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. He also equips us with talents, skills, and abilities.
The story of Edward W. Spencer an aspiring minister whose most valuable sermon was not in the pulpit but on the shores of Lake Michigan, illustrates what God can do through us when we use our abilities to serve others. People like Edward Spencer are memorable because they sacrificed personal comfort to help others in need. Similar stories are being written today on EMAS teams, but with less risk to life and limb.
Janet Greidanus, nurse/theologian/journalist writing on the subject of the Holy Spirit’s role in sharing the gospel said. “……hearts of patients may be touched more by actions than words… the hearts of team members may be touched by seeing the care and respect of colleagues towards patients as well as toward each other, through the words of an evening devotion, or from the joy of a life changed as a result of surgery. Through it all the Spirit of God is active as alive now as He was in the beginning”
Janet knows what she is talking about, she has co-led an EMAS team for twenty years.
Many areas in Christian medical missions provide opportunity for service with potential for lasting influence.
Among them:
- Training intuitions and centres of higher learning, where the next generation of leaders are being trained are inviting us to provide teachers.
- Local medical teams that collaborate with national church planting initiatives are asking us to partner with them in responding to urgent medical needs.
Imagine your story life being told among future generations of healthcare professionals in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a member of this new EMAS team, you would train and teach at the university. Your students would graduate with skills and knowledge taught by you. Imagine these graduates inspired by your passion for Christ-centered healthcare, remaining in the DR Congo and speaking local languages, in turn passing on what you taught.
Imagine the impact your life could have for healthcare and the gospel by teaching and training nurses who speak Khmer and seeing them spread out among their own people as midwives and caregivers in Cambodia, Laos and parts of Vietnam and Thailand. Can you see babies being born safely because of skills you passed on, and families hearing the good news for the first time because the nurses you trained learned the gospel and how to share it from you?
Myanmar 2018
Picture yourself praying with a Burmese medical/dental team asking God for revival, and then serving patients from dawn till dusk in Thanbyuzayat, Mon State, Myanmar. You would be at the location of a new medical mission base to be constructed by the EMAS/HIM Team. Following years of fighting between the central militia and the Karen armed forces, countless Karen people became refugees along the Thailand border. Recently, it has become much harder for the refugees to stay in Thailand while Myanmar has become more open. Many Karen are returning to Myanmar eager to rebuild their lives. At this critical time, you could provide healthcare, winning hearts, and sharing the gospel.
God is still writing on human hearts. And your story would be told among the Karen, of how they learned about the compassion of Jesus Christ, of how some turned to God.
Picture yourself at Kaseye Hospital on the slopes of Misuku Hills in northern Malawi, adding your chapter to their story. Partnering with fellow Canadians Thomas and Elisabeth Hangartner, you have the opportunity to provide healthcare and education to patients and staff. And in years to come as the Malawians are relieved of the burden of communicable diseases, they are told stories of Canadian nuns who came in 1943 and the generosity of doctors and nurses who followed 75 years later.
The EMAS Canada story begun 70 years ago, it is a history of people through whom God has touched lives all over the world: writing His message not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
New opportunities keep coming our way, contact us to learn about the possibilities in Cambodia, Myanmar, DR Congo, Malawi, Ghana, India, Zimbabwe, and Canada.
All Scripture references are taken from the New International Version (NIV)
