Full Description
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
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
