Our Health Ministry Community offers many programs throughout the year. We have offered special events like blood drives, flu shot clinics, home health education, organ donation and a heart health workshop. Our Faith Community Nurse is a great advocate for the patient: our congregation. Whether it be a simple procedure or a complicated one, Amy will help you through it.
For more information on our Health Ministry, contact our Faith Community Nurse, Amy Beaver, at abeaver@concordcentral.org.
Faith Community Nursing
Faith Community Nursing was founded in the 1980s by Chaplain Granger Westberg. As the concept for health ministry developed across the country, CMC NorthEast Medical Center started our program in October 1997. This grew out of a need for more community outreach toward the prevention of illness in our area. Faith Community Nursing is emerging as one of the fastest growing specialized professional nursing practices. In 1998, the American Nurses Association formally recognized parish nursing, now called Faith Community Nursing, as a new specialty area in nursing. Faith Communities have been promoting health and wholeness for centuries through worship, music, sharing, and caring. As an institution, faith communities are the only place where people meet regularly to seek healing, and our church families are seen as a connecting point. It is a place where we all share life experiences, good and bad, and develop and grow from them. In our community, parish nursing is a health ministry between a hospital and area churches. This ministry is based on the belief that our health is holistic and that our bodies, our minds, and our spirits need to be in harmony if we are to be well or “whole.” Our Faith Community Nursing and Health Ministry at Central is blessed to be supported by our local hospital’s Faith Community Nursing department. Currently, Faith Community Nurse Programs affiliated with CMC-NorthEast have been established in over 40 churches. This represents approximately 19,000 church members where the religious and ethnic diversity, as well as the geographic distribution, of the congregations reflect the community as a whole. We are heavily centralized in Cabarrus County but have a number of churches in neighboring Rowan, Stanly, Anson, and Northeast Mecklenburg communities. The Health Cabinet is made up of volunteers who are concerned about health and who are committed to seeing that the healing ministry of the church is carried out. The health cabinet’s primary role in relating to the Faith Community Nurse is to provide guidance and support. Central’s Valda Harry Health Cabinet was formed to lead and involve our congregation in a healing ministry, and is based on a holistic perception of each individual – body, mind, and spirit. Our Faith Community Nurse and Health Cabinet will promote health and wholeness of mind, body, and spirit to individuals, congregations, and the community for the glory of God. This mission statement summarizes our commitment to impacting individuals, congregations, and our community as a whole through our various forms of health ministry.
Weekly Tai Chi Group at Central UMC
Central is proud to offer Tai Chi for Arthritis during the week. The class is free of charge and meets at the church in the Youth Room.
Each Tuesday, Madeline Fillman teaches Tai Chi for Arthritis. The class is great for balance and only requires stable shoes. Tuesday morning’s class begins at 11:15 AM.
Run For Reta
Run for Reta is an annual event in memory of Reta Steck, Associate Pastor of CUMC for many years. Each November Central members lace up their running shoes, put on their red (Reta’s favorite color) shirts and run the Santa Scramble 5k that leads the Concord Christmas Parade. It also hits the two mile marker right in front of Central. All proceeds go to Ruth Dollars, Reta’s favorite ministry.
