Sermon Tone Analysis

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*Medical Missions:*

*"Angels of Mercy" *

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Since the time of Christ, the influ­ence of medical work on evangelism has been immense.

Christ's own evangelistic ministry as well as that of his disciples was enhanced by the ministry of healing; and in the cen­turies that followed, Christians con­tinued to be known for their genuine concern for the sick and needy.

During a series of plagues at Alexandria, it was the early Christians who remained to care for the sick and bury the dead after everyone else had fled, thereby increasing the reputation of Chris­tianity as a religion of love and devo­tion.

From the onset of .the

modern missionary period, medical work has been a significant aspect of world evangelism, but it was not until the late nineteenth and early twentieth cen­turies that medical missions became a distinct specialty in its own right.

By 1925, more than two thousand doctors and nurses from America and Europe were serving throughout the world, and mission-run hospitals and clinics were increasing rapidly.

The ministry of missionary medi­cine during the twentieth century has been without a doubt the greatest humanitarian effort the world has ever known, and, more than any other force, it has served to disarm the critics of Christian missions.

How many times medical specialists forsook lu­crative practices and modem facilities in their homelands to work long hours at a feverish pace in utterly primitive conditions.

They devoted their lives to raising health standards around the world, often leading the research in diseases in which most Western doc­tors had little interest, and building hospitals and medical schools from funds they had personally donated or solicited.

Among their credits are some of the finest medical schools and hospitals in the world, the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vel­lore, India, being a prime example.

But despite their good will, medical missionaries had to counter the same obstacles confronting their nonmedi­cal colleagues.

Their work brought them into direct competition with witch doctors and medicine men, and the medical concepts they introduced often clashed with cherished cultural traditions.

At times opposition was fierce.

But aside from outright hostil­ity, the medical missionaries had to contend with superstition, fear, and ignorance, all of which seriously ham­pered their efforts to improve health conditions.

A missionary doctor in Af­rica had to wait eight long years before he treated his first native patient.

In China, medical missionaries faced al­most constant xenophobia; yet, in 1935 well over half of the hospitals in that country were mission-operated facilities.

While it has been medical doctors that have generally received the most acclaim for their service in medical missions, dentists and less trained medical personnel have also made noteworthy contributions to the cause.

Likewise, some missionaries, with virtually no training in medicine, learned by trial and error how to treat diseases, thereby alleviating suffering and death, and always paving the way for an evangelistic ministry.

The first noted medical missionary in the modem period was Dr. John Thomas, who preceded William Carey to India and later worked alongside him.

Though Thomas was emotionally unstable, Carey praised his work, claiming that the "cures wrought by him would have gained any physician or surgeon in Europe the most exten­sive reputation."

Dr. John Scudder was the first American foreign missionary to specialize in medicine and was the patriarch of a whole line of medical missionaries to serve in India and elsewhere in the world.

Other mis­sionaries who were trained in medi­cine, including David Livingstone and Hudson Taylor, merely used medicine as a sideline.

One of the most noted medical missionaries of all times was the famed Albert Schweitzer, a medical doctor, musician, and biblical scholar, whose liberal and highly controversial theological views were widely dis­seminated in his book, /The Quest of the Historical Jesus.

/His career as a medical missionary began in West Af­rica in 1913, where he established a hospital at Lambarene; and there, ex­cept for a period of imprisonment by the French during World War I. he de­voted his life to medical work in Africa.

Although he was a sought-after au­thor, lecturer, and concert organist and could have enjoyed a life of min­gling with the celebrity world, he chose instead to expend his energy on prolonging the life of "the brother for whom Christ died."

Why?

The reason he gave to those he served was the same reason that prompted thou­sands of other medical specialists to help their underprivileged brothers: "It is the Lord Jesus who has told the doctor and his wife to come...."1

Though the field of missionary medicine was dominated in the early years by men, women began entering the field in the late nineteenth cen­tury, and soon their achievements were being heralded all over the world.

Clara Swain, serving under the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church, was the first woman missionary doc­tor from the United States.

She arrived in India in 1870, and within four years she had opened her first hospital.

The first missionary nurse was Miss E. M. McKechnie, who arrived in Shanghai in 1884 and later founded a hospital there.

By the middle of the twentieth century, significant developments in the Third World were making inroads on the traditional role of the medical missionary.

As independence was granted, underdeveloped countries began forging their own medical pro­grams, and the pioneer medical missionary no longer played the in­dispensable role that he once had.

With this political and social change, medical missions has shifted away from pioneer work and has begun concentrating more on preventive medicine, field clinics, hospital work, and medical schools.

Another recent trend in medical missions is the growth in support organizations such as MAP (Medical Assistance Pro­grams), founded in the 1950s and today giving more than ten million dol­lars worth of medical supplies annu­ally to Christian mission hospitals and clinics.

A similar organization begun in Washington State by Ethel Miller sends drug samples and unwanted medical tools to missionary doctors in Africa and Asia and is operated almost entirely by retired volunteer workers.

Wilfred Grenfell

While most medical missionaries in modem history /have /spent their lives in tropical climates fighting against the ravages of /fevers, /leprosy, and other tropical scourges, Wilfred Gren­fell, one of the most highly acclaimed missionary doctors of all times, carried out his ministry on the North Ameri­can continent along the frozen coastline of Labrador.

Though he was a medical doctor and commissioned primarily as a medical missionary, Grenfell branched out into many areas besides medicine.

Medicine alone was not enough in a land where the people were enchained by poverty.

Thus he sought to alleviate their suffering by improving the whole of society, caus­ing some people to charge that he had become sidetracked from his calling as a missionary.

Because of his wide rang­ing activities, his efforts conflicted with the policies of his mission board and other interest groups, and he was frequently the center of heated controversy.

But though his critics were numerous, his popularity only seemed to increase as he wrote and spoke out for the needs of Labrador.

Born near Chester, England, in 1865, Grenfell like his forebears, grew up with a fascination for the sea.

His dreams of seafaring adventure were cut short when his father sent him to prep school and then on to London to study medicine.

Grenfell had been brought up in the Church of England, but to him, religion was a formality that had no personal meaning.

Then in 1885, while completing his medical training in London, he stumbled on a Moody-Sankey revival one evening as he was returning home from a house call.

As he edged his way through the crowd, he realized he was intruding on what seemed to be an endless prayer led by a man on the platform.

As he was turning to leave he heard a commotion on the platform.

It was Moody himself inviting the audience to sing a song "while our brother finishes his prayer."

So amused was Grenfell by the unconventional style of the evangelist that he stayed to the end.

That night he not only heard Moody preach and Sankey sing, but also listened as C. T. and J. E. K. Studd, two of England's greatest cricket players, gave their testimonies.

Gren­fell, a cricket player himself, was deeply moved, and that night he was converted to Christianity.

Following his conversion, Grenfell learned of a mission organization that immediately stirred his interest.

It was the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen.

The mission needed a doctor who was willing to practice aboard a mercy ship commissioned to the North Sea to minister to the rough fishermen both physically and spirit­ually.

Grenfell jumped at the chance, and so began his lifelong career as a medical missionary.

Grenfell's early years with the mis­sion were as adventurous as his child­hood dreams and were rewarding spiritually as well as professionally.

He had found his niche in life and had no thought of ministering elsewhere.

Then in 1892 his travels took him to North America along the rugged coast of Labrador, and suddenly his vision changed.

Here was a people struggling for bare survival, living along the bleak rocky coastline with no hope for a bet­ter life in the present world or the hereafter, and no one seemed to care.

Grenfell was overwhelmed by their physical and spiritual needs, and de­spite objections from his mission board, he was convinced that the rest of his life should be devoted to minis­tering to these long-neglected people.

Grenfell began his work in Labrador serving aboard a mercy ship as he had in the North Sea, but he soon realized that the greatest needs were in the scattered villages where families were entirely without medical services.

To reach these villages, the adventurous doctor navigated his own steam pow­ered launch along the dangerous coastline, "taking risks," according to a biographer, "that would have made a professional sailor die of fright."

He simply trusted God as he "threaded

the launch between islands and a fear­ful collection of submerged rocks ... through fog and ... against the strong winds and heavy seas .... "2 Every­where he went, villagers gladly re­ceived his medical expertise, but de­spite his good will he quickly ran into strong opposition.

One source of opposition was the established Anglican church.

"The Church is dead," wrote Grenfell.

"The Bishop dare not say anything against us, but he is not with us, and told a great friend of mine here that our preaching the Gospel and people being converted was pulling down the work of the Church."3

This attitude persisted despite the fact that the An­glican Church itself seemingly cared little about the destitute families out in the remote villages.

Another source of opposition was the merchants.

Though they recog­nized the impressive medical work Grenfell was conducting in Labrador by building medical centers and serv­ing as a village physician, they deeply resented his interference in the local economy.

Grenfell, in turn, viewed the merchants as the great enemy of the people and was incensed by their exploitation of the vulnerable Lab­radorian fishermen who had no choice but to accept even their most niggardly prices.

Though altogether lacking in business acumen, Grenfell soon became deeply involved in eco­nomic ,endeavors, setting up coopera­tives, transporting pelts to market, im­porting reindeer, establishing lumber mills, and introducing cottage indus­tries.

Such activities drew a barrage of criticism, and Grenfell was accused by many of having come to Labrador, not for religious purposes, but for economic gain.

Such charges were entirely false.

In fact, Grenfell lost vast sums of money in his various efforts to help the people of Labrador, all of which created another source of controversy and criticism-his own mission board.

He had been commissioned as a medical and evangelistic missionary, and the fact that he had become sidetracked in economic ventures was, to the board, very disturbing.

Grenfell was called on to account for his activities, but when he was questioned about such things, he retorted sharply "that these were no concern of the Council."4

Rules, too, seemed not to apply to him.

He did what he thought should be done, then informed, or did not inform, the Council.

The fact that Grenfell had become superintendent of the mission in 1890 may /have /contributed to his free­wheeling attitude, but even more im­portant was his ever-increasing popu­larity, especially in America, where his fame spread quickly.

"Grenfell Societies" sprang up across the United States and Canada, and money poured in, not for the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, the mission to which he belonged, but for his own special projects over which the mis­sion had no control.

The relationship between Grenfell and the Council was a stormy one, and as time passed, Grenfell became more and more inde­pendent, finally separating his work entirely from the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen.

As Grenfell traveled across America presenting the needs of Labrador, he enthralled his audiences, not with polished sermons, but with stories of high adventure.

"Following Christ," he told his listeners, "has given me more fun and adventure than any other kind

 

Winfred Grenfell, missionary doctor to Labrador.

of life."

His life was full of daring exploits, and he urged his supporters to seek the same course: “When two courses are open, follow the most ven­turesome."5

The most hair-raising adventure Grenfell himself ever experienced oc­curred on Easter Sunday in 1908, when he received an urgent call to come and treat a gravely ill youth in a village some sixty miles away.

Grenfell harnessed his dog team and set out for the village in a desperate attempt to reach the young man before he died.

Although he was aware of the dangers accompanying the spring thaw, to save time, Grenfell decided to risk crossing the ice on a bay instead of winding around the rugged shoreline.

It was an unwise decision.

The ice was breaking and shifting, and Grenfell and the dogs suddenly plunged into the icy water.

Though he managed to pull himself onto a large chunk of ice with three of his dogs, it was of little comfort with the wind driving the ice out to sea.

But the struggle for life was intense, and to avoid freezing to death in his wet garments, he killed his three dogs and wrapped himself in their bloody skins.

The following morning, as he lay near death, Grenfell was rescued by men who risked their lives maneuver­ing between the surging ice chunks to save their beloved doctor.

In the years that followed it was this story of cour­age and endurance more than any other that was associated with the fa­mous doctor, and many young men and women, inspired by his heroism, came to serve with him in Labrador.