What You Need for Medical Ministry to Succeed

I didn’t do medicine just to prescribe pills but rather to see my patients made whole. That means physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual healing. It’s an approach to medicine called medical ministry.

It’s a big vision for just one patient. To achieve this alone would be impossible. I’m just not that talented.

The Vital Connection

Several principles come in to play in order for medical ministry to reach its full potential. Today I cover a foundational one: Connection with the church.

More than 100 years ago a wise woman by the name of Ellen White wrote the following:

This institution has not been favoured with donations as have the printing establishments in America, and there are not here workmen who are thoroughly and understandingly connected with the work. Those who bear the heaviest responsibilities have not been strengthened and sustained by the churches in their prayers and in realizing that the prosperity and success of the work is largely due to the attitude of the church. If the churches do not feel the work done in the Echo Office is a most important work, and that the workers need their sympathy and hearty, intelligent co-operation this deficiency will be a drawback to the work. – Counsels to Adventist Institutions p. 51

 

At our clinic, we seek to become more integrated with the church. We want the church to see us as their ministry. We seek to expand the influence of the church within our clinic. When members of the church feel that sense of ownership and connection, then we position ourselves best to bless others.

How We Make The Connection

One of the ways our clinic has sought to help with this connection is through the use of gift certificates. There are those in the community that cannot afford a doctor’s visit. Every year we give the church a certain number of gift certificates. Any person in need can come to the church to pick up a gift certificate and redeem it at our clinic.

I remember one such patient whom I will call Bill. Bill, a single father and car detailer, worked at a carwash. He came into the clinic with burning on urination and back pain. Bill had a fever and his heart rate was elevated. Sure enough, his urinalysis showed infection. He likely had a kidney infection which could turn deadly if the bacteria made its way into the bloodstream.

I treated him with ceftriaxone and by the time he followed up 24 hours later the fever had resolved, his heart rate was normal and he went home on oral antibiotics.

When I asked Bill how he had learned about our clinic, he mentioned the familiar name of a church member.

“Ron sent me. He comes by the car wash regularly and he noticed how sick I looked. When I told him I couldn’t afford a doctor’s visit he sent me to the church to pick up a gift certificate,” Bill told me.

I’m amazed at how that single act of a church member saved the life of this patient. Someone in the community had a need. This need was picked up by a church member who then went to an SDA church to receive a gift certificate. The gift certificate was redeemed at our clinic.

It is in small ways like this where medical ministry shines best. When we bless others in small ways, God begins to open up their heart. I’m sure that’s what he did in Bill’s case.