Category: Justice for the poor
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How can Jubilee help us respond to COVID-19?
We are in the midst of one of the worst global pandemics of a century. What does it have to do with healthcare and Christian mission? There are many lessons we are learning. But one clear message is that this pandemic is much more than the disease of COVID-19. While preparations, PPE, and medical care…
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Listen up!
Young doctors learn an old practice!
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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 the amount of data about this approach was limited. Like many others, I found that…
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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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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, as it only helped those too weak to contribute to society.” Family members may come…
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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, certain grownups fail to prevent them. Thousands of First World children are born drug addicts:…
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"Every Good Endeavor"
Tim Keller tackles the dualism of sacred vs secular work head on, helping us integrate our faith and work. We are not immune to this dualism in healthcare missions. One of our medical missionaries said to me that she was told ‘to get a ministry’ outside of the 70 hours-per-week that she was working in…
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Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church
What would the resurrection have to do with the mission of the church? NT Wright makes a plea for us to connect the two. Our modern assumptions about life after death seem to disconnect the reality of life in this world and the next, but the Bible does just the opposite. “It has often been…
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How should we do justice?
I’ve mentioned Tim Keller’s “Generous Justice” before. Today I’d like to underline a practical and theological issue about “how.” Keller tells us about Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch theologian and statesman who ‘remade the churches into voluntary institutions’ in Holland over a century ago. According to Kuyper, the church was both and organism and an institution…
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How can local believers show compassion through healthcare ministries?
As we communicate the love of Christ in another culture, it is easy to think that the ministry revolves around our activities. In fact, the key word in Christ’s “Great Commission” is to make disciples. That means enabling others to learn from Christ. It also implies that we ourselves learn in the process. Here is…