Content Resources

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.

Where you choose to serve in healthcare missions will depend on your preparedness, your call, and your goals. This workshop will help you determine how to identify service opportunities that are most likely to match up with your call and your goals. You will be given a variety of tools to use to prepare for service, and to improve your preparedness as you serve.

This session will allow one to understand some of the obstacles of starting new ministries, understand principles of cultural sensitivity, and understand contextualization principles.

The Gospel is not only the starting point of a Christian's walk, it is the power that transforms us and sets our life on mission for the Kingdom of God. Living each day in the Gospel is a necessity for all who follow Jesus and desire to serve him.

Faith-based organizations provide up to 70% or more of healthcare in some countries. They often work in remote locations among neglected people without any access to healthcare. Should faith-based hospitals and health programs partner with local governments and other actors in the public sector? Will collaboration compromise witness and mission? Or can collaboration expand resources, opportunity and deepen impact of Kingdom work? This session will help us examine relationships and discover from a Kingdom perspective the common ground/common good of working with local governments, Ministry of Health and other national organizations.