The idea for this outreach came from a lady in our church - Ági - who since birth has had serious medical issues relating to her heart. The basic premise is that we organize a free service in the city, complete with doctors who volunteer their time, and we measure body-mass index, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. The "patients" then have the opportunity to get medical advice from a doctor, who, in addition to the medical advice, share the Gospel with them and offer to pray for them.
We also hand out fliers which on one side give information about how to keep your heart healthy, and on the other side speak about the importance and need of receiving Jesus into your "heart" as your Lord and Savior.
For the past few years we have gotten a lot of publicity for this as well - we have worked together with the local government and the city hospital, and the event has been reported on in the local news.
This year in addition to people from our church who came out and spent their Saturday serving the Lord in this way, we had helpers from Budapest, Debrecen and Szeged who joined us and were a great help.
It was such a blessing to be out on the streets doing something to benefit the people of our city and getting to share with them the love and hope that is found in the Lord Jesus.
Photos by Kiss Ági:
Why is this necessary if medical treatment is free? This would seem useful in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI agree with tout that this would be a useful thing in the US. The main idea with doing it here is that it would be preventative - that people who wouldn't usually go to the doctor because they aren't totally sick yetwould be able to get their blood sugar and blood pressure checked and get a consultation with a doctor, so that they can address problems before they get really bad and require serious medical treatment.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, as you know well, just because it is free doesn't mean people go regularly because of the long waits.
Either way, there were hundreds of people who stopped at our tents and were thankful for the service. Actually there are a number of NGOs in Hungary who organize similar events in malls and the like. Ours was different in that we incorporate prayer and the gospel message.