Is the term ‘missionary’ helpful in our generation?

I attended the Graduate seminar ‘Pioneering Urban Missions’ led superbly by Dr Varghese Philip at the EMFI National Conference 2012 and thought I would share a few reflections after the interesting discussions that we had.

The focus of the seminar was to hear from a variety of people who had found themselves practicing medicine in the urban setting and for us as a group to open our minds to the possibilities of serving God in India, not just in the traditional ‘mission setting’ in remote rural areas but to be a blessing wherever God has placed us.

"Does God only care for those people in rural areas?"  The answer: "Of course not", but have we as a medical profession in the past concentrated more exclusively on rural areas, because the needs are so great, and perhaps become somewhat closed to the needs in urban areas? Have we in our own hearts, thought or decided that the rural areas were more important to God than the urban areas? I confess that at times, having a strong call to seeing access to health come to rural areas, I have been guilty of wondering why we as doctors were not all so concerned and rushing out to serve the poor in rural India... God has challenged me sharply on this!

Those speaking had a wealth of experience to share with us, from working in urban slums through church community development programs to working in their own private practices, and as they spoke it was amazing to see the influence they were having in seeing God’s Kingdom extended through being the hands and feet of Jesus.

It struck me afresh that God is working right now, in all areas and all sectors of society in India, and we will be called and placed exactly in the right position by God, ‘for such a time as this’. Some will be called to the huge medical needs in rural areas where health care access is woefully absent, but at the same time, some will be called to the urban areas. In urban areas there are vast pockets of material poverty and marginalisation, but at the same time imagine the influence and impact that ethical medical private or government practice in urban areas could bring as influencers of our cities, maybe people in high positions, visit for medical care and find something more, finding Jesus’ values in that place. What a light in the city that could have far-reaching effects for the nation of India. 

I qualified as a doctor 11 years ago [not sure if that classifies me into a young or middle aged doctor - perhaps depends on the reader?!], but as we delved into ‘missions issues’ in this seminar then it seemed to be that the new generation of doctors, either working now or coming up as students will bring with them a new wave of practicing medicine in a contemporary way for their own generation. New innovative ideas, understanding the differing cultural issues coming with a more modern and changing India, and it excited me to see God at work through different types of practice.

In the discussion time, different people were bringing up issues that I felt were relevant to us all as doctors in India today. I will just paraphrase a couple of the main issues discussed here: 

“Did working in private practice in an urban area mean we were less devoted to God or not seen as ‘extreme’ a christian as someone who has served on the rural mission field sacrificially for the past 40 years?” 

“Can you be a ‘missionary’ outside of a mission hospital setting?”

These were genuine concerns of those in the room, some poeple felt guilty that they were not able to serve in rural areas, and how refreshing to hear the honesty of those asking and answering the questions.

As I personally reflected on these important points I began thinking about the term ‘missionary’ and whether this is still a helpful term in our generation?” Perhaps I am making a controversial point here, but somehow I felt that using the term ‘missionary’, as well as having great meaning behind it, can potentially generate some negative connotations to the listener. If you are not a follower of Jesus, does ‘missionary’ generate unwelcome thoughts that the missionary doctor is here to forcibly convert or impose views onto them rather than genuinely deliver compassionate health care? Does the word ‘missionary’ strike fear into some of the hearts of those christian doctors who are not called to work in remote rural areas and therefore feel somehow that they have failed for God?

So as I summarise, the challenge for us all is to to simply be the ‘hands and feet of Jesus’, wherever He has placed us to be. Let us have flexible, creative minds to be open to how God can use each one of us, whether in rural or urban areas, and lets shine a light into every sector of society. Rather than being known as a ‘missionary’...  perhaps we could simply be known as doctors in India who love the Lord and want to see the gospel demonstrated through our actions, with integrity, love and compassion to all we meet.  

Dr Mary Cusack - paediatrics

7 Aspects of Jesus’ Healing

From the Seminar:  Faith, Science and Healing - facilitated by Dr. Jaison TM and Dr. Arul Anketell.

The EMFI Biennial National Conference was a rich time of learning and challenge for the 500+ who gathered at the Joe Beach Resort near Mahaballipuram.   We are starting a series of reflections from the conference with this post - and hope that many will contribute.

Here is a snippet from a rich seminar for graduates led by Dr. Jaison TM.  The two hours just slipped away!

7 Aspects of Jesus’ Healing

1. Motivated by Love (2 Cor 5.14)

Jesus was moved with compassion.  The love of Christ compels us.  We see that Jesus did all that He did out of love - He left heaven and emptied himself of all but love!  We need to see this in our lives too.

2. Eye to Eye Contact (Mark 10.21)

Jesus looked at him…  Jesus is us – how much we need to look at those we are working with.  How often our practices find us looking at papers and reports rather than the patient.

3. Attentive Listening (Job 21.2,  Luke 8.18)

Job tells his friends to listen carefully to his words.  The needs of the suffering need to be heard and paid attention too.  Jesus did this.  The woman with the issue of blood told him everything.

4. Wise Words (Luke 4.22)

Jesus spoke words that changed the destinies of those who were being healed by Him.

5. Comforting Touch

Mark 1.41  Jesus was filled with compassion and reached out his hand and touched the man suffering from Hansen’s disease.

Mark 1.13  When meeting Peter’s Mother-in-law who was suffering from fever, Jesus went to her bed, took her hand, and helped her up.

How important it is for us to touch those we are healing.

6. Prayerful Life (Luke 4.42, Luke 6.12)

Jesus was known to withdraw to lonely places to pray.   Praying for the patient precedes praying with the patient.  How much we need to follow the example of our Lord

7. Serving Feet  (Luke 22.27, Mark 10.45)

The master came to be one of us.  Instead of lording it over us, he stripped himself and served.  All through Christ’s life we see this.  How different from so many of our health-care settings today where the doctor has the highest position and everyone else is subservient.

Following Jesus in Health Care

Jesus told His disciples to ‘follow me’ – following Jesus in healthcare means not only going to where He went (in the cities, towns and villages) and meeting the people that He met (Luke 4.18-19) but also following Him in how He served.   As we see how Jesus cured people may we too be used as His hands and feet to bring healing, restoration and shalom!

EMFI Biennial National Conference 2012

Inactivity kills as many as smoking!

Its official.  Inactivity kills.  A recent article in the Lancet estimates that inactivity now causes the same mortality world-wide as smoking does!

That's 5.3 million deaths per year attributable to the lack of exercise.  5.3 million people dying every year because we are not getting enough exercise.

Is this something that is just plaguing the West?  Hardly. 

India has an estimated 40.9 million cases of diabetes.  We host a mind boggling 118 million cases of hypertension (if all the hypertensives in India formed a country it would be the 11th largest in the world - right after Japan's 127 million).  An estimated 8-10 percent of our above 30 years urban population has coronary heart disease already!  (All figures from Prabhakaran and Singh 2011).  


In the same series, the Lancet calls for physicians to include 'exercise' as one of the vital signs (Khan et al. 2012).  Exercise can no more be seen as a pleasant diversion.  It is clear that it is vital for our health.

In India we are seeing a sea-change in our country's disease profile - and a lot has to do with what we call 'progress.' The WHO now estimates that 53% of deaths in India are now from non-communicable diseases (WHO 2011). One of the key reasons for this increasing burden of disease is our increasingly sedentary lifestyles - combined with the stresses that our ever more aspirational life-styles.  

The tripling of our average per capita income from Rs. 19,040 in 2003 to Rs. 53,331 in 2010 (World Bank 2010) has not resulted in an immediate improvement in urban health outcomes.  In fact, we can argue that   aspirational issues of ‘modernity’ may be contributing to our national epidemic of suicides.  We have seen national rates of suicides increasing from 7.9 to 10.3 per lakh in the last 2 decades (Vijaykumar 2007).  A leading study estimated 187,000 people die of suicide in India each year – with the largest number among youth.  Most sobering of all – a 15 year old male in south India has a 3.5% chance of dying of suicide over a 65 year period (Patel et al. 2012). 

So what are we to do?

Well, we can start by being healthy in body and mind ourselves.  There is no use for death health-care practitioners.  The age old saw of prevention being better that cure is never more true for us today.

Get up and walk.  20 minutes every morning.  Get to bed on time.  Pray.  Spend time with the Lord.  Eat moderately and at the right times.  Model a balanced life of work, worship and leisure.  If we are not able to do this, how can we advise others to so?

The Bible tells us that 'your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own!' (1 Cor. 6.19). Our bodies are very important in God's sight. Paul tells us that "We know the body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." (1 Cor. 6.13). What an amazing statement - Jesus Christ is 'for the body!'  Doesn't that liberate us to serve Him through our health-care?  Through our work in restoring and repairing His creation - as well as making sure that these bodies do not fall ill in the first place?

Let us not fall into a platonic trap of seeing only the 'spiritual' as important.  The Christian message that we believe is that Christ is Lord of all. We worship Him not only when we sing songs - but when we have a brisk walk and are good stewards of the beautiful bodies He has graciously given us.  We worship Him when we set our minds on things above - and do not allow ourselves to be conformed by the things of this world, but rather are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12.2).

And we have a task as guardians and promoters of our health in our nation to share these truths with those around us. Can we see a new generation of doctors who step out of being body-mechanics to addressing life-style issues.  A new set of interactions with our patients and neighbours and church-members where we see the Shalom of the Kingdom lived out in every area of our lives - and reap the benefits of health rather than distruction?

Inactivity kills as many as smoking!  The campaign against smoking has world-wide reaped rich dividends in lives saved (though there is still work to be done of course).  Lets get moving!

Missionary doctors in the Himalaya

Challenging words from a missionary doctor couple who have been an inspiration to many of us!

Christian Medical Distinctives

Dr. Santosh Mathew (seated right) sharing the stage with Dr. Manoj Jacob (standing)
and Dr. Lata Mathew at the Whole Person Care plenary workshop (EMFI Conf. 2010)

Dr. Santosh Mathew from Ashok Hospital, Mumbai writes:

The EMFI Conference was a blessing to me personally.

The inspiring messages from Dr Vinod Shah, Rajkumar Ramachandran, Dr. Muralidharan edified me.

Dr. Vinod Shah took a session on Christian Medical distinctives.

Here is a brief synopsis of what he said:

Christian Medical Pracctice is much more than a career or job, it is a calling, a vocation.

When we view Medicine as a Job it causes Weariness and Dehumanization

When we think it is a Career, it causes Professionalization Competition and Neurosis

When we consider it as a Vocation, it Builds knowledge of God and Deep happiness and fulfillment

Another difference lies in the Christian doctor focusing on Healing rather than merely curing. A cured person can be still hurting. Healing goes beyond the disease.

A Christian Doctor has a Patient orientation rather than a professional or a commercial orientation, and this patient orientation is of course subject to what the Christian doctor understands is God’s will. For example a patient may ask for an abortion because she feels it is the best option but the Christian Doctor knows it is against God’s will.

There are three common orientations possible in the way a Doctor looks at a patient:

1. Patient orientation: How can I best help him/her?

2. Professional orientation: How can this patient help me learn the most?

3. Commercial orientation: How can I make the most money out of him?

Christian medicine is not about great performance, rather it is about relevance!!

Christian medical career is about realizing one’s potential not competition with colleagues

Competing with oneself rather with the others.

A Christian doctor is the “master” of time rather than a “slave” of time. One redeems “time” by doing the right thing rather than always doing the “urgent” things.

Good doctoring is not about efficiency/Output. A slave of “time” can be defined as someone who focuses on “output” and forgets the “outcome or impact”.

Attitude to knowledge also differs in a Christian Doctor: Rather than using knowledge as a power tool, He is known for his willingness to share.

He or she uses knowledge to love versus Knowledge for power.

Understanding suffering

Christians believe that suffering is “redemptive”

Indian religions believe that suffering is “punitive”

The Christian God is with us in the pit sharing our pain and suffering.

Attitude to death:

Death is not a defeat for the medical fraternity.

Accepting the praise of patients: A Christian Doctor is prompt in giving the glory to God

Attitude to the unlovely/invisible and the marginalized

A civilized culture is one that looks after the “weak”

• The economically poor
• Socially powerless-women
• Old
• Jobless
• Handicapped
• HIV/AIDS, Leprosy

A civilized society is one that looks after the powerless.

The following are the Christian distinctives in medicine:

1. Having a vocation rather than just a job or a career

2. Healing rather than just curing

3. Having a “patient” rather than a professional or a commercial orientation

4. Doing relevant things rather than exotic things

5. Competing with oneself rather than with others

6. Master of time rather than slave of time.

7. Using “knowledge” as a tool to “love” rather than as a “power "tool.

8. Sees suffering as “redemptive” rather than as “punitive”.

9. Gives the glory to God rather than accepting the praise of patients.

10. Sees “invisible” people

Ranchi Welcome

Welcome to Jharkhand! The EMFI National Conference got on to an excellent start with a spirited tribal dance led using the traditional mandar drum. The dancers sang a song of welcome as the delegates were led to the opening meeting of the EMFI conference.

At the first tea break the welcomes continued! Feet were washed in the traditional way - and many smiles and hugs were shared as we participated in tribal culture - which mirrors the act of our Lord washing his friends' feet!

A new general secretary was welcomed! Dr. Manoj Jacob was welcomed into his new responsibility - along with Manju he takes up the challenge of leading the EMFI movement. It was a privilege to thank God for the work that Dr. Ashok Chacko has done during his 4 year stint - and we are so grateful for what Ashok and Vinita have brought to so many.

We welcomed the Holy Spirit. God spoke powerfully. Through song and word. Through speakers and sharing of testimonies. Through the same thoughts coming over and over again. Intimacy with God. Hearing His call. Sharing the joy of Jesus. Reaching out. Living the abundant life. Seeing God's Kingdom come.

We welcomed new friends - and old! The conference was a time to meet and greet - and talk and fellowship. What a blessing to be with each other. What sweet communion as we shared our thoughts (and some of our sorrows), as we explored dreams and laughed, as we discussed and opened up.

How good it is when brothers live in harmony...