Heal the Sick Program

Whole Person Health and Well-Being in the Community

MISSION

As part of Wesley Theological Seminary's Community Engagement Institute, the Heal the Sick (HTS) Program prepares, educates, and equips leaders to advance whole person health and well-being of individuals, communities, and congregations, especially those who are under-served.

OVERVIEW

The Heal the Sick Program works at the intersection of faith and health on a local, regional, and national level. The Heal the Sick program prepare leaders to advance whole person health and well-being of individuals, communities, and congregations, especially those who are underserved. Key components of the program include promoting faith communities’ health ministries, providing educational opportunities, catalyzing network creation, and supporting existing networks, and facilitating collaboration with community partners.

The program offers a 30-hour, 12-week Health Minister Certificate; Advanced Leadership Training for Health Ministers; graduate courses (Introduction to Health Ministry and Leadership in Health Ministry, and Trauma Informed Congregations); provides resources and information to help churches and communities address health concerns, share resources, and advocate for better care; and collaborates with faith-based organizations, public health, businesses, hospitals, and other groups to conduct faith and health research to better understand the impact of health ministries as well as health and wellness issues.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

To learn more about the Heal the Sick program's accomplishments, please visit https://www.wesleyseminary.edu/ice/programs/heal-the-sick/publications-accomplishments/

If you would like more information about the Heal the Sick program, please email us at tpruski@wesleyseminary.edu or call 202-706-6843.

Heal the Sick's Key Roles:

Equip - Prepare leaders for various roles as collaborator, listener, coordinator, and critical thinker in promoting health and healing in community
Support - Assist congregations' health ministries and help develop their role to discern their direction and partners
Catalyze - Initiate network creation or support existing networks among congregations, hospitals, and associations
Serve - Work as facilitator for sustaining communication and collaboration among local leaders to serve the common good

What is Health Ministry?

There are numerous models of health ministry. Below you will find a sample list of different models that can be used as part of a faith community’s health ministry that support health ministry. We encourage you to look at your faith community’s current structure and existing ministries. Find ways to improve coordination and communications among all ministries by forming an organized health ministry. Build on what you have already at your congregation. Explore equitable and respectful collaborative partnerships for your health ministry model with other groups. Connect to a Network to receive support, resources, and coordinate.

Find a model or combination of models that works best for you, your faith community, and your community. Here is a small sample of different Health Ministry Models:

Health Ministers
Health ministers play a key role in health ministry. Health ministers are unique in that their backgrounds and experiences vary, even between health ministers in the same faith community. Some are healthcare professionals, barbers, stay at home parents, lawyers or accountants. They can be health navigators, wellness coaches, outreach workers, health educators, health ambassadors, or promoters de salud. What is most important is that a health minister believes in the importance of holistic health and in the role of faith communities in improving the health and wellness of the community. Often, they are part of a health and wellness ministry/team. Some may work alone while others may work with faith community nurses to organize, plan, and evaluate health ministry activities.

Faith Community Nursing
Faith Community Nursing, formerly known as parish nursing, is for active licensed registered nurses who receive additional education and training. The American Nurses Association, working with the Health Ministries Association, offered a specialty practice for licensed registered nurses which began in 2014. Faith Community Nurse certification was discontinued in 2020 for new applicants. Those who have already obtained certification for this specialty practice can renew it every 5 years. Some of the key roles of a faith community nurse may include health education, health counseling, referrals, health ministry team coordination, and volunteer coordination. Faith community nurses, like health ministers, are key members of a health ministry team, though in some faith communities, they may work independently of a health ministry team.

A Congregational Health & Wellness Ministry
Many congregations have or are developing organized, formal health ministries that address the health of its faith community’s members as well as work with the community at large. Health ministry seeks to find common ground among other congregational ministries, such as social justice, religious education, volunteer visitors, hospitality, and youth ministries. Health ministry sees health holistically. A Health ministry is representative of faith community and community members.

Health ministers and faith community nurses often play key roles in health and wellness ministries. Both can work together in a congregational health ministry. Health ministries actively supported by clergy meet regularly to discuss and plan health activities that benefit the congregation as well as the community. A sample of health ministry activities may include support groups, speakers on specific topics, visitation ministries, and advocacy efforts.

Faith Community Nursing

There are also educational programs available for faith community nurses. Faith community nursing is a specialty practice recognized by the American Nurses Association. The Heal the Sick program recognizes the importance of this role in numerous faith-based settings for licensed, registered nurses. Some of the key roles of a faith community nurse may include health education, health counseling, referrals, health ministry team coordinator and volunteer coordination.

If you are registered nurse and you are interested in faith community nurse educational programs to prepare you for this role, please call (202)706-6843.

Connect to Networks

The Heal the Sick program supports the development of faith community health networks across the greater Washington, DC, Baltimore, and Northern Virginia regions. Heal the Sick also partners with other national partners who have faith and health networks. The networks bring together members of faith communities, community organizations, and health care providers to provide support, resources, and continuing educational opportunities for individuals interested in promoting whole person health, preventing disease, and addressing health disparities. The ultimate goal is for the development of self-sustaining networks.

Networks usually meet at least quarterly and include time for identifying community resources, discussion, reflection, and education on topics self-identified by community and faith member participants. The networks help people build trusting relationships with each other and collaborative partners. Network need backbone organization to hold the group together. Backbone organizations provide ongoing staff, resources, and other support to help the group. Different organizations can share the backbone role in providing space for meetings, a dedicated staff person to organize and facilitate meeting, etc. Networking takes effort and work. It does not happen naturally. It needs proper funding and support.

Hospital-Based Networks
The Northern Virginia network was an example of a partnership between Heal the Sick, faith communities, and a hospital or hospital system. The network geographically covered the Route 1 corridor in Alexandria, VA. This hospital-based network partnership was between the INOVA Health System and Wesley Theological Seminary. The partnership included INOVA Mt. Vernon hospital, the Heal the Sick program, individuals from local faith communities and volunteer hospital chaplains who are active in local faith communities, as well. All of these parties worked collectively to build and strengthen collaborations that bring together the resources of hospital and community health care organizations and congregations for improved community health. The Heal the Sick played a pivotal role in helping to educate the faith communities and hospital staff by holding introductory workshops and offering its Health Minister and Faith Community Nurse certificates.

Key staff for the INOVA - Wesley partnership included the hospital's head chaplain for pastoral services, chaplaincy staff, a network partnership manager employed by the participating hospital, Heal the Sick program director, and faith community members. Heal the Sick’s partnership with INOVA Mt. Vernon hospital has changed due to funding and staff changes. Heal the Sick still works with and supports Mt. Vernon congregations from the original network as well as other VA faith communities. Hospital-based network models work well for a hospital or hospital-system with a strong commitment to sustaining community connection and/or a chaplaincy or pastoral service department with strong community ties.

Community-Based Networks
Heal the Sick has supported a variety of networks in Wards 7 and 8 in Washington DC. Community based networks draw upon a partnership between Heal the Sick, key clergy, faith community members from these Wards, and various partners. Many participants in these networks are graduates of the Health Minister and Faith Community Nurse certificate who are seeking to integrate a health ministry into their faith community. These networks provide an avenue of continued support after the completion of the certificate by bringing together individuals who are from the same region and who have similar goals and challenges. There is a common goal in these networks to coordinate faith community and health promotion efforts to address health disparities. Participants receive support from each other, as well as from Heal the Sick staff through continued educational opportunities.

D.C. Health Collaboration
Wesley Theological Seminary has worked with D.C. congregations, American University, Children’s National Medical Center, Ward 5, 7, & 8 Health Alliance, D.C. Department of Health & Human Services - Places of Worship (POWAB) and the United States Department of Health and Human Services Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships to reduce health disparities in the District of Columbia through creation of faith and health partnerships. We are building and strengthening collaborations that bring together the resources of many organizations and congregations for improved community health. DC has some of the highest rates in the nation of HIV/AIDS, infant mortality, diabetes and asthma. Within D.C. there are tremendous disparities in health and health care access.

DC Health Matters Collaborative
The DC Health Matters Collaborative (formerly the DC Healthy Communities Collaborative - DCHCC) is a coalition of DC hospitals and health centers who work together with community partners to assess and address health needs in DC. The DCHCC Community Health Needs Assessment of 2022 describes the current health priorities and needs of Washington, DC. Wesley Theological Seminary' Heal the Sick program has been an active partner in helping the collaborative to identify and address DC health needs.

In 2019, Wesley Theological Seminary' Heal the Sick program was active and important contributor of the DC Health Matters Collaborative’s Health Literacy work group. Wesley Theological Seminary’s Heal the Sick worked with undergraduate and graduate students from American University, George Washington University, and University of Maryland School of Nursing to research and find best practices around health literacy. The findings showed a strong concern with lack of cultural competency and awareness by healthcare providers in relation to the care of African Americans in Washington, DC. The health literacy findings also discovered cultural/folk practices and spiritual factors which shape health for African Americans. The Heal the Sick program developed and proposed several educational and informational resources to DCHCC so that health literacy could be improved by addressing cultural competency and awareness within the medical community within specific wards in DC where there is greater than 90% African American population. To achieve these goals, Heal the Sick continues working with Health Ministers Coordinators, Health Ministers, Healthcare Providers, and others who impact overall health within DC Wards 5, 7, and 8. To see our web page on our DC Health Literacy work, please visit this link.

Baltimore Health Collaboration
Wesley Theological Seminary continues to work with Baltimore area hospitals and congregations, Maryland Healthcare for All, the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church to improve the health of greater Baltimore residents through faith and health partnerships. We are working with several greater Baltimore congregational health ministries and Wesley Theological Seminary Health Minister Certificate graduates to develop increased collaboration, partnerships, and networks in the greater Baltimore are to provide a long term, sustainable structure for this work. We seek to build and strengthen collaborations that bring together the resources of many organizations and congregations for improved community health.

If you are interested in developing or learning more about faith community health networks, please contact us at tpruski@wesleyseminary.edu.

General Resources

Valuable links and resources for faith communities: