Today Brian taught on how God is the only one who can enact real change in our lives – both our own lives and the lives of those whom we are serving.  Afterwards, we listened to a panel of both medical professionals and current members of the Hunting Park Community, and everyone had such great comments to share! They spoke on challenges to health in the community.

Some highlights & advice:

–          advice to treat people with respect and dignity as human beings first and foremost

–          that God is in the business of bringing people back to him

–          there is still a 100% mortality in Philadelphia (and in the world) – no matter how much medicine we prescribe, everyone still dies

–          that there is a difference between loving and treating a patient

–          there is an underlying tension between a patient’s perceived needs (why they are there in the office that day) and the actual issues that need to be addressed (which they may not want addressed right now)

–          the powerlessness of physicians

–          in the end, it is up to the patient to take responsibility of their health

–          training of community members to become health promoters

The rest of the afternoon we did door-to-door health screenings and evangelism in a concentrated block of Hunting Park. We talked to many people in the communities about high blood pressure, blood sugar, and Jesus. We are becoming more comfortable in the outreach every day! Finally, we finished up the evening with a lesson on Genesis 2 (We did Genesis 1 on Tuesday). We’ve been studying how man is a reflection of God, which is really evident in the story of the creation of man and woman in Genesis 2.

What really stuck out to me for the day was to really address the root cause of the issue (which may not be known/understood), rather than surface problems, and to invite Christ into that situation in order to enact a real, sustainable change.  A metaphor we used was that often medicine is like fighting a fire with a lot of smoke – if you only address the smoke, you really aren’t stopping the problem of the fire.  But conversely you may not be able to see the fire without clearing away some of the smoke.  We also have to strive for Christ to be at the root of all that we do. Our prayer is also that Christ would rain living water down on the fires of our lives and the lives of those in the community (John 4:13-14).

Some prayer requests from today were for the males in the community to become strong, Christian leaders; for provision of jobs and educational opportunities; for the many Christians in the community to connect to each other and shine brightly.  Praise God also for new believers, for spiritual growth in the community, and for fellowship and growth among us here at SMI! We have only just begun to get our feet wet!

Galatians 3:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

‘Song of the Day’ -> Hosanna by Hillsong: watch the music video here!

What do you think are some of the problems to proving holistic, Christian healthcare in an urban, under-served population?

– Kelsey