Preface

For one who has long been interested in missionary medicine, the opportunity of the past year to read, study and think about central issues has been a genuine pleasure. The privilege of being the first Missionary Scholar in Residence at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College has allowed me to work through some of the issues that have troubled me during the past ten years while working as a missionary physician in West Africa. Now, through this monograph, I can share my thoughts with readers.

The purpose of the work is to identify trends occurring in missionary medicine, some of which are radically altering our approach to the challenges we face in world health today. I have attempted to place these trends within their historical context, highlighted by current examples, in order to maintain a balanced perspective. For example, while the importance of preventive medicine and public health is emphasized in the trend toward Primary Health Care (PHC), curative hospital-based medicine is also given due consideration.

A few matters of style need to be clarified. To conserve space and improve readability, I have kept the generic pronouns "he, ""him," and "his," rather than the more awkward "he/she," etc. The pronouns, therefore, refer to persons of either sex.

I have used the terminology Two-Thirds World rather than the more familiar Third World or "developing nations." Both of the latter terms connote to me the idea of lagging behind when, in fact, certain values in many of these countries and cultures are more worthy of emulation than some in so-called "developed" or industrialized nations. Again, "third world" can come across as "third class," while "developing nation" is simply a false statement in reference to the direction some countries are going. The term Two-Thirds World is at least descriptive of the population distribution on our globe between the rich and the poor.

Finally, although the term "wholistic" does not appear often, I need to explain why it begins with a "w" rather than an "h." The task of Christian medical missionary work is to enable men and women to become whole creatures in Christ Jesus. To become whole in New Testament teaching is to be healed in body and soul. Thus, wholistic is scriptural, while "holistic" has been applied to nearly every alternate form of therapy, cult or mysticism. It is interesting that the term "holistic" was "originally coined in 1926 by South African Prime Minister, Jan Smuts, in his book Holism and Evolution, a philosophical work not directly concerned with medicine." (Paul C. Reisseret a, 1983:15)

I wish to acknowledge the valued assistance of each of the following wonderful people: James Kraakevik, Mel Lorentzen, Howard Searle, Jeannette Thiessen, Lois Mckinney, Jane Nelson, David Bruce, John Bennett, Jim Plueddemann, Martha Myers, Larry Fehl, Bob Lewis, Ken Gill, Tim Buch, Jean Morehead, and most importantly, my wife Ruth. In addition, I gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and valuable contributions from each of the thirty evangelical mission agencies with whom I have been in contact throughout the year. Shortcomings of the monograph are solely mine. David E. Van Reken Wheaton, Illinois July 31, 1986

About the Author

David E. Van Reken is a graduate of Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and holds the M.D. degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine (1971). After practice in the United States, he moved with his wife Ruth and three daughters to Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa, in 1976, where he was pediatrician at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center, editor of the Journal of the Liberian Medical and Dental Association, member of the board of trustees of the Christian Health Association of Liberia, and chairman of the elder board in the International Church of Monrovia. In 1985-1986, he held appointment as the first Missionary Scholar in Residence at the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois.

Dr. Van Reken has published, alone or with others, more than 20 professional articles, and has read technical papers at a dozen professional conferences from Washington, DC and Tampa, Florida, to Monrovia, Liberia and Limuru, Kenya. He holds membership in the Christian Medical Society (USA), American Scientific Affiliation, American Academy of Pediatrics, Illinois Medical Society, and several professional organizations in Liberia. He currently is lecturer in pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.

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