Membership Matters

Featured Article, June 2023

Are you an up-to-date member of the Adventist Association of Faith Community Nursing (AAFCN)?

If your answer is “No”, then you are the right person reading the right article at the right time – time when matters of membership move to front and center.

Are you eligible to be an AAFCN member?

Friend Level – If you are a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church and are interested in promoting health ministry in your church, then the answer is “Yes!” Pastors, educators, non-healthcare people, allied health professionals, LPN’s and LVN’s, and registered nurses who have not taken a Faith Community Nursing Foundations course, this level of membership is for you!

Faith Community Nurse Level – If you are a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, have completed a Foundations of Faith Community Nursing course, and are still interested in promoting wholistic health (mental, physical, emotional, spiritual) in your church, this level of membership is for you!

How much does it cost to become an AAFCN member?

Friend Level – Enrollment at this level costs $20 which will recur annually.

Faith Community Nurse Level — Initial enrollment at this level costs $60. Annual renewal is $45.

Note: If you take the FCN Foundations course through the Adventist Association of Faith Community Nursing (AAFCN) as part of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, the initial enrollment year is free, with a $45 annual renewal.

What are these membership monies used for?

Everything collected goes to further the AAFCN mission statement:

“To equip nurses to facilitate transformative care to congregations and communities.”

As all board members are volunteers, fund targets may include offering accredited continuing education for members and honorariums for guest speakers. (Click here to view roster of AAFCN board members.)

Note: Your dues may be tax deductible. Individual nurse situations vary, and states’ regulations also vary in their treatment of professional organization membership fees, so check with your tax preparer / accountant for further guidance.

Why should you become a member of AAFCN? Does Membership really matter?

The official website answer outlines that a one-year AAFCN membership receives:

• Networking opportunities with other FCNs and Friends of AAFCN
• Resources for launching and growing a health ministry program, and a Faith Community Nurse Ministry
• Discounts on select FCN resources, i.e., books
• No-cost online CEU events
• Access to the AAFCN online forum (coming soon)
• Membership renewal discount
• Discounts to North American Division Health Ministries events (such as the April Health Summit)
• AAFCN membership pin

To illuminate a personal, real-life answer to the question of whether membership matters, we spoke with Faith Community Nurse Teresa Nelson, BSN, RN who serves at the Discover Life Adventist Church in Sonora, CA, as an FCN, Elder, and Grief Ministry leader. We asked her why she is a renewing member of AAFCN. Immediately she exclaimed “For me the biggest value of this organization is forming relationships with other nurses who have felt a similar calling to get nurses more ‘front and center’ in church ministry. It’s not the discounts or CE’s, it’s the relational aspect that draws me; the ‘gathering together’ and the gaining encouragement from each other. I’ve met so many wonderful nurses all over the country! Why wouldn’t anyone want to join a professional organization of such like-minded people!?”

Here’s how to join.

Initial enrollment and annual renewals are best completed through the AAFCN website.

Click here: https://nadhealth.org/aafcn/

Membership year is from September 1 through August 31.

Tip: Look for and click the ‘Auto Renewal’ option. Each August you will get a reminder email that your credit card will soon be debited.

We eagerly look forward to welcoming new and renewing members into this wholistic health, ministry-focused organization!

Will you join us?