ABSTRACT:

The study examines the degree of involvement of churches in health education in rural communities using Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State as a case study. Using the simple random sampling technique, 120 Pastors and 100 Lay faithful were drawn for interview from the five clans of the local government area. With the help of a questionnaire and an interview guide, the study observed a rather low level of pastors' involvement in the promotion of health education. A high percentage rate of 91.7 of these pastors never considered health issue in their weekly homilies, while as many as32. I percent of them would turn down requests by health personnel to address the congregation. The study recommends that along with raising the educational level of the local pastors, which was found to be generally low in this sample, rural churches through their pastors should rise to the social responsibility of promoting health consciousness through health education.