Category: Healthy Congregations News

Faith-Based Animator Network

Posted on by Nancy McCready

Offered through The Neighboring Movement organization, the Faith-Based Animator Network (FAN) is a paid learning opportunity for those wanting to dive deep into neighboring and ABCD from a faith-based perspective. Applications for the next cohort are due April 1, 2025!

Watch this recent webinar to learn about this special opportunity! View the slides from this presentation here.

FAN seeks to form Community Animators and connectors who are covenantally dedicated to their neighborhoods, including its people, ecology and associations. These “Animators” recognize that God has abundantly gifted all their immediate neighbors with talents, passion and stories, associational ties, informal networks of exchange, and physical assets.

By training in “neighboring” and asset-based community development, they develop the tools to joyfully step into the role of “Community Connector,” working with the Great Weaver that is the Holy Spirit to discover hidden local assets, connect them to one another, and mobilize them toward the common dreams of God and their neighbors.

Animators are paid to build face-to-face relationships and curate an asset map over a 14-week cohort. They can also apply for a second phase, in which they carry out a relationship-driven, asset-based project that connects their neighbors and their congregation.

Throughout the cohort and beyond, animators form a community of practice and “community of care” to encourage, teach, train, celebrate and pray for each other so that each feels fully supported to animate their own places.

Click here or use the button below to apply to join a Learning Cohort. Our next cohort starts in July 2025. Please have each interested individual in your church apply separately.

The program includes two in-person workshops, weekly 90-minute virtual meetings, and engaging in mini-experiments as we work with the Holy Spirit to weave together the tapestries of our places and all life that lives there. The weekly commitment is about 5 hours per week.

This program is great for individuals and small groups who are passionate about finding God already at work in their neighbors and would like to gain resources and peer-support through their journey. 

FAN asks churches to send 3-5 individuals from the congregation who are passionate about intentional, hyperlocal neighboring and can embrace the high commitment and accountability this cohort requires over 14 weeks.

They also ask that churches be ready to bless, commission, and celebrate specific church members to participate as Animators in our program, and to form an “accountability team” that cheers them on and gives them plenty of grace throughout their journey!

This opportunity comes at no cost to churches. The Neighboring Movement believes that by paying Animators through grants, they can resource them to have a long-term impact on the congregation and church culture as a whole, while establishing a missional and incarnational presence on their blocks that has ripple effects far beyond the church walls.

Animators will live out the Key Ingredients of Neighboring in their immediate neighborhoods:

  • Joy — Living authentically as God created you
  • Relationship — Connecting with others to give and receive care
  • Abundance — Discovering, connecting, and mobilizing the God-given gifts latent in all neighbors towards the common dreams of the neighborhood

By the end of the Learning Cohort, Animators know how to:

  • Engage in learning conversations
  • Discover and activate individual capacities
  • Be a connector
  • Build an asset map
  • Celebrate community engagement

Animators who complete a Learning Cohort are eligible to move into the second phase of FAN, Community Building Cohort, which allows Animators to dive deep into their learnings from phase 1 and create a community project of their choice. Time commitment is 5 hours per week at a $15 hourly rate. 

* To see last year’s schedule for the Phase 1 learning cohort, click here. Some activities and initiatives will be condensed, removed, replaced due to limited time, but you can get the gist.

Next cohort begins: July 31, 2025

Applications due: April 1, 2025

Questions: Ian Campbell, Program Director

Apply Now

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

View slides from our recent presentation about this opportunity here.

View the webinar about this opportunity at top of this page or here.

2023 Year in Review released

Posted on by Jeff

2023 Year in Review


What a difference a year can make.

In 2023, the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund awarded 117 grants, convened 14 public meetings, conducted three training series and secured $4 million in federal grant money for Kansas.

And that’s not all.

We continued to work closely with our existing partners and forged new relationships, as well, that will help us advance our goal of improving the health of all Kansans.

In our 2023 Year in Review report, which we just released, you can learn in greater detail about these efforts as we kicked off the first year of our new strategic plan.

View Full Year in Review

2023 Highlights

ACCESS TO CARE

Mercy Hospital in Moundridge, KS-United Methodist Health Ministry Fund

THRIVING CHILDREN

  • Worked with partners to improve early childhood policies and services. We also launched research on the child care assistance program and family economic security issues, including child care.
  • Served on the Early Childhood Transition Task force. Health Fund President David Jordan was nominated by Governor Kelly to serve on this important task force to help recommend how the state can improve its early childhood services.
  • Helped increase access to early childhood mental health services by funding Parent Child Interaction Therapy training in several areas across the state.
  • Partnered with breastfeeding coalitions and health leaders to make significant gains in helping mothers initiate and maintain breastfeeding. Our funding also helped form coalitions led by women of color to support their communities in breastfeeding; it also increased access to lactation support services by helping certify more than 50 consultants and counselors.
  • Funded efforts by the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition to advocate for state policies that support breastfeeding success.

ENGAGED CONGREGATIONS AND COMMUNITIES

United Methodist Health Ministry Fund Health Congregations retreat 2023 group photo
  • Launched Youth Mental Health First Aid training available to all Kansans at no cost.
  • Helped address food insecurity in Salina by providing grant funding for a three-month Summer Food Service Program. Our funding helped to purchase necessary equipment, including shelving and freezers, and signage for an onsite grab-and-go distribution point.
  • Reignited the annual Healthy Congregations Retreat for the first time since the pandemic in 2020.

Our impact in 2023 was significant, and our efforts continue. We look forward to furthering our mission in 2024 to help create a healthier Kansas.

View Full Year in Review



As for Me and My Body

Posted on by Lindsey Fields

Candice McField is the founder of Candice McField Fitness and As for Me and My Body. She is a certified health coach, fitness educator and serves on the Kansas Governor’s Council on Fitness.  McField is passionate about teaching wellness solutions that help her clients strengthen their relationship with Christ and instruct clients on practical ways to keep their bodies mentally, physically, and emotionally healthy.

In her book, As for Me and My Body, McField invites churches to connect their spiritual and physical health to come to a deeper understanding that taking care of the body is an act of serving God. By incorporating relevant scripture, McField challenges readers to evaluate the body, mind, and spirit through professional insight, scriptural portions, and personal stories that are encouraging and easy for anyone to understand. McField guides clients through a personal, life-changing quest that will enable faith leaders to:

• Strengthen their relationship with Christ

• Increase joy, happiness, energy, and hope

• Stop dieting and live a healthy lifestyle

• Conquer health and fitness goals

The Health Fund has partnered with McField to lead groups of 20 Healthy Congregations members through the book over five weeks. Weekly discussions are Tuesdays at noon from January 9-February 2.

You are welcome to sign up as an individual or as a Healthy Congregations team, but each member should sign up individually.

The deadline to RSVP is December 28 or until filled. Each participant must complete a pre- and post-survey, and should commit to participating in all five sessions. The RSVP form is below.

Get vacation abs with Candice!
Join us this fall!

As for Me and My Body details

Participants receive:
-copy of the book
-5 virtual coaching sessions

To participate, individuals must:
-complete a pre- and post-survey

Session Dates:
Noon to 1 PM on Tuesdays 1/9, 1/16, 1/23, 1/30, and 2/6

Deadlines:
Open until filled.

Questions:
Dashinika Poindexter, dashinika@healthfund.org

All registration spaces for the 2024 As for Me and My Body have been filled. Thank you for your interest. Please contact Dashinika Poindexter, dashinika@healthfund.org if you would like to be placed on a waiting list.

God’s Temple: Health and Holiness in the Body of Christ

Posted on by Lindsey Fields

Our health is strongly influenced by a combination of biological, social, and environmental factors beyond our control: the conditions in our communities, the schools in our neighborhoods, the availability of healthy food and good jobs, and how close we are to hospitals and clinics.

As we continue to explore what it means to be healthy, the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund has created a sermon guide that will go beyond the physicality of what health “looks” like and deeper into holistic wellness that includes our emotional, physical, social, and spiritual health.

By exploring health from these four perspectives, the “God’s Temple: Health and Holiness in the Body of Christ” sermon guide opens a wider conversation about health and wellness that integrates with the church’s call to live as the Body of Christ in the world.

To help guide this conversation, the sermon guide utilizes select passages from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.

Week 1 explores emotional health in relation to Paul’s teaching that the Christian community is the temple of God, highlighting belonging as crucial to our emotional well-being as humans.

Week 2 addresses physical health as an individual and communal endeavor as Christians are called to use our bodies to glorify God.

Week 3 explores social health using Paul’s discussion of whether the Corinthian Christians should eat meat sacrificed to idols. Paul’s teaching emphasizes that social health means loving God and loving neighbor by glorifying God while also actively seeking not to be a stumbling block to our neighbors.

Week 4 concludes the series by exploring spiritual health as the cultivation of love as the church cooperates in using our gifts to grow and act as the Body of Christ in the world.

Downloads
Sermon Guide and Toolkit
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Resources

Nationwide Resources

Kansas Resources

Resources in this sermon guide

Week 1

We’d love to hear from you! Did you use the sermon guide and/or toolkit? Would you be willing to share your feedback and experiences? Questions or suggestions? Please email us at hcnews@healthfund.org.

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Social Media

Below are social media tiles to help you promote the series. We would love to know if you use the guide—please tag us on Twitter or Facebook (@umhealthfund).

Facebook

Twitter

Let the Little Children: The Body of Christ and Childhood Health and Well-Being

Posted on by Lindsey Fields

The Health Fund believes that investing in early childhood development leads to the best health outcomes and the greatest return on investment. Research has shown that well-designed early childhood interventions can provide the support necessary to foster healthy brain growth and buffer children from the effects of adverse childhood experiences. We have learned that with adequate safe, stable, nurturing relationships during the first five years of life, children are more likely to succeed in school, become productive workers, and contribute to society.

The well-being of children in our churches and communities is an issue of great significance for the health and flourishing of children, families, and neighborhoods across the country and around the world. In an effort to connect the science of early childhood development and proven public health interventions with the life and mission of the church, this guide offers a three-week worship series that highlights three of Jesus’ interactions with children during his ministry.

Week 1 establishes the foundation for how and why Jesus welcomes and embraces children as part of God’s kingdom and invites the church to live into Jesus’ example by recognizing our Christian responsibility to nurture the well-being of children in our community.

Week 2 uses Jesus’ healing of the spirit-possessed boy in Luke’s Gospel as a model for how the church can tend to the physical health of children in our communities, paying particular attention to insurance coverage, wellness vaccines, and food security.

Week 3 then turns to Jesus’ Community Discourse in the Gospel of Matthew to explore Christ’s call to childlikeness as an invitation to promote children’s mental health by removing stumbling blocks and providing the relationships and skill-building necessary for children to build resilience in the face of adversity.

Downloads
Sermon guide and Toolkit
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We’d love to hear from you! Did you use the sermon guide and/or toolkit? Would you be willing to share your feedback and experiences? Questions or suggestions? Please email us at hcnews@healthfund.org.

Resources

Nationwide Resources

Kansas Resources

Resources in this sermon guide

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Social Media

Below are social media tiles to help you promote the series. We would love to know if you use the guide—please tag us on Twitter or Facebook (@umhealthfund).

Facebook

Twitter

Sermon Workshop: Connecting Faith and Health

Posted on by Lindsey Fields

The Health Fund hosted a free online sermon workshop: “Connecting Faith and Health: A Sermon-Planning Workshop for Preaching with Impact.”

The Health Fund is dedicated to improving the health and wholeness of Kansans. Over the past year, the Health Fund has worked in partnership with Lisa Hancock, PhD, to develop a series of sermon guides that bring together Scripture, theology, and health to help congregations connect their faith to health.

Each sermon guide contains multiple weeks; each week includes a call to worship, hymn selections, children’s sermon, call to action, and benediction, in addition to an exegesis and sermon notes section based on the week’s scripture passage.

Lisa Hancock led the workshop. Watch the workshop recording to learn more about each guide, and leave with up to 25 weeks of your liturgical sermon calendar planned.

Workshop Recording

Workshop slides
Workshop notes sheets
0:00:00 Welcome
0:25:14 Overview of the Liturgical Year
0:44:58 Journey Toward Mental Wellness (Advent or Ordinary Time)
1:09:59 Naming Trauma and Practicing Resilient Love (Lent)
1:35:41 Tending the Civic Soil (Ordinary Time)
1:59:03 God’s Temple: Health and Holiness in the Body of Christ (Ordinary Time)
2:20:13 Wrapped in God’s Embrace: Maternal Health, Flourishing, and Building Communities of Care (Ordinary Time)
2:43:16 Let the Little Children (Ordinary Time)
2:59:17 Questions and Feedback
3:13:57 Closing Prayer and Benediction

Webinar: Spring into Healthy Congregations

Posted on by Lindsey Fields

Spring is a time of renewal for our land, for our spirits, and for our Healthy Congregations program.

This live webinar was recorded on Thursday, April 28. We discussed the 2022 Healthy Congregations renewal process, innovative ways to use your annual grant, and special grant opportunities that could increase your congregation’s health ministry.

Speakers included:

Wrapped in God’s Embrace: Maternal Health, Flourishing, and Building Communities of Care

Posted on by Lindsey Fields

The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund (Health Fund) is pleased to release a maternal health sermon guide. The Health Fund is committed to supporting the health and wholeness of all Kansans, including mothers. Maternal health intersects with two of our priority focus areas: Access to Care and Early Childhood Development.

Maternal and child health are early indicators of future public health challenges, which is why it is critical for mothers and children to have the healthiest start to life. Healthy mothers are important to building healthy families, but mothers often face mental and physical health issues that, without timely support and care, can impact not only their own well-being and quality of life but also present additional hurdles to the work of caring for children and loved ones. Infrastructure, supports, and communities of care for mothers are necessary for all Kansans to have the best start in life.

Research shows supporting a strong start to life for mothers and babies and investing early creates not only the best health outcomes, but also the greatest return on investment. At the Health Fund we are committed to ensuring mothers and our youngest Kansans enjoy nurturing family environments, so they are primed for healthy lives.

Beyond supporting program and policy investments, we want to create a loving and caring environment that supports maternal health, which is why we created this sermon guide.

This sermon guide, Wrapped in God’s Embrace: Maternal Health, Flourishing, and Building Communities of Care, acknowledges the vocation of motherhood and its impacts on family and community life. When considering maternal health, consider it as all issues related to the well-being of persons who give birth and/or take on the labor of motherhood in the lives of children. These issues include reproductive health, preventive care, mental health services, and emotional support services for mothers, as well as the points at which children’s health intersects with maternal health. This sermon guide will challenge readers to take a closer look at how mothers and their children are supported inside and outside of the church and the ways a child’s health is tied closely to their parent’s health and access to health care.

Through interpretative principles, this guide will address the often unseen struggles of motherhood, identify biblical text that will empower mothers, and will ultimately encourage readers to advocate and support for the health and legacy of motherhood and the well-being of the next generation.

Each week includes a call to worship, hymn selections, children’s sermon, call to action, and benediction, in addition to an exegesis and sermon notes section based on the week’s scripture passage. Week 1 introduces Mary’s birth story in the Gospel of Luke as a window into postpartum health and the supports women need in the first hours, days, and weeks of motherhood with a new child. Week 2 centers around the Canaanite Woman and the work of mothers as advocates for the well-being of the family, followed by Week 3 in which we witness how God guides Elijah, the Widow of Zarephath, and her son to form a community of care in the midst of hardship and crisis. The guide concludes in Week 4 with a return to Mary the Mother of the adult Jesus who, as a grown child, shows the fruit of secure attachment in early childhood.

Downloads
Sermon guide and Toolkit
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Nationwide Resources

Kansas Resources

United Methodist and Faith-Based Resources:

We’d love to hear from you! Did you use the sermon guide and/or toolkit? Would you be willing to share your feedback and experiences? Questions or suggestions? Please email us at hcnews@healthfund.org.

Resources in this sermon guide

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Social Media Tiles

Below are social media tiles to help you promote the series. We would love to know if you use the guide—please tag us on Twitter or Facebook (@umhealthfund).

Facebook

Twitter

Naming Trauma and Practicing Resilient Love

Posted on by Lindsey Fields

A Lenten Sermon Guide and Toolkit

At the Health Fund, we have partnered with non-profit organizations, universities, and state agencies to make healthcare more accessible for all Kansans. Yet, we know that the heartland holds a variety of lived experiences and histories that can leave negative imprints on their bodies that show up physically and emotionally in long-lasting ways. We call this trauma.

There has been a growing recognition of the lifelong effects of trauma, particularly from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as poverty, abuse, or neglect. Research demonstrates the best way to offset the impact of ACEs is through strong, stable, and nurturing relationships, especially with caring adults. A major focus area of our work at the Health Fund is early childhood development, including work to help families and communities build resilience in order to prevent and mitigate the impacts of trauma.

We know that untreated trauma negatively impacts the quality of life for the trauma survivor and those closest to them. Trauma may contribute to behaviors linked to poor health outcomes, like isolation from others, poor impulse control, anxiety, or increased use of substances to numb the pain or shame from intense feelings. Our vision for this sermon guide is to help individuals and communities recognize trauma and seek healing through resilient love.

Practicing resilient love helps individuals and communities return to the healthiest versions of themselves while simultaneously creating space to receive and give compassion, love, and respect to their neighbors who may have lived and experienced different realities from their own. Turning away from shame and drawing closer to Christ emboldens communities to call out the impact of trauma on their physical and emotional health.

In this sermon guide and toolkit, you will find a call to worship, hymns, children’s sermon, exegesis, sermon notes, and benediction to lead a seven-week Lenten series centered on the trauma experienced from economic hardship, relational wounds, environmental insecurity, and communal divisiveness. Included are resources on understanding trauma and connecting others to behavioral health services in Kansas and Nebraska.

Downloads:
Sermon Guide and Toolkit
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Easter Bulletin Insert

Resource Links:

We’d love to hear from you! Did you use the sermon guide and/or toolkit? Would you be willing to share your feedback and experiences? Would you consider recording a brief video to share? Questions or suggestions? Please send us an email at hcnews@healthfund.org.

Additional Resources:

Social Media Tiles

Below are social media tiles to help you promote the series. We would love to know if you use the guide—please tag us on Twitter or Facebook (@umhealthfund).

Facebook

Twitter

Colby UMC honored by state

Posted on by Lindsey Fields

Colby United Methodist Church received the organizational honorable mention for the 2022 Kansas Health Champion Award.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Governor’s Council on Fitness (GCOF) presented the 2022 Kansas Health Champion Awards during the Community Health Promotion Summit today, Thursday, January 27.

The Health Champion Award was developed by the Governor’s Council on Fitness to recognize and promote exemplary contributions to fitness in Kansas. Those recognized include an individual and organization, as well as honorable mentions in each category.

Colby United Methodist Church (UMC) was selected as the 2022 Kansas Health Champion Organizational Honorable Mention. Colby UMC is an active member of the Health Fund’s Healthy Congregations program. Colby UMC has participated in programs that seek to address food insecurity, such as partnering with the school district and other organizations to support the Summer Food Service Program for their community. They have worked with the Thomas County Coalition to start a community garden and orchard, plus Colby UMC has worked with additional partners in the community to support a free bike share program.

Katie Schoenhoff, Health Fund director of programs, nominated Colby UMC. Schoenhoff said, “Colby United Methodist Church has long demonstrated an outstanding level of commitment and service to the health and wellness of both congregation and community, going beyond expectations to address not only immediate needs but also the underlying social determinants of health. Their partnerships with local organizations have supported both the sustainability of their efforts and increased community engagement.”

Volunteers working in community garden
Bike Share program
Volunteers working in community garden
Boxing summer meals
Volunteers plant trees in Giving Grove
Volunteers plant trees in Giving Grove

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