EMQ » September–December 2023 » Volume 59 Issue 4
Summary: The church has tremendous potential to help communities reach new levels of wholeness. This often-unexplored context for healing provides an incredible opportunity for a body of believers to address issues such as relationships, work, illness, disability, birth, parenting, divorce, substance abuse, aging, and dying.
By Karen Bomilcar
Everyone wants to be healthy and whole. Actively pursuing ways to preserve and prolong our lives is an intrinsic part of being human. When the church is a place where people find belonging and community, it can become an important part of sustaining each person’s spiritual, mental, and physical health.
Communities have potential to both heal and harm. Our brokenness can wound those around us. Yet when the image of God is most clearly manifested, communities offer every person potential to reach a new level of wholeness and health side-by-side with others. This often-unexplored context for healing provides an incredible opportunity for a body of believers to address issues such as relationships, work, illness, disability, birth, parenting, divorce, substance abuse, aging, and dying.
Caring for one another in community is a comprehensive, collaborative, and interdisciplinary health paradigm. A whole community can engage in their different areas of knowledge and experience towards the shared goal of enhancing the well-being of everyone, together. In order to holistically grasp the full picture of health, we have to expand our understanding of the significance of the human body in all of its dimensions and expressions.
