Indonesia - The weekend of January 20, 2008 was the first meeting together with the Church medical team , which IMI partners with. It was a very informative and encouraging meeting. The Church already had conducted two medical outreach clinics in 2007 and one on January 22 while we were there. Together with my husband, Resty, and John and Dee Cook, I was privileged, as a nurse, to not only participate in the meeting, but also in the medical clinic held in one of the village churches while we were in Indonesia.
At this clinic, it was the team concept at work - and we all saw that together as team members, we can accomplish this. It was awesome to see the team members sitting with the village men and women after they received medical attention, sharing Christ, praying with them and giving each one a Bible.
Their medical team is composed of two doctors, one nurse and three pharmacists. It is a newly formed outreach of the church with a goal of reaching villagers (primarily Muslim) every six to eight weeks, coupled with a team of Evangelism Explosion (EE) trained members who are sharing the Gospel and praying with the people at the clinics. On the last two clinics that were conducted, they were able to see 168 villagers with 68 of them accepting Christ as Lord. In the clinic they held while we were there, they saw just under 200 people in four hours.
IMI, who partners with the Church, commended their passion and fervor to reach out. IMI shared key concepts and principles such as: 1) The advancement of the Gospel is the central outreach of the clinics; meeting the medical needs of the people is a means of meeting the goal. 2) For the medical outreach to be effective it needs to be strategic in its approach. This will avoid a drain in resources both financially and with personnel in the local church, therefore, the outreach begins with the church and ends with the church. 3) Central to the heart of the ministry is a) a commitment to prayer before during and after b) humility to serve to reflect Christ’s compassion and caring to those who are physically ill and hurting.
Medical outreach has a dynamic outreach in proclaiming the Gospel throughout the world. The indigenous church, because of its very nature, can reach out effectively to their fellow nationals. As our God opens doors in the hearts of the nations, you, our friends and supporters can continue to partner with us in the ministry to “think globally and work locally.” - Mel Enguerra
Tue, Oct 14, 2008
Articles, Medical Ministries