Evangelism or Medicine?

A good friend gave me the link to this blog: Word and Deed --a group of 3 families on their way to medical missions in Africa. One of their posts asks a question I've been asked several times,

"Are you first a missionary and second a [midwife], or is it the other way around?" In other words, "Is proselytizing (a.k.a. evangelizing) or medicine your primary goal?"

Should you combine the two? How do you find a healthy balance between medicine and evangelism? The writers state,

"For many years, Christians have chosen between the categories of Word and Deed. One group chose to spread the message of Jesus, and the other to do the works he commanded. But these are inseparable. The Gospel (which simply means "good news") is to be in Word and Deed. The good news is that Jesus is your salvation for all of time and that His kingdom is bringing you medical care here and now. Word without Deed would be an incomplete Gospel. Deed without Word would also."

Healing and witnessing go hand in hand; you cannot separate the two. People know us as Christians by our deeds and actions. One of the ways Jesus reached out to others was through acts of service. If you can reach out in physical ways that people can recognize and appreciate, you can open doors to evangelism that wouldn't otherwise be opened. Jesus was our example of service. He came to serve us, and we need to serve others. This doesn't mean medicine is the only way to reach out to others (there are many acts of service)--medicine is just one of the things that can be used as a tool for evangelism.

At last year's commencement speech, Matt McNeil, one of our directors, said:

"God affords a midwife the opportunity to preserve life. They are given the power to help turn a possibly negative experience into a positive one. They instruct novices, educate the disadvantaged and gain respect in the community. By ‘missiologically’ I mean that midwives have the ability to transcend all religious, cultural and political barriers to the Gospel message."

There needs to be a balance between medicine and evangelism:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

James 2:14-18
So, evangelism or medicine? I say, evangelism and medicine.