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Willingness for health vulnerability


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#1 Andrew/Esther Schaeffer

Andrew/Esther Schaeffer

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  • Location:Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
  • Interests:Missions, Africa, Cleveland and Ohio Sports
  • Gender:Male
  • I am a Missionary

  • I attend an Alliance church
  • Northview Alliance Church, Wooster, Ohio

Posted 01 March 2019 - 11:06 AM

Part of our C&MA DNA is a willingness to be vulnerable to sickness. As we work among the poor, we work among those who are sick and who do not have the same medical advantages that more developed countries have. Recently, I was waiting my turn in a very crowded doctor's office in the country where we serve, surrounded by very sick people, squeezed onto a bench, and not knowing if I really wanted to go into the small cubicle where I would be examined. But Jesus was willing to humble himself and suffer with the poor and bear our sicknesses on Himself. Willingness to be exposed to sickness is a must if we are to reach the poor with the Gospel. The Alliance has worked hard to improve medical care wherever they have sent missionaries. But with that has come a willingness to be vulnerable and exposed to the sicknesses that the people around us face. When answering the doctor's questions about my recent illnesses, he asked, "Is there an illness that we have here that you haven't had? You really are living among us."