Principles & Practice of Health Evangelism
Chapter 2
Christ's Method Alone
Textbook pages 10-16
Here is one of the most quoted references regarding health evangelism from the writings of Ellen G. White:
In my opinion this quotation is often misused and misunderstood by those conducting health programs for the church. This quote is frequently used to justify the implementation of purely secular health activities.
This quotation lists several steps in the process leading to the spiritual invitation “Follow Me.” First there is “mingling” with people. This is not a careless, unconcerned mingling, but a mingling that desires a person’s good. The obvious purpose for conducting health work is to make people’s lives better -- to improve their health.
The next step is showing sympathy. This involves a caring, empathetic attitude. This is conveyed with body language, facial expression, and kind words. People should be able to sense that we are genuinely concerned about their health and welfare.
The third step is to minister to a person’s needs. This can take days, months, or even years. Once a person’s needs have been addressed -- then we can bid them follow Christ.
On the surface this passage appears to justify a work for people that is primarily secular to begin with and then moves toward the spiritual. This approach starts out with just health information and ends up -- assuming all goes well -- with a spiritual emphasis.
This approach -- except for the spiritual emphasis at the end -- also rather exactly matches the approach of all health improvement programs offered to the public by secular governments and private organizations. Seventh-day Adventist health practitioners who subscribe to the secular approach first are essentially duplicating the health services provided by all other secular health entities. Unless you get to the “follow Me” part you are no different than anyone else.
Those who derive a “secular-to-spiritual” continuum from this passage fail to understand Christ’s method, fail to understand the primacy of the spiritual approach, and also fail to consider the context. Let’s look at a few lines from the chapter from which this passage was taken.
Luke worked with Paul. They were a medical missionary team. Eventually, Paul left Luke in Philippi where Luke conducted healing and preaching by himself for several years. In this chapter, the relationship between healing and the gospel first occurs in this paragraph:
Here there is no sequence from physical to spiritual. Teaching the gospel and healing are never to be separated.
In this next paragraph the current human condition is outlined. People are longing for a power to give them mastery over sin, a power that will give health and life and peace. This comes from Jesus. This needs to be put right up front in the health message. “Jesus can change you.”
In the sentence immediately preceding our opening quote is this sentence:
The grace of Christ is where the power is. Get to it up front. Do not tack it on at the end.
This is the thought immediately after our opening quote. It initially reads as if it could be secular work. Relieving the poor, caring for the sick, bringing comfort, instruction, and counsel. But notice the last sentence in the paragraph. All the above activities are to be accompanied by the power of prayer, and the power of the love of God. There is no secular work here. We are to pray on all occasions and point to Jesus on all occasions. Look at the very next paragraph.
Pointing to Jesus is the primary object of medical missionary work. Forgiveness of sin is a central goal of medical missionary work. People will not be permanently changed until they behold Jesus. Christ the Great Physician should be constantly held up before those for whom we are working. We are to tell them that Jesus is touched with the feeling of their infirmities. We are to encourage them to put themselves in the care of Jesus. We are to talk of His love; to tell of His power to save. There is no secular sequence here.
Look at this paragraph on the next page of Ministry of Healing:
Here are a lot of home health activities. This paragraph encourages us to minister to the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the sad. But notice that we are to tenderly point all to Him of whose love and pity (empathy) the human worker is but the messenger.
True health evangelists are to point everyone they work for to Jesus all the time. There is no secular preamble. If you do not speak of Jesus, you are not a health evangelist. If you do not pray with your subjects, you are not a health evangelist. If you do not open scripture to all, you are not a health evangelist.
Some will reject you if you take a spiritual approach to your healing efforts. Some do not want to hear about Jesus. Some do not want the Bible. Some do not want prayer. For those who reject you, care can be received from a secular medical center or secular health department nearby.
There is no scientific health information you possess that is so unique to you that no one else has it. Jesus and His power to change and to save is really the only unique message you possess. To the extent that you leave Jesus to a later hour -- just to that extent you have failed as a health evangelist.
Here is another quote that very specifically tells us what Christ’s method was. Each work of healing was improved by implanting the divine principles of his love. This is how we are to work. Each opportunity to educate or heal is an opportunity to point to Jesus.
Perhaps the clearest and most concise counsel regarding the relationship between the gospel ministry and health ministry is this:
This point can also be confirmed by approaching it from the opposite point of view as well. The curious crowd that followed Jesus occasionally pried him with questions that were not relevant to salvation. Today they would be questions about the mysteries of space, medicine, or science. Jesus who made it all, could have explained it all. But Jesus never answered a single question that wasn’t related to salvation.
The goal of health evangelism is not good health but the salvation of sinners. Health evangelism should focus exclusively on how Jesus can provide power to change your life now and for eternity. Anything less than this is to miss the mark.
- “Christ's method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’” Ministry of Healing 143
In my opinion this quotation is often misused and misunderstood by those conducting health programs for the church. This quote is frequently used to justify the implementation of purely secular health activities.
This quotation lists several steps in the process leading to the spiritual invitation “Follow Me.” First there is “mingling” with people. This is not a careless, unconcerned mingling, but a mingling that desires a person’s good. The obvious purpose for conducting health work is to make people’s lives better -- to improve their health.
The next step is showing sympathy. This involves a caring, empathetic attitude. This is conveyed with body language, facial expression, and kind words. People should be able to sense that we are genuinely concerned about their health and welfare.
The third step is to minister to a person’s needs. This can take days, months, or even years. Once a person’s needs have been addressed -- then we can bid them follow Christ.
On the surface this passage appears to justify a work for people that is primarily secular to begin with and then moves toward the spiritual. This approach starts out with just health information and ends up -- assuming all goes well -- with a spiritual emphasis.
This approach -- except for the spiritual emphasis at the end -- also rather exactly matches the approach of all health improvement programs offered to the public by secular governments and private organizations. Seventh-day Adventist health practitioners who subscribe to the secular approach first are essentially duplicating the health services provided by all other secular health entities. Unless you get to the “follow Me” part you are no different than anyone else.
Those who derive a “secular-to-spiritual” continuum from this passage fail to understand Christ’s method, fail to understand the primacy of the spiritual approach, and also fail to consider the context. Let’s look at a few lines from the chapter from which this passage was taken.
Luke worked with Paul. They were a medical missionary team. Eventually, Paul left Luke in Philippi where Luke conducted healing and preaching by himself for several years. In this chapter, the relationship between healing and the gospel first occurs in this paragraph:
- “Physical healing is bound up with the gospel commission. In the work of the gospel, teaching and healing are never to be separated.” Ministry of Healing 140
Here there is no sequence from physical to spiritual. Teaching the gospel and healing are never to be separated.
In this next paragraph the current human condition is outlined. People are longing for a power to give them mastery over sin, a power that will give health and life and peace. This comes from Jesus. This needs to be put right up front in the health message. “Jesus can change you.”
- “Everywhere there are hearts crying out for something which they have not. They long for a power that will give them mastery over sin, a power that will deliver them from the bondage of evil, a power that will give health and life and peace. Many who once knew the power of God's word have dwelt where there is no recognition of God, and they long for the divine presence.” Ministry of Healing 143
In the sentence immediately preceding our opening quote is this sentence:
- “A great work of reform is demanded, and it is only through the grace of Christ that the work of restoration, physical, mental, and spiritual, can be accomplished.” Ministry of Healing 143
The grace of Christ is where the power is. Get to it up front. Do not tack it on at the end.
- “If less time were given to sermonizing, and more time were spent in personal ministry, greater results would be seen. The poor are to be relieved, the sick cared for, the sorrowing and the bereaved comforted, the ignorant instructed, the inexperienced counseled. We are to weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice. Accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will not, cannot, be without fruit.” Ministry of Healing 143
This is the thought immediately after our opening quote. It initially reads as if it could be secular work. Relieving the poor, caring for the sick, bringing comfort, instruction, and counsel. But notice the last sentence in the paragraph. All the above activities are to be accompanied by the power of prayer, and the power of the love of God. There is no secular work here. We are to pray on all occasions and point to Jesus on all occasions. Look at the very next paragraph.
- “We should ever remember that the object of the medical missionary work is to point sin-sick men and women to the Man of Calvary, who takes away the sin of the world. By beholding Him, they will be changed into His likeness. We are to encourage the sick and suffering to look to Jesus and live. Let the workers keep Christ, the Great Physician, constantly before those to whom disease of body and soul has brought discouragement. Point them to the One who can heal both physical and spiritual disease. Tell them of the One who is touched with the feeling of their infirmities. Encourage them to place themselves in the care of Him who gave His life to make it possible for them to have life eternal. Talk of His love; tell of His power to save.” Ministry of Healing 144
Pointing to Jesus is the primary object of medical missionary work. Forgiveness of sin is a central goal of medical missionary work. People will not be permanently changed until they behold Jesus. Christ the Great Physician should be constantly held up before those for whom we are working. We are to tell them that Jesus is touched with the feeling of their infirmities. We are to encourage them to put themselves in the care of Jesus. We are to talk of His love; to tell of His power to save. There is no secular sequence here.
Look at this paragraph on the next page of Ministry of Healing:
- “Many have no faith in God and have lost confidence in man. But they appreciate acts of sympathy and helpfulness. As they see one with no inducement of earthly praise or compensation come into their homes, ministering to the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, comforting the sad, and tenderly pointing all to Him of whose love and pity the human worker is but the messenger -- as they see this, their hearts are touched. Gratitude springs up. Faith is kindled. They see that God cares for them, and they are prepared to listen as His word is opened.” Ministry of Healing 145
Here are a lot of home health activities. This paragraph encourages us to minister to the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the sad. But notice that we are to tenderly point all to Him of whose love and pity (empathy) the human worker is but the messenger.
True health evangelists are to point everyone they work for to Jesus all the time. There is no secular preamble. If you do not speak of Jesus, you are not a health evangelist. If you do not pray with your subjects, you are not a health evangelist. If you do not open scripture to all, you are not a health evangelist.
Some will reject you if you take a spiritual approach to your healing efforts. Some do not want to hear about Jesus. Some do not want the Bible. Some do not want prayer. For those who reject you, care can be received from a secular medical center or secular health department nearby.
There is no scientific health information you possess that is so unique to you that no one else has it. Jesus and His power to change and to save is really the only unique message you possess. To the extent that you leave Jesus to a later hour -- just to that extent you have failed as a health evangelist.
Here is another quote that very specifically tells us what Christ’s method was. Each work of healing was improved by implanting the divine principles of his love. This is how we are to work. Each opportunity to educate or heal is an opportunity to point to Jesus.
- “[Jesus] went about doing good, teaching the ignorant, and healing the sick. His work did not stop with an exhibition of his power over disease. He made each work of healing an occasion of implanting in the heart the divine principles of his love and benevolence. Thus his followers are to work.” Review and Herald, May 2, 1912
Perhaps the clearest and most concise counsel regarding the relationship between the gospel ministry and health ministry is this:
- “By the ministry of the word the gospel is preached; by medical missionary work the gospel is practiced (demonstrated). The gospel is bound up with medical missionary work. Neither is to stand alone, bound up in itself. The workers in each are to labor unselfishly and unitedly, striving to save sinners.” Vol. 13 Manuscript Releases, 303
This point can also be confirmed by approaching it from the opposite point of view as well. The curious crowd that followed Jesus occasionally pried him with questions that were not relevant to salvation. Today they would be questions about the mysteries of space, medicine, or science. Jesus who made it all, could have explained it all. But Jesus never answered a single question that wasn’t related to salvation.
- “The curiosity that led them to come to Him with prying questions He did not gratify. All such questionings He made the occasion for solemn, earnest, vital appeals. To those who were so eager to pluck from the tree of knowledge, He offered the fruit of the tree of life. They found every avenue closed except the way that leads to God. Every fountain was sealed save the fountain of eternal life.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students 386
The goal of health evangelism is not good health but the salvation of sinners. Health evangelism should focus exclusively on how Jesus can provide power to change your life now and for eternity. Anything less than this is to miss the mark.