You are a Christian health professional. You belong to a church where you enjoy the worship, teaching and friendship of the other Christians. You love Jesus and recognise he has changed your life. But you feel there is something more that you should be doing with your life and with your training. Perhaps you have never really put your faith to the test. You have never been in a situation where you have had to say "no one can help me in this except the Lord" and you have not had the encouragement to your faith that comes when he does help you. If that is how you feel then this may be written for you.

What is your church there for? It is there for mission. All the other activities of your church are to support its members in their mission. The mission may be local -but for you with your healthcare training the vision could be global. We have all read global health or disease statistics. Disasters are reported from time to time on television but it is difficult to separate in our minds fact from fiction. There have never been so many hurting people in this world unable to do for themselves what you could do for them or what you could enable them to start doing -for themselves. Poverty and diseases such as malaria, TB and AIDS can be overwhelming and require preparation and protection for yourself as well as those to whom you could go. How can you get to them in Christ's name?

You could go with a traditional mission society. You could start reading their magazines or visiting their websites, going to their conferences, joining in prayer groups and reading the exciting biographies of missionaries of previous days. These are all things all Christians in our country should be doing whatever else we do with our lives. A mission society may give you much help in preparation. Or it may make demands on you such as or bible-college training that you may not feel are right for you at present.

You have grown up as a bible reading, praying Christian. You have spent perhaps many years on your training, especially if you are a doctor, and this has already given you some cross cultural insights. You want to see if overseas healthcare in a Christian mission context is a real option before you commit yourself for longer-term service.

Short-term mission is one way of testing whether overseas mission is for you. You probably need to go for one to two years to find out how you will adapt to the cultural and other changes in lifestyle, language and environment. Such a period need not seriously compromise your career prospects in the UK should you decide to return. Many Christian healthcare students will have spent an elective period of several weeks or months overseas as a part of their professional training. Short-term mission may be the next step of faith. Even if you do decide to return home the experience will have changed your life and you may feel you want to support others who have settled for longer terms of overseas service.

Others may be looking for a career change with more opportunity to work in Christ's name or looking for a new role early in retirement. Older people receive more respect in more traditional countries, but for all there will be problems:

• Inexperience may lead them into problems a more experienced person could have avoided. For all, old or young, it is wise, if not essential, to work in a mentor situation under the guidance of a long termer. This especially applies in situations where some surgery and practical obstetrics are part of the job.
• Older people may find they do not have the stamina for much night work on top of busy days and should make this clear before they go.
• The requirements and documentation needed for registration and work permits may take up to a year to obtain.
• Governments of host countries are understandably concerned that healthcare should be regulated so that only adequately trained professionals are registered. This is commendable. But the requirements that UK decides are needed for accreditation in the UK may also come to be seen as appropriate in situations where rather different skills are needed. As the rich/poor gap increases there may be greater difficulty in being registered to practise in two differing situations.
• For nurses and therapists council registration may not be such a problem but a work permit may be difficult to obtain without further specialist qualifications. Governments are concerned that no expatriate should receive a permit to work in a situation where a national could be working. Mission-partners may go to areas where national Christians do not feel able to go. They may also have financial support from home that is not available to a national.
• Funding has to be found before you go. Most Christian mission is voluntary in the sense that no salary is paid and travel, living expenses and other expenses have to be found either from the volunteer's own resources or from supporters among church and friends.

Does this put you off? It is frustrating when there are so many needy people in the world and the obstacles to reaching them seem to be increasing. But the obstacles are not so bad as the early days of mission to West Africa when life expectancy for those who went was measured in months rather than years. The simple fact is that if God wants you to go and you act willing to go, you will go.

So how do you act willing? This may require some creative thinking and risk taking as in the early days of medical mission.

• You need a letter of invitation from the institution or project that you plan to join. It is essential that you know the people who are inviting you either personally or through third parties known to both of you. Some invitations have hidden agendas. Some have not been well thought through. Others are doorways to experiences you will never regret. If you are not sure it may be wise to set aside a holiday to visit the hosts. But if you intend to practise when you arrive you need to find out about registration and work permits before you go.
• If you are going short term you may go as a mission society associate
• You may be recruited direct by a Christian hospital in the host country . Such hospitals may have no mission office representing them in this country or may be represented by a small group of supporters organised as the Friends of this hospital
• You may be sent directly from your church to a partner church overseas. MMA HealthServe receives requests from pastors and bishops in countries where HIV infection is common each requesting a doctor or nurse to help care for the sick and free him to continue with his teaching ministry.
• Or you may decide to go though some secular agency or be recruited by the government or by a medical school in the host country. You may join the local church on arrival having found out first what form of church exists. There are also Tentmaker organisations who can link you with other Christians both expatriate and national around the world.
• There are opportunities to go on very short mission visits of a few weeks. This could develop into regular holiday visits to the same hospital or project with partnership and mutual support continuing by email throughout the year. Some organisations plan visits to share specific skills or provide a specific service, e.g. PRIME, MSI Professional Services, Jian Hua Foundation and In His Image.
  
  

  for more details see:  Opportunities Overseas

  HealthServe Pages

Conclusion
These kinds of opportunities may be pioneering new ways for healthcare mission. They may require careful and prayerful research. The areas to explore are:

• at home you need a healthcare background and church, or other Christians who can pray with you, advise you and keep up your support when you are away. Perhaps you should go with a partner or have one you know waiting there for you.
• in the host country be as sure as humanly possible that your mission is a genuine partnership that has been well and prayerfully thought out.
• in your own heart and mind that you are going in response to the Lords command. You will have doubts at times. This is part of the walk of faith. If you go in Christ's name you are involved in spiritual warfare. Your relationship with your Lord must be one where humbly you say you go in your weakness and His strength. The honour and glory of his name is your protection and your reward whatever the world does to you.