Transforming Medical Ministries
MBF’s 21st century approach to medical mission is transforming medical ministries into sustainable medical providers.
What is a medical ministry?
The Church has a long history of ministering to the sick, especially in rural, poor and marginalized communities through the establishment of charitable hospitals and clinics. Not that long ago, even in the USA church denominations played a key role in medical care. As recently as 2016, churches still owned over 700 of the country’s hospitals.
Faith-based organizations in developing countries also own and operate clinics and hospitals and nursing schools. While estimates vary, there are easily over 100,000 such medical ministries in the world. In fact, in some countries, these ministries provide up to 60% of all medical care, and often offer the only medical services in poor rural communities.
Our vision is to see physical and spiritual healing through the Church
We envision medical ministries of the Church thriving and serving others for decades to come as sustainable providers of international standards of medical care while sharing the love of God.
To achieve that vision, our mission is to help these ministries with resources and expertise so they can claim a sustainable future for themselves in three dimensions: clinical, financial, and spiritual.
Hospitals and Clinics
Nursing Development
Spiritual Ministry
Maternity Services
Pediatric Services
MBF focuses on helping medical ministries build capacity for the long-term through a few key transformative ideas. At the same time, we help meet immediate needs of the ministries’ most vulnerable patients and promising students while the longer-term work continues.
Your investments (aka donations or gifts – we like to think of them as investments in the future of our medical ministry partners) help in multiple ways, including to:
- Implement international standards of care
- Develop business acumen and operational best practices
- Procure supplies, medicines
- Provide care for patients who cannot afford to pay
- Train local doctors and nurses
- Integrate spiritual ministry throughout the medical ministry
- Modernize and expand infrastructure and systems.
Over 60 years of medical mission
The Medical Benevolence Foundation was formed in 1963 by a group of physicians to improve the quality of care provided through the Church’s medical missions. They tasked themselves with defining the work needing done to help the mission hospitals and clinics and quickly grew to over 250 doctor volunteers. As one of the early reports noted: “When people become informed, they become inspired. When they become inspired, they become involved.” These doctors visited mission hospitals and clinics to serve and to determine how best to help improve the patient standards of care.
Over time, the work evolved. Since inception, MBF has worked alongside the Church and its medical ministry around the world in 34 countries. Today, we are long-term partners with local medical ministry leaders of multiple denominations in the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East.
A blueprint for success has emerged which directs the work we do today. Success comes from being humble and Christ-centered in relationships with partners who aim for high global standards. We encapsulate this blueprint in a set of axioms that guide our work on behalf of the people in developing countries.
