When I was a freshman in college taking biology I learned the following concept: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In arithmetic 1+1=2. But in biology, 1+1>2.
For example, a draft horse can pull 8,000 pounds alone. You would expect two draft horses together would pull 16,000 pounds, to double the amount of a single horse. Instead, when working together, two draft horses pull 24,000 pounds – three times the amount of a single horse. In other words, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That’s what I think about when I hear the word medical ministry.
I was on a phone meeting addressing a central issue: What was the purpose of our organization? We had formed a nonprofit organization that the clinic would be eventually under. There were four organizational purpose statements discussed during our brainstorming session.
- Completing the Gospel Commission by making man whole
- Extending Christ’s ministry of teaching, preaching and healing through healthcare.
- Providing excellent healthcare to restore people to the image of their Creator.
- Combining gospel and medical work for the completion of the Great Commission.
My partner, John, pointed out a common theme among the purpose statement. All of them had two components: spiritual and healthcare related.
Our focus wasn’t on health care alone. Other clinics were already doing that. Nor was our focus only on the spiritual aspect. We weren’t pastors. Instead we found ourselves at the intersection of medicine and faith in a field called medical ministry.
Medical Ministry was a vision of Ellen White – on of the founders of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. She wrote extensively on this topic in books and compilations such as Desire of Ages, Ministry of Healing, Medical Ministry, Counsels on Health and Counsels on Diet and Foods.
Dr. Percy Megan wrote regarding Ellen White, “While her lifework and teaching were in harmony with truly scientific medicine, it was in the realm of the spiritual side of the healing art that she shone with a brilliance of holy luster…to her it was left to impress the spiritual in the treatment of the temple of the body.”
Ellen White did something brilliant by combining the art of healing and the ministry to the soul. It was this vision that resulted in the founding of multiple hospitals and schools around the world. These institutions vary in their scope, size and focus. But they all began from the inspiration of Ellen White – combining the physical and spiritual healing. One hundred fifty years ago she had the foresight that the whole of medical ministry was greater than the sum of medicine plus ministry.
2 Comments
Your clinic/organization is such a good blend of what medicine should be about! I’ll continue to pray for your medical ministry and I’m glad things are going well with that!
Appreciate those prayers, Clara 🙂