Christian Help Work - Applied Medical Missionary Work by Lauretta E. Kress, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Aug 1, 1912

Christian Help Work — Applied Medical Missionary Work

By Lauretta E. Kress, M. D.

LAURETTA E. KRESS, M. D.

“The poor ye have with you always.” This fact has been and is now a blessing to mankind. We are naturally selfish, fond of ourselves and of ministering to our own needs. To change this natural inclination and enjoy ministering to the needs of others is a true index to righteousness, or right-doing. In Christ’s example we see one of unselfish love for those who were poor and afflicted. His example has been left on record for us, to give us courage to go and do likewise.

There is no work that so uplifts one, no work that gives more real enjoyment, than visiting the poor and needy, taking them those things that are helpful, physically and morally.

We need to revive this spirit in our churches. There is much that can be done. Every member that engages in such work will have a new and living experience. We have followed in such ruts that everywhere our prayer and missionary meetings have about the same ring. Were we to change and do more personal work outside of our own homes, a different note would be sounded in our testimony, missionary, and prayer meetings.

I wish to relate a few experiences in Christian Help work done by some students who were exceedingly busy all the week with their studies. They devoted Sabbath afternoons to visiting among poor families, doing whatever fell to their lot to help these souls.

One of the first places visited by two of these young men was the home of a crippled young man. They knocked at the door, and the aged mother came to open it. As she did so, she looked rather suspiciously upon these strangers who asked to see her sick son. However, they were finally admitted. Each Sabbath afternoon a visit was made, flowers and fruit being carried to him. Permission was given after several visits to read and pray with him. When they engaged in prayer, the mother indifferently remained standing, the sick young man sat, for he was crippled with rheumatism, and the two students knelt. They found by inquiry that he had to sleep in a cold room, and suffered much with cold at night. So they went to some of the citizens of the town and solicited money, bought a small coal-stove and one-half ton of coal. They had it taken to the house, put up in his room, and built a fire in it. The mother had been more or less suspicious of these students before; but after this act all prejudice vanished. She saw that they were earnestly endeavoring to help her son.

Their visits continued, and the sick man watched for them from week to week. They invented a book-holder which they fastened to his chair, and took him copies of our books to read. He could not use his hands to hold the book or turn the leaves, so when the book was placed on the book-holder and the springs caught the two leaves, he would read the two pages, then call his mother to turn the leaves for him. In this way he read thirteen of our denominational books. Before he had finished reading them, he had decided to keep the Sabbath. When our King comes, and we meet the dead who died in Christ, we shall no doubt meet this young man, who might never have known the truth had not these students gone out to do Christian Help work.

I must relate another instance: A young woman was walking along the street inviting little children to a kindergarten Sabbath-school in the poor section. She found a little colored girl, whom she stopped and asked to come to the kindergarten at two o’clock. She said she could not, as her mother was sick and she must remain at home. The young woman took her number, and, after the children’s exercises were finished, went to see the sick mother. She found her in great need of food and medical care. After assisting her all she could, she left the house, determined to help more another day.

Although the next morning was a frosty one, she did not forget the sick woman, and planned to send a basket of food to the family early in the day and inquire how she was. She went to her husband to ask if he would carry the basket of supplies to this colored woman, and received the reply that he had a terrible toothache and could not face the cold wind that morning. She did not know what to do; for her own housework must be attended to, and she did not wish her husband to go out in the cold air, with a severe toothache. But the poor woman’s serious condition still weighed upon her mind.

Her husband returned to his study, and she to her kitchen work; but somehow the study did not progress, and he could think of nothing but the colored woman and her children. Laying down his book, he walked into the kitchen, and said to his wife, “Get your basket ready; on the strength of the promise in Isa. 58: 7, 8, I will take it to the sick woman.” He stepped into the cold air, and the moment he started, the tooth stopped aching.

When he reached the home, the little girl came to the door, and said that her mother was ill in bed. He hastened home to tell his wife. She went over and found that the woman had given birth to a child in the night while alone, and was lying in a room so cold that the bedding was frozen around her mouth where she had breathed on it. Again solicitation was made for money to buy a stove and necessary supplies for the family. The stove was set up, and the woman and child made comfortable.

This kind of work gives entrance to the homes of both rich and poor,—to help the poor when they need help, and to solicit help from the rich. Such work broadens one’s experience, and he has something to talk about when he testifies; for he has been a blessing to some one. Our churches should be doing more Christian Help work.

Chicago, Ill.