OCI NAD Convention 2022: Mission Revival

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Outpost Centers International

Kyle Allen

The History of City Evangelism

Theology with health, beliefs with lifestyle.

And it says in our official institutions around the world.

So the church operates an incredible number of institutions that minister to people's needs.

So now just asking a question, how did we get, as a church, how did we get this unique vision of combining gospel and medical work together?

Now, It's beyond the scope of this presentation this afternoon and what I was researching to give a full explanation of that.

But just by way of giving a summary so that we can look back a little bit at how God led, It began with, of course, Ellen White's first health vision.

Is anybody here a student of Adventist history?

In this first vision, it was presented to her the outstanding feature of the relation between physical welfare and spiritual health or holiness.

The church began to embrace health principles that were given in her vision, subjects like diet, temperance, how to care for the sick with natural means.

But it wasn't until a second vision was given.

And in this second vision it was made more clear to her the relation of the reform of health reform to the work of gospel ministry and she said quote I was again shown that the health reform is 1 branch of the great work which is to fit the people for the coming of the Lord it is as closely connected with the third angel's message as what?

In other words, it is an integral part of the gospel work that we do health work that we do medical missionary work now who was probably 1 of the most if not the most at 1 time well-known seventh day Adventist in history who's that John Harvey Kellogg right just a few days ago I ate in Mexico a box of Rice Krispies with a Kellogg name on the top of it.

But of course we know that John Harvey came up with that cereal recipe that his brother then took and made the cereal empire that it was.

But he came, he played a key role in the development of our church's health work.

And you know he was mentored by James and Ellen White.

He learned many of his health principles from Ellen White that would guide his life work.

And he made not only an impact on the Seventh-day Adventist church, but also on American thought in regards to the interrelationship between health and personal habits and lifestyle.

And of course, as you know, he was integral into the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

He played a dominant role in that institution for many, many years.

At its height, it was 1 of the most well-known health facilities in the United States, ministering to presidents and business leaders and top members of society.

But he was deeply influenced by Ellen White's emphasis on medical missionary work and its relation to the gospel.

For Kellogg, good deeds were an essential component to the proclamation of the message and he often referred to this in his sermons and his talks.

Specifically he focused on Isaiah 58 and I have up here on the screen a quote by Kellogg talking about Isaiah 58.

This is quoted in Dave Fiedler's book De Sozo.

I would recommend you get a copy of it and read it because Dave has done some incredible research much better than me in his book.

John Harvey talking about the relation between good deeds and the proclamation of the gospel.

He said, people won't hear the gospel because they are so prejudiced.

They hear physically, but they don't hear intellectually nor spiritually.

So we must do these works and then our light shall rise in obscurity.

The Lord will hear us and the world will begin to hear us and the loud cry will begin.

1 reason people look down upon us is that they have never heard the seventh day Adventist have ever done anything in the way of benevolence.

That's an older word but that simply meant unselfish good deeds.

Did the world ever hear of us as a people especially interested in the welfare of the widow, the orphan, the afflicted, and the needy?

Now if we expect that our light is going to shine and that the loud cry is going to begin, we ought to begin to let our light shine by our good works pretty soon.

For Kellogg, as for Ellen White, the term disinterested benevolence, now that's a big word, but That phrase simply means that we do good for others without expecting good in return.

That we do good for others without expecting them to give us something back.

Ellenwhite believed and Kellogg believed that this type of work was essential in proclaiming the gospel to the world.

Now, Fiedler explored this point in great depth in his book and in commenting on Dr.

She says, the 58th chapter of Isaiah contains present truth for the people of God.

OK, just checking here we see how medical missionary work and the Gospel ministry are to be bound together as the message is given to the world.

Bound together upon those who keep the Sabbath of the Lord, is laid..." Do we keep the Sabbath of the Lord?

"...is laid the responsibility of doing a work of mercy and benevolence.

Medical missionary work is to be bound up with the message and sealed with the seal of God.

Isn't that a beautiful statement, friends?

A beautiful statement on how important it is for us to bind them together.

When I think of being bound together I think of something being inseparably put together and yet so often in our evangelistic work we've separated the 2 haven't we?

From these statements it's clear that as we proclaim the 3 angels message, the healing ministry as illustrated in Isaiah 58 must come with that proclamation.

And so friends, Feedler continues here in page 241 of his book, he says, The value of medical missionary work in connection with evangelism is apparent when we consider the fact that it accomplishes, as nothing else can, 2 great purposes.

Number 1, The first of these is the revelation of God's love in practical ministry to the needs of humanity.

And number 2, the preparation of the mind for the understanding and appreciation of gospel truth by bringing the physical habits into harmony with the laws of life.

Number 1, that we reveal God's love by disinterest and benevolence.

And number 2, that we help people have a mind that's clear so they can understand truth.

That's the 2 aspects of our medical missionary work.

Now, I won't take time to comment on it here, but you know the sad history of what happened with Dr.

He left the Seventh-day Admonist Church, even though he always maintained a deep respect for Ellen White and for our heritage as Adventists.

But—and this is an important point to make—one of the key things that led to Dr.

Kellogg's divorce from the Adventist movement is that he believed, as time went on, he said that The church should not be, as he quote, the training of our physicians and our medical workers should not be as closely connected to the work of the denomination.

And he felt that our work to meet the physical needs of people, for him it became larger and larger in his mind to where it crowded out the proclaiming of the gospel.

The History of City Evangelism

Transcript

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Plenary Sessions

Guided By His Spirit: Celebrating 20 Years of AMEN’s Mission and Ministry

1h 33m

What Is Revival and Reformation

What Is Reformation? Part 2

55m

Medical Missionary Work and the Loud Cry

58m

Rediscovering the Right Arm

50m

OYC 2011 Seminars

Kellogg vs. The Ministry: A Century of Collateral Damage

56m

Plenary

Ellen White Finally Exposed

51m

AMEN Luncheon Session- Part 2

31m

Morning Devotional

A Challenge to the Consecrated Physician

1h 28m

Plenaries with Dwayne Lemon

The Prophetic Relevance of the Medical Missionary Work

1h 9m

ASI 2012 Seminar: Evangelism

Gospel-Medical Evangelism: 1891-1900 and Today

1h 9m

General Sessions

Instruments of Healing, Witnesses of Grace

57m

Plenary Sessions

Knutson Family Testimony

1h 30m

Sound Doctrine