The spiritual responsibilities of the Department of Religion of the College of Medical Evangelists must be exercised in several areas. There is the ministry to the patients, made up of about 15,000 admissions a year on both campuses, as well as about 150,000 outpatient admissions; the ministry to the campus churches, the combined membership of which is some 2,500; and of course the ministry to the students. This ministry to the students is of two kinds: ministry to the student's personal growth and the preparation of the student to take that spiritual consciousness into his clinical practice.
The Division of Religion is responsible for instruction in religion and for ministering to the spiritual needs of students in all schools of CME. It leads and directs the college churches on both campuses; is responsible for the religious ministry, through the chaplains and their assistants, at the White Memorial Hospital and the Loma Linda Sanitarium and Hospital; and gives comprehensive counseling service for spiritual and related problems of outpatients. The Division also seeks to bring about progressive understanding between physicians and ministers at clinical conferences with students and patients, which aids in achieving a sound religious-medical ministry, according to the goals for which CME was established.
The staff of the division of Religion includes eleven full-time employees: Arthur L. Bietz, Charles W. Teel, Stanley R. Peterson, Horace E. Walsh, Frank A. Moran, Howard F. Maxson, Dudley C. Newbold, Lavern Peterson, Kenneth Hoover, Jerry Lohrke, and Bernice Mason —eight ordained ministers, one Bible instructor, one ministerial intern, and one secretary. The Division meets monthly, and on occasion semimonthly, for integration of religious work.
The Division offers sixteen courses in religion for students of the various schools, and students are required to take two semester hours in religion each semester throughout their stay at the college. This means two one-hour class sessions are held during each week of the prescribed course of study in any given school in which the student is enrolled.
Since the teaching of religion at CME has a unique import, a curriculum in line with the objectives of the college and the achievement of its goals has been developed over a long period of careful study and prayerful consideration.
CME students are not only utilized in the worship and missionary activity and church offices of the two college churches, but are encouraged to give of their genius of service to surrounding churches in Loma Linda and Los Angeles. CME student influence is widely felt in both the Southeastern and Southern California conferences. Nurses of the senior year conduct church services as a course requirement in Los Angeles, and during the Loma Linda nursing stay, each student is required to give some Bible studies in the homes of interested people.
Reports from the two college churches show the dynamic and aggressive program they are carrying forward. The combined tithe and mission offerings given during the past three years amount to $1,393,397.37. Surely this may be taken as one of the symbols of the spiritual vitality of our people connected with the College of Medical Evangelists. It is a report to cheer the heart of any church leader. We do not wish to imply that we are satisfied with past achievements, but we are greatly encouraged thereby to press forward and accomplish an even greater work for God in the days to come.
We at the College of Medical Evangelists feel with each of you the great responsibility in the task that God has called us to carry out in a rapidly changing world. We sense the great opportunities that lie before us. Let us pray earnestly for one another, that workers might be so trained that God's will to make man whole might be realized even to the rapid finishing of the work and the realization of our hope in God's kingdom.
"To Make Man Whole"—this 50th anniversary motto of the College of Medical Evangelists expresses the purpose that was held in the hearts of the founders of our college, and also expresses the purpose and objectives of our continued existence today under the blessing of God.
