Mark Finley, DD
Beyond Traditional Church
As I sat behind the stage waiting to present one of my first health talks, I was nervous. My mind raced. I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest. I was afraid I would forget the lines that I worked so diligently to memorize and worse still when I anxiously looked through the small opening in the stage curtain into the two hundred seat auditorium it was nearly full. As a 23 year old ministerial intern, I knew I would really feel uncomfortable standing in front of an audience sharing with them how to stop smoking when I had never smoked.
Since I did not have the privilege of working with a physician in my first Five Day Plan to Stop Smoking, my senior pastor recommended that I show Dr. Wayne McFarland’s medical presentation on film. Dr. McFarland was the co-founder of the Five Day Plan and an excellent lecturer who kept his audiences spell bound. As a doctor/ minister team, Dr. McFarland and Pastor Elman Folkenberg blended their unique talents to create the world renowned Five Day Plan to Stop Smoking. Dr. McFarland and Pastor Folkenberg helped tens of thousands of people quit smoking in the 1960’s shortly after the United States Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health was published.
I had carefully instructed the projectionist to turn off the movie right after Dr. McFarland’s presentation before his associate, Pastor Elman Folkenberg presented the motivational talk. This was vitally important since I was presenting Pastor Folkenberg’s talk. All week I had spent hours memorizing it word for word with inflections and all.
An Embarrassing Introduction
As I sat behind the stage with my stomach in knots anxiously waiting for Dr. McFarland’s filmed portion of the program to finish, I rehearsed my lines. I knew the exact moment I was to walk on stage and repeat Pastor Folkenberg’s introductory remarks then launch into the lecture. There was only one problem. The projectionist forgot to turn off the projector and I almost fainted when I heard Pastor Folkenberg repeating my lines word for word. I walked onto the stage embarrassed not knowing where to begin or what to say. I honestly do not remember what I said that evening but I do remember this auspicious introduction to the blended ministry of doctors and ministers working together.
Christ’s Ministry Today
Early in my ministry I wondered how I could be involved in health ministry without a medical background. I sensed that Jesus ministered to the whole person but I felt ill equipped to address issues of health. I was a pastor not a physician. As I pondered over the counsel of Ellen White, on every church being a medical evangelistic center and every member being a medical missionary it did not seem realistic to me. Her counsel on pastors and physicians working together seemed like an unreachable ideal. I pastored a three church district and my largest church was 28 members with no medical doctors or dentists, and only one nurse. How could I ever lead my church into comprehensive health ministry?
A Godly Physician’s Advice
During those early years, Dr. McFarland became a close friend and mentor. His advice to a young preacher was invaluable. He taught me three critical things about medical evangelism.
1. He encouraged me to begin where I was rather then being paralyzed by the thought of what I could not accomplish. He shared this important truth: You learn by doing. Rather than do nothing and wait for some unusual opportunity, he encouraged me to begin where I was and do what I could. So, early in our ministry my wife and I conducted Five Day Plans to Stop Smoking, Vegetarian Cooking classes, Stress Control programs and a host of other assignments. We made mistakes. Some programs went extremely well and others left a lot to be desired. Our materials and presentations were elementary but in each program we were growing, learning and striving by God’s grace to do better the next time. I am reminded of Ellen White’s encouraging counsel to medical missionary workers in her day. “Skill in this work, as in every other, is gained in the work itself. It is by training in the common duties of life and in ministry to the afflicted and suffering, that efficiency is assured. Without this the most sincere purposes and efforts are often useless, and even harmful. It is in the water, not on the land, that men learn to swim. (GCB, July 1, 1902 par. 11)
When you start where you are, in a small humble way, God will expand your influence and at the right time the Holy Spirit will lead Godly physicians into your life to make a significant difference for the kingdom of God. The same is true of physicians. If you have a heart for God and long to unite your ministry with a pastor but have not found the right “teammate”, do what you can where you are. Your speaking skills and ability to communicate effectively with your audience will improve as you are actively involved in community outreach programs. As you pray that the Holy Spirit will lead you to blend your talents with someone of likeminded interest, you will be surprised who theHoly Spirit will bring into your life.
2. He urged me to launch out in faith and “hide” behind the medical authorities. In other words, begin small, do thorough research and do not make radical statements that are not backed up by good science. I was concerned that as a preacher, I might make major errors in my health presentations. His counsel was, “Do your research well. Document what you say and never chase medical fads.” For over fortyfive years I have followed that counsel and have never had any serious challenges in my health presentations. Today we have the benefit of carefully prepared, well documented, fully illustrated health presentations by medical professionals. As busy pastors or medical professionals we have available to us top quality materials and do not need to “reinvent the wheel” for originalities sake.
3. He reminded me to keep the big picture in mind – to be a person of large minded vision. Vision is the ability to look beyond the challenges of today to the triumphs of tomorrow. People of vision take their eyes off the mud below and place them on the heavens above. They are not crippled by the problems they face. They are amazed that there are so many opportunities.
The best preparation for success tomorrow is the challenge of today. When my wife Teenie and I conducted health programs in those early years to relatively small groups we had no idea that we would travel the world teaming up with Godly medical professionals speaking to hundreds of thousands. We did not know that medical evangelism would play a major part in opening doors in many former Communist countries for the preaching of the gospel. We had no thought of coordinating nearly one hundred medical professionals in Moscow’s Olympic Stadium in a huge health Expo for over 15,000 people. Dr. McFarland shared with me this invaluable principle. “There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, by putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, and lives a life wholly consecrated to God. (Desire of Ages page 250,251)
There are scores of physicians and pastors who could really do something significant for God but they are paralyzed by inaction because they are waiting for better opportunities. God’s vision for your life and your church is much larger, much broader, much greater than you can possibly imagine. There is no limit to what God can accomplish through you but you have to get started – take that risk.
Thought Provoking Questions
Has God given you gifts that possibly are lying dormant waiting to be activated in service for Him? Are there opportunities for ministering like Jesus to people all around you that in the busyness of life you may be missing? Is there someone, a pastor or a physician that you could blend your ministry with to make a major difference for God’s Kingdom? Could your church become a medical missionary center of God’s redemptive grace to impact your community for Christ in ways you do not yet imagine?
What God Has Joined Together
In Christ, the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of ministry were united. Matthew’s gospel describes the essence of Christ’s ministry this way, “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and disease among the people.” (Matthew 9:35) Jesus’ ministry consisted of teaching the principles of the kingdom, preaching the divine truths of the Word and ministering to the total needs of people. He invites His church to do the same. He calls His body to do His ministry His way.
Ellen White puts it this way,“Medical missionary work is in no case to be divorced from the gospel ministry. The Lord has specified that the two shall be as closely connected as the arm is with the body. Without this union neither part of the work is complete. The medical missionary work is the gospel in illustration (CH 524.2).Heaven’s divine plan of action is a blended ministry.
When medical professionals, pastors, and each church member unite in using their God-given gifts to lovingly minister to their communities the special blessing of God attends their labors. “From the light that has been given me, I know that an intimate relationship should ever exist between the medical missionary work and the gospel ministry. They are bound together in sacred union as one work, and are never to be divorced…Christ gave a perfect representation of true godliness by combining the work of a physician and a minister, ministering to the needs of both body and soul, healing physical disease, and then speaking words that brought peace to the troubled heart. . . . (CH 528)
God’s ideal for your patients is much more than just physical healing; just as His ideal for a pastor’s congregation is much more than a church building where members come to worship each Sabbath and then return to their “secular” employment during the week. The church is us, the body of Christ, equipped to serve lovingly meeting needs everywhere in Jesus’ name. The church is not a building. A building is where the church meets. Describing Christ’s church, the apostle Paul puts it this way, “Now you are the body of Christ and members individually” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Christ is present in the world today through a body of believers called His church. His healing touch is still felt through His people as they lovingly minister to a needy world. We do not become the church when we go to worship on Sabbath, as important as that is, we become the true body of Christ when we minister like Jesus did to bruised, broken, hurting people in His Name.
An Adventure in Faith
Five years ago, my wife and I moved into a new community of about twenty thousand people in Northern Virginia with no Seventh-day Adventist church. We could not escape the growing conviction that God had placed us there for a purpose. The closest Adventist church is in Warrenton, Va. about 25 minutes from our home. At the time, the Warrenton church was a small but loving group of believers committed to the mission of Christ. After months of earnest prayer, multiple discussions with local church and Conference leaders, we decided to partner with the Warrenton church members and build a new church, an evangelistic training center and a community health outreach center in our community of Haymarket, Va.
The story of God’s working is nothing more than miraculous. We have purchased a prime piece of property in the town center and are in the midst of building an 18,400 square ft. facility. Although we still have significant financial needs, God has done some amazing things in providing the funding for the project so far.
We are committed to being a Biblebased, Christ-centered congregation sharing God’s last day message with our community by lovingly meeting their needs in Jesus’ name. We will reach out through personal witness and public proclamation. We are praying that God will move upon the hearts of Godly physicians to move into our area and unite with us in reaching people for the kingdom.
The lights of our church will be on and our church doors open for the community multiple evenings each week. In this Christ-centered comprehensive ministry, we will conduct Natural lifestyle Cooking Schools, Wellness and Weight Control seminars, Stress Management programs, Smoking Cessation Seminars, Exercise Classes, and a host of other Bible-based classes on everything from the gospels to Bible doctrines to the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.
Members will be equipped and trained to use their gifts in service and share their faith with others. We will also conduct four to eight day workshops on how local congregations can minister as Jesus to their communities. There will be seminars for physicians and dentists who desire to be more effective in witness in their practices, local churches and communities.
We long to be spirit filled believers making a difference for Christ and His kingdom. We long to make a difference in Northern Virginia through a blended ministry meeting the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of our community ministering like Christ.
Beyond Traditional Church
God’s vision for your life is far beyond what you can imagine. His vision for your congregation is much more than “traditional church.” God’s vision for your church is larger than you have thought. Yours is to be a church on a mission, a church with a purpose, a church that follows in the footsteps of its Master ministering to the heart needs of its community.
Someone has well said, “It is not really how many people we bring into the church that counts. It is how many we send out into the community to impact it for Christ and His kingdom.” Traditional churches focus on bringing people in and holding what they have.
Churches following Christ’s model of ministry focus on equipping and training their members to serve and sending them out to make a radical difference for the kingdom of God in their communities.
Elton Trueblood, the renowned Quaker scholar once observed, “The church of the future will become a mini-seminary.” Dr. Trueblood was right. The church that is training its members to minister like Jesus will explode in growth. The church that is reaching out to its community in Jesus’ name meeting needs everywhere will make an impact on its community. The church whose members unite in comprehensive, multi-faceted ministry to meet community needs like Jesus will not be irrelevant in today’s sophisticated postmodern society. It will make a remarkable difference.
The church whose doors are open, whose lights are on, that is serving its community in the spirit of Christ is much more than a church. It is the body of Christ ministering in the 21st century to touch lost people with Heaven’s love. It longs to bring lonely people in out of the cold to the warmth of Christian fellowship and the joy of knowing Christ. This is God’s dream for your church. May your church reach its’ divinely appointed destiny and fill its Godgiven mandate in a blended ministry to reach its community for Christ and His Kingdom.
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