Source: The Health Connection Newsletter | 4th Quarter 2019
Christmas is upon us, and 2020 is the reality of our planning and schedules. We look back with gratitude that the Lord has faithfully led us to this point, and by His grace, we may look forward with hope and confidence to the opportunities, challenges, joys, and duties of the New Year.
There is so much I could share with you in this year-end message. Many wonderful milestones have been reached in Comprehensive Health Ministry (CHM) around the world. I wish to express my gratitude to our health leaders worldwide for their dedication, commitment, and energy to promote, teach, instruct, implement, and practice grace-filled and balanced health ministry. I wish to highlight one facet of CHM that has featured prominently in 2019 as it relates to our institutions of higher learning.
A new medical school was dedicated on September 2, 2019. This school is situated in the city of Kigali, Rwanda, and forms part of the Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA). President Kagame, guest of honor at the dedication of the state-of-the-art teaching building, commended the Seventh-day Adventist Church for its commitment and dedication to healthcare and to health education and training. He also committed to a partnership in the building of a new University Teaching Hospital for the new school. Please remember this important project in your prayers.
Two schools graduated their first cohorts of newly-minted physicians – in Peru (UPeU), and the Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP). We congratulate these two schools on attaining excellent results measured nationally.
Parents and immediate families of graduates were thoughtfully included. Additionally, it was a privilege to participate in the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Adventist University of River Plate, Argentina in September 2019. This occasion turned into an opportunity to honor teachers, appreciate the alma mater, and rekindle the mission of students and graduates alike with many alumni in attendance.
These are but some of the highlights related to medical education this last year. We should never forget that our medical schools are not mere franchises of medical education. Their raison d’etre is to train true medical missionaries whose focus is to extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ. Adventist Health Ministries cherishes our partnership with Adventist Education as together we collaborate in guiding the founding and sustaining of our excellent medical schools across the globe. Our prayer is that every facet of Comprehensive Health Ministry will be blessed and prospered by God’s Spirit in 2020 – and until Jesus comes.
Our entire team at GC Adventist Health Ministries wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a healthy, blessed New Year. Maranatha!
