Building Trust in Polarized Times: Faith-Based Partnerships as Witness to Health and Healing
Felicia Thompson, Health Care for the Homeless, University of Maryland
Polarization in medicine and religion threatens to erode trust in both clinical and spiritual institutions. Amid political, cultural, and religious divides, clinicians, scholars, and chaplains are increasingly called to embody trustworthy witness—accompanying patients and communities with compassion and integrity even when consensus is fractured.
This presentation draws from research on partnerships between health care providers and faith-based organizations (FBOs), conducted as part of a graduate thesis in public health. Using qualitative insights from chaplains, faith community nurses, pastors, hospital leaders, patients, and congregants, the study investigated how FBO–healthcare collaborations can strengthen health promotion, enhance spiritual care, and bridge divides between communities and institutions.
Findings suggest that the willingness to partner rests on two pillars: spiritually competent care training for providers, and genuine recognition of the assets faith communities bring to the health landscape. When clinicians, chaplains, and scholars honor these assets, they not only expand health promotion capacity but also serve as trustworthy witnesses in polarized environments—modeling respect across difference and restoring credibility where trust has been lost.
Engaging the 2026 conference theme, The Prophetic Voice: Creativity, Compassion, and the Pursuit of Healing, this paper argues that prophetic witness in health care requires creativity in partnership, compassion in cross-sector collaboration, and courage to speak and act across divides. In practice, this means reimagining chaplaincy and health promotion as shared work between hospitals and congregations, grounded in humility, relational trust, and the pursuit of the common good.
This presentation draws from research on partnerships between health care providers and faith-based organizations (FBOs), conducted as part of a graduate thesis in public health. Using qualitative insights from chaplains, faith community nurses, pastors, hospital leaders, patients, and congregants, the study investigated how FBO–healthcare collaborations can strengthen health promotion, enhance spiritual care, and bridge divides between communities and institutions.
Findings suggest that the willingness to partner rests on two pillars: spiritually competent care training for providers, and genuine recognition of the assets faith communities bring to the health landscape. When clinicians, chaplains, and scholars honor these assets, they not only expand health promotion capacity but also serve as trustworthy witnesses in polarized environments—modeling respect across difference and restoring credibility where trust has been lost.
Engaging the 2026 conference theme, The Prophetic Voice: Creativity, Compassion, and the Pursuit of Healing, this paper argues that prophetic witness in health care requires creativity in partnership, compassion in cross-sector collaboration, and courage to speak and act across divides. In practice, this means reimagining chaplaincy and health promotion as shared work between hospitals and congregations, grounded in humility, relational trust, and the pursuit of the common good.