Dr. Halbert Dunn spurred the awareness and focus of health promotion in the 1970s. The concept of “high-level wellness” became a cornerstone of wholistic nursing.

Reverend Dr. Granger Westberg is considered the founder of Parish Nursing within the United States. As a physician faculty member and Lutheran minister he participated in a Kellogg Foundation grant to extablish medical clinics in Chicago churches in the 1970s, with the clinics staffed with pastors, physicians, and nurses. Nurses were identified as the glue between the patients and wholistic health (that included health promotion and religion).

Lutheran General Hospital of Park Ridge, Illinois (now Advocate Health Care) subsidized a pilot parish nurse program for six centers over a period of three years. The Parish Nurse Resource Center (PNRC) was started at Lutheran General in 1986. In 2001 the PNRC was changed to the International Parish Nurse Resource Center (IPNRC). In 2002 the IPNRC transferred to the Deaconess Parish Nurse Ministries in St. Louis, Missouri until 2011, when it was moved to the Church Health Center of Memphis, Tennessee. In honor of Granger Westberg, the name was changed to the Westberg Institute for Faith Community Nursing in 2016.

The Health Ministry Association (HMA) was developed in 1989 with support from a Kellogg Foundation grant to provide networking and communication for faith nurses. HMA’s mission is to “encourage, support, and empower leaders in the integration of faith and health in local communities” (HMA, n.d.). Membership in HMA includes health ministers, program leaders, spiritual teachers, and faith community nurses.

The Scope and Standards of Parish Nursing was published by the ANA in 1998. The title was changed to Faith Community Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice in 2005 to incorporate global community faith traditions. HMA and the American Nurses Association (ANA) co-authored the third edition of Faith Community Nursing Scoepe and Standards of Practice in 2017 (ANA-HMA).

HMA and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) offered certification for faith community nursing (FCN BC) via portfolio from 2014 to 2017. 146 faith community nurses became board certified (BC) during that time. The certification was discontinued in 2017 although renewal is available for certified nurses. The HMA is not pursuing further faith community nursing certification (HMA certification update, n.d.)