08 July 2011 Northamptonshire, United Kingdom [Sharon Platt-McDonald, BUC News] Sandra Golding was effusive: “The Wellness Summit was truly inspirational, thought-provoking and life changing,” she said. “The workshops that I attended were extremely beneficial and … the speakers were excellent and had so much knowledge and experiences to share with the attendees.” Others of the delegates agreed stating things like, “This has been a fantastic learning experience. It has to be the best training event I have attended so far,” or “I am leaving this Summit equipped to take back health programmes that I can use in my church and community. I am so glad I came.”
This was the first Adventist Health Summit for the UK. Under the caption “Wellness Summit – To Train, Inspire, Equip”, a range of courses, workshops and plenary presentations on 31 topics, provided comprehensive training for delegates between 21 – 26 June at the De Vere Venues Staverton Park Hotel, Northamptonshire.
Trainers and presenters were both from the UK and from as far away as the World Church Headquarters in Washington DC. In his evaluation, Dr Handysides World Church Health Ministries director, classified the event as ‘outstanding’ and stated: “The conference achieved its objectives of educating, empowering, and enlisting many to the ranks of a balanced, compassionate and sensitive Health Ministry.”
Planning the event was a challenge. BUC Health Ministries director and Summit organiser Sharon Platt-McDonald states: “Last June, I wrote out to our team of Health Ministries directors and sponsors and other health professionals about my vision of hosting a Wellness Summit in the UK. I had in mind an event that would embrace a holistic view of health covering the emotional, spiritual, physical and social aspects of wellbeing. I commenced by asking the team to identify what the key health needs were in their local churches, communities and what would be the most impactful training that they could bring back to their Conferences and Missions. With a planning team of 13 I was relieved when they all bought into the vision and as a result the subsequent planning meetings went smoothly.”
Pastor Jackson was asked to evaluate the efficacy of the Summit including the scope of training, ministerial input/support, evangelistic potential, ongoing health programmes and medical missionary work within the British Isles. It was encouraging to see pastors and the delegates they sponsored sitting around tables planning how they would implement the training received. For instance, evangelistic campaigns will be prefaced with one health programme while another one will be placed as a follow-up at the conclusion of the series.
On a practical level, the Food Health Educator, Hydrotherapy and Massage courses equipped individuals with a range of skills to make health programmes more varied with learning that can be transferred to church programmes and community initiatives as well as domestic settings.
Health was seen in action during the Summit! Morning exercises were led by Sandra Golding who took the delegates through a range of movements to music, from stretching exercises to salsa! Equally, none of the attendees will forget the wonderful evening of laughtercise (laughter therapy), led by Beryl Emm. The benefits of laugher were vividly demonstrated and resulted in a sound night’s sleep for most participants.
Enthusiastic health leaders and Summit delegates are now returning to their churches armed with skills to run courses such as Depression Recovery, Living Free (Finding freedom from habits that hurt), Weight Management, and Wellness Expos. The emotional and mental wellbeing of our churches and communities will improve as delegates attending the Forgive to Live, Depth Evangelism (faith and mental wellbeing), Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Education and Mental Health First Aid courses, bring back the learning to their local areas. Equally encouraging were the delegates who attended the courses aimed at both ends of the age spectrum. Drug Endangered Children and Youth, Paediatric Obesity, Trauma, Loss and Compassion and Adverse Childhood Experiences were eye-openers that equipped delegates with skills to better understand and minister to vulnerable children and youth. The Older Persons’ Health Strategy sought to raise awareness of the need of our aging population and how best to minister to this age group. Men’s Health, Cancer Focus and many other aspects of health were covered in the varied training sessions some with an external presenter from the NHS. As a result the National Action Cancer Team will be extending its existing work with the BUC Health Ministries department.
If you would like any of the workshops/courses mentioned above to be brought to your church and community please ring the BUC on 01923 672251 to speak with Sharon Platt-McDonald. A video report of the Summit will be available online in next week’s BUC News. A picture gallery is available now. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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