Medical Missions Archives - Families For Missions

The third week of our missions Sunday School class for kids was about medical missions. We learned about a family from our local church whose dad serves as a doctor in Africa. We also had a young lady from our church come speak to the kids. She is a nurse and spent 6 months serving at a medical mission hospital in Zambia. She was able to show pictures and share about her experiences while living there. (Need an extra activity? Try having the kids color the Flag from Zambia.)

There are several missionary doctors from the past that you could choose to talk about. David Livingstone is one historical medical missionary that explored much of Africa, and there are many books written about him. Helen Roseveare was a missionary to the Congo in the 1950’s-1970’s. She practiced medicine and also trained others in medical skills. She was taken kidnapped and imprisoned, but she was later freed and returned to Africa to continue her mission work.

Here are some affiliate links to books you might like to use:

Our craft consisted of making a “doctor kit”.

We used the following supplies:

Black construction paper
Picture of a medical cross
Cotton swabs
Adhesive bandages
Wooden sticks/tongue depressors
Pictures of stethoscopes, medicine, thermometers, etc.
Tape
Glue
Crayons, colored pencils, or markers

Teachers will need to gather supplies and do a little prep work. I suggest folding the black construction paper in half and cutting out a small circle or rectangle to make a handle before starting the craft with the kids. This helps with the flow of the morning.

Instruct each child to color and cut out the medical cross and glue or tape it to the front of their doctor bag.

This craft was fairly simple, and the kids could customize it according to their preferences. The littlest kids (Kindergarten) did the basic gluing and taping, as well as attempting to cut out pictures. The older kids (4-5^th grades) were able to cut out more carefully and color in some of the pictures, too. Each child had their own doctor kit to take home and share with their parents.

A great way to drive a point home and make sure parents know what the focus of the day was is to print out small papers with verses that the kids can glue to their craft. You could use a verse like Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation….”

End your morning with a prayer for specific missionaries and a song. 😉

Imagine… people lined up before dawn, waiting for their turn to see a doctor. Some of them standing in line for hours on end. By noon, those able to see the doctor that day have been signed up and the rest are sent away to try again tomorrow. Some have simple problems like a skin disease or ingrown toenail. Some have large hernias or female problems that require surgical correction.

I have participated in several short-term, medical mission trips, and I am always amazed at the amount of people that come for help. I also am amazed by how “simple” some of the “cures” are.

There are millions of people around the world that have medical needs that are not fixable in the area where they live. There may be a lack of doctors in their area or they may not have money or transportation to get to one. Many people suffer pain or disability with no relief in sight. Sometimes this interferes with their ability to make a living and work.

One important type of missionary that requires some training ahead of time is a medical missionary. All different kinds of people can do medical missions. Some are full-time missionaries and some do short-term mission trips:

Doctors (surgeons, pediatricians, family doctors, ob/gyn, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, etc)
Physician’s Assistants
Nurse Practitioners
Nurses
Medical assistants
Pharmacists
Physical therapists

Many of these people have spent years in training to learn how to diagnose and treat patients well. Medical missions can also use people without training, though. Many people can be trained to weigh and measure a person and take a blood pressure. This can be vital for checking a patient in.

In my opinion, for a medical mission trip to be the most successful it can be, it needs to have two main components:

A team of people, some of whom are not medical. People are needed to manage people in line or waiting to see the doctor, entertain children, fix food for the medical team, clean the operating room, organize supplies, and count medications in the pharmacy.
A local missionary or local church as a partner. Healing and fixing medical problems is very rewarding, but unless it is combined with telling the people about how Jesus can be their Savior it is missing the most important part of missions.

There are many medical mission organizations, but not all of them have a goal of telling others about Jesus. You can go to the following websites to read more about some that do:

Samaritan’s Purse
World Medical Mission (with Samaritan’s Purse)
Christian Medical and Dental Associations

Want ideas for how to get your kids involved?

Get out the toy medical kit and help them play doctor or nurse with their stuffed animals or dolls. Let them “doctor” you. Pretend you live somewhere where there are no doctors.
Read stories (age appropriate) from missionary blogs or websites about doctors and medical professionals overseas.
Find some books to read about medical missionaries. Check out: Ida Scudder, David Livingstone, or On Call (for older kids). Here are some images to help you as you search. (This is not an exhaustive list…there are many more books available as well.)