This paper details findings from interviews with 32 faith leaders regarding their interest in and preferences for collaborative health partnerships with an academic center. Participants were willing to partner to develop equitable, sustainable, and trust-based relationships for the purpose of meeting the health needs of their congregations. We also describe the planning and early development of faith community-academic partnership focused on providing information and resources aimed at improving health. We apply a framework incorporating a socioecological perspective and social capital theory to discuss how establishing linkages between clergy and academic researchers is a beneficial and important task for social work.
Keywords: Academic-faith partnerships; clergy/faith leaders; congregations; health and illness; health ministry.