In human terms, 125 years is a long time - considerably more than the span allotted to man to live on this earth. But in the context of eternity, as Moses put it: "even a thousand years is like a day just gone" (Psalm 90).

These twin perspectives we hold in tension as we look back with gratitude to what God has accomplished through MMA HealthServe over a century and a quarter, then consider with a humbling sense of our own impotence that the need to bring saving health to the nations is now greater than ever.

The five doctors who met to found the Medical Missionary Association in London on 2nd March 1878, conscious of the desperate plight of many at home and overseas who were without healthcare and without Christ, could barely have foreseen the life-changing developments in medicine which have taken place in the past century. Yet the successes of vaccination and immunisation programmes, staggering advances in surgery, anaesthetics, diagnostic techniques and therapeutic drugs, and the widespread knowledge of diseases and their causes have failed to make an impact on a large part of this fallen world where, each year, around 12 million children die before the age of five from preventable illnesses and where a mainly sexually transmitted disease kills over 6,000 people a day.

The world in the twenty-first century is a very different world to that experienced by the founders of MMA and, in some respects, the needs are very different too. Yet as the former President of MMA, Dr Clement Clapton Chesterman wrote on our centenary in 1978, the "continuing task of MMA is to make it possible for people to believe that God is love by the sharing, caring, curing and preventive work undertaken by Christian healthcare professionals". And just as in previous generations this involved making sacrifices, so it continues today.

At the end of 2002, three American healthcare professionals working at Jibla Hospital in Yemen paid the price for their collective 65 years of service providing free healthcare to the local Muslim population when they were shot dead by an Islamic extremist who claimed to resent the influence of Christians in his community. One of the doctors, Martha Myers, had first visited Jibla as a medical student on an elective and had since returned and worked at the hospital for 24 years.

Earlier in the year, nurses working in a mission hospital in Pakistan were attacked by terrorists. The mission hospitals at Nyankunde and Lwamba in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo have both been at the centre of some of the worst fighting in recent months and have suffered much destruction and deprivation. The Nazareth Hospital in Northern Israel, about which we heard such graphic tales from their Chief Executive at our Healthcare Mission Forum, has been at the epicentre of conflict between Arabs and Israelis for months but still provides a shining testimony to the love of Christ through the care offered to all comers, regardless of race or religion.

And these are just a few snapshots amongst the many stories we hear about, often through our elective students returning from the mission field after a brief encounter with the needs of an impoverished community in a developing country.

So just as the world around us is changing, the Medical Missionary Association is embracing change. The establishment of our HealthServe Resource Centre three years ago following two ground-breaking medical mission summits is finding new ways to fulfil the old vision of mobilising Christian healthcare professionals to serve Christ and His Church in developing countries. Apart from our HealthServe magazine, which now carries the largest ever selection of opportunities for overseas service with different agencies, the HealthServe web site at www.healthserve.org is constantly being expanded and updated as a reliable source of information for those looking to serve Christ overseas.

By the end of this year, we are aiming to have enabled 125 students to undertake elective placements at Christian hospitals overseas and perhaps later to take up full-time posts, like Dr Myers and many others before her. Work continues on developing a CD of lectures and talks based on those given at the Annual Refresher Course, which will be made available for those working in situations where access to information and healthcare literature is very difficult. Then there is our Prayer Diary, which, amongst other things, gives valuable up-to-date information to all our supporters about the students who have received elective grants and are now working overseas.

The Healthcare Mission Forum held at the end of November, organised jointly by HealthServe and Global Connections and attended by over 60 representatives from mission agencies, raised some interesting responses to the changing needs of the people we are seeking to serve through the work of Christian hospitals. Contributions from missionaries working in Nepal, India, Israel, Uganda and Tanzania challenged our traditional ways of thinking about healthcare mission and the keynote lecture from Emmanuel Hospitals Association in India set the tone for making ourselves open to new ways of working to make a significant impact on the communities we want to serve.

Some of the challenges make for uncomfortable conclusions about the role of Western-based agencies such as MMA HealthServe and many UK agencies are grappling with the symptoms of declining revenues from home supporters and fewer candidates putting themselves forward for long-term overseas service. MMA HealthServe is keen to respond in a way that recognises our limitations and our heritage. We don’t believe that just because we have reached our 125th anniversary we can automatically look forward to another 125 years of continued service. Times are changing but our God is unchanging. We look to Him for guidance as to the best way forward, seeking to maintain our distinctive focus on multi-disciplinary healthcare mission but willing to consider closer collaborations, partnerships or even mergers with like-minded organisations.

Whatever the future holds, we have a great God who knows the end from the beginning. We thank those who honour God through their service for MMA HealthServe, including our superb office team and our diligent council members, not forgetting our army of faithful supporters in prayer, finance and words of encouragement who may not always agree with what we do but are equally committed to the vision of making Christ known to the harassed and helpless and showing His compassion to a needy world.

Howard Lyons
Chairman
MMA HealthServe
January 2003