{"id":626,"date":"2013-07-25T19:59:46","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T19:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/?p=626"},"modified":"2017-10-12T20:13:14","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T20:13:14","slug":"626-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/626-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, &#038; the Early Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How do you do medical missions in a sustainable way? \u00a0Medical care is expensive, and providing it to the poorest of the poor is financially implausible. \u00a0And yet, those with a Christian worldview know that God commands us to &#8220;act justly and to love mercy&#8221; (Micah 6:8). \u00a0Basic economics teaches us that doing so will come at a cost. \u00a0And who is to bear that cost? \u00a0Well, we learn in Acts 4:32-35 that the early Church had a good solution for this. \u00a0They were sharing their possessions with each other &#8220;as they had need.&#8221; \u00a0This may be the reason (according to Rodney Stark and others) that the early church grew in such an explosive fashion. \u00a0As new Christians met the needs of others in the Body, the world was watching. \u00a0This kind of selfless compassion was contagious, and new followers were added to their numbers daily.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The map shows the per capita GDP (gross domestic product &#8211; a measure of economic output) across the globe. \u00a0North America and a handful of Western European countries represent the wealthiest. \u00a0Ethiopia and other Sub-Saharan African countries the poorest. \u00a0We find members of the body of Christ in all of these places without respect to political boundaries. \u00a0If you live in a &#8220;blue&#8221; or a &#8220;green&#8221; country, do you feel a new weight of responsibility? \u00a0So, as Francis Schaeffer famously asked, &#8220;How should we then live?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Soddo Christian Hospital does not provide care for free. \u00a0Some mission hospitals do, but ours charges a small fee. \u00a0We believe this to be important to the longstanding sustainability of the hospital. \u00a0(That&#8217;s another post for another day.) \u00a0But that alone is not sufficient to run a hospital. \u00a0We have pledged as an institution <a href=\"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/our-mission\/\">t<\/a>o offer &#8220;excellent medical services,&#8221; and that we intend to do. \u00a0But the economy in which we work is not able by itself to support this lofty vision.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And so we turn to you. \u00a0We need your help. \u00a0We need the Body of Christ in the &#8220;blue and green countries&#8221; to step up and say, &#8220;We&#8217;ll take care of it.&#8221; \u00a0Someday, we hope that the economy in rural Ethiopia will be booming, and will fund the hospital fully. \u00a0But until then, we know others will have to stand in the gap. \u00a0Is that sustainable? Well, perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn&#8217;t. If you have thoughts on the subject, we invite you to comment below.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do you do medical missions in a sustainable way? \u00a0Medical care is expensive, and providing it to the poorest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-missionary-medicine"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, &amp; the Early Church - Soddo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/626-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, &amp; the Early Church - Soddo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How do you do medical missions in a sustainable way? \u00a0Medical care is expensive, and providing it to the poorest [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/626-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Soddo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SoddoChristianHospital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-25T19:59:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-12T20:13:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1788\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"881\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ken Amstutz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ken Amstutz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 \u12f0\u1242\u1243\u12ce\u127d\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ken Amstutz\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b444fb4eec4065081d18eafd23ea542a\"},\"headline\":\"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, &#038; the Early Church\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-25T19:59:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-12T20:13:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":410,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/07\\\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Missionary Medicine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"am\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, & the Early Church - Soddo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/07\\\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-25T19:59:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-12T20:13:14+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"am\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"am\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/07\\\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/07\\\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png\",\"width\":1788,\"height\":881},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/626-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, &#038; the Early Church\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/\",\"name\":\"Soddo\",\"description\":\"To Heal and Make Disciples\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"am\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Soddo\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"am\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/SCH-twitter-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/SCH-twitter-logo.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"Soddo\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SoddoChristianHospital\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/st-lukes-healthcare-foundation\\\/?viewAsMember=true\",\"https:\\\/\\\/vimeo.com\\\/user10131459\\\/videos\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b444fb4eec4065081d18eafd23ea542a\",\"name\":\"Ken Amstutz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"am\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6bd1711896982ec52c25e0d29c25d6eff46d210827ec248bf63fd6891218b5a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6bd1711896982ec52c25e0d29c25d6eff46d210827ec248bf63fd6891218b5a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6bd1711896982ec52c25e0d29c25d6eff46d210827ec248bf63fd6891218b5a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ken Amstutz\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.soddo.org\\\/am\\\/author\\\/kamstutz\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, & the Early Church - Soddo","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/626-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, & the Early Church - Soddo","og_description":"How do you do medical missions in a sustainable way? \u00a0Medical care is expensive, and providing it to the poorest [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/626-2\/","og_site_name":"Soddo","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SoddoChristianHospital\/","article_published_time":"2013-07-25T19:59:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-10-12T20:13:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1788,"height":881,"url":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ken Amstutz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ken Amstutz","Est. reading time":"2 \u12f0\u1242\u1243\u12ce\u127d"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Ken Amstutz","@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/#\/schema\/person\/b444fb4eec4065081d18eafd23ea542a"},"headline":"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, &#038; the Early Church","datePublished":"2013-07-25T19:59:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-12T20:13:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/"},"wordCount":410,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png","articleSection":["Missionary Medicine"],"inLanguage":"am","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/","name":"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, & the Early Church - Soddo","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png","datePublished":"2013-07-25T19:59:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-12T20:13:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"am","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"am","@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Gdp_per_capita_ppp_world_map.png","width":1788,"height":881},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/626-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sustainability, Mission Hospitals, &#038; the Early Church"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/","name":"Soddo","description":"\u1208\u1218\u1348\u12c8\u1235\u1293 \u12f0\u1240 \u1218\u12db\u1219\u122d\u1275 \u1208\u121b\u12f5\u1228\u130d","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"am"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/#organization","name":"Soddo","url":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"am","@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/SCH-twitter-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/SCH-twitter-logo.png","width":300,"height":300,"caption":"Soddo"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SoddoChristianHospital\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/st-lukes-healthcare-foundation\/?viewAsMember=true","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/user10131459\/videos"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/#\/schema\/person\/b444fb4eec4065081d18eafd23ea542a","name":"Ken Amstutz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"am","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bd1711896982ec52c25e0d29c25d6eff46d210827ec248bf63fd6891218b5a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bd1711896982ec52c25e0d29c25d6eff46d210827ec248bf63fd6891218b5a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bd1711896982ec52c25e0d29c25d6eff46d210827ec248bf63fd6891218b5a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ken Amstutz"},"url":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/author\/kamstutz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65690,"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/65690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}