Soulful Messengers

Rev. Kenneth Robinson, M.D. could not believe the broad health disparities between African Americans and the general population in Memphis, Tenn. when he moved there 25 years ago. Infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, diabetes and hypertension were more prevalent within the African American community. With a pulpit in front of him and medical degree in hand, Robinson called his congregation, St. Andrew African Methodist Episcopal Church, to address these health issues.

“The historical role of the African American clergyperson as a messenger provides a wonderful platform to provide good health promotion and health education.” said Robinson, an ordained elder in the A.M.E. Church and a graduate of Harvard Medical School.

While the sights and sounds of a Sunday worship service at St. Andrew are similar to many churches, the focus on health and wellness comes through in small ways: the energetic movements of the red-robed liturgical dancers, weekly announcements to participate in a weight-loss challenge, a sermon on seeking strength in body and in spirit. The message comes through clearly in their mission statement: “Ministering to Memphis – Spirit, Soul and Body.” St. Andrew is a church full of soulful messengers bringing hope and healing to their community and beyond.

St. Andrew AME integrates health ministry into all areas of their church and in their mission to the surrounding community. Robinson takes a holistic approach toward cultivating a healthy church and a healthy community. He seeks to discern those paths that lead to health-related problems. He wants to address the root causes and find practical programs to help.

St. Andrew created many programs specifically to improve the quality of life for African Americans in Memphis. One of the city’s greatest problems has been infant mortality. The state and local health departments document the Memphis area as one of the worst cities for infant mortality in the country. In 2006, 19 out of every 1,000 African American babies died.

The Community Baby Shower, one of St. Andrew’s most innovative programs, directly combats these dismal statistics. Women from all walks of life – from the surrounding neighborhood and beyond – are invited to attend. Between 75 and 100 women usually attend the Community Baby Shower.

“It’s to be present and active in the lives of the women in the community.” he said.

Items such as diapers and vitamins are given away in large gift baskets (once a year, the church gathers donations for things new mothers and mothers-to-be will need in the first year of a baby’s life). But this program provides much more than gift baskets.

“Women can come and get information from health care providers and talk to the people we have here, for instance, about breast feeding. Folks from the health department come to show how to appropriately secure infants in cars, and we provide all kinds of information about good nutrition and vitamins for pregnant women,” Robinson explained. “We’ll go out and try to identify pregnant women, and women who appear to have a baby under the age of one, and invite them; and entice them with meaningful incentives and goodies. That’s fine. They need those things. But the shower is also to give them very specific information that will hopefully lead to very good birth outcomes and healthy babies.”

Prevention is a cornerstone of St. Andrew’s in other ways as well. The church has made abstinence-based education a priority. In their program S.T.A.R.S. (Sisters Taking A Righteous Stand), teenage girls mentor each other using an abstinence-based approach.

The State of Tennessee has recognized St. Andrew’s stellar work and has funded programs within the church, such as “Project Touch” which was used to train and educate underserved communities about HIV. The State also funded their program “Tri-Masters” which gives spiritual guidance, raises self-esteem and advocates physical health for young adults by referral. These programs also gained support from local health care participants and neighboring churches without losing their crucial Biblical foundation.

“We’re a congregation of faith. We believe that we have scriptural warrants for what we’re doing,” Robinson asserted. “We want a young person to feel better about his or her identity.The warrants behind that are, ‘You’re fearfully and wonderfully made.’ (Psalms 139:14) ‘You’re made just a little lower than the angels.’ (Psalms 8:5) So what translates into explicitly non-sectarian self-esteem building activities in a publicly funded health promotion program, is very much informed by our own Biblical warrants for our offering the program.”

These health ministries are grounded in seeking a healthy life that pleases God. Robinson emphasized that God wants us to “live and not die” (Psalm 118:17). This message has not changed through the years.

He added, “‘May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless until the coming of Jesus Christ.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:23) There’s a wonderful sort of internal consistency in why we do the things that we do, even if the endpoints - the disease that we’re hoping to address or prevent - may vary.”

Such diverse health ministries came from opening the eyes of the church members. After looking at the congregation and the African American community, they saw room for improvement. Robinson believes other churches are more than capable of creating health ministries and health programs tailored to the needs of their congregation.

“It is helpful sometimes for ministers to take an inventory, not necessarily formally, but to look around the congregation to see what kinds of health-related issues they’ve wrestled with; or the conditions or diseases that have caused the demise of the persons whose eulogies they’ve preached,” Robinson said. “How can our congregation gain from this perspective? It might drive a pastor to develop an interest in preventing something that’s very relevant in that community.”

To strengthen the health focus in a congregation, Robinson suggests the typical Health Fair Day most African American churches already hold annually. According to Robinson, it’s easy to search online for the health emphasis of each month, and then distribute relevant health information to church members “in a user-friendly way” such as worship service programs or news bulletins.

He also encourages ministers to take advantage of the numerous church and health resources within their local communities. In his own city of Memphis, some of these resources include the Congregational Health Network, Memphis Healthy Churches, and the Church Health Center. National health organizations include the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association. Some churches might find it more effective to pair up with other congregations to create programming.

All of these methods, driven by the belief that God wants his children to live, are already in effect at St. Andrew. This congregation is taking a message of healthy bodies and spirits to their community and beyond. Rev. Robinson stated with a knowledgeable nod of his head, “You know, the messenger is as key as the message.”

Melody Gordon is a Journalism student at University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She is originally from Memphis, Tennessee.

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