News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: October 6, 2005
For more information, contact: Virginia Elliott, Vice President for Programs, 620-662-8586

Churches Selected to Pilot Kansas United Methodist Health Initiative

Hutchinson, KS—Thirty Kansas United Methodist Churches--19 from the Kansas West Conference--were selected early this month by the Kansas Area Healthy Lifestyles Advisory Committee to pilot a new health initiative. As part of Healthy Congregations in Action, each church will receive health resources, planning and technical assistance, learning opportunities, leadership development, and a $1,000 grant to implement a comprehensive approach to health and wellness over the next 18 months.

The initiative is being funded by the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. Technical assistance, management, and evaluation is being provided by the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Wichita, with faculty member Judy Johnston serving as the primary consultant.

Churches were selected based on an application process that included attendance at one of four pre-application workshops held in July and August and completion of a written church assessment and application. Teams representing 46 churches attended the pre-application workshops and were eligible to apply.

Kim Moore, president of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, said the response from churches exceeded expectations. "We originally thought we might have around 20 churches interested in working with us on trying Healthy Congregations in Action. As it turned out, we had 30 that met all of our criteria and the determination was made by the Healthy Lifestyles Committee to increase the number of pilot churches accepted into the initiative."

He said the churches provide an excellent balance of different membership sizes and come from every district in the state. "I don't think we could ask for a better group of churches to help us evaluate this effort over the next year and a half."

Evaluation is an important part of the Healthy Congregations in Action pilot, according to Moore. "There are a lot of church health 'programs' out there that make a lot of promises, but they don't have the data to back them up," Moore explained. "We're asking from the very beginning--does this work and how do we know?"

A training meeting will be held at Pleasant Valley UMC in Wichita November 4 to launch the pilot of Healthy Congregations in Action.

From the Kansas West Conference the following churches were selected: Almena/Clayton/Norcatur, Beloit First, Brookside/Cedar Chapel (Wichita), Chapel Hill Fellowship (Wichita), Colby, Copeland, Dodge City First, Hutchinson First, Hoisington First, Kechi, Marion Valley, New Covenant (Wichita), Otterbein, Pleasant Valley (Wichita), Rose Hill, Saint Mark (Wichita), Russell Trinity, Salina Trinity, and University (Salina).

From the Kansas East Conference, eleven churches were selected: Cherryvale, Church of the Resurrection (Leawood), Columbus First, Fredonia First, Ottawa First, Grace Emporia, Harveyville, Humboldt/Big Creek, Jerusalem Road Parish (Leonardville, Randolph, Swede Creek, and Fancy Creek UMCs), Shawnee Heights (Tecumseh), and Tecumseh.

-30-