The resources in this section are aimed at helping faith organizations take steps toward creating a healthier congregations and assisting individuals to achieve healthier lifestyles.

• For faith-based organizations that are completing the Promoting Healthy Congregations Assessment or taking other steps to improve the health of their congregations, these resources may be helpful in providing information and ideas to support positive action.
  
  
• For individuals who are interested in achieving healthier lifestyles, these resources can provide useful information, "how-to's", and links to organizations or websites that can support your efforts.

• Health Ministry & Organizational Infrastructure
• General Healthy Lifestyle Resources
• Healthy Eating/Healthy Weight Resources
• Physical Activity Resources
• Tobacco-Free Lifestyle Resources
• Biblical Scriptures Related to Health

Michigan Faith-Based Health Association The Michigan Faith Based Health Association (MFBHA) was started in 2005 for faith venues statewide to share health resources, funding opportunities and expertise on cardiovascular health, nutrition and physical activity. It is also used to support the vision of supporting healthier lifestyles for citizens living in Michigan. The mission of the MFBHA is to equip churches and faith organizations to build capacity, train leadership and develop strategic networking relationships to meet the health needs of children and families. The MFBHA is open to anyone in the faith community with a commitment to improving the health of children and families in Michigan.

Health Ministries Association, Inc. (HMA) is a membership organization of persons involved in the faith/health ministry movement. HMA is dedicated to networking, educating, supporting and sharing a variety of faith/health ministries. Visit their website for more information or to apply for membership.

Institute for Public Health and Faith Collaborations The Interfaith Health Program (IHP) builds and nurtures broad, rich and deep networks for learning within and across health and faith systems--local, national, and global. As participants within these rich streams of knowledge and wisdom, IHP discovers models, technologies, tools, and visions that strengthen the abilities of health and faith communities to make Shalom. The IHP promotes vital learning at the intersecting boundaries where faith and health overlap, merge, and emerge transformed.

Prevention Research Center of Michigan The mission of the Prevention Research Center of Michigan is expanding knowledge and sharing knowledge - thereby strengthening the capacity of the community, the public health system, and the university, to improve the public's health. The Center builds upon existing long-term partnerships between the University of Michigan School of Public Health, community-based organizations, local health departments, and the Michigan Department of Community Health and other statewide health associations.

Michigan Department of Community Health Michigan’s Department of Community Health (MDCH) strives for a healthier Michigan. To that end, the department will:
• promote access to the broadest possible range of quality services and supports;
• take steps to prevent disease, promote wellness and improve quality of life; and
• strive for the delivery of those services and supports in a fiscally prudent manner.

Michigan Steps Up Michigan Steps Up is a healthy lifestyle campaign designed to create a social movement among citizens, policy makers, communities, and various sectors throughout the State. The campaign addresses three unhealthy lifestyle behaviors that contribute to Michigan’s alarming rates of obesity and chronic disease: physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, and tobacco use. This comprehensive campaign includes an interactive website, a media campaign, conferences, stakeholder meetings, pedometer-based competitions and more to help Michigan citizens take small steps toward a healthy lifestyle.

Eat Smart, Move More...in North Carolina for Faith Organizations This website provides a variety of resources for use by faith organizations. Although this was developed in North Carolina, most of the resources are general and can be useful in other locations. Resources include the following:
• African American Churches Eating Smart and Moving More - A Planning and Resource Guide is designed to assist churches with planning, promoting and implementing programs for health and wellness.
• Sample Healthy Foods Policy
• Sample Physical Activity Policy


Working With Religious Organizations: A Guide for Health Professionals This guide provides information about how to contact and recruit congregation members, train volunteer teams within congregations, implement effective heart-disease prevention programs, sustain momentum for continued activity, and monitor and evaluate congregation-based programs. It has been developed from lessons learned from church-based demonstration programs supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Michigan Steps Up Michigan Steps Up is a healthy lifestyle campaign designed to create a social movement among citizens, policy makers, communities, and various sectors throughout the State. The campaign addresses three unhealthy lifestyle behaviors that contribute to Michigan’s alarming rates of obesity and chronic disease: physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, and tobacco use. This comprehensive campaign includes an interactive website, a media campaign, conferences, stakeholder meetings, pedometer-based competitions and more to help Michigan citizens take small steps toward a healthy lifestyle.



CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) Training CPR saves lives. The American Heart Association provides trainingand resources so that more people can learn this valuable technique.

Spirit, Mind & Body: Eat Well, Live Well Event Planning Guide The Michigan Steps Up! Faith-Based Group has created the Spirit, Mind & Body: Eat Well, Live Well Event Planning Guide. The guide is just one way that Michigan Steps Up! is promoting healthy lifestyles in the faith community through healthy eating. The guide is designed to promote a healthier environment in the church simply by providing a few substitutions to unhealthy food choices commonly served at church-sponsored events.


How to use Spirit, Mind & Body: Eat Well, Live Well Event Planning Guide:
• Get pastor’s support in using the guide
• Meet with your Health Ministry to discuss using the guide
• Introduce the guide to your kitchen staff and others responsible for preparing food
• Post the event guide poster where food is being served

“Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

If you are interested in receiving a poster or more copies of the guide, contact us.

Healthy Weight and Activity Tips Visit the Healthy Weigh & Activity Tips section of this website for practical information and suggestions about how to fit activity into your daily life, how physical activity contributes to a healthy weight and healthy eating tips.

Weight-Control Information Network (WIN) The Weight-control Information Network provides the general public, health professionals, the media, and Congress with up-to-date, science-based information on weight control, obesity, physical activity, and related nutritional issues.

Sample Healthy Foods Policy This policy is provided by the Eat Smart, Move More..in North Carolina for Faith Organizations website. The policy encourages organizations to make a commitment to offering fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products and grains options at meetings and organization-sponsored social gathering.

The Let's Move! Campaign A comprehensive, collaborative, and community-oriented initiative that addresses all of the various factors that lead to childhood obesity—engages every sector of society that impacts the health of children to provide schools, families and communities the simple tools they need to help kids be more active, eat better, and get healthy.

Eating Smart and Moving More Planning Guide for Faith Communities This Planning Guide was created for you and others in your faith community to help you create an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity.

Healthy Weight and Activity Tips Visit the Healthy Weigh & Activity Tips section of this website for practical information and suggestions about how to fit activity into your daily life, how physical activity contributes to a healthy weight and healthy eating tips.

Sample Physical Activity Policy This policy is provided by the Eat Smart, Move More..in North Carolina for Faith Organizations website. The policy encourages organizations to make a commitment to encourage physical activity by having physical activity breaks during meetings, identifying physical activity opportunities, and support and role modeling by group leadership.

Promoting Active Communities The design of a community can profoundly affect the health of its residents. Communities that make it easy and safe to walk and ride bikes are opening the door to a wide range of health benefits for their residents. They are reducing barriers to being physically active and helping individuals integrate physical activity into their daily lives. For health, the goal is at least 30 minutes a day of physical activity on five or more days a week. People are more likely to build 30 minutes of physical activity into daily routines when it is easy to walk and bike for transportation, exercise, or pleasure. The Michigan Promoting Active Communities website provides a variety of resources to help communities design environments that support active living, including an online community assessment form and Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities.

Walkable Communities Fact Sheet Click on this link to review and/or download a fact sheet on walkable communities.

The Let's Move! Campaign A comprehensive, collaborative, and community-oriented initiative that addresses all of the various factors that lead to childhood obesity—engages every sector of society that impacts the health of children to provide schools, families and communities the simple tools they need to help kids be more active, eat better, and get healthy.

Eating Smart and Moving More Planning Guide for Faith Communities This Planning Guide was created for you and others in your faith community to help you create an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity.

Desk Exercise Guide-Keep Active & Healthy While at Work This guide provides a comprehensive listing of resources to help you be physically active at work while keeping your productivity high, including exericses you can do right at your desk.

Michigan Tobacco QuitLine 1-800-480-7848 This toll-free quit line offers free and personalized tobacco cessation counseling to all Michigan residents and a free two month supply of nicotine replacement therapy for those who qualify.

MDCH Clearinghouse - Tobacco Section The MDCH Clearinghouse has numerous free tobacco-related materials that can be ordered online. These materials include quit kits, brochures on tobacco-related illness (such as asthma and secondhand smoke), posters, and other educational and promotional items.

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) provides advocacy, research, education, and service to eliminate cancer, including tobacco-related cancers. This agency organizes the Great American Smokeout each year.

American Lung Association The American Lung Association (ALA) provides advocacy, cessation programming and training for youth an adults, school- and community-based prevention programming, research, and services to fight lung disease, including tobacco-related lung disease, such as lung cancer, emphysema, and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health This site includes numerous tobacco-related fact sheets and reports, including the Surgeon General's reports, research and data, quit smoking information, and media, program, and publication resources.

Biblical Scriptures Related to Health Click this link for a downloadable, printable list of old and new testament scriptures related to health that can be used in sermons or other communications.