Blog
This blog explores how our medical work can align with God’s purposes. We don’t have to guess how to connect our work to the Kingdom of God. Understanding how healthcare fits into the whole story of the Bible will help us recover a sure foundation. A solid integration of healthcare and mission will help us move ahead with confidence and joy.
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In SIM we think a lot about how to integrate faith and good deeds. In our Western mindset these are often separate. One of our missionaries returned home this week and told us that in her country, Christian medical doctors…
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Sustainable church hospitals
A little publication in 1998 surveyed 43 church-related mission hospitals to identify criteria for sustainability. They identified nine critical success factors in the process: In planning for successful handover from foreign (or mission) ownership to local, these success criteria can…
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Community based approaches to primary health care
When I studied international and community health at Johns Hopkins in 1977, primary health care was a new emphasis. Our dean, Dr. Carl Taylor led a department full of passion about reducing illness and promoting health through primary care. But…
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Social concern by evangelicals in the 1800s
Social concern by evangelical Christians was a high priority before 1900.
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What should characterize public health done by Christians?
Public health skills are powerful tools to promote flourishing of communities; they complement medical care of individuals. Christians also want to promote human flourishing, since this demonstrates the goodness of God. What will characterize public health done by Christians? Some…
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Why should public health be part of our Christian commitment to mission? Isn’t curative care enough?
Why should a preventive approach complement the strong medical component of medical missions?
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Why health is more than medical care
Why is health more than just medical care? Here are some reasons: Medical care tends to address matters of the body but not of the spirit. As medical professionals we are trained to diagnose, treat and manage medical conditions. We…
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A new era in Roman healthcare
We take for granted that compassion is a natural response to the suffering of those who are ill. But compassion was not well-developed as a virtue in Roman culture. Rome had not developed a culture of compassion; “mercy was discouraged,…
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A cheerful heart is good medicine
In medical school I learned that the death of a spouse is a risk factor for one’s death, and many times the surviving spouse dies near an anniversary of the sad event. The connection between our soul and body is…
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Not the way it’s supposed to be
“The veins of sin interlace with most of the rest of what’s wrong with our lives — through birth disorders, disease, accident and nuisance. Thousands of Third World children die daily from largely preventable diseases: out of laziness or complacency,…
