Racial Health Gaps Spurring Church-Led Fitness Classes

Everyone is weary of systemic racism in this country’s health system — the entire diatribe of diseases more common to Black people, aggravated by the lack of access and shortage of funds to acquire adequate health coverage.

No wonder Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows life expectancy for African Americans — 72.8 years — is more than a few years lower than the 77.5 years that non-Hispanic whites enjoy.

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It’s yet another imbalance for African Americans, but that’s not the end of the story.

Houses of worship have stepped in to help improve the health and well-being of their congregations by offering varied opportunities for movement. 

“Uniting faith with fitness creates a powerful synergy, transforming not only the body but also the spirit, inspiring a journey of wellbeing,” the Rev. Jocelyn Hart Lovelace, presiding elder, Boston Hartford District of the New England Annual Conference of the AME Church, tells Word In Black.

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At Allen Chapel AME in Hartford, Connecticut, members are offered step challenges, and they participate in walkathons. Some members fulfill their numbers by hitting area malls early in the mornings, according to the pastor, the Rev. Orsella Hughes.

In South Carolina, at the New Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Orangeburg, the Seasoned Saints have weekly classes that incorporate strength training and cardio.

“We bring our weights to class, but everything else is provided,” says Sandra Harris, Seasoned Saints leader. This group, which is under the church’s Family Life Ministry, does different exercises. “Some involve getting on the floor, but not everyone is up for that. Mostly, we do chair workouts, work on balance, and breathing. And sometimes we do yoga,” Harris adds. She said group members are over 60 and all women, so far.

For some churches, like St. Paul AME in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the movement is incorporated into the actual Sunday morning worship experience. Every fifth Sunday, members come prepared to move, stretch, and do calisthenics for a good portion of the service.

And at The Hill, in Waterloo, Maryland, every second Sunday is Holistic Sunday, and that means highly energetic worship music and high-impact movement for a good 20-30 minutes. By the end of the workout, everyone is filling the air with exclamations of worship. 

The leader of this movement is Dr. Daphne R. Snowden, author of “Dance Ministry 101: Genesis to Revelation.” Her doctoral degree is in education, so she’s a gifted teacher who knows how to engage her students.

“When we first started, many people would just stare, some would sing, but they wouldn’t participate, but that is changing over time,” Snowden says. “Some would explain they couldn’t participate because of health challenges, but I’d tell them exercise is always good for the body.”

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So most of those same people are participating regularly now, the result of her great desire for their health.

“I prayed for guidance concerning the music I selected, my attire, the routines, everything,” she says, adding that this is a learning experience for her, too — although she’d done Zumba training since 2020. And this is not her first church exercise assignment.

“During COVID, the gospel classes grew, and there were notable successful body changes, health praise reports, and the community became more committed and dedicated to the whole process,” Snowden says. Her fitness ministry is part of a larger vision for the church.

“We’ve been providing time for movement for almost three years now,” says the Right Rev. Antoine O. McClurkin, chief steward of The Hill.

“Our purpose is to invoke wholistic logic and cause awareness to movement for the sake of temple care. It’s the seed for our future healthcare ministry.”