Spiritual Engagement, Religion and Health in the Africa Context
The Problem:
Mission Hospitals have been at the forefront of delivering modern health care (the science of medicine) and building capacity for Africa’s healthcare workforce (teaching modern health care practice) for more than a century. The impetus for bringing modern scientific healthcare techniques to the continent were framed within the call of Christ to (1) spread the gospel Matthew: 28 and (2) love our neighbor Matthew: 22.
As advances in the science of medicine brought new techniques to reduce human physical suffering and reduce disease burden with medicines such as antibiotics, analgesia, and vaccines, many mission hospitals moved beyond the direct care delivery to become teaching centers. Many mission hospitals consider teaching and training as essential to building up the healthcare workforce in Africa as well as a vehicle for growing healthcare workers capacity. This includes being competent in both assessing and responding to a patient’s physical needs but also in assessing and responding to the spiritual needs of patients.
There are few data available describing spiritual care needs of patients or spiritual wellbeing of health care workers in Africa. The data that are available have been obtained using tools developed in the west and based on western assumptions. Modern medicine functions within a scientific framework, one which eschews all that which is not physical.
Why has this been the case?
Modern medicine focuses on the science-“where the answers” are and marginalizes anything religious or spiritual. In doing so modern medicine epitomizes the fact/value split present in western thought since the Enlightenment. This dualistic perspective colors the assumptions about what causes both health and disease.
In contrast to the West, Africa has a fundamentally religious world view. These contrasting world view perspectives have profound implications for one’s understanding of spiritual care as well as health and human flourishing.
What questions should we ask to better understand the scope of our patients’ spiritual needs? As a mission hospital Kijabe knows that holistic care includes spiritual issues. We care about presenting the gospel. Yet the front face of medicine is primarily focused on science and technique. We know we are not effectively building our trainees and staff to engage on spiritual concerns.
WE HAVE A BIG TIME OPPORTUNITY. We are proposing a first step in a larger journey-convening a think tank to ask good questions, to see how we can engage in a better way for the cause of sharing the gospel.
We are holding a conference Oct. 31 – Nov. 1 at Kijabe Hospital to bring together some key thought leaders 20 physicians, chaplains, and theologians to help frame better questions in order to get better answers for Africa.
We would like to invite interested organizations and individuals to help us make this a reality.
Our budget is $9,300 USD.
Would you please consider how you might financially partner with us to support this conference?
Donations can be sent to Friends of Kijabe-Medical Education and Research. Please include note “Faith and Medicine Conference 2024” at checkout.
In Christ,
The Faith and Medicine Planning Committee
Mary B. Adam, Ansley Kynes, Mathew Kynes, Faith Leili, Muthoni Magayu, Rev Geofrey Ndivo, Rev John Njoroge, Rev Joshua Owino, Mfanelo Sobekwa
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