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Churches as agents of community change: An introduction to the issue.

Krystal HaysJennifer Costello
Published in: Journal of prevention & intervention in the community (2021)
Churches are enduring social institutions that play a critical role in the promotion of health and wellbeing. In this introduction, the function of churches as community change agents is highlighted. A brief history of the role of churches in shaping and transforming social systems is provided along with examples of recent church-based change efforts. Further, this issue presents six articles that explore church-based change efforts impacting relationship development, trauma response, wellbeing, pandemic response, and attitudes toward environmental justice. Each article identifies a specific social problem and examines how churches promote prevention and intervention efforts to address the problem. Overall, this issue suggests that churches continue to serve as a resource for community change and that helping professionals should seek to engage with churches when promoting health.
Keyphrases
  • mental health
  • healthcare
  • public health
  • randomized controlled trial
  • mental illness
  • sars cov
  • health information
  • risk assessment
  • human health
  • dna methylation
  • climate change
  • life cycle