Principles & Practice of Health Evangelism
Chapter 10
Program Format
Textbook pages 74-82
Do One Thing Well
How often should a health evangelism program be conducted? What days of the week are best? After this program what should we do next? These are all important questions.
Many times, health evangelism programs have been scheduled to complement traditional evangelistic endeavors. Pastors and evangelists have conducted health evangelism programs as a prelude to traditional evangelistic meetings. I have seen for example, a 5-Day Plan to Stop Smoking attached to the front end of a 6-week evangelistic series. I have participated in an evangelistic series where the first 10 minutes of each evening’s presentation was a “health nugget.”
Several other variations have been tried over the decades. Very simply, none of these formats have particularly enhanced evangelistic outcomes. Today the health message is often presented in a single evangelistic lecture. So, what does work? How should health evangelism programs be conducted?
I believe health evangelism programs should stand on their own. They should be designed to be evangelistic in their own right. It is not particularly desirable or undesirable for health evangelism programs to be directly connected to other more traditional doctrinal evangelistic programs.
It is desirable for a church to become skilled in conducting health evangelism. This requires a church to conduct the same health evangelism program over and over again. Not just once or twice, but on a regularly scheduled basis. Not for just one year, but year after year. There are many advantages of doing things this way.
Continuous programming of the same health evangelism program builds a core of dedicated church members, who become skilled in doing this work. They quickly learn the ropes of organization. When it is time to do the next program very little effort is necessary to get things started once again. Everyone knows who does what and when to do it. There may be a new helper or two to orient to the program, but the program runs smoothly with dedicated “permanent” volunteer staff.
Additionally, when the same health evangelism program is conducted repeatedly, church members become skilled in relating to people who come for behavior change. Church members quickly learn all the excuses people offer for lack of compliance with the program. They learn the traps that befall those who are struggling with bad habits. Church members become skilled counselors.
More importantly, church members learn to pray for those who are struggling to break the bonds of sin and live better, healthier lives. They can become spiritual guides to those who need someone to place their hands in the hand of a loving Savior who helps them break bad habits.
None of these advantages can be achieved by doing a health evangelism program just once or twice and then going on to something else. Learn to do one thing well.
An additional advantage in doing just one health evangelism program repeatedly is that the community comes to rely on your church for help with one specific health problem. If you conduct a weight control program, those who have been successful will encourage their obese neighbors to, “Go down to the Seventh-day Adventist church. They help people with weight problems.”
A good reputation is the result of consistency and reliability. We are known as Seventh-day Adventists because we go to church every Sabbath. We will be established as health evangelists when we consistently offer lifesaving health programming on a regular, dependable, basis.
A program offered continuously and consistently will find a valued place in the spectrum of health services available in your community.
Another benefit of doing one program well is the networking that results. Other community agencies will start referring clients to your health evangelism program. Case workers dispensing food stamps to obese persons may advise their clients to enroll in your weight management program. The longer you operate the same health evangelism program in a community the more referrals you will receive from other agencies.
These voluntary and governmental agencies will be comfortable referring clients to your health evangelism program because your program has a life of its own and is not obviously or directly connected with traditional evangelistic efforts. This doesn’t mean you cannot conduct traditional evangelistic meetings in the same church in which you do health evangelism, but they should run on parallel tracks, not on an obvious sequential track.
Agencies will prefer to refer clients to your health evangelism program because your program is a low-cost effort run by volunteers. What I am saying is that the American Heart Association would rather refer an overweight client to your weight management program because you are both voluntary organizations. The Heart Association is not going to create business for Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, TOPS, or any other for profit, commercial organization.
The current national climate in the United States is such that “faith-based” initiatives are looked upon favorably. A church that offers behavior change programs of various types will be a valued community resource.
An equally important part of networking is for you to learn the services offered by other agencies in your community. You will have occasion to refer people with various needs to other organizations that can provide help to your clients.
It has been my experience that most churches will do a health program just once. In the Texas Conference I had the opportunity to officially promote the Best Weigh nutrition and weight management program around the conference. I promoted Best Weigh at pastor’s meetings and in regional meetings with pastors. At the start, interest in Best Weigh was high. In the first year 15 churches around the Conference conducted Best Weigh programs.
All the pastors reported that Best Weigh was an effective program. In every program many were able to achieve their weight loss goals. Usually there was one person who would lose 30 pounds or more during the ten weeks of the program.
Church members were involved with Best Weigh who had never been involved in church activities before. More non-Adventists attended the program than had attended other programs in recent history of the church. The pastors were uniformly positive about the impact of Best Weigh on the church and the community.
Even with so many churches involved and with such positive results, only two churches, conducted more than one Best Weigh program. All other churches called it quits after conducting just one.
One church’s experience in Mesquite, Texas is particularly instructive. At the first Best Weigh program they had 30 non-Adventist’s attend. The church had invested $1500 in advertising. For their second Best Weigh the church scaled back the advertising to just $300. The results were better than at first as over 50 non-Adventists came out. For the third Best Weigh the advertising was done for the church by the local school district. The school system enclosed Best Weigh announcements in letters to parents. Again, Best Weigh attendance was up, over 50 non-Adventists attended the third Best Weigh program. No money at all was invested in advertising.
The lesson to be learned is that as you repeatedly offer the same health evangelism program, the more popular the program becomes. It will take less effort and expense to attract the public. Several Bible study interests were raised from each Best Weigh program in this church. Sadly, with a change in pastors the Best Weigh Programs in this church ceased.
Many times, health evangelism programs have been scheduled to complement traditional evangelistic endeavors. Pastors and evangelists have conducted health evangelism programs as a prelude to traditional evangelistic meetings. I have seen for example, a 5-Day Plan to Stop Smoking attached to the front end of a 6-week evangelistic series. I have participated in an evangelistic series where the first 10 minutes of each evening’s presentation was a “health nugget.”
Several other variations have been tried over the decades. Very simply, none of these formats have particularly enhanced evangelistic outcomes. Today the health message is often presented in a single evangelistic lecture. So, what does work? How should health evangelism programs be conducted?
I believe health evangelism programs should stand on their own. They should be designed to be evangelistic in their own right. It is not particularly desirable or undesirable for health evangelism programs to be directly connected to other more traditional doctrinal evangelistic programs.
It is desirable for a church to become skilled in conducting health evangelism. This requires a church to conduct the same health evangelism program over and over again. Not just once or twice, but on a regularly scheduled basis. Not for just one year, but year after year. There are many advantages of doing things this way.
Continuous programming of the same health evangelism program builds a core of dedicated church members, who become skilled in doing this work. They quickly learn the ropes of organization. When it is time to do the next program very little effort is necessary to get things started once again. Everyone knows who does what and when to do it. There may be a new helper or two to orient to the program, but the program runs smoothly with dedicated “permanent” volunteer staff.
Additionally, when the same health evangelism program is conducted repeatedly, church members become skilled in relating to people who come for behavior change. Church members quickly learn all the excuses people offer for lack of compliance with the program. They learn the traps that befall those who are struggling with bad habits. Church members become skilled counselors.
More importantly, church members learn to pray for those who are struggling to break the bonds of sin and live better, healthier lives. They can become spiritual guides to those who need someone to place their hands in the hand of a loving Savior who helps them break bad habits.
None of these advantages can be achieved by doing a health evangelism program just once or twice and then going on to something else. Learn to do one thing well.
An additional advantage in doing just one health evangelism program repeatedly is that the community comes to rely on your church for help with one specific health problem. If you conduct a weight control program, those who have been successful will encourage their obese neighbors to, “Go down to the Seventh-day Adventist church. They help people with weight problems.”
A good reputation is the result of consistency and reliability. We are known as Seventh-day Adventists because we go to church every Sabbath. We will be established as health evangelists when we consistently offer lifesaving health programming on a regular, dependable, basis.
A program offered continuously and consistently will find a valued place in the spectrum of health services available in your community.
Another benefit of doing one program well is the networking that results. Other community agencies will start referring clients to your health evangelism program. Case workers dispensing food stamps to obese persons may advise their clients to enroll in your weight management program. The longer you operate the same health evangelism program in a community the more referrals you will receive from other agencies.
These voluntary and governmental agencies will be comfortable referring clients to your health evangelism program because your program has a life of its own and is not obviously or directly connected with traditional evangelistic efforts. This doesn’t mean you cannot conduct traditional evangelistic meetings in the same church in which you do health evangelism, but they should run on parallel tracks, not on an obvious sequential track.
Agencies will prefer to refer clients to your health evangelism program because your program is a low-cost effort run by volunteers. What I am saying is that the American Heart Association would rather refer an overweight client to your weight management program because you are both voluntary organizations. The Heart Association is not going to create business for Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, TOPS, or any other for profit, commercial organization.
The current national climate in the United States is such that “faith-based” initiatives are looked upon favorably. A church that offers behavior change programs of various types will be a valued community resource.
An equally important part of networking is for you to learn the services offered by other agencies in your community. You will have occasion to refer people with various needs to other organizations that can provide help to your clients.
It has been my experience that most churches will do a health program just once. In the Texas Conference I had the opportunity to officially promote the Best Weigh nutrition and weight management program around the conference. I promoted Best Weigh at pastor’s meetings and in regional meetings with pastors. At the start, interest in Best Weigh was high. In the first year 15 churches around the Conference conducted Best Weigh programs.
All the pastors reported that Best Weigh was an effective program. In every program many were able to achieve their weight loss goals. Usually there was one person who would lose 30 pounds or more during the ten weeks of the program.
Church members were involved with Best Weigh who had never been involved in church activities before. More non-Adventists attended the program than had attended other programs in recent history of the church. The pastors were uniformly positive about the impact of Best Weigh on the church and the community.
Even with so many churches involved and with such positive results, only two churches, conducted more than one Best Weigh program. All other churches called it quits after conducting just one.
One church’s experience in Mesquite, Texas is particularly instructive. At the first Best Weigh program they had 30 non-Adventist’s attend. The church had invested $1500 in advertising. For their second Best Weigh the church scaled back the advertising to just $300. The results were better than at first as over 50 non-Adventists came out. For the third Best Weigh the advertising was done for the church by the local school district. The school system enclosed Best Weigh announcements in letters to parents. Again, Best Weigh attendance was up, over 50 non-Adventists attended the third Best Weigh program. No money at all was invested in advertising.
The lesson to be learned is that as you repeatedly offer the same health evangelism program, the more popular the program becomes. It will take less effort and expense to attract the public. Several Bible study interests were raised from each Best Weigh program in this church. Sadly, with a change in pastors the Best Weigh Programs in this church ceased.
Sequencing and Bridging
There have been a variety of attempts to create a bridge between health programs and evangelistic programs. Available health programs are largely secular in design and evangelistic programs are overtly spiritual. When there is no significant spiritual emphasis in the health program the transition to evangelistic meetings is abrupt, difficult, and not usually effective.
It was common in the 1970's for hundreds of people to come to the 5-Day Plan to Stop Smoking but only a few would stay for the follow-up evangelistic programs. Many minds have tried to develop a successful transition between secular and spiritual programs. Nothing has been found that works very well.
One model that was developed envisioned a whole series of programs starting with a secular program dealing with health issues followed by a psychological program dealing with stress or depression. and finally coming around to spiritual evangelistic meetings. This scheme never worked successfully. When differing programs are all lined up in a row, different people attend each program. Continued attendance of your original crowd tapers off rapidly.
If you do just one program, the audience will be composed of those who want help with the one specific behavioral problem that program addresses. To be sure, we all have multiple problems but who is to say what we should work on next? Who are we to say that you will be best benefitted if you attend program A and then proceed to program B, followed by programs C, D and ending up with E, which stands for evangelism? I think the A-B-C-D-E approach is doomed to failure.
Do not get me wrong. I believe that many churches, especially larger ones, can offer several different kinds of health evangelism programs during the church year. It is my opinion that these programs should all be on independent parallel tracks. I illustrate the concept this way.
It was common in the 1970's for hundreds of people to come to the 5-Day Plan to Stop Smoking but only a few would stay for the follow-up evangelistic programs. Many minds have tried to develop a successful transition between secular and spiritual programs. Nothing has been found that works very well.
One model that was developed envisioned a whole series of programs starting with a secular program dealing with health issues followed by a psychological program dealing with stress or depression. and finally coming around to spiritual evangelistic meetings. This scheme never worked successfully. When differing programs are all lined up in a row, different people attend each program. Continued attendance of your original crowd tapers off rapidly.
If you do just one program, the audience will be composed of those who want help with the one specific behavioral problem that program addresses. To be sure, we all have multiple problems but who is to say what we should work on next? Who are we to say that you will be best benefitted if you attend program A and then proceed to program B, followed by programs C, D and ending up with E, which stands for evangelism? I think the A-B-C-D-E approach is doomed to failure.
Do not get me wrong. I believe that many churches, especially larger ones, can offer several different kinds of health evangelism programs during the church year. It is my opinion that these programs should all be on independent parallel tracks. I illustrate the concept this way.
A----------A-----------A----------A----------A
-----B---------------B---------------B----------
C-----C-----C-----C-----C-----C-----C-----C
----------D-------------------D------------------
E-----------------------------------------------E
-----B---------------B---------------B----------
C-----C-----C-----C-----C-----C-----C-----C
----------D-------------------D------------------
E-----------------------------------------------E
A stop smoking program should be followed by another stop smoking program. The dates for the next stop smoking program should be set before the current program is finished. You should have the brochures printed that list all the stop smoking programs you are going to conduct for the whole year.
When a person successfully completes a smoking cessation program, he or she is most interested in when the next smoking cessation program is going to be held. Ex-smokers have relatives and friends who need your services, and they will recommend your stop smoking program to friends and associates.
It is appropriate to advertise all the various programs you offer at your church in every program you conduct. All smokers who come to quit should know that there is a cooking school, a weight loss program, exercise programs and, yes, evangelistic meetings available.
Some who just quit smoking will need a weight control program while others are ready to start an exercise program. A few will be ready for an evangelistic program. If you are operating continuous programing on parallel tracts the choice as to what to do next is up to the participant. No one will feel any pressure to attend one program or another. People like to have options. They want and appreciate the availability of choices.
The Holy Spirit prompts us to work on our habits sequentially, but in a sequence that differs from person to person. If your church offers a variety of behavioral change programs, it is likely that the Holy Spirit will prompt a person who overcame one problem to attend another one of your programs. Sequencing is an individual matter that should be under the control of the Spirit working on a person’s life and not the wishes of the evangelist or health programmer.
When the sequencing is A -- B -- C -- D -- Evangelism, the participant soon learns that your church doesn’t offer health programs on a regular and dependable basis to serve the continuing health needs of the community, but only as a prelude to traditional evangelism. I have heard evangelists repeatedly use the bait and hook analogy. The health program is the bait, and the doctrinal presentations are the hooks.
I reject this analogy and the entire thought process behind it. I feel that health programs should be evangelistic in and of themselves. Participants who are enslaved by some life destroying habit should be pointed to Jesus as the agent of real and lasting change in the human life. Health evangelism rightly conducted is the bait and the hook. Let me emphasize this by asking, “If a person’s life wasn’t changed by God in your health program, why should a person have any interest in your doctrinal discussions?” However, those who have had a taste of God’s power in their lives as they overcome a bad habit are those who will hunger and thirst for more. This thought is more fully developed in another chapter.
When a person successfully completes a smoking cessation program, he or she is most interested in when the next smoking cessation program is going to be held. Ex-smokers have relatives and friends who need your services, and they will recommend your stop smoking program to friends and associates.
It is appropriate to advertise all the various programs you offer at your church in every program you conduct. All smokers who come to quit should know that there is a cooking school, a weight loss program, exercise programs and, yes, evangelistic meetings available.
Some who just quit smoking will need a weight control program while others are ready to start an exercise program. A few will be ready for an evangelistic program. If you are operating continuous programing on parallel tracts the choice as to what to do next is up to the participant. No one will feel any pressure to attend one program or another. People like to have options. They want and appreciate the availability of choices.
The Holy Spirit prompts us to work on our habits sequentially, but in a sequence that differs from person to person. If your church offers a variety of behavioral change programs, it is likely that the Holy Spirit will prompt a person who overcame one problem to attend another one of your programs. Sequencing is an individual matter that should be under the control of the Spirit working on a person’s life and not the wishes of the evangelist or health programmer.
When the sequencing is A -- B -- C -- D -- Evangelism, the participant soon learns that your church doesn’t offer health programs on a regular and dependable basis to serve the continuing health needs of the community, but only as a prelude to traditional evangelism. I have heard evangelists repeatedly use the bait and hook analogy. The health program is the bait, and the doctrinal presentations are the hooks.
I reject this analogy and the entire thought process behind it. I feel that health programs should be evangelistic in and of themselves. Participants who are enslaved by some life destroying habit should be pointed to Jesus as the agent of real and lasting change in the human life. Health evangelism rightly conducted is the bait and the hook. Let me emphasize this by asking, “If a person’s life wasn’t changed by God in your health program, why should a person have any interest in your doctrinal discussions?” However, those who have had a taste of God’s power in their lives as they overcome a bad habit are those who will hunger and thirst for more. This thought is more fully developed in another chapter.
Duration of a Program
How long should a health evangelism program run? How many times a week should you meet? The 5-Day Plan to Stop Smoking was great because it ran five days and was over with. You could wedge it in between weekends. There was a one-week investment of time and then you were through. Unfortunately, quitting smoking is a process that is usually not completed in just 5 days.
It would have been nice to study the optimum time required to achieve lasting success when quitting smoking and then design a program to best fit the needs of smokers. The ideal duration of a smoking cessation program hasn’t been determined exactly. I have observed smoking cessation programs of varying duration.
On the short side, I have seen an all-day-long, 8–12-hour, marathon smoking cessation program. The hope was that you could quit smoking in just one day. On the long end, there was SmokeEnders, a program that lasted several weeks. What is best? No one knows.
There are several issues to consider in determining the duration of a health evangelism program. Perhaps most important is, how long can you run a program that people will still attend? We would like to think that the public is very interested in health information and is willing to spend as much time as necessary to be properly educated and to get one’s habits changed.
This just isn’t true. Some programs need to be nightly for a few nights. I believe that smoking cessation fits in this category. The cravings are intense for just a few days and attending meetings daily can help keep you from relapsing. Other programs should be drawn out and conducted at a slower pace over a much longer time.
For many health evangelism programs, conducting meetings just once a week is ideal. The less frequent the meetings, the longer the program will need to run. Do not overdo it. I have seen intense nutrition programs run four nights a week for a month. The material presented was excellent and the speaker was captivating, but it was an overload for the public and for the church members as well. This program might have been better supported by the public and local church members if it ran one night a week for three or four months rather than 16 sessions crammed into just one month. Some churches offer a health program just one session per month but keep it up on a year around basis.
After you decide what is best for the participants who are going to come to your program, it is best to consult with your church members and determine just how much time they are willing to devote to your program. If you plan to have small groups hosted by church members, it is important to find out just how often church members are willing to meet and for how many weeks.
In my experience, you get the most help from individual church members when the program is offered on a one session a week basis. If you conduct the same program with the same volunteers two or three nights a week the help will be strained and will begin to drop out or fail to volunteer for your next program
As a rule, it is wise to avoid weekend days and nights unless you have a one session program such as a health fair, in which case a weekend day might work out well. The duration and frequency of health evangelism programming requires an analysis of what is ideal for the public and then secondarily adapted to the willingness of your church member volunteers.
It would have been nice to study the optimum time required to achieve lasting success when quitting smoking and then design a program to best fit the needs of smokers. The ideal duration of a smoking cessation program hasn’t been determined exactly. I have observed smoking cessation programs of varying duration.
On the short side, I have seen an all-day-long, 8–12-hour, marathon smoking cessation program. The hope was that you could quit smoking in just one day. On the long end, there was SmokeEnders, a program that lasted several weeks. What is best? No one knows.
There are several issues to consider in determining the duration of a health evangelism program. Perhaps most important is, how long can you run a program that people will still attend? We would like to think that the public is very interested in health information and is willing to spend as much time as necessary to be properly educated and to get one’s habits changed.
This just isn’t true. Some programs need to be nightly for a few nights. I believe that smoking cessation fits in this category. The cravings are intense for just a few days and attending meetings daily can help keep you from relapsing. Other programs should be drawn out and conducted at a slower pace over a much longer time.
For many health evangelism programs, conducting meetings just once a week is ideal. The less frequent the meetings, the longer the program will need to run. Do not overdo it. I have seen intense nutrition programs run four nights a week for a month. The material presented was excellent and the speaker was captivating, but it was an overload for the public and for the church members as well. This program might have been better supported by the public and local church members if it ran one night a week for three or four months rather than 16 sessions crammed into just one month. Some churches offer a health program just one session per month but keep it up on a year around basis.
After you decide what is best for the participants who are going to come to your program, it is best to consult with your church members and determine just how much time they are willing to devote to your program. If you plan to have small groups hosted by church members, it is important to find out just how often church members are willing to meet and for how many weeks.
In my experience, you get the most help from individual church members when the program is offered on a one session a week basis. If you conduct the same program with the same volunteers two or three nights a week the help will be strained and will begin to drop out or fail to volunteer for your next program
As a rule, it is wise to avoid weekend days and nights unless you have a one session program such as a health fair, in which case a weekend day might work out well. The duration and frequency of health evangelism programming requires an analysis of what is ideal for the public and then secondarily adapted to the willingness of your church member volunteers.