The educational center for the developing of leaders in the health and medical work of the church had as its objectives in the early 1900's the following:
1. To train gospel medical missionary workers.
2. To teach health reform.
3. To reform the practice of physicians of the world.
4. To be known for treatment without the use of drugs.
5. To operate sanitariums.
Are these objectives outdated owing to our changing circumstances? No. They are more relevant today than they were when first given, because of the changing conditions that have occurred throughout the last seventy to one hundred years. For example, the chronic disease problem having replaced infectious or acute communicable diseases as the major health problem, a change in health habits or life-style has become the preferred method of treatment.
The basic operational cell of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination is the local church. Since we have many more local churches than hospitals, the operation of the health work should logically be centered in the local church. The church not only has a facility with which to work but, more important, has the people or hands to do the work. The pastor, of course, needs to be oriented in health work in order to make the pro gram successful. Whatever is promoted from the pulpit has a much greater chance of success than that which is not promoted. Some pastors are now getting such training in the revised theological curriculum; others can secure it through a variety of continuing-education pro grams.
Each church, by General Conference action, is to have an evangelism council. This council should include all of those who are actively interested in health evangelism. One of their goals is to meet the objectives of the health and medical work of the church as originally out lined for us in the early 1900's.
On-the-job Church Training
The church should then train its members in health evangelism. Too often these training programs have failed, primarily owing to the fact that they were operated like schools, re moved from the practical aspect of the work. The training should be on-the-job type, where people get experience, with a little theory on the side.
Programs should be started on a routine basis. The Five-Day Stop Smoking Plan is much more effective if done routinely on a quarterly basis than on a hit-and-miss basis once a year. Pro grams should be of a modular nature, in which people can come to the one that particularly interests them, and from this point they catch a view of other things that they need to know and soon join in other programs.
Remember that it takes more than programs to interest people in our church. I have often told my students that nutrition-education lesson Number One is entitled "It's not what's on the table, but what's on the chair!" Too often we get so busy waiting upon tables we don't take time to serve people. We are so inclined to be busy running a smooth program that we don't have time for the people in the program. Each program should be planned in such a way as to have time for conversation with individual participants. If the mind of the person sitting on the chair is changed, the food on the table will take care of itself. In other words, the goal of a nutrition-education program has to do with the person more than with the food itself.
There are a variety of programs that might be used, such as Heartbeat, Five- Day Plans, weight control, dietary con trol of heart disease, cooking schools, home-health-aid programs, vegetarian fare, stress control, blood pressure screening, cancer prevention, and phys ical fitness. Begin with one of these, and do it well before adding the next one.
Cooking schools are among the easiest to start. In teaching the right principles, samples will not be served between meals. Plan for non-Adventist members to sample the various foods demonstrated at a buffet at a church member's home. A personal friendship must develop between the church members and those not of our faith. Develop a standard four-night cooking school, teaching the major principles. Too much time has been wasted in the cooking processes at these sessions. Many know how to mix, dump, and stir and have been doing it for years, but few know the reasons for what they are doing. In two-hour sessions half could be discussion of the principles and half demonstration. Much can be exhibited with a handout of recipes, while only the unusual needs to be mixed in front of the audience. Church members can easily participate in these cooking schools.
Handouts of a professional nature should be used at all of these programs. The written word may, in the long run, have a much greater influence than what is heard but often forgotten in health-education programs.
Gradually increased involvement of the church members is to be expected in these programs. They therefore need to be trained in how to contact those not of our faith. This training must of necessity be of the experiential type. Persons invited into our homes to learn how to bake granola without sugar or honey will frequently discuss every subject known to man while the granola is baking—including religion. From this point it is not difficult to invite such persons to Bible studies that ultimately lead to their becoming church members.
