With an average Sunday attendance of just 13, St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church in the small town of Hearne may be the last place you might think of as a catalyst of community health. But after the congregation and church leaders made a bold decision to name health as their top priority, their effort reignited optimism and healing throughout the community. Part of that work has been inviting residents to share their hopes for their town. The congregation learned that community engagement doesn’t just fix what is wrong. It also celebrates what’s already working. The church helped create an annual hometown festival, hosts monthly downtown events for residents and teens, and is working with other community organizations to develop a Health Resource Center for Robertson County. This is one example of what can happen when the Episcopal Health Foundation provides an initial spark to help a community organize and focus their efforts to have the greatest impact on the health of the people who live there. It’s what happens when we engage communities to take charge of their own health, help them become advocates for health, and adopt new ways of meaningful problem solving. EHF is reaching out to many different communities across Texas and we’re beginning to see change as we re-engage those communities to discover ways that we can help them address the specific health issues they face. It’s all too easy to step into a community and think that we see what is needed, but that’s not community engagement. We want to work with our neighbors and other community-based organizations to improve the wellness of our neighborhoods. And to do that means changing the conversation to addressing health from all angles. Communities, neighborhoods, organizations and congregations throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Texas have a heart for serving their neighbors, but many just don’t know how to start.  EHF stands ready to provide the spark to address health in new and different ways in your community.