Content Resources

More than half of the Middle East population, 54% are under the age of 25 including 90 million adolescents (10-19 years of age). The growth spurt challenges of the second decade of life is mounted with early sexual debut and early marriages. Consequent unintended pregnancies and child birth, the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS threaten the fragile adolescent still under physical and psychological development. Pervasive conflict and displacement in the region overwhelm prevailing adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) issues and unmet needs.National health systems and the private sector do not typically recognize nor address sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of young people, especially unmarried adolescents. Health care providers do not recognize nor address health risks and needs of adolescents. Evidence show that adolescent health services -if exist- are fragmented and poorly coordinated. Inherent social norms, attitudes, taboos around sexual health and discriminating gender differences hinder adolescents’ SRH health literacy and access to quality services. What should the health sector do to transform the current approach that ignores ASRH issues? How do we respond to the urgent unmet SRH needs of the 90 million adolescents living in the Middle East?

There are over 50 million disabled people in Africa. 18-20% would likely improve with some surgical care. Africa has insufficient surgical expertise to provide for this need, and will likely not have sufficient sub specialists for 50-100 years. An alternate form of limited training is needed both for the surgical and the support needs of the disabled. Care for the disabled opens spiritual doors for both the child and the parents. It may also open doors into traditionally "closed" countries.

This session will share answers on how to select a missions agency. Each person who attends will receive a 3 x 5 card when they enter the room. The moderator John McVay will group and select questions, direct them to appropriate panelists, and receive questions from the floor. Probable topics discussed from questions expected are: agency focus, doctrine, finances, services, leadership, locations, compatibility.   About the moderator:  John McVay is a missions mobilizer who organizes and moderates a panel of doctors and nurses at GMHC. For prospective missionaries in the USA John launched the Ask A Missionary email newsletter (circulation 2,000) and website. He co-founded The Journey Deepens weekend retreats and served for nine years as a missions pastor. He, his wife Nicole and their children lived and served as missionaries in China for a semester and in France for a year. John now serves In His Image International as Chief Operating Officer for the Family Medicine Residency and missions outreaches. John has a M.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.Div. in Theology and Missions.

Cross cultural health care service calls for a spectrum of specialized knowledge, skills and attitudes. How does a potential worker equipped him/herself to serve effectively and thrive in such a demanding role as medical missionaries? We will focus on the key role of mentoring in cross cultural training, and discuss how to find mentors who can facilitate one's development. The selection of an organization with an ethos that supports mentoring will also be discussed. This interactive session will be of particular relevance to those preparing to serve as cross cultural health care workers, while also being useful to those who are preparing such workers.  

Burnout among healthcare workers is at record levels, and working in an underserved area is a significant risk factor. So how do we prevent missionary burnout? While there is increasing awareness of the problem, effective solutions have been elusive. The development of resilience is a key factor in the prevention and management of burnout. This session will help participants deepen their understanding of burnout and take steps to prevent it.   About the author: Dr. Steve Sartori (Director at CMDA - Center for Well-being) Dr. Steve Sartori is Director of the Center for Well-being at CMDA. A physician well-being coach and consultant, he helps doctors and other healthcare professionals align with God, optimize well-being and maximize influence. He has served as CEO of a private group practice, chief of staff at two hospitals, faculty member for a family medicine residency program and chief medical officer for a community health center. He has served as a board member and treasurer of CMDA, and has participated in mission trips to Romania, Jamaica, Thailand, Kenya and Swaziland. He is married, with two adult children, and enjoys traveling and sports.

The harvest in plentiful in middle east missions. More than 90 million adolescents and youth live in the Middle East today. Adolescents are a key population group representing a triple return of investment, yet they are uniquely neglected in the regional challenges they face. Today, adolescents in the Middle East confront significant health, development, education, employment and socio-economic challenges especially related to the protracted crisis. Region-specific factors greatly influence their health, development, choices, and provision of public health and clinical services. Over the past two decades, adolescent health issues increasingly made their way to national agendas in many regions of the world, yet it’s only a drop in a bucket. Adolescents are the population that benefited least from the epidemiologic transition. Why does the Middle East lag behind? What are United Nations Health Organizations doing to improve the health of a billion adolescents who live in the world and in particular in the Middle East? Why are we failing adolescents? Why do countries in the region have to care for adolescents, their potential backbone for a vibrant future? How can governments and leading medical institutions ensure gender sensitive comprehensive health and development agenda for adolescents living in the Middle East? What can a GMHC participant do to help?

Christianity and culture have had a complex and adversarial relationship since the beginning. Early Christians were counter-cultural—and had an immense impact on the peoples around them. Likewise, medical missionaries have deeply influenced the lives of the peoples where they served over the past two centuries. How? At the same time, they were sensitive to the culture around them, learning language and culture and adapting to religious, social and economic constraints. How have they done this? What does this look like in reality? To answer these questions, I will share survey results and moving stories of medical missionaries serving diverse cultures and religions in culturally intelligent ways in over ten countries on two continents.

This will be a practical application of principles for the treatment of common neck and back pain for the non-Physical Therpist medical professional.

Responding to human need in a way that supports human dignity, and avoids paternalism is the foundation of learning to help without hurting. Founded on this understanding, the International Code of Conduct, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response, are the most internationally recognized sets of common principles and universal minimum standards in humanitarian response. This workshop overviews these important standards in the context of short-term missions as well as UN coordinated refugee and disaster response.

Medical missions are always under resourced and Doctors and nurses struggle to cope with the enormous need with limited resources.This presentation looks at generating creativity to fuel innovation as a possible Christian response to this problem.If medical mission work is important and if God has called us and if we do not seem to have obvious resources then what God is saying is “Get creative”.

Christians historically have been very stilted on their teaching and understanding of sexuality. As people encounter more distortions of God's gift of sexuality, it is critical that we have a practical theology of sexuality. In this workshop, Dr. Juli Slattery will teach the framework for sexuality discipleship - a comprehensive worldview of biblical sexuality.

This session will briefly touch on a more wholistic definition of poverty. We will explore when relief versus development is an appropriate response.We will understand the difference between relief/project oriented missions and developmental/transformational missions and the possible outcomes of each. We will discuss how one particular developmental strategy, CHE (Community Health Evangelism) has resulted in lasting, significant transformation of communities throughout the world.We will explore the challenges of transitioning from short-term missions that focus on relief/projects to developmental/transformational missions and offer suggestions for how such a transition has been managed by some churches that historically conducted short-term missions but which have experienced success in shifting from relief-based missions to development-based missions.