Healing Bodies and Souls: A Practical Guide for Congregations

As healthcare leaders widely recognize, churches are second homes to their members and ideally situatedindeed calledto serve their communities with the loving and personal care that a stressed healthcare system cannot deliver. Daniel Hale and Harold Koenig, national leaders in health ministries, offer a practical and engaging primer on developing a variety of initiatives for all who are concerned and interestedpastors, parish nurses, lay leaders, and concerned parishioners. Their short volume mixes real-life congregational case studies with vital information to equip congregants in helping people manage illness, navigate the healthcare labyrinth, avoid or manage disability, and even provide some life-saving and preventative medical services.While their case studies report on the many kinds of engagement congregations have taken on, each chapter also provides basic information on the most common healthcare challengesdiabetes, skin cancer, stroke, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, breast cancer, prostate cancer, glaucoma, and depressionand what can be done in local congregations.

W. Daniel Hale is Professor of Psychology at Stetson University, DeLand, Florida. He is author of Building Healthy Communities through Medical-Religious Partnerships (with Richard G. Bennett, 2000).

Harold G. Koenig, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Associate Professor of Medicine, and founding co-director of Duke's Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health.