What the Church Can Learn from a Former Surgeon General

Why love, community, and purpose aren't just good medicine (they're a spiritual mandate)

So Dr. Vivek Murthy (you know, the guy who's been our Surgeon General twice now) released this incredible document called "My Parting Prescription for America” and I am not sure how I missed it. Although it was released back in January of 2025, a coworker forwarded it to me a couple weeks ago, and honestly? It stopped me in my tracks. This isn't your typical government health report filled with statistics and policy recommendations. It's something much more raw and human. Something that feels almost prophetic, if I'm being honest.

Here's the thing that gets me: everything Dr. Murthy is prescribing for America's health crisis sounds like it came straight out of the Sermon on the Mount. He's talking about relationships, service, and purpose (all wrapped up in this radical idea that love should be at the center of everything we do). And I'm sitting here thinking, "Wait a minute. Isn't this exactly what the Church is supposed to be about?"

Because let's be real. When Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God and love your neighbor, he wasn't just giving us a nice spiritual platitude. He was giving us the blueprint for human flourishing. When Luke describes the early church as people who "had all things in common" and "broke bread together" and took care of each other's needs, he wasn't writing church propaganda. He was documenting what happens when a community actually takes love seriously as their organizing principle.

For centuries, people didn't just come to church for the theology (though that mattered). They came because the church was where you found connection, purpose, and healing. It was where you belonged. But somewhere along the way, we got distracted. We started chasing bigger platforms instead of deeper relationships. We got obsessed with being right instead of being loving. We began to mirror the world's fixation on celebrity culture, competition, and consumption. And now we're watching people quietly walk away from faith communities, feeling lonelier and more disconnected than ever.

The Crisis We're Not Talking About

Here's what Dr. Murthy is saying that should wake us up: America is in the middle of a loneliness epidemic that's literally killing people. We're not talking about just feeling a little sad or isolated sometimes. We're talking about chronic disconnection that increases your risk of depression, dementia, heart disease, and early death. The research shows that loneliness has the same health impact as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Let that sink in for a minute.

And this isn't just affecting people who live alone or don't have many friends. It's everywhere. It's in our cities packed with millions of people. It's in our suburbs with their picture-perfect neighborhoods. It's even in our churches, where people can sit in the same pew every Sunday for years and still feel completely unknown and unseen.

Because here's what I've learned: community isn't about how many people are around you. It's about whether you actually belong somewhere. It's about having people who notice when you're not there. It's about being part of something where your story matters and your presence makes a difference.

If the Church is really supposed to be the body of Christ (not just a metaphor, but an actual living, breathing community), then it has to be a place where people experience that kind of belonging. Where they're not just welcomed on Sunday morning but genuinely missed when they're absent. Where they're not just told how to serve but given meaningful ways to use their gifts. Where they're not just taught what to believe but invited into a life of grace, love, and authentic relationship.

Three Things That Actually Matter

Dr. Murthy breaks down what makes for a fulfilling life into three essential elements, and honestly, they sound like they could be straight out of a discipleship handbook:

Relationships that go deeper than surface-level pleasantries. We're talking about the kind of friendships where people actually know your story (not just your highlight reel, but your real struggles and fears and hopes). Relationships where people help carry your burdens instead of just telling you to pray harder. Connections built on honesty and vulnerability, not performance and pretense.

Service that flows from love, not obligation. The kind of service that recognizes we're all broken people who need healing, and that sometimes the person doing the serving gets more out of it than the person being served. Service that's about seeing people's dignity and worth, not just meeting their needs. Service that changes us as much as it changes the people we're helping.

Purpose that gets you out of bed in the morning because you know your life matters for something bigger than just your own comfort and success. Purpose that's rooted in being part of God's bigger story of redemption and healing in the world. Purpose that gives meaning to both the extraordinary moments and the ordinary Tuesday afternoons.

Now tell me…if that's not what discipleship is supposed to look like, then what are we even doing here?

Love as the Foundation of Everything

But here's where Dr. Murthy's prescription gets really challenging, especially for those of us in the Church. He says none of this works…not the relationships, not the service, not the sense of purpose…unless it's all grounded in genuine love. And he's not talking about the sentimental, feel-good kind of love that makes for nice greeting cards. He's talking about the costly, sacrificial kind of love that chooses people over being right. The kind of love that forgives when it's expensive. The kind of love that listens to people you disagree with. The kind of love that refuses to give up on the difficult person, the annoying neighbor, or even the enemy.

This is where the Church should be leading the way, but honestly, it's where we often fall shortest. Because if we're preaching about resurrection and new life but ignoring the epidemic of loneliness all around us, we're missing the point entirely. If we're talking about grace but creating communities marked more by judgment and division than by belonging and acceptance, we're not actually telling the truth about the gospel. If our churches are places where people have to perform and pretend rather than places where they can be honest about their struggles and failures, then we've built something, but it's not the Church that Jesus had in mind.

Dr. Murthy writes, "A community grounded in love is a community that will stand." And I'd add this: a church grounded in that kind of radical, costly love is a church the world desperately needs right now.

What If We Actually Did This?

So, what would it look like if we took this seriously? What if we treated relational poverty as urgently as we treat financial poverty? What if Sunday morning wasn't the center of our community life but just the celebration of all the ways we're already doing life together Monday through Saturday? What if our small groups weren't just Bible studies where we discuss theology but were actually rescue operations for lonely people?

The beautiful thing is this is already happening in a lot of places. It's happening in book clubs that meet in people's living rooms and community gardens where neighbors get to know each other while growing tomatoes together. It's happening at potluck dinners where people linger long after the food is gone, and in prayer circles where people share their real struggles instead of just their prayer requests. It's happening every time someone texts a friend just to check in, brings soup to someone who's sick, sits with someone who's grieving, helps someone move to a new apartment, or forgives someone who's let them down for the hundredth time.

These aren't small, insignificant gestures. These are acts of resistance against a culture that wants to isolate us and convince us that we don't need each other. These are the ways we choose community over individualism, connection over convenience, love over indifference.

Our Calling Right Now

So, what can the Church learn from the Surgeon General? A whole lot, actually. But maybe the most important thing is this reminder that the gospel isn't just good news for what happens after we die…it's healing for the life we're living right now. Our calling isn't to build bigger, flashier churches with better programs and more impressive facilities. Our calling is to create deeper, more authentic communities where people can experience the kind of love that actually transforms lives.

We're living in a moment when people are lonelier, more divided, and more disoriented than they've been in generations. The Church has an incredible opportunity to be a place where people come home…not to perfection or performance, but to belonging and grace and the kind of love that makes people whole again.

Let's not miss this moment. Let's lead the way…not with louder opinions or slicker services, but with open arms, honest friendships, and the kind of radical love that Jesus showed us.

Dr. Murthy's final prescription is beautifully simple: Choose community.

Maybe it's time we made that our mission statement too.

Read Dr. Murthy’s full report here.

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