| Conference partners with organization to fight cancer by JOHN W. COLEMAN JR.UMCONNECTION STAFF  Chicken baked instead of fried. Salads and fruit in place of candied yams and chocolate cake. Church dinners at Emory Grove UMC in Gaithersburg may begin to look and taste a lot healthier during Lent when members launch a new healthy living campaign. Its part of their quest for a transformation in body and soul, said their pastor, the Rev. Curtis King.
Our goal is to bring holistic wellness to the lifestyles of this congregation and the community, said King. It is a goal shared by at least five Baltimore-Washington Conference churches that are participating in a groundbreaking partnership between the conference and the American Cancer Society. That partnership, launched in December and led by conference associate council director Sandra Ferguson, was featured in a long article in the religion section of the Washington Post Jan. 10. The other participating churches are St. Marks UMC and Christ UMC of the Deaf, both in Baltimore, New Beginnings UMC in Severn, and John Wesley UMC in Clarksburg. Together, they will try to teach and encourage their members and neighbors to choose nutritious foods, exercise and other healthy habits to avoid falling prey to the cancer, diabetes, hypertension and other diseases overtaking their communities. The congregations will also engage in public-health advocacy, aided by the American Cancer Society, to influence their local and state leaders to enact and enforce anti-tobacco laws and other measures, and to ensure that cancer prevention and treatment are available to all people. Weve lobbied for some of the same health-related legislation for years, said Ferguson. This formal partnership will allow us to be proactive and work closely together on common goals of fostering health and wholeness through political advocacy and community health education. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2003, almost a dozen different forms of cancer killed 1,100 victims in Washington, D.C., which leads the nation in the rate of cancer deaths, and 10,200 victims in Maryland, which ranks ninth. African Americans are 30 percent more likely to develop cancer than whites. Four of the five churches in the pilot program are predominantly black, but Ferguson is eager for other churches, especially those in high-risk communities, to become involved as well. Christ UMC of the Deaf, for example, according to its pastor, the Rev. Peggy Johnson, serves a multiracial community that lacks adequate health awareness and health services partly because of its communication challenges. For its part, Emory Grove intends to combine health education and healthy church meals with spirituality and support-group dynamics to reach its goals. Stewards for Health is its campaign theme, and its theologically grounded mission statement speaks of obedience to God, responsibility to its community and learning to care for body and soul. The American Cancer Society developed Body and Soul: A Celebration of Healthy Living for religious communities to provide them with church and take-home meal plans, activities, training, resources and consultation. Emory Grove and the other churches will recruit leaders, set goals, sponsor health and fitness classes and weekly support groups, develop displays and presentations, and in the end, celebrate the anticipated success of their 10- to 16-week campaigns by serving healthy snacks, of course. Weve got about 25 people ready to kick it off and more to follow, said King, who, coincidentally, is working on a doctoral degree in Public Health and the Black Church at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. We really need this program for a lot of reasons, and were excited to be able to utilize the American Cancer Societys resources to benefit our congregation and community. Odessa Battle-Nolan, a member of Emory Grove and a family nurse practitioner with a masters degree in health promotion and counseling, will coordinate the churchs efforts. We will reach out to the community with this message that spirituality and good health go hand in hand, she said. The five churches, and perhaps others, will also participate this summer in the Cancer Societys Generation Fit, a nutrition and wellness education program for youth. The program will be conducted during vacation Bible school and summer camps, according to Victoria Wells Holmes, regional grassroots organizing manager for the society. | 
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