Patients at the clinic in Papau New Guinea all here a one-on-one gospel presentation
Papua New Guinea —
We often laugh about the fact that we are not really in Papua New Guinea to give medical care. We simply use physical needs to reach out to the ultimate need of our Papua New Guinea people...their spiritual need.
Challenged with the concept of medical evangelism while on a missions trip to Togo, West Africa West, Africa in 1984, God us with the idea of medical evangelism and gave us the vision for our clinic, which started opened in 1990. We often laugh about the truth that we are not really there to give medical care. We use medical needs to reach out to the ultimate needs of our people...their spiritual needs.
God has blessed us in amazing ways. We offer free, loving medical care, but more importantly, each person treated patient has a one-on-one Gospel presentation.
How has God used our clinic? Only eternity will truly tell the story. But He has given us plenty of these are just a few blessings along the way.
Baby Lorna, a failure-to-thrive newborn with a congenital heart defect, came into our lives two years ago. She was too weak to breast feed and too sickly to survive the harsh environment of her village home. Her overwhelmed parents came to our clinic and were desperate for help.
We took Lorna into our home, as we have done with many other struggling babies many times before, but this time was different. Ministering with her family in our home and caring for Lorna had a Divinely appointed purpose not really clear at the beginning of the drama of her life.
In our home, Lorna began to thrive and grow. We loved her and her dear family. What we did not fully see was the impact our ministry with them was having on her village—one that we as missionaries had tried to reach into for decades.
They were watching. As with any sickly baby, there were long nights of struggle for her. The people knew her care was not simple and yet we continued to minister to the sick at our clinic during the day and then care for baby Lorna all night. They brought food and fruit to sustain my health. (If I got sick their care would suffer, so it may have been a bit selfish in motive but appreciated nonetheless).
One man from the village, Soga, came to our clinic and watched God’s love in action toward this family. But Soga came with a very serious problem—he had advanced liver cancer. We could not offer him much besides pain medicine and palliative care, but we did have a gift he desperately needed—hope for his soon-to-face eternity! Soga accepted God's free gift of salvation, along with our love.
As more of the people from this village of Kokinaga watched, came to the clinic and saw God's love in action. God began to move in their hearts. More people were saved, and a Bible study began, originating at Soga's his own home. One of our clinic evangelist's mom was from that village, so despite the fact that he was a tribal enemy from his dad's side, they accepted Pastor Ipa and a small church ministry was begun.
Just a short while later, Baby Lorna's medical situation become an untreatable case in Papua New Guinea. She died in Lori's arms at just over nine months of age. While the grief was agonizing for us and her family, but we were able to share the love and loss, crying and grieving together. We shared a heart, and they began to see God's love for them in our lives as well. They saw our actions, and then they listened to our words as we shared the gospel.
Compassionate medical evangelism, a real key to reaching a hurting nation, was not started by ABWE. Our original picture comes from the earthly ministry of Christ Himself. May we follow closely in His Christ’s steps and continue on with living out the Gospel openly, that our people may truly hear our words when we testify for Christ.
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