Trauma Training

Let me tell you about a medical missionary you have probably never heard about. But, you should know about this missionary. My sincere hope is that reading about this woman’s life will encourage, challenge, and inspire you to take your experience, skills, and passions and use them for God and others like this woman.  Remember, medical missions is constantly changing. In a recent post, we covered the history of medical missions. The enterprise of medical missions has brought physical, emotional, and spiritual health to the world—and opened the doors for the gospel in countless countries.  Medical missions is the term used for Christian missionary endeavors that involve the administration of any kind of medical treatment. Medical missions connects your skills with your calling. We see from reviewing Scripture, in the New Testament for example, that Jesus called for His disciples to heal the sick and serve the poor. He also calls them to "make disciples of all nations". In trying to obey Jesus’ commands, Jesus called for His disciples to heal the sick and serve the poor. He also calls them to "make disciples of all nations". As someone who works in healthcare, your life should be spent doing those exact things. You heal the sick, you serve the poor, and you make disciples of all nations. It's what being a medical missionary is all about.  There are so many avenues for missionary work. We’ve talked before about some popular ways many missionaries serve God. We’ve covered short-term, long-term, marketplace, domestic, international, and medical education as some of the top ways believers find practical avenues to serve God.  Today we want to take you back in history to look at a woman who served as a medical missionary in India. Her name is Dr. Ida Sophia Scudder.  She was born into a medical missionary family in India in 1870. Her grandparents, her father (and seven brothers) were all medical missionaries in India. She went to school in the US at the Northfield Seminary in Massachusetts, then came back to India to visit her parents. She didn’t want to be a missionary. In fact, one article reads that she, “determined never to become one of 'those missionary Scudders'.” But, one evening while she was in India, she witnessed three women die during childbirth because there were no doctors available to women. This happened in 1894. She would go on to call that situation her, “three knocks in the night.” During those days, there were no gynecologists or women practitioners at all, so women were not getting care. She went back to the US and went to Cornell Medical College in New York City, and was part of the first class that accepted women. She returned to India and started a small practice for women in Vellore. Shortly after she returned, her father died, but she treated over 5,000 patients in just two short years. In 1902, Dr. Scudder started the Mary Taber Schell Hospital in Vellore. She also began to realize that she couldn’t serve all the women of India alone, so she started a medical school for women only. During the first year, she had 151 applicants to her school. Eventually, the school became co-educational so that she could get the support of more churches in the United States.  Mahatma Gandhi visited her school in 1928. She went on to raise millions of dollars for the school and hospital. The Vellore Christian Medical Center has been one of the largest Christian hospitals in the world. Today, the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore still honors Dr. Ida Scudder and her determination to serve populations of people that were not being served. According to the website “One of the top-ranked educational, healthcare and research institutes in the country. CMC’s network of primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care teaching hospitals spread across six campuses in and around Vellore, is, together, a 3,000-bedded multi-specialty medical institution of international fame. The Christian Medical College Vellore, located in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, is an unaided minority educational institution established in the year 1900. Started as a single-bedded clinic, under the leadership of Dr. Ida Sophia Scudder, the only daughter of second-generation American missionaries, it grew into a full-fledged medical college imparting education in medical, nursing and allied health sciences.”  I encouraged you recently to keep the continual pursuit of a lifestyle of missional living. A missional life isn’t something we wait to do “one day”. No, the Great Commission tells us to “Go” and we understand this means you live your calling “as you are going.”  In case you missed my last post, I encourage you to, every day, take another intentional next step toward your own mission-focused life. Is that serving at your church? Is that networking and connecting with someone in your field? Is it the next step in education or training? Do it! Take that next baby step.  Review Dr. Scudder’s life and learn from her. Get on a mission with God. God’s will is that we serve Him and love others. It’s that simple and complex! Dr. Scudder’s life is an example and an inspiration to us all. She is one woman who didn’t even think she wanted to be a missionary. But, over her years of faithfully serving God and loving others, she has changed the healthcare system of South India forever. Scudder dedicated her life to the challenges of Indian women and the fight against bubonic plague, cholera, and leprosy. I hope that looking in detail at Dr. Scudders’ life will encourage and inspire you to press on in your calling to God. Often, you can get lost in the daily grind and forget the bigger picture of your life. I hope that in reviewing Ira’s life, you’ve been encouraged and inspired to live out your calling. Like Ira, let’s aim to live out our faith with our entire lives.

If you are reading this blog, you probably have some kind of dream of being involved in Christian health ministries. Today, I want to encourage the work of the believer who doesn’t just aim to “someday” be a missionary but live out your calling in healthcare and missions every day of your life. In this post, I want to give you some encouragement and some practical tips for living out your calling. And, I hope to show you how you can live out your calling right now. As in, today! You don’t have to wait to live out your calling.  Allow me to give you some encouragement:  • I encourage you toward the continual pursuit of a lifestyle of missional living. Missional life isn’t something we wait to do “one day”. No, the Great Commission tells us to “Go” and we understand this means you live your calling “as you are going.”   • I encourage you to, every day, take another intentional next step toward your own mission-focused life. Is that serving at your church? Is that networking and connecting with someone in your field? Is that the next step in education or training? Do it! Take that next baby step.  • I encourage you to remember: God only gives us this one chance at life here on earth. We cannot waste it away on self-serving pleasures or the material goods that the media tells us we need. A life that stewards what God gives well is one that sacrifices, loves, and lives in extreme obedience. This kind of life doesn’t just live and eventually die, this kind of life makes a difference. We need to use this short time that God gives, with the abilities and resources we’ve been given to make a difference. • I encourage you to understand that God’s will for your life is not a mystery or a puzzle that we have to figure out. His will for your life is to glorify him in all that you do, whatever profession you choose, hobbies you participate in, the spouse you commit to, or the place you live. All of those things become a perimeter to the central force that underlies it all: to glorify him.  • I encourage you to know the will of God. Often, you might fixate on "What is God's will for my life?" Instead, you need to look at HOW God wants you to live. It’s vital that you know not just where you fit or how you can “find yourself.” No, you are called to a higher standard. You are called to align your will with God’s will. This takes knowing God through His Word. You must spend time knowing God so we can know what His will is—and then do it. I hope these few encouragements will help you press on in your calling to God. I also want to be sure you’re armed with a few practical ideas for how to live your calling out right now. I know, many times, it can feel like you have to wait to live out your calling. But, you don’t have to wait.  Here are practical ideas for living out your calling in Christian health ministries now:  Idea #1: Find a faith-based clinic where you can serve as needed. If you are still a student, offer to pray with patients at set times during the week.  Idea #2: Go on a short-term trip to learn from indigenous workers and long-term servants. Idea #3: Join a local chapter in your specialty. For example, connect with Christian Medical Dental Association in order to find opportunities to serve and a community of people with similar passions and interests.  One last reminder when it comes to what you can do right now to live out your calling. There are also very simple things you can do like caring for your neighbor, getting involved with your local church, school, or neighborhood groups. Doing these things now will allow you to love people in concrete ways, right where you are And, you’ll learn how you’re gifted and can best serve God through it all. Here’s what’s most important in all of this: I’ve heard it called serving with HEART. No matter what you do in your field of service, do it with heart:  Hospitality: Treat those you care for like they are visiting your house. Remember, part of your calling is loving people. This means you work to make every person comfortable and every space welcoming.  Empathy is vital in serving people. Take your time to get to know the person and who they are. You are called by God to empathize with everyone you come into contact with. People around you will know you are a believer by how you listen and care for them.  Attitude: My guess is you aren’t alone on your mission. You either have a team you work with or you will one day have a team to work with. Your attitude around those who you work with can lift them up or bring them down. Which will it be? Be someone folks want to be around. Respect: This takes listening to all around you and actually helping. No, the people you work with won’t get everything correct. But, they should still get your respect. People around you will know you follow God because of your respect for them  Time: Are you always late? Don’t be! Be on time to everything. Show up early if you can. This applies to a meeting or to the time you need to help a patient.  We’ve covered a lot in this post. I hope you’ve been encouraged and have found the practical tips you need to help you live out your calling. If you dream of being involved in Christian health ministries, be encouraged to serve where you are. Be the believer who doesn't simply aim to “someday” be a missionary, but be the person who lives out their calling in their job, especially if that’s healthcare, every day. All of us should aim to live out our faith with our careers, our time—our very lives.