Principles & Practice of Health Ministry
Chapter 1
What is Health Ministry?
Health ministry is the good news that Jesus makes people healthier. Health ministry is Christ-centered evangelism integrated with a health program. The education component of health ministry contains information regarding the risks associated with unhealthy habits and provides behavior change strategies designed to correct those unhealthy habits and addictions.
The evangelistic component of health ministry introduces people to Jesus. Jesus provides the power to change. Lasting behavior change is impossible for many people who rely on their own efforts, but a relationship with Jesus transforms the life. This is true in the physical as well as the spiritual realm.
Many people who previously didn’t know Jesus will identify a health ministry program as the start of their Christian experience. Many who already have a religious background will find a deeper and intensely practical relationship with Jesus as they learn to trust Him for personal behavior change.
Health programs that fail to present Jesus are not really health ministry programs. They fail to present Jesus as the source of power for both immediate and lasting behavior change. Traditional evangelistic meetings that fail to advocate behavior changes that lead to improved health, and fail to connect behavior change with Jesus, lack a practical component. Such evangelistic series proclaim a theoretical religion that resides only in the mind of the hearer, but not in the life of the hearer.
Many health programs are primarily secular in nature. They point a person to the adverse consequences of a risky behavior and advocate specific behavior changes to promote or recover health. The information is usually scientifically sound, but fails to change many lives. Many health programs are also commercial ventures -- businesses of behavior change driven by a profit motive.
Most health programs are not designed to be overtly evangelistic. Secular health programs do not become health ministry programs just because they are conducted in a Seventh-day Adventist church or are conducted by church members.
Some secular health programs conducted by churches are called “friendship” evangelism. How sad that a person can come to a Seventh-day Adventist church, meet Seventh-day Adventist people, learn some health information, but not learn of Jesus who can provide the power to change. What kind of friendship is that?
Most health programs measure certain variables that document a person’s starting health status. These same questions or tests are usually measured again at the end of a program. This “before and after” process measures the changes that have taken place during a program and are a measure of the effectiveness of a program. Common health variables include blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, body mass index, etc.
Evangelistic meetings measure attendance at meetings and ultimately baptisms. Evangelistic meetings often have a health talk at the beginning or the end of an evangelistic lecture. Health topics tacked onto evangelistic meetings do not constitute health ministry.
Health ministry is overt evangelistic activity inserted into a health program. Valid health ministry introduces individuals to Jesus as the one who has the power to change unhealthy habits. In health ministry a person is introduced to the Bible as the primary source of knowledge about Jesus. The Bible has many examples of the help that Jesus provided to those who needed healing.
In health ministry a person is taught how to pray. Prayer is the way a person contacts Jesus. By prayer a person can ask for help, a person can express gratitude for success, and a person can enjoy fellowship with Jesus.
Health ministry programs provide an opportunity for a person to daily contact an SDA Health Ministry Volunteer for encouragement. These church members provide social and spiritual support. Health Ministry Volunteers can also share their own experiences with Jesus regarding their behavior change. They can pray with those who are struggling, and they can form friendships.
I have found that many SDA Health Ministry Directors and Volunteers are reluctant to insert spiritual content into their health programs. Perhaps they feel the public would be offended if they talk about Jesus. They feel that the public comes for health information, not to learn about Jesus. Unfortunately, health information by itself does not change health behavior. Jesus provides the power for sustained healthful living.
Some SDA Health Ministry Directors and Volunteers are not skilled at communicating spiritual messages, others may not have experienced Jesus in their own lives and have not learned how essential Jesus is to successful therapeutic lifestyle change.
Pastors and evangelists have not helped the situation much either. The constant question posed to those conducting health ministry programs is, “Where are the baptisms?” This question looks at the end of the process and does not recognize the multiple steps that precede baptism. Health ministry helps prepare people for baptism by leading them through these preceding steps.
Perhaps the biggest reason we are not doing more health ministry is because we have not been doing it correctly, and we really do not know how to do it. On the scientific side, health ministry has not been studied. We would do more health ministry if we had proof that health ministry is more effective in changing health behaviors than secular behavior change programs.
This course summarizes the principles and practice of true health ministry. If you are a pastor, layperson, or health professional, who is interested in the health message of the Seventh-day Adventist church and how to share it with others effectively, this course is for you. I hope and pray that you will put these principles to work. God will bless you.
In my practice of health ministry, I have been inspired most by the healing ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who spent more time healing than preaching. I have been inspired by the picture of health ministry outlined in Isaiah 58 and certain key passages in the Spirit of Prophecy.
The quotation that most intrigues me is:
This brief passage tells me that medical missionary work will one day eclipse all the ministerial approaches that pastors are now using.
This passage could mean that the overt spiritual part of the church’s work will become so prohibited that a subtler secondary way of doing pastoral work, in the guise of ministry, will be the only course open for outreach. This would be a sort of “second-best approach, but it will have to do” type of development.
Instead, I believe the church will eventually discover that medical missionary work is a superior form of evangelism. Evangelistic efforts characterized by traditional doctrinal presentations appear to work well in some parts of the world, but are much less effective in the United States, western Europe, Australia, and Japan.
If it is true that soon there will be no work done in ministerial lines but medical missionary work, we should be exploring ways of maximizing the effectiveness of health ministry now. We should be experimenting with medical missionary work. We should work at it until it can be demonstrated that health ministry is a tool that surpasses the effectiveness of traditional evangelistic approaches.
When the superior effectiveness of well designed and well-practiced health ministry is demonstrated, we will switch over to the better way of doing things. I hope this happens soon so the work can be done, and we can go home to Heaven.
Conversely, health ministry should NOT be the venue for the introduction of many of the distinctive doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist church. A health ministry program can be used to introduce at least 10 of the 28 fundamental beliefs. These are the doctrines that are focused on behavior change and directly affect health issues.
The presentation of the Sabbath, the sanctuary doctrine, the state of the dead, and other testing truths can be introduced later on as interest develops and questions arise. In a health ministry program, the spiritual emphasis should be on how God through Jesus helps a person break bad habits and addictions and effects lasting therapeutic lifestyle change.
Here is a second quotation from the Spirit of Prophecy that has challenged me:
This vision of health ministry has not been fulfilled. Some among us see a fulfillment of this vision in the Adventist Health System. The plain truth is that, in the United States, the hospitals operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church are not efficient or effective evangelistic tools for the church. There is no meaningful connection between SDA hospitals and SDA churches.
Church officials at administrative levels sit on the boards of hospitals, but this fact alone does not make hospitals particularly Christian or Adventist. Exposure to Christian or unique Seventh-day Adventist principles during a hospital stay are brief or non-existent. Former hospital patients are not flocking in significant numbers to SDA evangelistic meetings or seeking membership in SDA churches.
One prominent hospital administrator told me. “When the finances get tight, something has to go, and it is going to be health education and preventive medicine.” Adventist hospitals haven’t been the soul winning right arm they were envisioned to be. Our hospitals are largely staffed with well-trained, non-Adventist, physicians and nurses and provide a level of health care that is comparable to what is available at other secular hospitals in the community.
It is my contention that the right arm of the gospel has been amputated from the body and is functioning independently. Both the body and the arm have suffered great loss by having worked independently of each other.
The quote from Spirit of Prophecy which most clearly points out where health ministry should be done and who should be doing it is:
Here the root of our current problem is outlined. We haven’t been doing health ministry in the right place or with the right people. The institution in which health ministry is to occur is the local church through its individual church members -- not the SDA Healthcare System or even SDA health professionals as part of their career. The home of health ministry is not to be in hospitals, schools, public auditoriums, or lifestyle centers, but the local church and in the homes and neighborhoods of local church members.
This quotation also indicates who is to do health ministry. Every member of the church should take hold of medical missionary work. There is a role for pastors, doctors, dentists, nurses, therapists, counselors, and all other church members -- not as health professionals, but as consecrated disciples of Christ who want to follow His foot steps in health ministry.
Part of the problem is that some Seventh-day Adventist health professionals have tried to organize and conduct health ministry programs independent of the church and church members. These programs have been conducted in public venues for the public at large. These programs are held at an arm’s length from the local church.
Most of the time this limits church member support to contributing some money, sitting in the audience, or praying for the program’s success. Health ministry conducted in this way fails to create an interface between the church and the public and between church members and their personal contacts. This approach may be economically viable for the leader of the health program, but it does little to advance the Lord’s work.
There is a better way to attract people in the community. Our neighbors will value our church more if we learn to do health ministry in the right way -- God's way. Sanctified health ministry removes the prejudice that often exists against our church.
I hope we as a people will learn to do health ministry in the right way. Let’s follow the counsel that has been given us. Let us design and conduct programs that will utilize church members, be conducted through the local church, and be aggressively evangelistic.
As you read these few introductory chapters, I pray God will impress your mind with the importance and potential value of health ministry. I hope you will be inspired to implement health ministry programs through your local church and that the three angels' messages will be delivered with love to the souls in your community due to your efforts and the efforts of your fellow church members as health ministry volunteers.
The evangelistic component of health ministry introduces people to Jesus. Jesus provides the power to change. Lasting behavior change is impossible for many people who rely on their own efforts, but a relationship with Jesus transforms the life. This is true in the physical as well as the spiritual realm.
Many people who previously didn’t know Jesus will identify a health ministry program as the start of their Christian experience. Many who already have a religious background will find a deeper and intensely practical relationship with Jesus as they learn to trust Him for personal behavior change.
Health programs that fail to present Jesus are not really health ministry programs. They fail to present Jesus as the source of power for both immediate and lasting behavior change. Traditional evangelistic meetings that fail to advocate behavior changes that lead to improved health, and fail to connect behavior change with Jesus, lack a practical component. Such evangelistic series proclaim a theoretical religion that resides only in the mind of the hearer, but not in the life of the hearer.
Many health programs are primarily secular in nature. They point a person to the adverse consequences of a risky behavior and advocate specific behavior changes to promote or recover health. The information is usually scientifically sound, but fails to change many lives. Many health programs are also commercial ventures -- businesses of behavior change driven by a profit motive.
Most health programs are not designed to be overtly evangelistic. Secular health programs do not become health ministry programs just because they are conducted in a Seventh-day Adventist church or are conducted by church members.
Some secular health programs conducted by churches are called “friendship” evangelism. How sad that a person can come to a Seventh-day Adventist church, meet Seventh-day Adventist people, learn some health information, but not learn of Jesus who can provide the power to change. What kind of friendship is that?
Most health programs measure certain variables that document a person’s starting health status. These same questions or tests are usually measured again at the end of a program. This “before and after” process measures the changes that have taken place during a program and are a measure of the effectiveness of a program. Common health variables include blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, body mass index, etc.
Evangelistic meetings measure attendance at meetings and ultimately baptisms. Evangelistic meetings often have a health talk at the beginning or the end of an evangelistic lecture. Health topics tacked onto evangelistic meetings do not constitute health ministry.
Health ministry is overt evangelistic activity inserted into a health program. Valid health ministry introduces individuals to Jesus as the one who has the power to change unhealthy habits. In health ministry a person is introduced to the Bible as the primary source of knowledge about Jesus. The Bible has many examples of the help that Jesus provided to those who needed healing.
In health ministry a person is taught how to pray. Prayer is the way a person contacts Jesus. By prayer a person can ask for help, a person can express gratitude for success, and a person can enjoy fellowship with Jesus.
Health ministry programs provide an opportunity for a person to daily contact an SDA Health Ministry Volunteer for encouragement. These church members provide social and spiritual support. Health Ministry Volunteers can also share their own experiences with Jesus regarding their behavior change. They can pray with those who are struggling, and they can form friendships.
I have found that many SDA Health Ministry Directors and Volunteers are reluctant to insert spiritual content into their health programs. Perhaps they feel the public would be offended if they talk about Jesus. They feel that the public comes for health information, not to learn about Jesus. Unfortunately, health information by itself does not change health behavior. Jesus provides the power for sustained healthful living.
Some SDA Health Ministry Directors and Volunteers are not skilled at communicating spiritual messages, others may not have experienced Jesus in their own lives and have not learned how essential Jesus is to successful therapeutic lifestyle change.
Pastors and evangelists have not helped the situation much either. The constant question posed to those conducting health ministry programs is, “Where are the baptisms?” This question looks at the end of the process and does not recognize the multiple steps that precede baptism. Health ministry helps prepare people for baptism by leading them through these preceding steps.
Perhaps the biggest reason we are not doing more health ministry is because we have not been doing it correctly, and we really do not know how to do it. On the scientific side, health ministry has not been studied. We would do more health ministry if we had proof that health ministry is more effective in changing health behaviors than secular behavior change programs.
This course summarizes the principles and practice of true health ministry. If you are a pastor, layperson, or health professional, who is interested in the health message of the Seventh-day Adventist church and how to share it with others effectively, this course is for you. I hope and pray that you will put these principles to work. God will bless you.
In my practice of health ministry, I have been inspired most by the healing ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who spent more time healing than preaching. I have been inspired by the picture of health ministry outlined in Isaiah 58 and certain key passages in the Spirit of Prophecy.
The quotation that most intrigues me is:
- “I wish to tell you that soon there will be no work done in ministerial lines but medical missionary work...” Counsels on Health 533.
This brief passage tells me that medical missionary work will one day eclipse all the ministerial approaches that pastors are now using.
This passage could mean that the overt spiritual part of the church’s work will become so prohibited that a subtler secondary way of doing pastoral work, in the guise of ministry, will be the only course open for outreach. This would be a sort of “second-best approach, but it will have to do” type of development.
Instead, I believe the church will eventually discover that medical missionary work is a superior form of evangelism. Evangelistic efforts characterized by traditional doctrinal presentations appear to work well in some parts of the world, but are much less effective in the United States, western Europe, Australia, and Japan.
If it is true that soon there will be no work done in ministerial lines but medical missionary work, we should be exploring ways of maximizing the effectiveness of health ministry now. We should be experimenting with medical missionary work. We should work at it until it can be demonstrated that health ministry is a tool that surpasses the effectiveness of traditional evangelistic approaches.
When the superior effectiveness of well designed and well-practiced health ministry is demonstrated, we will switch over to the better way of doing things. I hope this happens soon so the work can be done, and we can go home to Heaven.
Conversely, health ministry should NOT be the venue for the introduction of many of the distinctive doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist church. A health ministry program can be used to introduce at least 10 of the 28 fundamental beliefs. These are the doctrines that are focused on behavior change and directly affect health issues.
The presentation of the Sabbath, the sanctuary doctrine, the state of the dead, and other testing truths can be introduced later on as interest develops and questions arise. In a health ministry program, the spiritual emphasis should be on how God through Jesus helps a person break bad habits and addictions and effects lasting therapeutic lifestyle change.
Here is a second quotation from the Spirit of Prophecy that has challenged me:
- “Again and again I have been instructed that the medical missionary work (health ministry) is to bear the same relation to the work of the three angels' messages that the arm and hand bear to the body. Under the direction of the divine Head they are to work unitedly in preparing the way for the coming of Christ. The right arm of the body of truth is to be constantly active, constantly at work, and God will strengthen it. But it is not to be made the body. At the same time the body is not to say to the arm: "I have no need of thee." The body has need of the arm in order to do active, aggressive work. Both have their appointed work, and each will suffer great loss if worked independently of the other.” Testimonies for the Church Volume Six, 288.
This vision of health ministry has not been fulfilled. Some among us see a fulfillment of this vision in the Adventist Health System. The plain truth is that, in the United States, the hospitals operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church are not efficient or effective evangelistic tools for the church. There is no meaningful connection between SDA hospitals and SDA churches.
Church officials at administrative levels sit on the boards of hospitals, but this fact alone does not make hospitals particularly Christian or Adventist. Exposure to Christian or unique Seventh-day Adventist principles during a hospital stay are brief or non-existent. Former hospital patients are not flocking in significant numbers to SDA evangelistic meetings or seeking membership in SDA churches.
One prominent hospital administrator told me. “When the finances get tight, something has to go, and it is going to be health education and preventive medicine.” Adventist hospitals haven’t been the soul winning right arm they were envisioned to be. Our hospitals are largely staffed with well-trained, non-Adventist, physicians and nurses and provide a level of health care that is comparable to what is available at other secular hospitals in the community.
It is my contention that the right arm of the gospel has been amputated from the body and is functioning independently. Both the body and the arm have suffered great loss by having worked independently of each other.
The quote from Spirit of Prophecy which most clearly points out where health ministry should be done and who should be doing it is:
- “We have come to a time when every member of the church should take hold of medical missionary work…. Everywhere people are perishing for lack of a knowledge of the truths that have been committed to us. The members of the church are in need of an awakening, that they may realize their responsibility to impart these truths.” Welfare Ministry, p. 138
Here the root of our current problem is outlined. We haven’t been doing health ministry in the right place or with the right people. The institution in which health ministry is to occur is the local church through its individual church members -- not the SDA Healthcare System or even SDA health professionals as part of their career. The home of health ministry is not to be in hospitals, schools, public auditoriums, or lifestyle centers, but the local church and in the homes and neighborhoods of local church members.
This quotation also indicates who is to do health ministry. Every member of the church should take hold of medical missionary work. There is a role for pastors, doctors, dentists, nurses, therapists, counselors, and all other church members -- not as health professionals, but as consecrated disciples of Christ who want to follow His foot steps in health ministry.
Part of the problem is that some Seventh-day Adventist health professionals have tried to organize and conduct health ministry programs independent of the church and church members. These programs have been conducted in public venues for the public at large. These programs are held at an arm’s length from the local church.
Most of the time this limits church member support to contributing some money, sitting in the audience, or praying for the program’s success. Health ministry conducted in this way fails to create an interface between the church and the public and between church members and their personal contacts. This approach may be economically viable for the leader of the health program, but it does little to advance the Lord’s work.
There is a better way to attract people in the community. Our neighbors will value our church more if we learn to do health ministry in the right way -- God's way. Sanctified health ministry removes the prejudice that often exists against our church.
- “Much of the prejudice that prevents the truth of the third angel's message from reaching the hearts of the people might be removed if more attention were given to health reform. When people become interested in this subject, the way is often prepared for the entrance of other truths. If they see that we are intelligent with regard to health (therapeutic lifestyle change by faith), they will be more ready to believe that we are sound in Bible doctrines.” Counsels on Health, p. 452
I hope we as a people will learn to do health ministry in the right way. Let’s follow the counsel that has been given us. Let us design and conduct programs that will utilize church members, be conducted through the local church, and be aggressively evangelistic.
As you read these few introductory chapters, I pray God will impress your mind with the importance and potential value of health ministry. I hope you will be inspired to implement health ministry programs through your local church and that the three angels' messages will be delivered with love to the souls in your community due to your efforts and the efforts of your fellow church members as health ministry volunteers.