The Adventist Doctor in My Congregation

I never knew an Adventist until I met Dr. __________ ." So many times during the past  few years non-Adventist people have made the above statement to me. Then would follow, almost without exception, words of commenda­tion for our doctor, appreciation for his Chris­tian standards, his solicitous attitude toward his patients, and his high standard of practice.

During my years in the ministry I have known many of our CME graduates, some of them as close friends. From this valuable as­sociation I have gained a few solid convictions which, I believe, can help to make you, doctor, a most effectual co-worker with your pastor.

In this article I would also like to extend the term, doctor, to include the physician, the dentist, the optometrist, the osteopath, the homeopath, and the chiropractor who is a Seventh-day Adventist and who might be a member of my congregation.

Your Influence in Your Church

Though not by choice, it yet remains a fact that you are very likely the most prominent member in your congregation. Whether or not you and I like it, we are watched more than are most others in the church. Because of this, doc­tor, you should be a leader in your church, ac­cepting some definite church office, and fully carrying out your responsibility, except, of course, when emergencies make it impossible.

Church Attendance. Doctors are servants of humanity. You justly consider your services as highly important, but you can, I believe, ar­range your program in such a way that you can attend church almost as regularly as do other members. I have watched many busy physicians wrestle with the problem of what to do and what not to do on the Sabbath, how to get to Sabbath school and church service regularly, and how to arrange to be at other functions. Of course the training of your patients is of utmost importance, but I firmly be­lieve that regular church attendance is possible for you, if you set your own mind to be there.

Train your patient only after you have fully made up your own mind and have trained yourself to be a consistent attendant at all church services. You too know that if you ha­bitually miss Sabbath services for minor causes, or because of poor planning, it can become easy to miss for no good reason at all.

Your Attitude on Health Reform. Doctor, you ought to be a strong supporter of every basic Adventist belief, especially of our health message. The pastor can do very little success­ful health evangelism if you are an open antagonist of the health program, or if by in­timation or a personal way of life you under­mine those basic health principles. Let your influence and voice tell in a positive way for our health program or beliefs.

I shall never forget the valiant manner in which one young CAIE graduate stood firmly for those health standards before a gathering of Seventh-day Adventist men. It happened, unfortunately, that an Adventist minister was promoting his belief that an adequate amount of protein could not be secured in a vegetarian diet. This young doctor quickly marshaled suf­ficient facts to refute his claim. I hope that you too will uphold this standard.

The Financial Aspect. The Lord expects, doctor, that you will give liberal and consistent support to the financial needs of your church.

He does not, however, expect you to give out of proportion to others' ability to give, nor that you should carry the financial load while others sit back and fail to do their share. No wise minister will take advantage of the doctor's generosity. I never call on my doctors for even emergency financial assistance without, at the same time, calling on others to do their part.

And I hope that my attitude toward you will show very clearly that you are more important to the church than is your money.

Your Influence in the Community

You, doctor, are frequently the best-known Seventh-day Adventist in your community. What you believe and how you live has a great effect on the many non-Adventists you meet, and tells them what your church stands for. You enter many homes and come close to many people who could not be reached by any other Adventist. Recently, while looking at the belt worn by a CME graduate, I suddenly realized that one way of reading the CME buckle is, "See me." And, doctor, people do just that!

About three years ago Frank Harrell and Dave Peshka, both of whom graduated from CME in 1952, arrived in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to intern at the large Bronson Methodist Hos­pital. They were the first CME men to intern in this part of Michigan. From the beginning these men were loyal to their church and to their school. After they had been at Bronson Hospital for about seven or eight months the assistant director called me aside one day. His conversation ran something like this: "Mr. Wal­lack, your two doctors are fine men. We all respect them for the high level of their Chris­tian standards. And say, they are good doctors too. Not only do they seem more willing to work than do the other interns, but they know better how to do their work in almost all lines."

He then proceeded to compare more fully our two CME men with two graduates of an­other medical school, one of America's best-known schools. He said the doctors who are heads of services in different sections of Bron­son Hospital considered our men to be about equal with the other men in book knowledge, but in the practical aspects of their work, the actual doing of their duties, they were far ahead of the other men. A similar excellent record has since been made at the same institution by two men who have recently completed their in­ternships there—Don Reiner and Leo Holm, both members of the class of '54.

Lifting Public Opinion of the Intellectual Level of Our Church. Let's face an upleasant fact. There are those who consider the Seventh-day Adventist Church to be made up of people whose intellectual level is below average. The conscientious Adventist physician can do more than perhaps any other person in his commu­nity to prove this conclusion false. I am proud of you, doctor, as you live consistently, before your community, the standards and beliefs of your church, as you hold to a high standard in professional ethics. I am more than happy to count you as a member of the congregation as you practice your medicine and your religion up to the standard of the school whose gradu­ate you are. The church can have no person more effective in winning friends in our com­munities than the true medical evangelist.

The Doctor and the Minister Working Together

I have greatly enjoyed being in the company of the CME graduates I have known. I have enjoyed some worth-while recreation with them. I have boated, camped, and played games with them. I believe the doctor and the minister should know each other well and participate together in some good form of recreation. I do not believe, however, that we should be so continually together that the minister fails to have adequate time to be with the other mem­bers of the congregation.

Working Together. I have already stated that I would like to see the doctor in my church accept and carry out some definite church office. And, doctor, when it comes time for a church or school building program, I hope you will get into your work clothes and come along with us, as your time permits, in the doing of some of the actual construction work. Your money will be needed, surely, but when the project is completed, it will be a blessing for you to be able to see some portion of the building your own hands have actually put into place. A few years ago several churches in the neighborhood of Hartford, Michigan, built a beautiful little church school. The pastor there at the time, Ansel Bristol, who led out in much of the work on the building, told me that no man in the area did as much actual work on the building as did a very busy doctor, Adel­bert Stagg.

I hope, doctor, I will always be able to call upon you for advice in church programs and problems.

Of utmost importance to me is the desire to be worthy of your trust and confidence to the extent that you can feel free to call upon me to minister to your patients whom you know would welcome a visit from your pastor. I be­lieve you can trust me and my fellow Adventist ministers to use better tact and judgment than was used by a non-Adventist minister who was asked by a doctor to call on a seriously ill pa­tient who needed spiritual help and encourage­ment. He told the patient of the seriousness of his condition, then concluded, "I believe we should have a special prayer, as the last person I knew who had a condition similar to yours, died."

Willard Howard, CME class of '35, a member of my Kalamazoo church, has called on me a number of times to visit his patients. Several of these very people are now baptized members of our church. Why? Because of the working to­gether of the doctor and his pastor. Frank Harrell, now practicing in Kalamazoo, has called on me to visit several of his patients, one of whom was in the terminal stage of carcinoma. Dr. Harrell and I knelt beside the bed of this patient on the last Sabbath afternoon of her life. Although she was a member of another local church, I was called upon to conduct her funeral service. Why? Because of the family's high regard for their Christian physician, and because he had called upon his pastor to share in giving her much-needed spiritual help and comfort in the last days of her life. Recently I was called to conduct the final rites of one of Dr. Howard's patients who, before he died, had begun to learn a great deal about his doc­tor's faith.

Another phase of mutual blessing for the doc­tor and the pastor is that of inviting each other to the community functions that one or the other has to attend, thus tying together in the eyes of the community the doctor and his church.

I consider association and work with the Christian physician to be one of the greatest privileges I can have as a pastor. As a team, with mutual confidence in each other, we can certainly be used of God to do earth's greatest work—we can win souls.