Wellness & Restoration: An Exploratory Study of One Church Ministry

Abstract

In 2023, First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in Asheboro, North Carolina introduced a new clinical mental health counseling ministry, Wellness & Restoration. This ministry is a collaborative effort between FUMC and Robin Liles Consulting PLLC (RLC). Aligning with the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, and drawing from Christian traditions of hospitality and care, as well as from the ideal of “preferential option for the poor,” the purpose of Wellness & Restoration is to encourage the flourishing of FUMC congregants and other people in the community by providing at-no-cost clinical mental health services. This thesis aims to describe Wellness & Restoration, including the rationale for its formation, its undergirding theology, its operations as a clinical mental health counseling ministry, and its efficacy in expanding FUMC local missional work. The overarching questions for this exploratory study asked how integrating a clinical mental health counseling ministry into a church setting shapes the church’s mission to “connect with, serve, and affirm all creation.” To answer this question, I employed a case study design in which Wellness & Restoration functioned as the main unit of analysis. To imagine the contours of the case study, I engaged with a theology of healing in the Way of Jesus. As well, a hermeneutic of discipleship and a context of local church missions undergirded the study’s design development and implementation. To these concepts, I landed upon the dimension of history and information to forward the process of thematic analysis and narrative interpretation. This exploratory study generated two types of information: descriptive and narrative. I used descriptive information to define the participant group, and I collected narrative information (primary) from semi-structured interviews and focus groups. From this study, I deduced two themes. First, through love, care, and help, God calls us to minister to one another, especially those among us who are poor and broken. Second, as God’s house, the church is and should be a place where people can go to find community, relationship and help.