Free Methodist Medical Fellowship

Reflections on Consultation 2009, September 25-27

Essenhaus Inn and Conference Center, Middlebury, Indiana
 
A MODEL OF MINISTRY - TOUCHING AND TEACHING

AS SEEN IN THE LIFE OF JESUS

 
If you were among those in attendance, we welcome you to relive year's FMMF Consultation.  If you were not able to attend, listen in as you learn about what we learned about the “touching and teaching” we saw in the life of Jesus. You will be blessed as you learn more about how the life of Jesus informs our lives today.  I would also like to offer a special welcome to those who are a part of the Frank Odgen School of Medicine (FOSM) Strategic Consultation.  As most of you know, FOSM is a part of Hope Africa University.

Friday, September 25 – FOSM Strategic Consultation  
A group physicians, dentists, medical educators, and others interested in the development and future of the Frank Ogden School of Medicine (FOSM) at Hope Africa University (HAU) met from 10 AM to 5 PM. Approximately 60 were in attendance. Bishop Emeritus Gerald Bates gave a brief history of HAU, highlighting the visionary national leadership and divine providence which has brought the university to its current enrollment of 2800 students. Dr. Seleus Sibomona, Dean of FOSM, spoke of the need of HAU to train medical professionals, develop research programs, and provide health care services. To this end, a city medical clinic, located adjacent to HAU, is planned and has been funded. Plans to develop Kibuye Hospital into a center of medical education wre presented and discussed. The medical school curriculum was also presented.

Opportunities for personal involvement were presented. Funds are needed to complete building projects and develop infrastructure. Basic science instructors are urgently needed to teach to core curriculum. There are opportunities for academic oriented physicians and medical professionals to be involved in missions in a new way. For example, Darlene McCowm has joined HAU as Head of the School of Nursing after “retiring” from Roberts Wesleyan University School of Nursing. A team is urgently needed to head up the development of Kibuye Hospital. It is envisioned that this team will include physicians, administrators, builders, and others and will include both nationals and missionaries from North America.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE: Have you thought about missions but never felt called or felt that you would fit? HAU may afford you just that opportunity. HAU will be posting information on our web site, <www.fmmf.org>.

7:00 PM  Bishop Gerald Bates - THE TOUCHING AND TEACHING MINISTRY OF JESUS AS SEEN IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
Who is God and what is our mission?  In Matthew is found a description of The Kingdom of God and the commissioning of his followers to both touch and teach in the name of Jesus.  In the Gospels we see the fullest expression of God. God is revealed in Jesus. You see in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus took the human predicament seriously. He spoke to individuals, taught in the presence of large crowds, touched the broken and brought healing, and fed those who were hungry. It is a story so compelling that you would want the ministry of Jesus – touching(healing, feeding, weeping) and teaching (proclaiming, announcing, explaining) – to go on forever. In fact, the story does continue as Jesus himself commissioned us go out be the Kingdom.

Hope Africa University was presented as an expression of the Kingdom in Central Africa. It is not the Church, as Bates explained, but HAU is attached to the Church and its faculty and student body are the Church in the world. It gives dignity to the poor, expands their world view, and develops their God-given giftedness. God builds the Church as individuals find hope and meaning in a part of the world which has seen more than it should have to support. (The Central African countries of Burundi, Rwanda, and Congo have been in the news over the past two decades because of internal conflicts, political unrest and corruption. The Free Methodist Church remains strong despite these uncertainties and trials.)

TAKE HOME MESSAGE: The Kingdom is here and the story continues, despite adversity and unexpected events.

8:30 PM MISSION MOMENTS
 
Saturday, September 26
9:00 AM  Dr. Michael Traylor - HOLY VOCATIONS: TOUCHING AND TEACHING
Traylor opened his discussion with a reminder that we are connected to one another by our common interest in the profession of medicine and our spiritual calling. Jesus, a missionary sent from the Father, confronted Peter doing what he did for a living, out in a boat attempting to catch fish (Luke 5:1-5). Jesus used Peter’s vocation as a platform to teach the principle that he was called to reach those in need of salvation (fish for men). At the moment that his previously empty nets became filled with fish, Peter realized his sinfulness and received the call to fish for men. His ministry began when he understood who Jesus was. He entered into partnership with God himself, ultimately expressed in the Great Commission. God as sovereign has chosen to enter into our lives today, forming a partnership with us.

Traylor went on to discuss the Community of God, described in Acts 2:42-47 as spirit led. Those who responded to Peter’s invitation to repent were attending to the Word of God (apostle’s teaching) and participating in the fellowship of the believers. They entered into the discipline of prayer and sacrificially and generously shared in addressing the needs fellow believers.

In Acts 3:1-5 we see the Community of God as reaching out, the process of stopping, talking, touching, and healing.  Peter and John, as they were headed into the temple at the hour of prayer, were interrupted by a lame man in need of a healing touch. Our mission is to reach the world and our ministry is to touch and teach. Ministry begins when we see those in need and continues as we interrupt our own agenda and enter into the lives of those in need. Seeing an individual is a divine moment and gives witness to our love and acknowledges the dignity of that person.

Traylor closed with a challenge: Are we living in community, attending to the needs of others? Is our ministry overcoming our mission, or do we have a mission in life which informs our ministry? Who is invisible in our path that God wants us to touch and teach?

TAKE HOME MESSAGE: Our vocations become a ministry as Jesus calls us into the mission of reaching those in need.

10:15 AM  Rev. David Bates - PERSONAL RECOVERY/RESTORATION AND COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION

David Bates traced the history of Olive Branch Mission (OBM) back to 1867, describing it as an outreach of the Morgan Street Free Methodist Church to the broken people coming to Chicago, including post Civil War former slaves and European immigrants. OBM has moved from being a “rescue mission” to become a community of individuals who are moving from brokenness to dignity. Personal contact leads to conversations, builds relationships and ultimately leads to an heart response to God’s life changing love. In practical terms, case managers guide individuals into drug treatment programs, housing opportunities, school, job training, and employment. What has grown from this ministry is a community which acknowledges Jesus as Lord. God is entering into the lives of the broken, restoring them to wholeness. Potentially self-serving, condescending compassion has been transformed into a relevant redemptive ministry. Bates describes relevance as a feeling the needs of others and, as a result, turning from our own agendas to enter into the lives of the broken. It is not what we think but what other’s think. It is not what we preach but what we do. It is not about us, it is about them. The Kingdom has been expressed in the south side of Chicago through the ministries of the Olive Branch Mission, and is now a community of believers known as the Chapel at Olive Branch Mission.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE: It is not about us but about them. Are we prepared to move from our own comfort into the world? Touching and teaching is what we are called to do.

11:30 AM  Panel Discussion -  Questions from Consultation participants informed our discussion what it means to “touch and teach” in a needy world.
  
5:00 PM  ANNUAL FMMF MEETING – Consultation 2010 to be hosted by Greenville College, September 24-26. Our speaker will be Dr. John Patrick.

7:00 PM  LIVING IN THE PRESENT - The Kingdom of God manifested in today's world
Our guest speakers will discuss how you can be involved in touching lives and teaching individuals.
8:15 PM  MISSION MOMENTS
 
Sunday, September 27
9:00-10:00 AM  WORSHIP AND HOLY COMMUNION

I personally appreciated seeing each of you this year.  I was aware how the Lord directed our discussions.  We heard from three individuals who have been called to flesh out the Kingdom in their respective communities.  The question remains, “Where has God placed each of us and where would He have us serve in touching and teaching those who need to know about this Jesus we are called to serve?” 
 
Blessings on you as you in the year ahead.  Tim Kratzer, FMMF President