Could your church benefit from running Stop Dieting - Start Living group?

One of the main barriers which churches have to overcome in sharing the Gospel is that anything to do with God or Church can appear for many people to be totally irrelevant to their everyday lives.

But in this day when obesity is reaching epidemic proportions (52% of the adult British public is overweight or obese) and when people, having tried (often unsuccessfully) every diet under the sun, are searching for solutions to their own weight problems, StopDieting -Start Living comes as a breath of fresh air. Liz, a recent course participant who had never had any church connections before said: ‘I sense such hope and expectation here. It’s marvellous! At last I have found something that is really helping me address why I have been putting on weight, and it’s helping me to sort out lots of inner problems as well.’

The StopDieting - Start Living course isn’t ‘churchy,’ but it has a solid Biblical foundation. It addresses all aspects of human need – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – so people can identify easily with what is taught. The spiritual aspects are taught where it is relevant alongside well-researched secular material dealing with health and nutrition, and each week there are daily notes which offer the opportunity for individuals to bring God into their relationship with food and to experience his help in a personal way. Group discussion questions encourage people to share openly and promote relationships which make the sharing of the Gospel a natural progression.

Not only will your church become healthier and more able to fulfil its Commission, but you will be pointing people to Christ in a very practical and loving way.

Why not form a Church-based group?

You do not need any special expertise to organise a group. If, initially, the group consists of a few church members who are trialling the course for their own benefit, then all you need is mutual loving support, and the blessing and oversight of your church leadership. If situations arise where you feel you need counsel above what the group feels able to deliver, these needs can be referred to others in the church with the relevant experience.

Once you have experienced the life-changing effect of the SDieting - Start Living course for yourselves you can then begin to reach out to friends and acquaintances with a testimony and begin to draw others to Christ through meeting them at the point of their felt need.

Eventually you will be able, using a full Stop Dieting - Start Living Powerpoint presentation, to advertise and reach out into your local community and network (if you so wish) with other churches, drawing together individuals with their own areas of expertise. This is precisely how the Pilot scheme has worked in my own locality and we now have a full team of mentors with interest or expertise in health, fitness, nutrition, cookery and counselling.

This could be one of the most exciting and successful ventures your church has ever experienced!

Free Resources to help you set up a Stop Dieting - Start Living  Group

1)  Group Leaders Guide                  

This contains advice on setting up a group

2)     Powerpoint promotional slide show

This is non-copyrighted and editable so that you can add your own course details etc.  Use this to promote the course and ascertain numbers who will be registering before ordering group materials