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reasonable to assume that part of this difference can be attributed to growth between 1998
and 2000. Health ministry has been a recent area of growth in many religious traditions.
A study of health ministry activities of Omaha area congregations in 2000 found 45% of
the congregations reporting health ministry programs in the beginning or growth stages
(Ryan, Eickhoff-Shemek et al. 2001, p. 319). The FACT and Cooperative Clergy results
indicate a level of general health programming that surpasses economic development
programming and comes close to levels of some low-income assistance programming.
The Cooperative Clergy survey does not tell us what this general health programming
might be, while the FACT results suggest that health programming in congregations
focuses on wellness, exercise, and programs that assist those in the hospital or nursing
homes. The Omaha study finds 9% of congregations offering exercise classes, consistent
with the national figures from the FACT study (Ryan, Eickhoff-Shemek et al. 2001, p.
321), and shows the percentages of Omaha congregations providing a wide range of
health services. Some of the most common health activities reported from the Omaha
study are educational programs, with domestic violence education being a frequently
mentioned activity and stress management information another popular topic. The more
specific wording of the Omaha study questions provides clues to what congregations may
be doing who report nursing home/hospital services in the FACT study. A sizable
percentages of congregations in Omaha report programs through which volunteers assist
sick and elderly and programs through which volunteers take elderly and ill to doctors or
hospitals (Ryan, Eickhoff-Shemek et al. 2001, p. 321). The most common health
screening/service in the Omaha congregations studied are blood pressure checks (16%)
and flu shots (11%) (Ryan, Eickhoff-Shemek et al. 2001, p. 321). These activities by
Convention