Don't Forget Your Family's Physical Health

To continue our books for Family Wellness Month, we'll feature Fit to Serve, a six-week Bible study that melds physical fitness and spiritual wellness.

Most Christian families would love to do more for God--be His feet for His work in the world--but sometimes our physical "temples" hold us back. Excess weight and food that fattens us and clogs our arteries but doesn't fuel keeps us from being all God intends for us to be. Often the result is sluggishness, ill health, and inertia. We simply don't feel like being on mission for Him, so we take the path of least resistance and stay home. The goal of Fit to Serve is to build up the church so it can fulfill its purpose in the world.

This six-week Bible study by Christian health expert and dietitian Stephanie Dean focuses on helping each individual member of the Body of Christ to function at optimum capacity, which means each person strives to be spiritually and physically fit to serve. Use this study to strengthen your family and grow closer together, either through study as a family or individual study to implement the healthy principles in the book.

This interactive study combines spiritual disciplines such as prayer, worship, and Bible study with nutrition and exercise tips leading to physical wellness. Daily Bible studies help participants develop more in-depth spiritual lives, while daily "health bites" contributed by nutrition and exercise specialists help people examine their food choices and set goals, such as additional walking times and push-ups each day, for themselves. At group sessions members share about what God taught them during their weekly study and share the journey toward being healthier people. A leader guide provides help for conducting group meetings.

Stephanie Dean is a dietitian, author, and speaker. She earned a B.S. in nutrition sciences from Baylor University, completed the dietetic internship at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, and completed a certificate in adult weight management by the American Dietetic Association. She works in Dallas as a registered and licensed dietitian and is completing a master's degree from Dallas Theological Seminary.