Such funerals have made Tyler, who became pastor at Mother Bethel in November, a big supporter of the 600-member church's new health commission, which yesterday held what is hoped to be the first of many health fairs designed to provide information to fight heart disease, hypertension, and obesity.

"We have a responsibility not just to deal with the spiritual well-being but also with the physical well-being of the congregation," Tyler said.

Members of the commission - doctors, nurses, nutritionists, and other health-care professionals who attend the church - also made brief presentations about the value of gardening to relieve stress, the importance of exercise to physical and mental health, and ways to prepare healthier foods without sacrificing flavor.

Food is key, because "food and the black experience in America are so closely tied together," said Tyler, a native of Oakland, Calif., who is well aware of the irony that what usually follows one of those premature funerals is a huge meal including fried, fatty foods that may well have contributed to the death.

It is a cultural challenge, Tyler said. "There are certain things, if we don't eat it, our life isn't going to be right," he said to a small audience that chuckled with understanding.

Tyler counted chitterlings and black-eyed peas made with salt pork among those special, but fatty, African American foods. Others at the meeting murmured about the amount of fried chicken eaten at church dinners.

As if in answer to the traditional black-eyed peas, caterer Delores Lyons served samples of a low-fat black-bean salad flavored with orange juice, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, thyme, and ginger.

With its health commission, Mother Bethel is building on the legacy of church founder Richard Allen, who during Philadelphia's yellow-fever epidemic in 1793 played an important role in caring for the sick.

As a predominantly African American church, Mother Bethel has a front-row seat on health problems that disproportionately affect that population.

Organizers handed out a sheet of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that African Americans are substantially more likely than white Americans to die of heart disease, cancer, stroke, or diabetes.

"We've got lots of work to do," said Lisa Lewis, an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania during her presentation on using faith-based programs to make inroads against hypertension.

She said many African Americans do not trust the mainstream health-care system, which means they do no take their medicine or even get proper care. "The church is a safe place for many African Americans," so she hopes to build a program by working closely with the church.

Participants in the fair were enthusiastic about the effort to take on a huge problem. "We're long overdue for something like this," said Elizabeth Lewis, a member of Mother Bethel since 1965.

Claudia Tucker-Keto, a member of the Mother Bethel health commission, said she was pleased with the event even though only about 40 people, including presenters, had attended.

Tucker-Keto said the commission hoped to attract more young people, especially those with families, to such events in the future.

"It's touching on a lot of areas that are peculiar to the African American community," she said. "It's scary."