Wellbeing Creation: Part 2 – Why Are People Falling in the River and How to Prevent It?

Using a real case study to illustrate (with names changed), I will outline the first few strands here and continue with the remaining strands in Wellbeing Creation: Part 3.

Alan’s Story

After several decades of a demanding job and pressured life, Alan had a breakdown, causing both his mental and physical health to suffer. He was unsure if he would be able to work again. He came to a ‘time to thrive’ group I ran, where he shared his despondency at failing to make use of the gym membership that the social prescribing unit had found and paid for him. During our conversation, it came up that when he was much younger, he had enjoyed table tennis. I pointed him to a table tennis club at a local church and reassured him (after checking) that it was okay for non-members to attend and that he wasn't likely to be evangelised.

At the group, we looked for ways to build mutual support both in people’s own circles and within the group. Another member of the group said she would like to play with him but was nervous about going to the club. There was a table sometimes set up at the church coffee and lunch club, so we all arranged to meet there and started a little mix-in. Alan loved the soups served and shared with a sigh that he used to love cooking but now lived on ready meals. Encouraged by our little group, Alan asked if he could help with the lunches. The answer was, unfortunately, ‘no,’ but an alert bystander pointed out that she had heard in the notices that they were desperate for help with catering at the Alpha course. This time, his offer was grasped. He enjoyed helping there, listened in, and within a year had started working again (and was baptised).

Strand 1: Community Ecosystems

For Alan, what made the difference was a whole connected ‘ecosystem’ of activities that met a range of key wellbeing needs. Within this ecosystem, multiple needs were met, providing him with the necessary nutrients for his wellbeing. The key was the wholeness in the way they were met; one thing led to another, and each thing was connected to the other. (Although, a lot of effort was needed to enable the flow) He started seeing some of the same people several times a week and was able to participate in meaningful ways. Through this diversity of interactions, the relationships he made developed more quickly and more meaningfully than the norm in much of English culture. This ‘wholeness’ of experience had a transformative quality. I believe he felt the spirit in the wholeness of his new rounded engagement in life, which in turn opened him to recognising the creator behind it.

Many components necessary for a holistic life experience are often in place around churches and their immediate locality. We can release their transformative potential by:

• Increasing the connectivity and flow between activities

• Identifying or creating opportunities to meet key needs in appropriate and appealing ways, such as exercise options for parent (or grandparent) and child, or for older people and options with a social component, eg followed by invitation to a reserved table in a coffee room.

• Increasing awareness through information, signposting, and invitation.

Strand 2: Information, Inspiration, and Invitation

After all the effort to organise and put on activities, the benefit can be radically increased by:

• Increasing awareness through outside programs, social media, advertising in local ‘what’s on’ guides, and databases.

• Creating a culture of sharing information and invitations at and between activities, e.g. by introducing a slot at the end of activities for such sharing by leaders and participants.

Strand 3: Inspiration and Opportunity for a Healthy Lifestyle

Studies suggest that up to 70-80% of chronic diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes) are linked to lifestyle choices.

These choices include diet, physical activity, tobacco use, and alcohol consumption.

Lifestyle factors have an even higher impact on our wider wellbeing and ability to thrive.

Yet, even when presented with serious health prognoses, 40-50% of people don’t make any changes to their lifestyle!

There is a lot of inertia keeping our lifestyles as they are, even when we are minded to change. Fear can motivate, but it doesn’t always, How much better would it be to inspire?

Alan got the inspiration and opportunity to do a suitable and conducive form of physical exercise and to shift from ready meals to healthy home-cooked meals. Providing inspiration and opportunity for a healthy lifestyle can transform lives and certainly enhance them.

There are many opportunities at our fingertips in and around our churches and communities.

By being intentional in drawing on and extending opportunities where possible, we can have a life-changing impact.

Churches can be champions and enablers of creating wellbeing: physical, emotional, practical and spiritua - especially in the community.

God knows it’s needed.

And what better than a God-inspired, love-based approach?