Serving in mission through health and medical ministry provides a unique opportunity to share the love of Christ. Many churches have been planted as a result of SIM’s care for the suffering. And God has used medicine to open countless doors for the Gospel.

Although we’re not known solely as a medical mission, SIM has a significant number of hospitals, medical clinics, and other health ministries all over the world. Currently our missionaries work in 12 clinics and 21 hospitals. About half of these hospitals are SIM’s. Others are partnerships with either government or church-run hospitals. There is a great deal of non-institutional work going on as well, such that we are doing medical work in 28 countries in total. Some of these countries have more than one institution.

We have 154 full-time medical personnel on the field today. In addition, more than 60 medically-trained missionaries are not currently practicing, but are involved instead in administration, teaching, church planting or other ministries. There is no doubt that SIM’s health and medical ministries are making a huge impact on the communities where we serve.

Our medical outreach began when Dr Andrew Stirrett, known as the Bature Mai Magani, (white doctor), arrived in Nigeria in 1902. As well as serving as a doctor, Stirrett preached in the market and contributed to the translation of the Hausa Bible. His deep concern for the Hausa-speaking people of northern Nigeria, earned him the title, “Apostle to the Hausa of West Africa.”

From the earliest days it was apparent to SIM workers that the medical and physical needs of those we wished to serve were not being met. The biggest push into medical work in SIM came during the 1950s and 1960s. From East Africa, in Ethiopia, where our medical work eventually grew to six hospitals and numerous clinics, and to the west, in Liberia where the high quality of medical care by SIM doctors and staff was widely recognized.

This was a time of explosive growth in medical ministry for SIM, whose members shared a vision and deeply held conviction that ministry to the whole person is at the heart of the work of God in the world.

SIM’s holistic approach to medical ministry–offering hope in Christ and help for physical needs–continues today. Our medical personnel work alongside church-planting teams, in mission/church hospitals, as tentmakers in government institutions and in HIV and AIDS ministries. And we are seeking more medical professionals to serve all over the world.

*Note: This article was originally published in Serving In Mission Together, issue 127.