News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: November 9, 2005
For more information, contact: Virginia Elliott, Vice President for Programs, 620-662-8586

29 Kansas churches selected for pilot health and wellness initiative

With the goal of helping churches make health and wellness a higher priority in both their congregations and their communities, a Healthy Congregations in Action initiative is being instituted in 29 Kansas United Methodist churches to evaluate whether such a concentrated effort can make a noticeable difference.

The initiative emphasizes the importance of health in its fullest context including physical, mental, and social as well as spiritual. "Spiritual health is certainly the foundation of the church. But when we are not healthy in all aspects of our lives, we are less than what we can be and hampered in fulfilling our calling, whatever that may be," commented Kim Moore, president of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund which is funding the pilot program through grants to the selected churches.

This pilot program is a response to a "healthy lifestyles" resolution passed by both the Kansas East and Kansas West Conferences of the United Methodist Church. An advisory committee, appointed by the Kansas Bishop to facilitate implementation of the resolution on a local church basis, worked in tandem with the Health Fund to develop Healthy Congregations in Action.

The pilot United Methodist churches are in Beloit, Cherryvale, Colby, Columbus, Copeland, Dodge City, Emporia, Fredonia, Harveyville, Hutchinson, Hoisington, Kechi, Marion, Ottawa, Rose Hill, Russell, Salina, Tecumseh, and Wichita. In three instances, several smaller churches in close proximity are combining efforts: Almena, Clayton, and Norcatur; Humboldt and Big Creek; and Leonardville, Randolph, Swede Creek and Fancy Creek United Methodist churches.

The Health Fund, endowed by the Kansas West Conference of the United Methodist Church from a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, is dedicated to improving health, healing, and wholeness in Kansas. United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, located in Hutchinson, has made grants totaling more than $42 million to support hundreds of health-related Kansas projects, through churches as well as other qualifying organizations, since its founding in 1986.

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