Healthcare Sunday (on Sunday 16 October this year) is an annual opportunity for churches to acknowledge, affirm and support the work done by members of your congregation and local community who work in health and social care. In your congregation you will almost certainly have doctors, nurses, care assistants, social workers, social care workers, occupational therapists, hospital administrators, porters, cleaners, ward secretaries, laboratory staff or chaplains, and people serving in many other roles.

This year, Healthcare Sunday will be the last part of a CMF National Week of Prayer. After two years of unprecedented strain on the British and global health systems, we need to turn to God more than ever. Watch this space over the coming weeks and months for news on national and local prayer events between 10 and 16 October, in person or on Zoom.

After two years where we have seen the vital work that health and social care staff have been doing in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, Healthcare Sunday and the week of prayer are a great opportunity for us to celebrate their work and give thanks to God.

We will all need to use the health service at some point in our lives. Healthcare Sunday helps us to remember this and to give this invaluable work that affects us all back to the Lord in prayer and thanks.

Healthcare Sunday is usually held on the nearest Sunday to St Luke's day (18 October), but do feel free to celebrate it on any date that works best for your church.

The following resources may be of assistance:

• Why to hold a Healthcare Sunday in your church
  
  
• A PowerPoint presentation for your church to use on Healthcare Sunday
  
  
• A sermon outline for Healthcare Sunday
  
  
• Some hymn and worship song suggestions for Healthcare Sunday
  
  
• A testimony about what it means to be a Christian doctor
  
  
• 'Three ways COVID-19 has changed me as a doctor'
  
  
• Prayers for health and social care staff for Healthcare Sunday and throughout the year
  
  
• How to care for healthcare workers in your church family
  
  
• A prayer at the end of shift
  
  
• 'COVID-19: God in the gaps'
  
  
• An intensive care specialist talks about the toll of COVID-19 on health workers, but also of the unexpected ways God has been at work in a critical care unit [12 minute audio file / podcast]

Healthcare Sunday is not just limited to one day. Please use any of these resources to encourage prayer and support for health workers, whether in your homegroup, church or CU at any time of the year.