HELP & STRENGTH
"Send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion." Psalm 20:2



A New Smoking Cessation Program for Black Church Congregations

Consultant Charyn Sutton of The Onyx Group has developed a new approach to working with Black Churches on smoking cessation. Sutton is consulting on African American smoking cessation projects in six states -- many of these projects in partnership with local Black churches.

In the past, many Black churches have been reluctant to take on the challenge of smoking cessation among their members. Among the reasons that have been given for this reluctance are:

"There are more important issues for us to work on in the Black community."

"We want to keep our focus on the spiritual, rather than secular issues like tobacco use."

"Other folks are doing cessation work far better than we ever could."

"We don't have many smokers in our congregation."



DESCRIPTION

The Help & Strength model was created in response to issues raised by Black Churches with respect to engaging in smoking cessation projects.

Given the number of deaths due to tobacco, smoking is one of the most important issues facing the Black community.

Much of the ministry of Jesus involved healing the sick, so working in a health ministry like smoking cessation is part of a spiritual responsibility.

Existing smoking cessation programs have been largely unsuccessful in getting African Americans to quit smoking and stay quit, so there is definitely a role for Black churches to support new approaches that will work.

There are smokers in Black churches, but many of them are "secret smokers" who are so ashamed of their addiction that they are embarrassed to come forward to ask for help, fearing that their fellow church members will judge them harshly for their shortcomings.

The Help & Strength approach combines faith in God's power, individual will power, and support of family and friends -- including the church family -- to overcome the damage caused by cigarettes and other forms of smoking in people's lives. It builds on the excellent work that has been done by leaders in the faith community such as Bishop S.C. Carthen of Sacramento, California and Rev. Melvin Tuggle of Baltimore, Maryland. Assistance has also been provided by the Metro-Urban Institute of the Pittsburgh Theological Center.



APPROACH

Like other faith-based cessation programs, Help & Strength has multiple goals:

to educate the Black community to the dangers of tobacco use, including dangers of which they may not be aware;
to encourage the incorporation of smoking cessation within health ministries of Black Churches, in keeping with their spiritual mandate to follow in the path of Jesus, who healed bodies as well as souls;

to help individual Black smokers become healthier by mobilizing faith communities to support them in their efforts to quit smoking.

What is new about Help & Strength is the focus on a prayer ministry that not only prays for the smoker to be freed from his or her addiction, but that also prays for nonsmokers in the congregation to become less critical and more loving toward those who are still caught up in the throes of addiction to nicotine. This new element creates a safe place within the church for smokers to shed their secrecy and to accept the embrace of the church family in addressing smoking through self-help, individual counseling, medication and/or church-based cessation classes. There are numerous verses in the Bible where believers are asked to reach out to others in a loving way including Galatians 6:2, John 13:24 and Matthew 22:39.

The smoking cessation model that is being used is Winning Path, which is based on the self-help guide Pathways to Freedom.

Currently, the Help & Strength faith-based cessation model is part of a 6-month project called "Love Thy Neighbor," which is being piloted-tested in 12 African American congregations in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh by BrownPartners Multicultural Marketing, with funding provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.



TO LEARN MORE

For more information about the Help & Strength cessation model or how Winning Path and Pathways to Freedom can be used in a church-based setting, please contact Rev. Jesse Brown at JesseBrown@theqadvantgae.net.