Family Support is Key to Health and Spiritual Growth

By Bishop Philip R. Cousin, Sr.

At the core of every Health and Wellness Ministry is family...the immediate family and the extended congregational family. It is the support of the family, which is the foundation of a strong Health and Wellness Ministry.

It is the care – spiritually, physically and emotionally – of family that creates an atmosphere of hope in illness, resolve in changing poor health habits, and joy in sharing times of wellness.

Family helps by offering prayer for the health of fellow family members, by reinforcing the spiritual well being of others in the family and by supporting and reinforcing those habits, which lead to a healthier lifestyle.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness strengthens and enhances the spiritual and physical welfare of the entire family. The knowledge of healthy practices to share with each other and educating our congregations to those best health practices can ultimately prevent the diseases which afflict too many of our families.

Taking loved ones to health appointments. Learning about ways to reinforce healthy practices – including diet and exercise – are at the core of a successful Health and Wellness Ministry. Nubian Health Products Church Program supports the Health and Wellness Ministry providing information, education and quality vitamins and supplements as ways to mitigate and prevent disease and chronic illness.

This program provides the health education, which can help prevent disease. And it is in prevention that we make the strongest effort to protect the health of our families. It also provides the means to ensure that members of our families, who already suffer in disproportionate numbers to the general population from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer, can begin to build more healthful lives.

Improved diet leads to improved health. Nubian Health Products provides the information and the highest quality food supplements to correct dietary deficiency and contribute to the prevention of many diseases.

A family approach to health and wellness in the context of the church also provides our youth with the example of healthy practices that is so necessary to their future. The Nubian Health Products Church Program also offers youth of our church the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills and funds a scholarship program.

It is a time for your family and the extended family of our church, to share our love of one another by developing and reinforcing those practices, which promote well being spiritually AND physically. Here are some thoughts on beginning.

Practices, which families can follow to promote health and wellness, include:

• Monitor daily nutrition by planning balanced meals.
• Consistently utilize supplements to ensure nutritional needs are achieved. Ask: Did you take your vitamins today?
• Adopt an exercise routine which is consistent and doable, dancing, walking, go the gym – as a habit.
• Check in with your doctor to monitor your family’s health. Share information, particularly about family medical history,
• Make sure all family members have the necessary immunizations and screening tests that are required annually.
• Be alert to the signs of behaviors that indicate a health risk and depression.
• Strive to achieve a balance in all life’s endeavors – particularly family life...it is at the core of wellness.

Bishop Philip R. Cousin, Sr., 96th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and former President of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA and Dr. M. Joan Cousin, Episcopal Supervisor, Women’s Missionary Society.