The tires on my Land Cruiser kicked up dust and gravel as
I roared out the iron gates heading to the hospital in our
town in southern Ethiopia. My wife, Clare, saw the commotion at
the gate.
“What was that all about?” she asked me later that day.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, you are usually calm and collected. Are you mad?
Frustrated? Is there something going on at work?” she replied.
My frustration was obvious to her but not to me. God used
her comments to begin to stir my awareness. I was experiencing
disappointment in ministry and a critical spirit. I felt all I was doing
was just a drop in the ocean. My medical and mission training had
not prepared me for the challenges I was facing. I was thrilled to be
serving the Lord using medicine but felt overwhelmed and undervalued.
I was not fun to be with.
From this beginning in Ethiopia, I discovered that the source
of my frustration was not in my circumstances or performance, but
in an unlikely place—myself! I struggled with unmet expectations.
My ambitions were unrealistic. Although I didn’t want to admit it
at the time, I was angry that the changes needed were too daunting.
I was frustrated with the work, the politics, and the culture. I wondered
if the Lord had led us to the right place.
Our first overseas placement was in Ethiopia with SIM, a
church-planting mission. The mid-1980s found my wife and me
in Addis Ababa, green missionaries embarking on a year of formal
Amharic language study before moving “down country” to
the southernmost province bordering Kenya. In Arba Minch, the
provincial capital, we hoped to come alongside our SIM-related
churches, just emerging from a decade of communist oppression
during which many believers had been imprisoned.
The local communist governor decreed we would not be permitted
as foreigners to attend church services (it was hard to explain to
the supporters at home that we didn’t attend church on Sundays!).
We were, however, allowed to meet for discipleship and prayer in
our own home with local believers.
As an internist and epidemiologist, my official work permit was
to provide support for the local Ministry of Health staff and practice
clinical medicine in the local mission hospital. Unofficially, the
mission understood I would work with local churches to address
basic health needs in the community, such as better nutrition,
sanitation, and the treatment of simple problems. I was eager to see
the church grow strong and be salt and light in its own community....
Please continue reading Chapter 1 of Healthcare and the Mission of God here.
