Leadership Network's Tim Dammon has been researching churches that design ministries to address the healthcare needs of underserved people. He reports some of his observations in the following interview:

What are you learning about healthcare ministries being developed by churches?
It's very encouraging to see how the body of Christ is responding to the needs of more than 45 million Americans with limited or no access to healthcare. Churches across the country are living out Matthew 25 by caring for "the least of these." We're finding a broad variety of models that churches are employing to execute healthcare strategies. Many churches, though, think they're "going it alone." They're often surprised to find others with the same passion for ministry through healthcare.

What categories have you identified? Healthcare ministry shows up through four different models: The traditional clinic model, a "clinic without walls" model, a parish nursing model and a patient navigator model. What model seems to be the most predominant? The largest category is probably the parish nursing model. This model has been around for a very long time and there is some significant national coordination of training and equipping

for parish nurses. Parish nurses are typically nursing professionals within a congregation who provide care and medical support for the congregation and the community.

Parish nurses often coordinate total healthcare strategies for a congregation including health education and outreach, health fairs, blood drives, diabetes testing and management, and other healthcare and health-improvement programs. Parish nurses are extremely effective in churches whose community includes a population with significant risk for chronic health problems (inner-city churches, churches in African-American communities, communities with large numbers of senior adults, etc.).

What is the most visible model? It's easy to spot the traditional clinic model that usually involves a brick-and-mortar clinic or the use of a portion of a church's existing structure. They range from a small space with one examining room staffed by one or two volunteer medical professionals, to a facility with the capacity to see several patients simultaneously and equipped with a significant amount of clinical equipment and a large group of paid and/or volunteer workers with both medical and non-medical skills. While this is the most visible, many churches are limited in their ability to execute this model.

What is the fastest-growing model?
Probably the "clinic without walls" model. In this model a church won't necessarily dedicate physical space, but will coordinate the treatment of clients in the actual offices and clinics of doctors and medical personnel throughout the community. The healthcare ministry of the church is focused on providing patient management, transportation and clerical support, etc., leaving the medical personnel free to do what they do best--treat people.

This approach gives an even greater number of church members the opportunity to be involved. Providing transportation, scheduling patient visits, following up with prescriptions...