A question that keeps cropping up in one form or another is ‘what is it that makes Christian Healthcare different’? Is there indeed such a thing as ‘Christian Healthcare’? If there is, what are its distinctives? What makes it stand out from any other type of medicine, or nursing, or dentistry, or physiotherapy etc, etc?

In many ways, medicine and nursing have longstanding Christian roots. Although modern medicine owes its commitment to a scientific, evidence-based approach very much to the Greeks such as Galen, Hypocrites and Aristotle, its ethics have been shaped by Biblical values of personhood, and the value of life. Nursing has stronger Christian roots still – early believers took the sick and vulnerable in to their own homes to care for them. It is not insignificant that in modern English, the words, ‘hospital’ hospice’ and hospitality’ all have the same roots. Indeed the words ‘whole’, ‘healthy’ and ‘holy’ also share a common root.

This notion of care for the vulnerable, especially the sick, the poor, the disabled and the vulnerable, and a concern for physical, social, spiritual and mental well being have lain a the heart of western medicine and nursing for two millennia. That they have become so ingrained in the language that we do not even notice these truths is not surprising. As the Chinese say ‘if you want to know about water, don’t ask a fish’ – we are only too immersed in a culture that takes these things for granted. Secular medicine in the West is still unconsciously informed by these Biblical values, however much modern ethics and some of the more woolly ends of postmodernism are undermining them.

But still the question remains, what is specifically Christian about Christian healthcare if our Western healing systems are so rooted in Christian values? There is no simple answer, but I think looking at the stories in this edition of HealthServe, we can see the answer being worked out – whether it’s a South African Dentist going to Kosovo and treating an abused street girl like a princess; or a doctor working in the slums of South India, whose whole Christ centred philosophy of care is transforming his local community to such an extent that it has given him a voice to the international powers; or whether it’s the simple witness of a Christian hospital in Uganda, where evangelism, healthcare and social care intermingle seamlessly – all speak of something more than ethics and standards. They speak of life transforming power, a Life greater than that of the doctor, nurse or dentist themselves – a Life that transforms not just individuals, not even communities, but the whole of Creation through death and resurrection. It is the Resurrection Life of Christ in the hearts of those who minister that gives a distinctive ‘aroma’ to Christian Healthcare, wherever it is carried out.