Medical missionary

Medical missions is the term used for (typically) Christian missionary endeavors that involve the administration of medical treatment. As has been common among missionary efforts from the 18th to 20th centuries, medical missions often involves residents of the “Western world” traveling to locales within Asia, Africa, or Latin America.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ repeatedly calls for his disciples to heal the sick and serve the poor, but also for them to “make disciples of all nations.” In striving to obey such commands, Western Christians have debated the nature of proper evangelism, often emphasizing either eschatological, or material realities within missionary efforts. Much of Euro-American Protestantism has emphasized Jesus’ eschatological and soteriological statements in developing theologies that emphasize personal salvation over the provision of material needs. The origins of medical missions are found in a sort of fusion of these two perspectives.

In the 1830s an American missionary to China named E.C. Bridgman noticed that Western medicine was more effective at removing eye cataracts than Chinese medicine. At his request, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent Dr. Peter Parker to China in 1834 as the first Protestant medical missionary. Western medicine provided a means by which Parker could gain access to parts of Chinese society that were otherwise closed off to missionaries. More American doctors followed suit and, in 1838, founded the world’s first society for medical missions: the Medical Missionary Society of China. In 1841 Parker visited Edinburgh, UK and appealed to a number of the city’s leading doctors. His presentation resulted in the establishment of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society which was the first medical mission society in Europe.

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Wikipedia