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Call for Gospel Medical Missionaries
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I have been instructed that little companies who have received a
suitable training in evangelical and medical missionary lines should
go forth to do the work to which Christ appointed His disciples.
Let them labor as evangelists, scattering our publications, talking
of the truth to those they meet, praying for the sick, and, if need
be, treating them, not with drugs, but with nature’s remedies, ever
realizing their dependence on God. As they unite in the work of
teaching and healing they will reap a rich harvest of souls.
And while God is calling upon young men and women who have
already gained a practical knowledge of how to treat the sick, to
labor as gospel medical missionaries in connection with experienced
evangelical workers, He is also calling for many recruits to enter our
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medical missionary training schools to gain a speedy and thorough
preparation for service. Some need not spend so long a time in these
schools as do others. It is not in harmony with God’s purpose that
all should plan to spend exactly the same length of time, whether
three, four, or five years, in preparation, before beginning to engage
in active field work. Some, after studying for a time, can develop
more rapidly by working along practical lines in different places,
under the supervision of experienced leaders, than they could by
remaining in an institution. As they advance in knowledge and
ability, some of these will find it much to their advantage to return
to one of our sanitarium training schools for more instruction. Thus
they will become efficient medical missionaries, prepared for trying
emergencies.
Much may be learned by visiting the hospitals. In these hospitals
not a few of our consecrated young people should be learning to
be successful medical missionaries. Observation, and the practice
of that which has been learned, will enable our youth to become
efficient nurses, with superior skill, fitted to stand upon the highest
eminence. Every physician, every nurse, every helper, who has any-
thing to do in God’s service, must aim at perfection. Nothing short
of this standard is pleasing to Him who has called us to be colaborers
with Him. And especially should those who are in training to act
as His medical missionaries turn resolutely from every temptation
to be satisfied with a superficial knowledge of their profession. Let
them rather reach upward to perfection. Theirs is a most exacting
calling, and their preparation must be painstaking and thorough.
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