The meaning and experience of health ministry within the culture of a congregation with a parish nurse.

A growing number of nurses are working with congregations in churches, synagogues, and mosques, trying to promote health through integrating religious beliefs and health knowledge. The concept of health ministry guides nursing practice when working with congregations. This ethnographic study aims to understand the meaning and experience of health ministry within the culture of a congregation with a parish nurse examining both emic and etic perspectives. Utilizing participant observation, interviews, and reviews of written documents, an ethnography was created of an ethnically diverse, urban United Methodist congregation with a volunteer parish nurse. Two forms of health ministry were found within the congregation, which the investigator named extrinsic and intrinsic health ministry. Extrinsic health ministry included activities whose explicit purpose was to promote health. Intrinsic health ministry included activities and experiences within congregational life whose express purpose was something other than health promotion, yet participants identified it as promoting their health. Implications for transcultural nurses include using knowledge of congregational cultures to facilitate culturally congruent health ministry.