PROMOTING PARTNERSHIP: Jan Paulsen, president
of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, addresses the Global Conference on Health and Lifestyles in Geneva, July 7. Conference organizers are seeking to bolster partnerships with the World Health Organization, which, like the Seventh-day Adventist Church, works to improve health globally.
Seventh-day Adventists should partner with other health organizations in offering primary health care globally, a request that urges the denomination’s members and institutions to shed individualistic approaches to offering care in communities, General Conference president Jan Paulsen said July 7.
Paulsen’s remarks came on the opening day of a global health conference, which is exploring ways to achieve public health goals through partnerships and the role faith-based organizations (FBOs) play in such an effort. Church health leaders also hope to demonstrate the role spirituality and wholistic living can play in primary care and find common ground when working with partners. (For the full text of Paulsen’s remarks click here.)
Recently the World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations agency, has sought to bolster partnerships with FBOs, which deliver as much as 40 percent of primary care in some nations.
On July 6, Adventist Church officials met in a high-level conference with WHO leaders in Geneva to explore effective ways of partnering, particularly by implementing the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Leaders from both organizations have met several times in the past two years, their work culminating in the Global Conference on Health and Lifestyle in Geneva.
In his keynote address Paulsen urged community involvement as a way for Adventists to express their own values in an age of globalization. Such involvement, he said, would define the public’s perception of the church’s approach to primary care.
“An individualistic, inward-looking conception of Christianity is utterly at odds with the Savior who reached out to restore blind men’s eyes, cured lepers, and healed an emotionally broken woman,” Paulsen said. “We cannot express our faith, our desire to imitate Christ, in seclusion.”
Paulsen spoke to some 500 world church leaders in a packed lecture hall at the University of Geneva, the site of the conference.
During his half-hour speech, Paulsen said the church would continue to prioritize facilitating, funding, and supporting professional medical health care through its network of more than 600 hospitals, clinics, and dispensaries. The denomination’s 150-year health focus also emphasizes health education, advocacy of vegetarianism, and living alcohol- and drug-free.
Paulsen also addressed concerns that partnerships would be at odds with the church’s mission, saying, “Some have been critical, and rightly so, of an eschatological perspective that serves simply to reconcile us to current miseries. Awaiting [Christ’s return] is not a passive exercise, but something that demands action [in] the present.”
The church’s emphasis on health, Paulsen said, should not just be one of treating disease, defining what is healthful to eat or drink, or the training of medical professionals.
“Our approach to health is a concept that encompasses all that contributes to the fullness and completeness of human existence,” he said.
A WHO officer noted that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the past has sometimes acted in a closed manner, but said he welcomed the partnership.
“I think the Adventist Church is ready for official relations with us,” said Ted Karpf, an officer with the Department of Partnerships and UN Reform at the World Health Organization.
“The church is here as partners to begin with, so some change has happened already,” Karpf said.
Addressing the gathering, Jean Duff, executive director of the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty, recognized the Adventist Church as “a faithful partner in mobilizing their health assets and congregational infrastructures” to collaborate in an interfaith antimalaria program in Mozambique.
Several of the church’s health ministries leaders said they welcomed Paulsen’s comments.
“I think he set a new direction,” said Chester Kuma, associate Health Ministries director for the church’s South Pacific region. “He provided a great challenge to the church, getting us back to basics. It’s a good reminder about compassion and helping the poor.”
Elie Honore, Health Ministries director for the church’s Inter-American region, said Paulsen’s comments weren’t aimed only at church health leaders but at many segments of the church. “We have education represented here [at this conference], and ministry, as well as leadership,” Honore said.
“He reminded us of the questions we should be asking. We’re not going to just stick to ideas or theories but open our eyes to the community and fulfill our mission as a church.”
The Global Conference on Health and Lifestyle continued through July 10. Other speakers and workshop presenters included David Williams, professor of public health at Harvard University; Sir Michael Marmot, director of the International Institute for Society and Health; and Alex Ross, WHO director for the Program on Partnerships and United Nations Reform.
Paulsen’s remarks came on the opening day of a global health conference, which is exploring ways to achieve public health goals through partnerships and the role faith-based organizations (FBOs) play in such an effort. Church health leaders also hope to demonstrate the role spirituality and wholistic living can play in primary care and find common ground when working with partners. (For the full text of Paulsen’s remarks click here.)
Recently the World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations agency, has sought to bolster partnerships with FBOs, which deliver as much as 40 percent of primary care in some nations.
On July 6, Adventist Church officials met in a high-level conference with WHO leaders in Geneva to explore effective ways of partnering, particularly by implementing the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Leaders from both organizations have met several times in the past two years, their work culminating in the Global Conference on Health and Lifestyle in Geneva.
In his keynote address Paulsen urged community involvement as a way for Adventists to express their own values in an age of globalization. Such involvement, he said, would define the public’s perception of the church’s approach to primary care.
“An individualistic, inward-looking conception of Christianity is utterly at odds with the Savior who reached out to restore blind men’s eyes, cured lepers, and healed an emotionally broken woman,” Paulsen said. “We cannot express our faith, our desire to imitate Christ, in seclusion.”
Paulsen spoke to some 500 world church leaders in a packed lecture hall at the University of Geneva, the site of the conference.
During his half-hour speech, Paulsen said the church would continue to prioritize facilitating, funding, and supporting professional medical health care through its network of more than 600 hospitals, clinics, and dispensaries. The denomination’s 150-year health focus also emphasizes health education, advocacy of vegetarianism, and living alcohol- and drug-free.
Paulsen also addressed concerns that partnerships would be at odds with the church’s mission, saying, “Some have been critical, and rightly so, of an eschatological perspective that serves simply to reconcile us to current miseries. Awaiting [Christ’s return] is not a passive exercise, but something that demands action [in] the present.”
The church’s emphasis on health, Paulsen said, should not just be one of treating disease, defining what is healthful to eat or drink, or the training of medical professionals.
“Our approach to health is a concept that encompasses all that contributes to the fullness and completeness of human existence,” he said.
A WHO officer noted that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the past has sometimes acted in a closed manner, but said he welcomed the partnership.
“I think the Adventist Church is ready for official relations with us,” said Ted Karpf, an officer with the Department of Partnerships and UN Reform at the World Health Organization.
“The church is here as partners to begin with, so some change has happened already,” Karpf said.
Addressing the gathering, Jean Duff, executive director of the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty, recognized the Adventist Church as “a faithful partner in mobilizing their health assets and congregational infrastructures” to collaborate in an interfaith antimalaria program in Mozambique.
Several of the church’s health ministries leaders said they welcomed Paulsen’s comments.
“I think he set a new direction,” said Chester Kuma, associate Health Ministries director for the church’s South Pacific region. “He provided a great challenge to the church, getting us back to basics. It’s a good reminder about compassion and helping the poor.”
Elie Honore, Health Ministries director for the church’s Inter-American region, said Paulsen’s comments weren’t aimed only at church health leaders but at many segments of the church. “We have education represented here [at this conference], and ministry, as well as leadership,” Honore said.
“He reminded us of the questions we should be asking. We’re not going to just stick to ideas or theories but open our eyes to the community and fulfill our mission as a church.”
The Global Conference on Health and Lifestyle continued through July 10. Other speakers and workshop presenters included David Williams, professor of public health at Harvard University; Sir Michael Marmot, director of the International Institute for Society and Health; and Alex Ross, WHO director for the Program on Partnerships and United Nations Reform.
—Reported by Ansel Oliver, assistant director for news, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
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