Pastor Mary Worsley set a goal for the new year that many in her profession might consider a bit unorthodox. She wanted to see her congregation get smaller.

Not in number, but in size.

Through the "Losing to Win" campaign, 47 members of Community Unison Baptist Church in Winterville are working to lose a collective 500 pounds in five months. Group members attending a Tuesday night Bible study have the chance to weigh as well as pray.

Community Unison is among a growing number of area churches that are no longer just instructing members to "Take Time to be Holy." They're encouraging them to take time to be healthy.

At Winterville's Covenant United Methodist Church, small groups with names like "Faithfully Fit" are designed to address issues of both body and soul. Two dozen people signed up for the church's new running group, which meets at 6:30 a.m. for 2- to 5-mile jogs.

"We're concerned not only for people's spiritual health but we want people to be physically healthy," said Jay Buckingham, lead director of adult formation at Covenant, "so they'll be able to fulfill what God's called them to do."

Churches have not always been in the business of health and wellness. But in recent years, the unspoken separation between church and weight has been crossed by programs such as Weigh Down, First Place, Lighten Up, the Divine Diet and Bod4God. While the Christian weight-loss industry continues to expand, some churches like The Memorial Baptist are cultivating home-grown health programs.

Last fall, Memorial hosted a series of meetings on better health and began distributing copies of Dr. Kenneth Cooper's "Start Strong, Finish Strong" among members of its congregation and in the surrounding community. The church also launched a better health blog: http://betterhealthtmbc.blogspot.com.

"We decided one thing (people inside and outside the church) have in common was we all could aspire to better health," Memorial member Gene Prescott, coordinator of the Better Health blog, said about the decision for the church to address health and wellness online. "It wouldn't be done as a recruiting tool for the church. It would be done just to improve health."

In addition to posts about subjects such as pedometers and "healthy eating for dummies," the blog gives statistics on obesity and includes links to other health articles as well as to the church's Web site.

The church is making other efforts to address health as well by organizing an aerobic line-dancing course and opening a community walking trail along the back of its property at Red Banks Road. The quarter-mile loop includes three literature stations, where walkers can get information about the trail itself, the church or simply about better health.

Why such an emphasis on exercise? After all, 1 Timothy 4:8 says, "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things."

But Prescott said activity was a built-in part of daily life in biblical times.

"People in biblical times did actually walk everywhere," he said. "There are a lot of references to walking.

"The Bible does actually address taking care of yourself," Prescott said. "It doesn't major on it, but there is a basis there."

The biblical basis is one reason the Healthy Lives, Healthy Choices program is working through churches to try to reduce cardiovascular disease among Pitt County's black population. With funding through the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, Project Coordinator Belinda Rayner is working with 28 churches in Greenville, Winterville, Grimesland, Farmville and Simpson to provide health education, screenings and exercise classses.

The program, which began in September 2006, is helping provide exercise equipment for churches, set up walking trails and even operate a satellite farmers' market so people can buy fresh produce close to home. The program works in conjunction with area pastors to talk to their congregations about events such as next week's Wear Red Sunday, held in conjunction with the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign.

"Churches are a good channel to get out health information," Rayner said. "The pastor is looked upon as the leader. If you have the pastors on board, the members are more likely to be ... making sure they're exercising, making sure they're going to the doctor, things like that."

Worsley knows her word carries a lot of weight with members of her congregation at Community Unison. That's why she signed herself up for the Losing to Win program.

"We're the leaders in the community," she said. "What we say, the way we act, what we do, the rest follow after us."

Worsley believes that for too long, the church has remained silent about obesity because some people do not consider overeating to be a vice.

"We don't consider eating a sin because we eat every day," she said. "It is one thing we have done in excess. It's one thing we need to get a better handle on."

At times, the church has been an unwitting accomplice to the problem of obesity because of traditions like church socials where fare is often laden with fat and sugar.

"Historically everything is centered around food because of the fellowship," Worsley said. "We're trying to learn and incorporate other ways."

She said small changes, like substituting baked or grilled items for fried foods or providing sugar-free beverages at church socials can help members establish new habits.

"(The Apostle) Paul (in the New Testament book of Philippians) tells us everything we do we should do in moderation," she said.

"We often ignore or don't pay much attention to the physical body. Our focus should not only be on our spiritual or inner man but should also be on the outer man."

Contact features writer Kim Grizzard at 329-9578 or via e-mail at kgrizzard@coxnc.com.