We have been blessed this year in having opportunities to mingle with people in the community and also empowering people to facilitate and lead in the health space.
Mind Body Spirit Festival at the ICC, Darling Harbour
We kicked off the year with our health leadership orientation weekend. In March about 57 volunteers of various age groups engaged with people at the Mind Body Spirit Festival at the ICC, Darling Harbour. We connected with about 400 people. Some of them remembered our presence at the last October 2023 expo. We have promoted 26 different heath events (including existing clubs) that have been run by 10 committed Wellness Hub churches across Sydney. See https://bit.ly/sydwellnessfest.
In addition, Freshwater church, Sydney Portuguese, New Hope churches have been mingling with the people in their local communities by offering free community health screening and inviting them to their lifestyle clubs and also the Enhance Your Gut Health program. We have 2 more health screening events this October month that will be run by Freshwater and Windsor churches.
Dundas Wellness Hub has been busy in engaging with their community and contacts through Dr Neil Nedley mental health seminars followed by ~40 people signing up to their Nedley Depression and Anxiety Recovery Program (DARP). This month in October, Wahroonga and A New You (Fountain in the City) Wellness Hubs are launching the Nedley DARP with various people from the community signing up.
Recently, A New You has increased their engagement with 18 new people from the community as part of their monthly walking club. Woollahra, Windsor, New Hope, A New You, Hoxton Park and Dundas Wellness Hubs have been running cooking demonstration/clubs and running fitness session to make friendship with the public.
This year, the ELIA Wellness programs, Live More Project, De-Stress & Thrive, Enhance Your Gut Health, Retirement Ready, Forgive to Live and Empowered & Purposeful Living programs have been run (and currently in running) by various Wellness hubs, A New You, Parramatta Central, Woollahra, Sydney Chinese, Sydney Portuguese, Sydney Cook Island, Pendle Hill, Camden Valley, Waitara and more.
Wholistic health
At Big Camp the Health Department has announced of the First 50 campaign which is the subsidy of the First 50 churches that will sign up to become an ELIA Wellness Hub will be subsidised by the conference to receive the first annual subscription for only $100. To date, we have 21 churches that have made a commitment to become Wellness Hubs. We have been seeing already at last six baptisms and a profession of faith that have come from health ministry work at Parramatta Central and more from Dundas’ health events of seminars, health screening, cooking & fitness clubs and evangelism. There are many hard workers in our churches with many activities that are not even mentioned in this update. Please pray for our health leaders and advocates. Consider again if your church is not yet a Wellness Hub. It’s not too late to grab this offer before the end of this year.
Imagine more numbers of friendship that we can have as more of our churches are actively connecting with the community through health. It begins with opening our doors, connecting one on one, lowering the walls, building trust and showing care. Not a rocket science work really, just hard heart-work and prayers. I’m excited for what God is going to do with harvest next year if we continue to stay active in reaching out.
—
A thought from health Director, Dr Christiana Leimena-Lehn:
We can draw valuable insights from the role of salt when it comes to interacting with those around us. Salt is meant to leave the shaker and enhance the flavor of food by being sprinkled over it. Just as a chef knows where seasoning is needed, we are called to engage personally with others, guided by God’s direction on whom to connect with and where to go. When we listen for God’s voice, we find opportunities for meaningful encounters. A single grain of salt isn’t effective; it’s when many grains are dispersed that they make a difference, much like how salt should be spread evenly rather than clumped together on a pretzel.
Together, we maintain our saltiness, but it’s when we’re scattered in our unique areas of influence that we can truly make an impact. The Holy Spirit knows precisely how much salt each situation requires—who needs more and who might need it later. While salt itself cannot see everything, the chef does; similarly, let the Holy Spirit lead us in sharing our faith without getting ahead of His plan.
Jesus clearly stated that if salt loses its flavor, it’s useless. To remain effective, we must continually connect with Jesus—seeking Him daily and immersing ourselves in divine influence rather than worldly distractions. God stands ready to keep us salty and spiritually vibrant, eager to fill us with His righteousness so that our love overflows.
How do we achieve this? By dedicating time to be with Him, meditating on His word through Scripture, and following His guidance. We cannot offer others what we do not possess ourselves; it is through our own dedication and commitment to Christ that we become a blessing and inspiration to others.
If there is no genuine service or love within us—no true spiritual experience—we lack the power to uplift or connect others with heaven’s grace or Christ’s essence in life (MB 37.1). Remember Jesus’ words: You are the salt of the earth. You hold purpose and value because God has a plan for you—to fulfill His will both here on earth and in heaven.
For more information on Health or to get involved, contact the department at [email protected].
