The Auburn church in Auburn, Maine, hosted a three-day event, January 19-21, that focused on teaching the basics of health evangelism to the health ministries leaders and their respective teams from around the Northern New England Conference (NNEC). One goal was to equip these leadership teams to take what they learned to their local churches and mentor others, make more leaders, hold their own outreach programs, and encourage their congregations to do the practical things involved in true medical missionary work.
More than 100 participants of all ages were presented with the idea that medical missionary work is much more than wearing a stethoscope around one’s neck and helping people reverse diabetes. Actual medical missionary work is the gospel in practice! Some serve as medical missionaries when they help their neighbors get groceries or when they visit them in a time of distress. Others are medical missionaries when they work at health expos, teach cooking classes, provide mental health services, teach the Bible, or disseminate literature. Yet still, others are medical missionaries when they open their homes to friends and strangers alike to encourage them, prepare a healthy meal and eat with them, or offer them a safe place to sleep for the night—a generous package that may include family worship in the evening.
Presenters for the weekend included Zach Mazone, A.J. and Sydney Norzow, Josiah Wannemacher, Jackie Howard, and Judit Magdaleno. Even with six presenters, it was evident that the Holy Spirit was on the move. As the weekend progressed, a common theme emerged among them: the importance of having a personal experience with God and the daily need to be filled by the Holy Spirit to love and serve others. Sydney Norzow, Auburn church Health Ministries leader and primary organizer of the weekend, stated, “The way that we live our lives, the way we speak, the way we care for our bodies, the way we care for others, and the way we carry ourselves can have a far greater influence than any words that may come out of our mouths.”
Mazone, NNEC Health Ministries director, agreed and added, “Our health message and why the world needs it is because we realize that righteousness by faith—the notion that God’s going to do it in you—and the capacity to receive His gift of temperance so that we can change, is freedom. It is going to be what really finishes the work. The world has desperately tried to grab hold of everything else and do everything in its own strength, moving more and more away from temperance and trust in God. These two Ts—temperance and trust in God—are what makes the difference, and we get the privilege of sharing with others this abundant life that God has given us.”
Other events are scheduled this year around the conference, including health expos, mental health programs and workshops, practical intensives that teach how to host events and programs to reach the community, and more. The NNEC Health Ministries team asks for your prayers as they continue to be about their Father’s business.
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Health Ministries team, Northern New England Conference
