Economic Development

Clear communication is essential in any effective healthcare environment. Working in another language adds a whole new layer of complexity to the communication process. Learning another language can seem like a daunting task, especially if you had a negative past experience with a foreign language, or it can be viewed as an exciting adventure. This session will focus on practical tips that engage...

“Service is the sign of true love. Those who love know how to serve others. We learn this especially in the family, where we become servants out of love for one another. In the heart of the family, no one is rejected; all have the same value.” – Pope Francis   The money spent for missionary work to cover their costs of a mission trip to fly to Central America to repaint...

Living "incarnationally" (among a culture different from your own), especially among marginalized people (the poor, immigrants, etc.) is a proven way to face your own cultural biases, muster courage, learn greater dependence on the Holy Spirit, and develop meaningful relationships with people very different from yourself. Besides being good for your soul, it's ideal preparation for i...

This session will look at the reality of suffering in this world and how to reorient our hearts and minds to face it well.

About 25 years ago, while sharing an early morning cup of coffee with my dear friend and practice partner, family physician John Hartman, MD, he asked, “Walt, how come we don’t bring our faith to work with us more often?” It was a question the Lord used to convict me of the fact that although my personal relationship with God was the primary and most important relationship in my...

This session will address five common misconceptions about missions that are based on assumptions and conspire to prevent people from exploring their own fit in mission.

Do you participate in short-term medical relief trips? In this session, relief organizations and volunteers (both medical and non-medical) will be challenged to think deeply about the practices they employ in the field and the impact they make on foreign patients/communities. We have high standards for health care in the United States, but there currently exists no standardized way of assessing th...

Short term missions can leave an impact on receiving communities if done well in partnership with hosting churches and ministries.

Through sharing personal experience and case studies, current demographics, trends, treatment and challenges of HIV care will be discussed

Spotlight on fifteen of the world's most un-evangelized people groups.

Sending organizations spend tens of millions of dollars each year sending clinicians and support staff overseas. They invest very little in comparison on the leaders who are essential to preventing their burnout. Competent and compassionate administrative leaders are not only essential for developing and sustaining resilient healthcare and ministry teams; they also shepherd the systems that optimi...

Objective of the session is to inform other Medical Missionaries, other doctors and other Missionaries about Evangelism through caring for people living with HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe.

Sourcing Safe Medicines for Missions

Many times in the missions world, we follow culture by implementing solutions borrowed from others in our same field. But what if we created in such a way that changed our industry? With more than 3.5 billion people living without access to the good news of Jesus, we need to start changing the way we look at solving our challenges. At this session, you will learn a process and tools to bring your...

How can urban health care missions be done in urban settings, especially in government owned facilities? This breakout session seeks to address this questions. Ministry can be done in and through government hospitals and institutions by connecting with healthcare personnel, sharing the gospel and discipling them and bringing them into healthy churches. This breakout session will give some insights...

there are more unreached today than there were last year when we met at GMHC. 21 million more to be precise. We are going backwards in our task to complete the great commission and that is not OK. Meanwhile our traditional missions model has sidelined over 99% of Jesus followers who look at the model and do not see a fit. Yet God has made everyone for His purposes and uniquely talented them to ful...

Why do Christians suffer? What made the Apostle's such effective missionaries? There are almost as many answers and opinions about suffering as there are Christians. To some suffering is just part of living in a fallen world. It is to be avoided if at all possible and, if necessary, to be endured with Jesus’ help until we escape this life and get to heaven. Others may think it is all fro...

Be missional! How do you keep up with the demands of ministry while balancing the needs of family, not to mention your own needs? How do you keep doing more with less? How do you protect yourself from burnout while advocating for the least of these? How do you establish boundaries without neglecting the needs of your community? These are some of the questions Dr. Thomas hopes to explore as he shar...

The ability to prevent and respond to human disasters and the acute needs of displaced persons has now become an essential competency for healthcare personnel. This session addresses the common conflicts surrounding care for complex human emergencies and the principals of both acute relief and of longer-term resettlement. This presentation makes use of interactive role-play and small group exercis...

Long-term impact in health-related missions from a short-term team must consider both long-term and short-term goals and objectives. Perhaps surprisingly, some or many of the long-term impact might not be directly related to healthcare! Understanding the potential long-term goals and objectives requires the short-term team to explore coordinated interaction between communities, local leaders, gove...

"Holistic Health" is a frequently used term in medical missions, but what does it mean? And how do we accomplish it? Drawing on the speaker's experience, case studies will illustrate lessons learned to make holistic health practical and to emulate Jesus, the Great Physician.

The command "fear not" or "be not afraid" occurs more than a hundred times in the Bible, including many times from the mouth of Jesus. The fear of the LORD is healthy, but our Enemy uses fear as a principal weapons to hinder Christian obedience and fruitfulness. Courage is not the absence of fear, but boldness to proceed in obedience despite fear--because of faith in the Person...

Values and assumptions vary widely from culture to culture. This gives rise to potential conflicts and barriers in the communication process. This session looks at those North American Values and Assumptions which can create misunderstandings, damage relationships, and even pose significant danger in the delivery of medical treatment in a cross cultural context.

Community Health Evangelism (CHE) is a breakthrough mission strategy that seamlessly integrates evangelism and discipleship with disease prevention and community-based development. Through these ministries people become followers of Jesus, churches are planted, and entire communities are lifted out of cycles of poverty and disease.

The topic of leadership and conflict management is not typically taught in professional schools but it is present in both group and work environments, including the mission field. In many situations, the medical professional because of their learned status becomes the leader but they do not have the skills to take on this role. This session will provide the participants with some of the skills and...