The majority of pastors are either overweight or obese, according to a 2001 Pulpit and Pew study at Duke Divinity School.
(Ten years later, I wonder if we are even heavier.)
This factoid from Pulpit and Pew was recently shared at a church event during which we were served mega muffins for breakfast, chips & cookies with our sandwiches for lunch, and candy bars for mid-afternoon snacks. What’s wrong with this picture?
The general population is overweight in the United States. But according to a 2010 Centers for Disease Control study, only (only?) 37% of Americans are obese and these numbers have held true for about five years for men and ten years for women. In other words, if we believe these studies, clergy are heavier than the average American. We are also more depressed and susceptible to heart disease apparently. But today’s post is about donuts and cupcakes.
“If you feed them, they will come.” We chuckle over this adage at church meetings as we sample the lemon squares at coffee hour. Church food tends to be heavy in the carb department and about as healthy as Lucky Charms.
But it may be harder to change the church food culture than the order of worship in our traditional congregations. After all, no church has “salad committee.” We continue to offer consecrated casseroles – delicious lasagna and macaroni and cheese- to the sick. The New York Times reported in 2005 that Radiant Church in Arizona spends $16,000 on Krispy Kreme donuts every year.
This post is not meant to make those of us who need to lose weight feel terrible about ourselves. The point is to ask how we might encourage congregations and their pastors to be healthier.
Strawberries after worship anyone? Better ideas?
A Church for Starving Artists 
As a person who struggles with weight I so “get” this. Between church functions, fellowship coffee/cookies, invites to lunch (which I’ve been graciously saying no to), funeral dinners, presbytery lunches, COM lunches, youth groups, etc…it is extremely difficult. I’ve been taking my lunches to presbytery meetings and other events when I can.
I was at an installation a couple of weeks ago and found wonderful green and red grapes (in addition to five kinds of cake). It is a start.
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for those of us in churches that are working hard to be part of the local food movement, but who live in the north, this is doubly hard. we do pretty well in spring and summer, when we have lots of great produce around. in winter? pasta with cream sauce, cake, homemade bread, etc…
I do make every youth have at least 2 bites of fresh vegetable on their plate at every meal we eat together–they may have pizza and baby carrots, or spaghetti and two bites of spinach salad, but every youth knows that they can’t get away with skipping the veggies at youth group anymore. lol.
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Try being a 40-year old youth minister. My metabolism is slowing and I have to be around a group that thinks metabolism lasts forever. First of all, it bothers me that I can’t do my job without eating garbage (and yes, there are plenty of situations where there are no options). Second, it bothers me that we are teaching students to eat such horrible stuff.
We have been able to do a little better by limiting the portions our students get and trying to at least provide fruit, bottled water, etc. But we have a long way to go.
I think that there needs to be a movement among the leadership of the church towards health, but that’s difficult when the church considers a trip to the gym a waste that takes time away from the church.
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I mentioned this statistic just yesterday; it’s a a sad one that doesn’t reflect well on our theology. Our church has just started the Walk to Bethlehem program http://www.stjohnprovidence.org/walktojerusalem/ hoping to address the sedentariness of the congregation. I have never seen people sign up faster for a program/event, so there must be a felt need. Later, someone mentioned to me that they are counting steps for two programs now, because their (secular) employer has an arrangement with their health insurance provider that logs the steps/movement of the employee with the potential of lowering their health insurance premiums. Now, why isn’t our denominational health program doing this?
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As a pastor myself, I can say first hand this is a struggle. A few years ago it hit me like a ton of bricks…I was standing before people trying to get them to live a spiritually disciplined life and I couldn’t even live a physically disciplined life. The result was that I lost 110lbs. I have kept off 90lbs of that for the past 5 years.
It was all a result of wanting to serve Jesus for as long as I can, not until I was physicalyl unable to.
Grace to us strugglers!
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Maybe we need a WWJE movement and serve only the foods at fellowship hour (and youth group, and all those committee meetings) that Jesus would eat!
Or, do a hunger study and serve the foods (in the daily amounts they eat) of the people who are suffering from hunger in our neighborhoods and around the world. I bet being served a muffin cup full of rice or beans or…would spark some interesting conversation.
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One of the consequences of my sabbatical was a renewed commitment to mind-BODY-spirit in pastoral ministry. I began running again and set a goal to run a marathon. I know that is extreme and not for everyone, but it is what I needed to stay focussed on long term day-by-day discipline which is what is necessary for good health and marathon running. It has been very helpful in my life and ministry. My congregation supports it and several have mentioned the example it sets for folks who want to pick up some discipline of regular physical exercise. I’m blessed to know several other pastors in my Presbytery who are also long distance runners and that has created an extra gift of community. I’m running the Marine Corps marathon for the third time this Sunday and the congregation will be tracking the running with updates during the morning. Last year, our congregation and friends donated $8,300 to support our mission partnership in Haiti.
Charlotte is right – members want some practical way to get a handle on this. The C25K is another good way to get started. (Couch to 5 K run.)
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