Christian mission hospitals should be God’s institutions of healing in a world of suffering. They have the potential to ‘close the gap’ in access to healthcare and provide high quality accessible services in the most remote and needy parts of the world to those who need them the most – the poor and marginalized.
In 1993, my wife Ann and me moved to a remote part of Assam in northeast India. We were led by verses in the Bible (Jeremiah 29:11-13 for me and Isaiah 6:8 for Ann) to what God wanted us to do with our lives. Over the following 27 years, God took us by our hands and provided us with all the encouragement, strength and wisdom required to transform a closed-down hospital to a thriving institution bringing healing and transformation to many surrounding communities. (1) We were not alone, God brought many committed staff to join us over the years to make this possible.
I was privileged to be invited to speak at six sessions on “Medical Missions” at the (virtual) South Asian regional conference of the International Christian Medical and Dental Association in November 2020. I am not an expert on medical missions but spoke from our experience in walking with God and witnessing a great transformation take place in our hospital.
The video (link below) starts with a few comments on questions raised by participants in the previous day’s session (this can be skipped by starting the video at 04.30). The first comment is on cost vs benefit of different healthcare interventions. I have explained the expenditure against population covered using 3 slides – maybe difficult to understand without the background discussion! This is followed by a few points on Christian private practice and marriage before the talk on leadership and human resource management.
In this third session, we will look at leadership in mission hospitals – please skip to 04.30 on the video. In this talk, I have spoken about ‘Title’ and ‘Towel’ leaders, management/governance structure, suggestions for recruitment and retention of staff and succession planning.
I have made a few references in the session – on marriage (2), online course on governance in health (3)
- https://the-sparrowsnest.net/2020/09/30/a-journey-of-faith/
- https://the-sparrowsnest.net/2012/05/22/wisely-choosing-a-life-partner-for-an-aspiring-medical-missionary/
- https://www.globalhealthlearning.org/course/governance-and-health-101
In the question and answer session at the end, only the answers have been put into the video. The questions were:
- Should I consider Government service or a corporate hospital as a place of work if God is calling me there?
- How important is Quiet Time?
- Who were your mentors?
- What is the place of Urban Medical Missions?
The Sparrow's Nest 
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