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Health Through Faith and Community

A Study Resource for Christian Faith Communities to Promote Personal and Social Well-Being

• By James W. Ellor

• Price: $39.95
• Binding: Paperback
• Pages: 230
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 6th September 2006
• ISBN: 978-0-7890-2897-6

About the Book

Use your personal faith to spread the health!

Health Through Faith and Community is a unique study guide that encourages Christian congregations to enhance the well-being of individual church members as well as society as a whole. Presented as eight study sessions that can be used independently or combined for an in-depth learning process, this notebook-size guide includes unique insights and learning activities from an ecumenical Christian perspective about the physical, mental, social, and environmental aspects of health. This well-referenced book includes more than 50 illustrations, handouts, and figures, as well as numerous resources for prayer, activity, discussion, self-reflection, Bible study, and practical applications that will help connect personal faith with congregations and communities.

The study sessions presented in Health Through Faith and Community are arranged in a series that can be easily adapted to adult Sunday school classes, workshops, retreats, and independent study. Sessions focus on individual themes and each builds on the previous one, blending together various learning approaches, including factual information, self-assessment and reflection exercises, small group discussion, and interaction exercises. The book also provides notes and guidelines for a study leader, handouts, overhead projection materials, suggested prayers, and Bible passages, materials for group discussions and exercises, Internet resources, and supplemental activities.

Each study session presented in Health Through Faith and Community includes:

• an opening prayer to reinforce the group’s intention to learn together
  
• a review of working definitions, concepts, and content, all presented in layperson’s terms
  
• material from relevant Christian sources-scriptures, personal stories, images, literature, poetry, art
  
• introspective activities that can be done in-group settings or privately
  
• group interaction-stories, spontaneous dialogue, and interactive exercises
  
• a holistic Christian perspective on faith and healing
  
• reflections by the session leader on ways to learn more about nurturing well-being in individuals, relationships, and the community

The study sessions build to a final session that helps congregations create goals to promote personal and social health in the church community, the local community, and beyond. Health Through Faith and Community is an invaluable resource for pastoral counselors, chaplains, retreat leaders, parish nurses, and faith-based social workers.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
  
• About the Authors
  
• About the Study Guide
  
• Study Guide Purpose and Objectives
  
• Design and Format
  
• Session 1. A Holistic Christian Vision of Health Through Faith and Community
  
• Activity 1: Setting Intention Through Welcome and Prayer
  
• Activity 2: Overview of the Study Guide
  
• Activity 3: Commitment to Mutual Respect and Dialogue
  
• Activity 4: Participants’ Views on Faith and Health
  
• Activity 5: Preliminary Definitions Regarding Faith and Health
  
• Summing Up
  
• Supplemental Activity A: Exploring Personal Definitions of Spirituality and Health
  
• Supplemental Activity B: The Healing Ministry of Jesus
  
• Supplemental Activity C: A Story of Health Through Faith
  
• Supplemental Activity D: Envisioning Your Ideal of Well-Being
  
• Session 2. Faith and Physical Health
  
• Activity 1: Setting Intention Through Welcome and Prayer
  
• Activity 2: Finding Meaning Through Suffering
  
• Activity 3: Prayerful Physical Activity
  
• Activity 4: The Connection Between Religious Participation and Physical Health
  
• Summing Up
  
• Supplemental Activity A: Prayer and Healing
  
• Supplemental Activity B: Ceremony and Healing
  
• Supplemental Activity C: Meaning Through Suffering
  
• Session 3. Faith and Mental Health
  
• Activity 1: Setting Intention Through Welcome and Prayer
  
• Activity 2: The Connection Between Religious Participation and Mental Health: Examining the Scientific Evidence
  
• Activity 3: Wisdom and the Book of Proverbs
  
• Activity 4: The Symbolism of the Cross and Recovery from Addictions and Mental Illness
  
• Summing Up
  
• Supplemental Activity A: Suffering, Faith, and Hope: The Example of Job
  
• Supplemental Activity B: Mental Health and the Serenity Prayer
  
• Supplemental Activity C: Congregational Supports for Coping with Severe Mental Illness
  
• Session 4. Faith and Spiritual Health
  
• Activity 1: Setting Intention Through Welcome and Prayer
  
• Activity 2: Stages of Faith Development
  
• Activity 3: Reasons for Prayer
  
• Activity 4: Spirituality Survey
  
• Summing Up
  
• Supplemental Activity A: Christian Devotion and Imitation of Christ
  
• Supplemental Activity B: Centering Prayer
  
• Session 5. Faith and the Well-Being of the Church Community
  
• Activity 1: Setting Intention Through Welcome and Prayer
  
• Activity 2: Interpersonal Relationships Within the Church
  
• Activity 3: Leadership
  
• Activity 4: Congregational Role Structures
  
• Summing Up
  
• Supplemental Activity A: Social Health in the Christian Community: Parish Nursing
  
• Supplemental Activity B: Koinonia: Building Community and Fellowship
  
• Session 6. Faith and the Well-Being of Society
  
• Activity 1: Setting Intention Through Welcome and Prayer
  
• Preface to Session 6 Activities 2, 3, and 4: Social Determinants of Health
  
• Activity 2: Everyday Activities That Lead to Societal Well-Being
  
• Activity 3: Faith-Based Community Organizing
  
• Activity 4: National Religious Organizations and Social Justice
  
• Summing Up
  
• Supplemental Activity A: Social Health and the Christian Community: An Example from Habitat for Humanity
  
• Supplemental Activity B: Biblical Verse Activity on Community Organizing
  
• Session 7. Faith and Global Well-Being
  
• Activity 1: Setting Intention Through Welcome and Prayer
  
• Activity 2: Faith and Moral Responsibility
  
• Activity 3: “For I was hungry and you gave me food…”: Christian Responses to Global Poverty and Hunger
  
• Activity 4: Environmental Stewardship: The Example of Noah
  
• Summing Up
  
• Supplemental Activity A: Faith and the

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