On a recent Sunday morning from his pulpit at the True Light Baptist Church in Atlanta, the Rev. Darrell Elligan turned his message from the spiritual to the physical.
“African-Americans, unfortunately, are disproportionately impacted by almost every major health disparity,” Elligan said. “The Lord gave us only one body, and we must work to preserve it through rest, exercise, education, diet.”
Elligan was delivering his Power Sunday sermon, in which pastors nationally are voicing their concerns about the physical health of their parishioners. Elligan heads Concerned Black Clergy, whose members have focused on health issues in recent years.
Heart disease and stroke are the No. 1 killers of blacks, according to Nettie Jackson, senior director for cultural initiatives at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association in Georgia.
Through initiatives like Power Sunday, national health organizations have begun to spread awareness through two outlets in the black community — the church and the family.
The American Heart Association developed Power Sunday and family reunion health tool kits in 2007 as a part of the Power to End Stroke campaign. The online kits include facts and figures, a letter to the community, risk factor posters, pledge cards and recipes for healthy meals.
“The church is one of the institutions in our community where we have the greatest influence in terms of making a difference,” Elligan said.
The late Yolanda King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., hosted the first Power Sunday in Atlanta in 2007.
Today more than 74 Power Sundays have been held across the country.
As part of the campaign, Elligan’s church offers a wellness ministry that includes exercise classes, health literature in weekly bulletins and free blood pressure tests every Sunday.
“It is great that my pastor is such a health advocate because I have health issues myself,” said Sherrine Beasley, a member of Elligan’s congregation. “The free blood pressure tests help me keep my blood pressure monitored, in addition to doing it at home. I take that information to my doctor and let her know how I am doing.” The National Kidney Disease Education Program also has begun to educate the black community by making health a family affair with an online reunion tool kit. The program began the initiative to spread awareness about the link between diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease in the black community, said Eileen Newman, associate director of the program.
Both kits include a family tree so relatives can interact and chart their medical history.
“Families can work with younger members of the family to teach them about plotting their family health history,” Jackson said. “When we start talking about family history, it becomes hard for people to deny that they may be at risk.”
Spreading the message through congregations and family members is a good first step, Elligan said.
“It starts with healthy individuals and healthy families,” he said. “A healthy church makes a healthy community, and it spreads beyond in terms of a nation.”
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