Eastern Sahel Union Mission: Medical missionaries training report.
For this ongoing quinquenium 2015-2020, the West-Central Africa Division planned to double the number of church members. One of the major contributions of the department of The Adventist Health Ministries is to train medical missionaries that will prepare the way for evangelism.
The Eastern Sahel Union Mission was the first among the ten unions that received the support of the Division for evangelism, from the 25th August to the 10th of September, 2016. To accompany this effort, the first medical missionaries training was
held in Lomé, Togo with the support of the Lay Institute for Global Health Training (LIGHT), from the 1st to the 11th of July 20016. This Institute was represented by 3 trainers within the Division’s territory. Manoah Agayong, Benjamin Agayong and Daniel Christopher.
To begin the seminary, the Executive Secretary of Togo Mission welcomed the participants. On that day, 30 church members joined the group because people taught that the training was for health professionals only. But as the information went on, many people came for the training even till the last day of the program. A the end of the training, more than a hundred people were present in Maratha Church in Lomé to follow this program.
The President of the Union during the closing ceremony, absent the first days of the program because his numerous obligations, feel sorry for not having invited all pastors from the various fields to this wonderful program. The revised version of the medical missionary training LIGHT, is a comprehensive program that includes:
-Evangelism
-Spirit of Prophecy
-Daniel’s prophecies
-Nutrition
-Management of common diseases
-Massage techniques and demonstrations
-Techniques and demonstrations of the treatment of diseases with water (Hydrotherapy)
-Manufacturing and usage of charcoal
-Family life and preparation for marriage
-Clothing and health
-Music and health
-Familiarization with taking of vital signs (blood pressure, pulse, weight, etc.)
-Theory and practice of the organization of a Health Expo with the distribution of seminarists in 8 groups according to the 8 natural remedies.
The Health Ministries Department was in charge of the quality of the training to avoid mistakes and to make sure that the teaching provided is of good quality. About 52 people met the requirements to receive their diplomas – at least 80 hours of training over the 100 scheduled. The end of the program was marked by different speeches (Togo Mission, Eastern Sahel Union Mission, Division and Union Health Ministries Departments), by the handing over of the parchments, by the regrets of those who did not receive diplomas and by the organization of the medical missionaries by ecclesiastical district in order to harmonize their work. Many of them registered for a complementary training of 6 months in order to form a team of Francophone trainers.
Were represented at this training program, the Missions of Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin, and of course that of Togo.
The great evangelistic campaign of the Division that was sheltered by the vast field of the Eastern Sahel Union from the 28th August to the 10th September 2016 witnessed the very active participation of the medical missionaries of Lomé. Health expo and other health programs were organized in Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Cameroon Union Mission Medical Missionaries training.
The same medical missionary training was organized in the Cameroon Union Mission from 20th to the 30th of September 2016. More than 150 participants attended this training program at Djoungolo Church in Yaoundé. 121 participants completed the quota of hours required to obtain the diploma of end of training. Another training program is scheduled for January 2017. Thousands of people from Cameroon Union Mission are expected to attend this program because this Union is hosting the big evangelistic campaign sponsored by the Division in March 2017.
May this vision of Ellen G. White be fulfilled in our Division: “We will see the medical missionary work expand and deepen at each stage of its evolution, due to the arrival of hundreds and thousands of streams, until the whole earth is covered as the waters cover the sea.” Medical Ministry, P.317 (The translation is ours)
Dr André Ndaa
Adventist Health Ministries Director
West-Central Africa Division.
Traduction: Nestor Bollet