Thank you for joining the Partners in Health and Wholeness Book Club. You can officially sign-up here. Through it, we hope to engage people of faith in discussions over why our health matters. Our next choice of reading is from the free Saddleback Church Daniel Plan Curriculum. We are posting updates through the PHW Facebook page, but our PHW blog page has the discussion posts in full with responses from staff. Just look for the apple on top of the book picture among the blog post pictures and you will find past Book Club entries.
For this week, the focus is on recruiting people to go through this curriculum with you (besides our fabulous PHW community, of course), knowing your starting health, and making the commitment to this study.
If you don’t have a way to take your measurements, don’t worry too much. If you are like me, taking quantitative measures is not easy for various reasons. So I opted to do a qualitative measurement. If you would rather do a qualitative measure, I have included three for you to consider, or Google some other choices. The answers are for you to know where you are starting from—which is the important point. Relax, you don’t have to share this with anyone or write about it—unless you want to. Saddleback also suggests that you follow your health as you go along, so check in with your health assessment on a regular basis.
Qualitative Health Surveys:
If you find it difficult to stay committed, pray for help, this is one of the promises of the Holy Spirit. Then pick up where you left off. We are here to support each other. You will also find regular encouragement on our Facebook page.
Discussion Questions (From The Daniel Plan Curriculum)
1) In our key verse for this week Paul writes, “I constantly pray for you that our God, by his power, may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.” (2 Thessalonians 1:11 NIV) How do these words give you a sense of hope as we begin this study?
2) Pastor Rick Warren shared in this session about his family background and history with food and health. Take a few moments as a group to talk about the food and health “environment” in which you grew up.
3) Daniel asked for a different menu than everyone else because of his faith. What character qualities did it take for Daniel to make the choice to eat differently than those around him?
–Joy Williams, PHW Regional Consultant
Partners in Health and Wholeness is an initiative of the North Carolina Council of Churches. PHW aims to connect health as a faith issue. Please visit our website to sign your personal pledge to be healthier, and to find out about grant opportunities for places of worship in NC.
