(Originally posted April 23, 2015 http://www.wheatridge.org/making-the-most-of-2/)
Time. Twenty-four hours a day, the amount of time each person has each day whether rich or poor, young or old, couch potato or marathon champion. For most people, 24 hours is too short to complete all they desire to do. “Not enough time,” people moan and give as a common excuse for not exercising. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends between 150-300 minutes (midpoint 225 mins) of exercise per week for important health benefits. Of the total 10,080 minutes available per week, 225 minutes of exercise time is only about 2% of the total time.
Early morning walkers at an LEA Convocation
What about spiritual exercise – time reading the Bible, praying, group Bible study, community worship? Although there are no specific spiritual exercise guidelines like there are for physical exercise, a spiritual exercise guideline could include 15 minutes daily of personal Bible reading and prayer, 60 minutes per week of group Bible study, and 60 minutes a week of church worship for a total of about 225 minutes per week. Still, that’s approximately just 2% of the whole week.
In spite of these both only being about 2% the time in each week, many people struggle with finding time for spiritual and physical exercise. How can churches encourage people to be successful with both physical and spiritual exercise? Perhaps bringing together physical and spiritual exercise would be helpful.
Here are some idea starters for combining spiritual and physical exercise:
- Encourage individuals to listen to Bible readings and/or sermons on their phone or iPod while walking, running, or even exercising at a health club.
- Host aerobics, Zumba, or other exercise classes with praise music in the church multipurpose room.
- Install a prayer labyrinth on church property for members to walk and pray.
- Offer active games and activities for all ages (not just kids) at church picnics and events.
- Instead of mailing invitations to church events (such as VBS) to neighbors, divide up into teams and deliver them by hand.
- When visiting shut-ins and elderly, ask if you may take them for a walk outside (if they are wheel-chair bound, offer to push!)
“Pray What You See” by walking your neighborhood and praying for the needs around you (Read how God has responded to Pastor Chris Paavola who is doing this as he plants a church in St. Louis)- Extra Credit: Encourage church meetings to be held walking around a room instead of sitting (Lower blood pressure, calmer tempers, and increased productivity just might be the outcome of such a meeting!)
These are just a few ways churches have sought to combine spiritual and physical fitness. Which of these ideas might work in your church? What other ideas do you have?
For exercise resources, please check out wheatridge.org/logs
