiatives of public health,
diagnostic, intervention, and/or treatment
modalities to individuals or groups. - Involves both the promotion of wellness and the
prevention of sickness - Mental and physical health are included within
this definition, as are the concepts of holistic
and integrated health care.
34Direct Care
- Parish Nurses
- Blood pressure/ hypertension checks
- Medication Compliance
- Health Education
- Health Counselor
- Referral advisor
- Developer of support groups
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36Direct Care
- Caring Connection (food, transportation, home
help) - Reiki Laying on of Hands
- Care Quilts/Prayer Shawls
- Visitation Team
- Stephen Ministries (lay ministry, counseling)
- Support Groups Grief, weight loss, caregivers
support, single parents, unemployment, job
resources, young mothers
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41Social Support
- Social support buffets our stress responses
- Three types of social support
- Emotional Support
- Material Support
- Resource and Information Support
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433) Educational
- Addresses the underlining questions of health and
sickness - The information and motivation of how to enhance
health affirming patterns of life, including
lifestyle changes - Develops, organizes and administers programs or
material designed to impart knowledge or skills
to individuals - Includes providing information on specific
diseases or conditions.
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45Educational
- Stress Management
- Health fairs
- Faces of Sadness Dealing with Depression
- Healthy Eating/Nutrition
- First Aid
- Managing Anxiety
- Stroke and Heart Attack Prevention
- Anger and Forgiveness
- Smoking cessation
- Facing Financial Constraints
- End of life support
- Addiction awareness
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474) Support and Advocacy
- Collects resources and raises awareness to
promote the inclusion of marginalized groups - Work in the public arena to influence social,
economic, and/or political policy to ensure the
fair allocation of health resources and adequate
access and response of the health care system to
their constituent group - Focus on consciousness raising about the needs of
particular groups, their compassion and their
caring dimension, encapsulating the pastoral
aspect of ministry.
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49Support and Advocacy
- Helping others find access to care
- Raising awareness around legislative issues
related to health - Advocating for environmental health concerns
- 12 step programs, prison programs, supporting
health care for the homeless - AIDs Ministry (African American women)
- Disabilities Outreach
- Veterans Outreach
50III. Why St. James might want to expand
your Health Ministry
- Faithful to the ministry and call of Jesus
- Most medical problems are chronic
- Stress increases vulnerability to disease and
makes every form of pain worse - Isolation, helplessness and hopelessness are the
deadly three that churches can address uniquely - Community is central to healing and wellness
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54- Research in behavioral medicine has studied
extensively the harmful effects of chronic
stress on the human body.
55Disease in the U.S.
- Our number one killers in the U.S. are heart
disease, cancer and accidents. - These diseases are inextricably linked to
lifestyle, diet, environmental factors and
stress.
56What is stress?
- Any situation which requires behavior change that
exceeds our available resources will trigger
stress. - Not all stress is harmful, certain amounts may in
fact contribute to efficiency and performance,
but when it becomes too intense or chronic
creates a disorder of arousal in the autonomic
nervous system.
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61Chronic Stress
- Lowers the immune system, makes it less efficient
- A factor that contributes to mental and physical
disease - Makes all forms of pain worse
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63What happens to your body when it is stressed?
- The body is flooded with circulating stress
hormones including cortisol and adrenaline which
affect every organ. - Symptoms include
- increased heart rate
- increased respiratory rate
- increased muscle tension
- increased blood pressure
- increased secretion of insulin
- increased blood flow to the brain, lungs, heart,
and muscles - decreased blood flow to the skin and digestive
tract - decreased immune response
64Chronic stress is revealed in many physical,
psychological and spiritual symptoms
- Behavioral - Disruptions in routines of sleep and
activity, exercise and eating. Addictions to
drugs, alcohol, food, sex, or work. - Physical - Muscle tension, digestive disorders,
susceptibility to infections, reduced
immune-system function making one more vulnerable
to disease. - Emotional - Depression, anxiety, frustration,
hopelessness and helplessness or emotional
flatness due to denial and avoidance,
irritability and anger.
65- Relational
- Tendencies either to isolate or to become overly
dependent on others. - Emotional states make relationships more
difficult. - Mental
- Loss of self-confidence and low self-esteem.
- Distorted view of self as incompetent.
- Overly pessimistic view of the possibilities for
resolving problems that causes us to give up
efforts to change the situation. - Denial of the difficulties and problems and/or
an unrealistic and inflated sense of one's power.
66- Spiritual - Loss of sense of meaning and purpose
in life or loss of the larger vision that gives
meaning to suffering. - These many symptoms of stress can be addressed in
a number of ways thus reducing the impact of
stress.
67Some Spiritual Practices that Reduce Stress
- MEDITATION /Centering Prayer
- SINGING/MUSIC
- PRAYER
- PRAISE and THANKSGIVING
- GRATITUDE
- INTERCESSORY PRAYER
- PETITIONARY PRAYER
- RITUAL/ WORSHIP
- SERVICE
68Shifting Our Dominant Emotion from Fear to Love
- The Christian life invites us again and again to
shift our dominant emotion from fear to love. - Too disarm the heart, its fear, its rigidity, its
inclination to hostility we need also to disarm
the body and the mind. - Where the body goes, the mind can follow, where
the mind goes, the body can follow.
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71Emotional and Spiritual Heart Disease
- The real epidemic in our culture is not only
- physical heart disease, but also what I call
emotional and spiritual heart disease, that is,
the profound feelings of loneliness, isolation,
alienation and depression that are so prevalent
in our culture with the breakdown of the social
structures that used to provide a sense of
connection and community. It is to me, a root of
the illness, cynicism and violence in our
society. Dean Ornish Love and Survival p. 12
72Love and Intimacy
- I am not aware of any other factor in medicine
not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not
stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery
that has a greater impact on our quality of life,
incidence of illness, and premature death from
all causes. Dean Ornish Love and Survival
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76Create Community
- Mother, behold your son
- Disciple behold your mother
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