Health maintenance encompasses balance in our minds, bodies, emotions, and spirits. Yet there are too many physically sick people in our churches, in both our congregations and our pulpits. The cause of much of our sickness is poor diets, as eating is the first line of maintaining or disrupting our health. The purpose and mission of the Church, as part of God’s salvific plan, is to proclaim the Kingdom of God, as well as develop disciples to do likewise. This takes a lot of energy and effort and thus requires healthy minds, spirits, and emotions, as well as healthy bodies. Sickness and diseases that pummel the Church sap our energy and distract the focus needed to satisfy its purpose and mission. In our local churches, health maintenance has been narrowly proclaimed in our preaching, if at all, resulting in a faith disconnect in this context. This thesis project was engaged to study the biblical premise for health maintenance, with a focus on biblical texts that promote eating healthily, and to apply that premise to my congregation through preaching. Two health assessments were given to compare one’s spiritual health with one’s physical health and attitude towards her or his health, in addition to measuring her or his personal health risk for developing degenerative diseases. The personal health risk assessment was repeated at the end of the project. Two sermons were preached, taken from Scripture texts that revealed God’s food provisions and the necessity to be physically fit in His Kingdom. These sermons were transformative in that they were experiential, encouraging, and challenging as they connected the hearers’ faith to their health maintenance, emphasizing eating healthily as a start. The methods used in the development of these sermons were a celebrative preaching design that constructed a celebration model, coupled with a homiletic plan and trivocal preaching as prophetic, priestly, and sagely. The results of the health assessments, pre and post, in addition to the feedback provided by the congregation and the Parish Project Group determined that preaching that connects faith with health maintenance does result in a favorable outcome.
