The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America recently organized a virtual health symposium for more than 2,500 health professionals serving in the network of 14 hospitals and 21 clinics throughout the territory. The symposium became the first territory-wide event meant to help healthcare professionals understand the philosophy, history, and particularities of the Adventist comprehensive health ministry, as well as highlight the synergy between the healthcare institutions throughout Inter-America.
It’s important to maintain the culture of promoting health and well-being on a systematic basis as an essential part of our beliefs as Seventh-day Adventists, said Franck Généus, M.D., health ministries director for the church in Inter-America, president of Adventist Healthcare Services Inter-America (AHS-IA), and main organizer of the symposium.
The virtual symposium was also geared towards Adventist health professionals and their colleagues who work outside the church, teaching them practical ways to share the Adventist health message where they work.
Themed “Achieving God’s Mission Through the Comprehensive Health Ministry,” held April 7–8, 2022, the event challenged health professionals, church leaders, and members in general to be instrumental in their individual ministry as they demonstrate practical ways of sharing the health message through community impact activities as well.
Global Impact of the Health Ministry
Peter Landless, M.D., health ministries director for the Adventist World Church, highlighted that the scope of the Adventist health message is global and the church has been recognized as the leading faith-based network in the Protestant world. The church owns and operates 1,000 healthcare institutions, with over 36,000 beds and 78,000 employees, and sees 1.5 million admissions and 20 million outpatients each year, as well as provides $1 billion of charity health work every year. “This is not insignificant,” said Dr. Landless, “and has revolutionized the world.”
Dr. Landless pointed out to the attendees that they should not be medical missionaries only in the hospitals and clinics but also in the home and community.
“Let’s never forget that there’s a link between healing and salvation, and God’s Spirit uses healing [in] meeting people’s heart[s] to reveal His love and salvation,” said Dr. Landless, additionally calling the comprehensive health ministry the church follows a blended ministry. “We must reach out to men and women and help wherever is needed to minister to the sick and the suffering, physically as well as spiritually. It’s about meeting people’s needs while revealing to them the love of God. We have a [health] message, we have a mandate, we have a method, and it’s important that we have a ministry and a mission.”
Every Member a Center of Hope, Health, and Healing
Every church member is a center of hope and health and healing—a holistic approach,
Dr. Landless said, adding that every church must be a center to provide useful health information beyond stress recovery, healthful cooking, exercise, addiction recovery, and more. “We have a message, we have an option, we have a tool, we have a ministry.”
Landless appealed to the health professionals to live a healthy lifestyle to better witness to those around them. “The more perfect our health, the more perfect our labor. If you don’t have time to be well, you must make the time.”
Devoted to Christ-like Healing and Serving
Pastor Lowell Cooper, former general vice president of the Adventist World Church, reflected on the comprehensive health ministry and its role in the mission of God. Cooper reviewed two of the six methodologies the church has defined for its work in the world: Christ-like living, Christ-like communicating, Christ-like discipling, Christ-like teaching, Christ-like healing, and Christ-like serving.
In Christ-like healing, it’s important to affirm the biblical principles of the well-being of the whole person, making healthy living and the healing of the sick, poor, and oppressed a priority in cooperation with the Creator in His compassionate work of restoration, Cooper read.
Just as in the Bible times, there are people marginalized in our society, suffering from poverty, war, natural calamities, abuse, brokenness, failure, fear of isolation, disease, pestilence, and hopelessness, added Cooper. “Our ministry in this work is not just in the realm of ideas and doctrines; it is also demonstrated in acts: acts of mercy, healing, justice, fairness, forgiveness, and compassion.”
Cooper added, “In following the example of Jesus, we commit ourselves to humble service, ministering to individuals and populations more affected by poverty, tragedy, hopelessness, and disease.”
The Church for God’s Mission
Cooper challenged health professionals to think more about the mission as being God’s mission. “I firmly believe that God does not have a mission for the church as much as He has a church for His mission,” he said, further explaining that achieving God’s mission through comprehensive health ministries is: about whole-person care—a ministry, not simply a methodology; concerned with wellness, not just disease treatment; about a continuum of care for physical, social, spiritual, and mental well-being; and a collaborate ministry, not only inside the church, but with other organizations committed to community development.
“Let’s live the health message we have received, think carefully and thoughtfully about a theology of suffering, and grow in the practice of neighborliness—getting out into the community,” Cooper challenged.
Pastor Elie Henry, Inter-American Division president, thanked the hundreds of health professionals serving the territory’s hospitals and clinics for their crucial role in providing care and ministering to patients and the community around them. “It’s important for us to come together and see how we can improve our service to God and influence people to understand that God has a special interest for us—for our health,” he said.
A brief historical overview of the comprehensive health ministry during the last 74 years was presented by Elie Honore, M.D., as well as a special segment honoring him for his more than 30 years of dedicated service to health ministries in Inter-America. In addition, the online program featured a Q&A session.
The symposium was the first in a string of specialized training meetings that will follow to address nurses, physicians, therapists, psychologists, pharmacists, and lab technicians in the coming months and years.
To watch Inter-America’s Health Ministry Symposium for Healthcare Professionals:
For English:
May 7, HERE
May 8, HERE
For Spanish:
May 7, HERE
May 8, HERE
For French:
May 7, HERE
May 8, HERE
This article was originally published on the Inter-American Division’s website