Content Resources

No single factor enhances the likelihood of sustained improvement in the health of a person, family or community more than empowerment: affirming and engaging the dignity, strengths, experience, vision, and resources of those we are called to serve. This session will review the practical as well as biblical and theological reasons that empowerment is an essential ingredient in every Christian health ministry. It will offer practical guidelines for making our health ministries more empowering.We will approach the session by:• What does empowerment mean and why is it important from a Christian perspective?• Together trace the relationship of empowerment to improving health• Drawing from research on empowerment in which the presenter participated along with faculty from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and other ministry colleagues, provide an overview of ways that NGOs and faith-based organizations define, operationalize and measure empowerment• Involve participants in identifying and overcoming obstacles to empowerment in health missions• Propose and then collectively refine a set of guidelines for planning medical missions that contribute optimally to empowerment; and a parallel set of guidelines for evaluating empowerment outcomes• Collectively identify resources and best practices in the area of empowerment in health ministries

Why do research? How can clinical and public health research support health ministries? What low-cost research methods can yield high-impact results? This workshop will answer these questions and provide an overview of the entire applied health research process, from developing a focused research question to collecting and analyzing data to sharing discoveries.

God has called you to missions but how do you make a smooth transition from student to missionary physician? Join us as we look at steps to take during your education and training to prepare you for a career in medical missions. We’ll examine what questions you need to ask, what you should be aware of and what can you do over these next years to be equipped to move from training to ministry.

If you feel the Lord might be calling you to healthcare missions the time to begin planning is now. Prepare your heart and your personal balance sheet by living a missionary lifestyle today. Reorder your priorities and push back on the materialistic culture we live in. You may find the blessing beyond your expectations.

What is God's perspective on the role of health and healing in our world today? Does the Bible give us direction as medical missionaries? This break out session will give you a Biblical framework for understanding how your personal call to medical missions integrates with God's overarching promise to bring healing to the nations.

The objectives of the breakout session are1. To understand the short and longterm educational opportunites available in developing countries2. To better understand how one can develop skills to prepare to teach in developing countries3. Identify sending agencies that support training in developing countries

With so many changes in the world – could God be opening new avenues for medical missions in general and dental in particular to take a leading role in reaching the lost? Some considerations for dental missions and opportunities for increasing our impact.

While technical advances are often seen to define progress in the diagnosis and treatment of illness, a solely mechanistic approach fails to deal with the basic requirement of patients’ need to be cared for as people - in body, mind and spirit. This seminar looks at the biblical basis for whole-person medicine as well as its practical application in healthcare provision and teaching.

There is a real danger of short term team intervention. Whilst immediately doing good, they may create real problems in the longer term due to poor appreciation of the true local situation and the problems of national health workers while arrogantly importing western thinking and “clinical imperialism”. This seminar examines the importance of "leaving oneself behind' when going (one’s prejudices, assumptions and any feelings of superiority) and instead having an openness to learn from our national colleagues. But when we return we should also “leave ourselves behind” - in the skills we have imparted, the training and encouragement we have given, and the on-going friendships we have built.

Have you longed to integrate your Christian faith into your patient care – both on the mission field abroad and in your work at home? Not sure how to do this in a caring, sensitive, and relevant manner? This “working” session will explore the ethical basis for spiritual care plus provide you with profession, timely, and practical methods to care for the whole person in the clinical setting.

Is it possible to equip indigenous believers to meet the needs of their own people so that the work continues when the short term team returns home? Jaime will share stories from the mission field regarding training and equipping indigenous Christ-followers with especially designed tools so that they can meet the felt needs of their own people, through which they develop relationships and have the opportunity to both demonstrate and share the love of Christ in a tangible way.