The late Doug Sparks, a former missionary and Navigator leader, once defined a Christian leader as, “A servant of God given a mission and people to help him accomplish it.” My mission was to accept an invitation by the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe to visit their hospitals at Morgenster and Gutu in Masvingo Province [...]
A Canadian Charity EMAS Canada is a body corporate registered under federal law. The Corporation The EMAS Corporation is predominantly composed of team members, past and present team leaders; and a few others who subscribe to its Vision and Mission; these are donors, past board members, and former staff. Membership is by application or [...]
According to the Bible, God wanted people to relate to Him through love and worship. (Exodus 19:3-6 & Deut. 6:5.) The Old Testament is about that desire, its frustration through the choices made by people, and God’s plan to restore to Himself a people who love and worship Him. The New Testament is about [...]
Through an appreciative inquiry process, the EMAS leadership identified the shared Vision, and Mission, that bound the different teams. The process also revealed the existence of an unwritten but distinctive set of Core Values that were consistently expressed throughout the organisation. Definition or "what is EMAS?" became clearer: Christ-centered healthcare teams and, Direction: or [...]
God brought the Jewish people out of captivity in Egypt. He did this by entrusting them to leaders. Psalm 77:20 Team leadership in EMAS Canada is multifaceted including clinical, spiritual, and administrative responsibilities. Much can be and is delegated, but the overall responsibility remains with the team leader. There are four tasks for the [...]
EMAS Canada is highly decentralized. Team leaders and their team form the functional units through which the Vision of EMAS is turned into its mission. We have cultural diversity among the leaders, our volunteers span two generations, and younger leaders are emerging. Our services are carried out within the boundaries of well defined core values. [...]
I see three opportunities to live out our confidence in the promises of God. What if God would give us: Leadership that is united by our common Vision, accountable to Him and to one another. Stewardship of His people and His task for increasing momentum to advance the gospel through healthcare teams. Improved [...]
Two things permeate the life of every EMAS Canada team which define us: our Vision and our Mission; and then there are five Core Values that we treasure. With 70 years to look back on, we see that our vision has become even more unifying, our mission remains constant, and our core values continue [...]
Jesus never used His healing miracles as bait for preaching the gospel or for gaining publicity, nor were they a public relations tool. He did not exploit healthcare for the purpose of marketing His spiritual program, or as a magnet to draw people to some hidden agenda. He did good for their bodies because He [...]
Mark1 described an incident when Jesus and His disciples made an extremely short “medical mission” trip to the east, by crossing a stormy Sea of Galilee. During the perilous trip a storm threatened to capsize their boat. It was, however, clear that Jesus wanted to make this trip. Jesus treated just one patient: a [...]
Teamwork is at the core of how EMAS operates. Christ-centered healthcare teams are the fundamental functional units that carry out the charitable purposes of the organization. All teams are guided by a Strategic Plan that is revised by the team leaders, board, and staff. Once a potential leader has been recommended to the board [...]
EMAS Canada teams are composed of followers of Jesus Christ who aspire to become like Him. They serve in teams that are built over long periods of planning, praying and discerning God’s leading in response to overseas opportunities. An invitation to serve will often be followed by two or more exploratory visits, during which the [...]
Each year about 350 Canadian volunteers, led by volunteer team leaders, travel to and serve in seven different countries. EMAS runs with two full-time staff and one contract staff person. Our Board members serve voluntarily. They minimize the cost of running EMAS by donating their time and use of their own personal resources to [...]
Christ-Centred Healthcare About two years ago, Ana had been bed ridden for a month due to a fracture of her mid femur. She’d also had a hip replacement on the same limb with the prosthesis very close to the fracture. Local surgeons were unable to help her. Operation Esperanza, an EMAS team from Edmonton [...]
Imagine your life story as part of a letter from Christ. Your story: written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. God gives us opportunities to speak through the lives we live among family and friends, and through the occupations He gives us. [...]
During twenty-five years of medical practice in Kenya, I worked in Christian mission hospitals, private practice and in a national teaching hospital. I observed how wasteful some short-term medical missions could be: Some came with the donations of inappropriate and even outdated medical equipment. In one incident a group arrived with a large supply [...]
An investment made 50 years ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to yield powerful results today. Christian medical missionaries have persevered within the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a nation that has suffered through decades of intermittent political turmoil sometimes widespread and sometimes localised to hotspots, the resulting disruption of social [...]
Jesus spent much of His time teaching in synagogues, on the streets, on the lakeshore, on a hillside, and in people’s homes, it seems He taught everywhere and everyone. He had a message, and He communicated it well using parables, similes, stories, allegories and poignant illustrations to impart knowledge. His audience was amazed at [...]
The concluding verses of chapter 9 of Matthew’s gospel are about the compassion of God, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Vs 36) Jesus was deeply immersed in meeting the physical needs of the people around Him. He healed all [...]
One example of how EMAS applies good relationships with well defined roles to foster development finds expression in the aptly named Hand in Hand with Haiti project. The EMAS project, Hand in Hand with Haiti grew out of the friendship of a Haitian Baptist minister and his then Canadian medical student friend. Pastor Saint-Hilaire [...]