If you’ve just joined us, in this next lot of Sola Saturday posts, we are looking at past contributions to the old Briefing ‘People in Ministry’ column, which focused on evangelical ministry worked out in practice.
Last week, David McDonald told us about the impetus behind Canberra Christian Youth Convention from several decades ago. This week, Ken Simpson talks about a ministry to doctors that also began in the late 80s.
“We’ve got it all”, or at least that’s what McDonalds would like us to believe. How do you sell pizzas or, for that matter, hamburgers to McDonalds? Haven’t they got it all? When we think about evangelism, we often feel that not only is it easier to evangelize some groups because of their great need, but it is also somehow more appropriate because they are the ‘have nots’.
What, then, is our approach to a group of people who exhibit the following characteristics: something like 70 per cent renege on their faith in the first three years of their working life; they have one of the highest suicide rates in our community; they have one of the highest marital breakdown rates in our community; and they work very long hours and are under great stress during this time. No, I am not describing the average clergyman; I am actually describing doctors. Yes, they have it all, but they have all these problems as well.
Read the full article online (621 words).
