What does the church have to do with health? Yes, Christians have been known to show compassion, but health? Doesn’t that responsibility fall to medical professionals? Shouldn’t churches stick to matters of faith and stay away from science?
Today, we’ve come to believe that medicine and faith don’t overlap. They belong to different domains. One is religion, a private sacred space. The other is public space, objective, and the domain of “objectivity” and science.
This modern view places the church in a closet, away from public life. And yet, can a society be healthy if it is not good? How can we even define what is good without God? God, as the source of all good, has given us His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we can become all that human beings were meant to be—for God’s glory and human flourishing. The Bible and the church (God’s people) are means to that end.
How does the church help us move towards a healthy society? The answer is not in science, technology, or any of our efforts apart from God. It is in a person. Life from Jesus enables men and women to live in this “public space” and bring our best to it. God intends for us to use the tools of the world (like medical science) for his good purposes. The Bible and science overlap much more than we commonly assume.
A counter-cultural conversation
Here’s the beginning of the story of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4, as He was tired and thirsty, sitting at the well.
“There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink,” because His disciples had gone away to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”
For the Jews did not use vessels in common with the Samaritans.” (John 4:7-9, translated by Kenneth Bailey)
In talking with this woman, Jesus crossed cultural, religious, ethnic, and gender barriers. Jesus did not hide Himself away in a closet or away from public life. Bible scholars tell us that this woman was likely alone because of a sullied reputation. But He does not pull back. He goes on in the story to offer Her the water of life, or life eternal. But not before she could recognize her deepest need, her need for His salvation.
Christian Middle East scholar and Bible teacher Kenneth Bailey helps us see a profound theology of mission in Jesus’ actions.
“Jesus so totally humbles himself that he needs her services. Jesus does not establish His initial relationship with her by explaining how she needs Him and his message. That will come later. Rather, his opening line means, “I am weak and in need of help! Can you help me?”
“Daniel T. Niles, the great Sri Lankan theologian, has written of Jesus: ‘He was a true servant because He was at the mercy of those whom He came to serve… This weakness of Jesus, we, as His disciples, must share. To serve from a position of power is not true service but beneficence.’”
“…a profound theology of mission.”
Niles describes how the Asian Christian community runs wonderful institutions like schools, hospitals, orphanages, and agricultural farms. But these ministries are also a source of power; because of them, the church can offer patronage, control employment and sometimes make money. It can cause the community to look at the church suspiciously. To have Jesus’ attitude of service, we must be in a position where we, as Christians, demonstrate our own needs. “The only way to build love between two people or two groups of people is to be so related to each other as to stand in need of each other.” [Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, by Kenneth Bailey]
How might a church community lead to better health?
A church that embodies this principle will humbly serve the community’s needs, effecting change from within. It will change individuals and encourage them to address the social roots of disease, such as abuse, greed, and injustice. Historical examples have shown that such changes lead to healthier societies. I’ve seen that myself in Africa, where jealousy and infighting caused men to kill one another before the gospel of forgiveness arrived.
It has been argued that corruption is the most significant cause of poor health worldwide. Money misappropriated by those in power undermines societal efforts to provide quality education, a healthy employment climate, and adequate medical care. Health relies not just on medicine but also on systemic social changes.
Here’s how literary philosopher and popular educator Mortimer Adler describes the duty of a citizen to the state (or as we say today, “society”):
The virtues of a citizen direct him primarily in the performance of his obligations to the state. But if the welfare of the state is not the ultimate end of man, if there are higher goods that command human loyalty, and if man’s common humanity takes precedence over a particular state, then civic virtue does not exhaust human excellence. More may be morally required of the good man than of a good citizen. The virtues of a saint and the patriot may be of a different order.” [The Great Ideas: a Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952]
Engaging in good deeds to meet pressing needs
This sense of justice and right does not arise spontaneously. It arises when character and integrity matter. While we all want to be seen as people of character, how often do we fall short of it? As the Apostle Paul said, “The good that I want to do I find I cannot do…” Although they were created perfectly good, Adam and Eve turned from God, twisting and distorting their lives towards their own ends instead of God’s. But Christ came to restore us to reflect God in our service to Him and our love for others.
Or, as the Apostle Paul put it simply, “Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs so that they will not be unfruitful.” [Titus 3:14]
It is no accident that, over the centuries, Christian believers and churches pioneered compassionate care of the sick. Churches started the first modern hospitals to care for the needs of others who were distressed, impoverished, and without support. Like their master, Jesus, they combined ministry to the body and soul. They preached and healed. Romans, in contrast, valued only those who were strong.
When they follow Jesus’ commands, churches offer God’s gift of grace to all, not just their own social or ethnic group. Why? Because God is building a community of people to be a blessing to all the nations of the world, especially those marginalized like the Samaritan woman. What would medical care be like if we kept it for ourselves and those who can afford it? We must not hold the power of medicine only for the powerful. The Christian response is to go to the weak and powerless.
Ultimate health and hope
Here is another reason we need the church to inform and shape healthcare: the ultimate hope is not just physical health (or living as long as possible), nor is it just spiritual healing. The ultimate hope is relational. When the church serves like Jesus, we move beyond our sinful and selfish desires and live as God intended. Jesus calls us to be that sort of disciple and make disciples. It all flows from restored relationships with God and others.
As healthcare workers, we can offer up our best talents and hopes for mankind, but we must not do it as if medical science is a sphere removed from God’s church. We are a small part of a big picture, one which God is writing in history, exalting Himself and the Son of his love (Jesus) who entered our world to create a community for Himself and His Father. That church community – as imperfect as it is –has a lot to do with the world’s health.
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