What is God's Heart for Your City? Day 5
What is God’s Heart for Health in Our City?
The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that you may have life, and life to the full. - John 10:10
As a Christian pediatric primary care clinic serving a diverse community, we are confronted daily with the questions, what it means to be healthy physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and what we can do to help our communities become healthier?
Our answers to these questions are not fully realized, but one important realization we have learned through experience: Health is complex. The habits, systems, environments, and relationships that impact health extend far beyond the clinic exam room. Along with a complex system to navigate, the poor have more stress and fewer options. Medicaid pays health providers 40% - 50% less than private insurers causing more and more providers to severely limit or refuse to see Medicaid patients. Corporately, our healthcare system is losing a mission motivation and exchanging it for a profit motive, which leads to decisions being made based on profit margin, rather than the person in need.
We have also observed some very hopeful things: health is a doorway to relationships that bridge differences between people groups. There is a common denominator that every parent can agree to: we want our children to be healthy. Caring for kids allows us the opportunity to make friends with Muslim, Jewish, and Christian families; East African, Vietnamese, and Russian families; gay and straight families.
To many, Jesus makes sense in healthcare. People who are not Christian can see why faith in Jesus would motivate a healthcare mission, leading to an opportunity of connection with the ultimate Healer. Healthcare is also an opportunity for people of faith to partner with the broader community. At HopeCentral, we are committed to high quality care and we increasingly have the opportunity to work with other healthcare providers, non-profits and government. Let us be a witness to those who come to us in need, that their spirits and well as bodies would be healed with Jesus’ power.
Let’s pray for God’s heart for health in Seattle:
What is God’s heart for breaking generational health patterns and systemic, persistent health disparities?
What is God’s heart for the local church’s engagement in health care?
What is God’s heart for the health of the poor, marginalized, and underserved?
What is God’s heart for the health of my neighbor? How is my health connected to the health of my neighbors?
Lord, we come to you with these concerns for health in our community:
The opioid crisis and how that is growing in all sectors of society
The need for quality hospital and doctor office staff, medical professionals and insurance workers
We pray for whole health to be the priority in our community: mind, body, and spirit.
We pray against the one who wants our death and look to the One who brings abundant life
-David Kwok
