There was a small church in a small village in the African country of Ghana.
In the village and the region around, people were dying from disease and accidents. The church invited doctors from a nearby clinic to speak with them about what they could do to stop the needless deaths.
This might be a good time to point out that this particular church in Ghana pities the churches in America. We have so much, they say, that it gets in the way of being faithful disciples.
They might have a point. An American church, if it noticed a large number of deaths in their community, might not call doctors in to talk about the problem, might not look for something to do. The members of the American church would probably have the means to write a check to the Red Cross or to a local hospital. And when they wrote those checks, they'd miss out on something electrifying.
The church in Ghana didn't have the option of philanthropy. They had to deal with the deaths seemingly without all the tools they needed. All they had was the love of Christ and a commitment to the service of God.
When they talked with the doctors for the clinic, they couldn't ask how much money the doctors needed. They could only ask what they could do.
The doctors talked with them about hygiene, but they added that one thing that would probably be a big help would be if they church members would commit to giving blood if they are able. A blood bank nearby would save lives.
The elders of the church reacted with wild enthusiasm, so much so that the doctors wondered if they misunderstood.
There was no misunderstanding. The elders said this would be a wonderful opportunity for discipleship. They could give their blood for each other JUST AS CHRIST DID.
Just after I heard that story many years ago, I started giving blood.
This work by Timothy H. Ruppel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
No comments:
Post a Comment