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Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Gosford Stake (diocese) and its local Seventh-Day Adventist Church have come together to increase awareness on the importance of self-reliance and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
President Conrad Dunn of Gosford Stake saw an increasing level of lifestyle-related illnesses in the local area and initiated a series of health seminars and workshops for members of the Stake. As the nearby Seventh-Day Adventist Church has already been hosting community-based health and lifestyle programs, the two faiths soon combined their efforts to run regular interfaith programs for the purpose of improving the physical and emotional wellbeing of their members.
Elder Allan and Sister McMillan, Latter-day Saint missionaries who were instrumental in building the interfaith relationship, acknowledged that the key to physical wellness lies in “a life of balance and temperance” which includes regular exercise and avoidance of foods that are of little nutritional value. In her other role as self-reliance specialist, Sister McMillan commented that the key to being independent is “in being able to provide for the spiritual and temporal necessities of life for oneself and his/her family.”
Dallin Jarvis, director of public affairs for Gosford Stake, explained that the workshops “are based on shared religious guidelines of a healthy lifestyle such as keeping a well-balanced diet of plant-based whole foods and avoiding the use of overly manufactured and processed foods. Improved health has been experienced by those attending the classes and workshops.”
Interfaith relations between the Latter-day Saints and Seventh-Day Adventist communities in Gosford has grown through this interaction and the benefits are beginning to spread to the wider community.