Global Missions Health Conference Focuses on Whole Person Missions
By Rebecca Barnes
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More than two thousand participants attended the annual
Global Missions Health Conference 9-11 November 2006.
| Dr. Florence Muindi remembers the bell on the missionary church in her rural Kenyan community. Growing up she attended Sunday school with the missionaries’ kids. And she remembers the missionaries who staffed the medical clinic. While their impact on the impoverished area was substantial, it was also limited because (1) the approach was not inter-connected between the physical, spiritual and social needs of the people and (2) the work ended when the missionaries went back home.
Muindi told the story of her own mission work in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where from the beginning she wanted to take a more holistic approach.
“Right from the onset we realized this would be holistic ministry,” Muindi told the audience at the transformational development pre-conference for the annual Global Missions Health Conference (GMHC) at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, 9-11 November 2006.
“We realized it would take an integrated approach for change to occur,” Muindi added.
Holistic mission became the focus of the three-day event that drew more than 2,400 students, mission workers, agencies, organization representatives and healthcare professionals. The GMHC is the largest medical missions conference of its kind.
As a plenary speaker, Muindi spoke about her experience in holistic missions, calling it “The Emerging Strategy.” She described her prayerful work as centered not on projects, but on a total commitment to God and on service to the poor that would empower them rather than create dependency or imply superiority on the part of the missionary. “I want to serve the poor at a level that they can identify with me,” Muindi said.
Her long-term commitment, evident faith practice and close relations with the poor translated into a holistic model that she said goes back to Jesus. “It was about being Christ to the people,” she added.
Her work led to the formation of Life in Abundance, International, which is now operating in several African countries and in hundreds of communities.
While the history of traditional missions must be overcome in the Developing World in much the same way that the colonial model must be overcome, holistic models are working in more and more areas—a sign that the Spirit of God is involved. “The strategy for missions has shifted,” Muindi emphasized.
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Rebecca Barnes is a freelance writer and editor in Louisville, Kentucky. She can be reached at www.rebeccabarnes.com. |
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