Physical health

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Workers at Convent Avenue Baptist Church offer free coronavirus testing for people in their West Harlem neighborhood. The five-day effort in May has served as a model for faith-based communities to help close the racial gap in access to testing. Photo courtesy of Convent Avenue Baptist Church

Health & Well-being, Physical health, Congregations

Churches can help stop the spread of the coronavirus by offering free COVID-19 testing

Inspired by the success of a program at Convent Avenue Baptist Church in West Harlem, a national nonprofit hopes to encourage other congregations to get involved in overcoming the logistical, emotional and financial barriers to COVID-19 testing in underserved communities.

St Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse, New York, circa 1870. Photos courtesy of Saint Marianne Cope Archives

Health & Well-being, Physical health, Christian Leadership, Innovation

Driven by her faith, a religious sister set new standards in medical care

St. Marianne Cope, driven by her faith to provide medical care to the most vulnerable, also played a key role in creating hygiene standards.

Unsplash / Ashley Batz

Health & Well-being, Research, Physical health, Emotional health

Matt Bloom: A commitment to personal rituals can sustain clergy, even during a pandemic

Pastors can benefit from adaptable, restorative practices, writes a leading researcher on well-being in the workplace.

iStock / Filadendron

Health & Well-being, Emotional health, Physical health, Spiritual health

Chanequa Walker-Barnes: The fear God gives us

Fear is not the antithesis of faith and truth; nor does it indicate a lack of trust in God, writes a pastoral care professor and licensed clinical psychologist. Indeed, God created us with fear to keep us safe.

Unsplash / Tim Mossholder

Health & Well-being, Physical health, Spiritual health, Reconciliation, Community

Warren Kinghorn: What can we do to seek healing in the way of Jesus?

Jesus healed through reversal, rescue and restoration. His healing did not just leave bodies and spirits whole. It left communities whole as well, writes a psychiatrist and theologian.

Illustration by Jessamyn Rubio and iStock / DeVita SilviaNingtyas

Theological Reflection, Health & Well-being, Physical health

Olivia Paschal: Social distancing as a spiritual practice

The “practice” of social distancing is like many of our spiritual disciplines, requiring intent and yielding sometimes intangible results, says a writer.

Photo illustration by Jessamyn Rubio / iStock by Eucyln

Health & Well-being, Physical health, Spiritual health

Kara K. Root: The 20-second gift of washing your hands

Twenty seconds doesn’t seem like a long time -- until you try to follow the guidance to wash your hands for that long to avoid the new coronavirus, writes a pastor.

iStock / dakuk

Health & Well-being, Physical health, Spiritual health

Resources for Christian leaders during the coronavirus pandemic

We update this list of information from government and media sources regularly to offer guidance to pastors and other Christian leaders struggling to respond to the pandemic of COVID-19.

Health & Well-being, Physical health, Emotional health

J. Dana Trent: Planning for death helps you enjoy life

In her new book, “Dessert First,” an author and former “death chaplain” encourages people to prepare for the practical parts of death.

Eunice Sykes, seated, chats with Sharon Gentles, standing to the right, at the beginning of a dementia caregiver support group meeting at Sheila Welch's Marietta, Georgia, home. Welch, second from left, expanded her church's ministry after taking care of her mother for three years. Photos by Bita Honarvar

Health & Well-being, Physical health, Emotional health

Dementia ministry in Georgia serves as a model for churches to care for the caregivers

What started with a simple support group has grown to include online resources and gatherings that pursue its twofold mission: to help caregivers and to educate faith and community leaders. It’s part of a growing trend of congregations supporting the “invisible second patients” of dementia.

A learning resource for Christian leaders and their institutions from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity