The Health Ministry is off to a great start this year, concentrating on two health programs in the first quarter: The Grace of Aging and Heal Your Lifestyle.
The first initiative is a collaboration between Health Ministries and Adventist Possibility Ministries, aimed at the church’s elderly members. As Dr. Jane Yap mentioned in her introduction to the program, “Malaysia is experiencing population aging.” The church recognises this problem, thus designed a program to help our elders age gracefully. The program attempts to cover subjects such as physical and social preparation, financial preparation, mental and emotional preparation, and spiritual preparation.
The Grace of Aging is a hybrid event that has been taking place in PJ Chinese Church and via Zoom, with live streams on the MAUM and Eight Treasure Facebook pages. The program is available in English, Chinese, and Bahasa Malaysia. It began on February 23 and will run every Sabbath afternoon until May 18. Some of the speakers include Dr. Dicky Ng, a PAH wellness doctor, and Dr. Shee Soon Chiew, a psychologist and educator. By the end of the program, the organisers intend to help members form a Senior Citizen Club in their local churches.
The second program is a spin-off of last year’s Heal Your Lifestyle series. This program takes participants on a two-week journey to discover how to restore their physical bodies through a series of webinars and practical dietary modifications. The program tries to break the monotony of daily life by making intentional decisions to establish healthy habits based on the three pillars of lifestyle medicine: food, exercise, and mental health.
Dr. Jane Yap developed the 14-day program, which was introduced on March 22nd, with the goal of kickstarting good behaviours, developing a healthy lifestyle, and improving one’s life while helping others better theirs.
A total of 100 people from PEM, SAK, SAB, BAF, and MAUM have registered. The first three days of the program involve juice fasting, followed by complete, plant-based meals. Participants are organised into groups to track their travels. Each group has a map that depicts the daily mileage. The group that covers the furthest distance will be rewarded.
Dr. Jane shares, “From these programs catered to our church members, it is my hope that they will use it to reach out to their friends and community… And others will get to know Christ.”
For more information on the initiative of the MAUM health ministry, visit their Facebook page, Eight Treasures.
By Hazel Wanda Ginajil, Communication Department
26, March 2024, Tuesday.