Jesus had compassion for the world. During his ministry, He used His miraculous powers as the Son of the living God to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, restore hearing to the deaf, and raise the dead to life.

Yet everyone our Lord healed physically eventually died, and that is why His healing ministry on earth was always used to point people to repentance and saving faith in Him. Jesus didn’t come just to bring us a better life, but to give us eternal life. “Jesus did many other miraculous signs. … But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).

Today Samaritan’s Purse is following in the steps of the Great Physician by sharing Christ’s love and the Gospel message through our worldwide medical ministry. Not only are we the largest provider of Christian physicians for short-term assignments on the mission field, but we also renovate and equip mission hospitals, and support many other medical projects that bring physical and spiritual healing to thousands of suffering people.



Lifting Up Christ in Bangladesh

One of the many mission hospitals we support is Memorial Christian Hospital in Bangladesh. This is one of the poorest and most densely populated nations on earth, with 156 million people living in an area the size of Illinois, and nearly 90 percent are Muslim.

“As great as the physical needs are here in Bangladesh, they are dwarfed by the spiritual needs,” said Dr. Stephen Kelley, the chief surgeon at Memorial Christian.

Recently, a young man named Sahib arrived at the hospital near death. The 20-year-old had tried to end his life by drinking weed killer after a terrible argument with his father. When he awoke from his coma seven days later, hospital chaplains began sharing the Gospel with Sahib and praying for his salvation. As he lay in his hospital bed, the young man also listened to Bible teaching and Christian music played through a small “pillow speaker” that rested on the bed.

Sahib had never heard the Gospel before, but day after day he learned more about Christ’s offer of forgiveness and eternal salvation. When he finally understood how close he had come to dying in his sins, he prayed to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

“I realized that Jesus is the Savior of sinners,” he said. “Now I believe I will go to heaven through Him.”

After decades of heavy use, the facilities at Memorial Christian have become strained to the breaking point. This year, Samaritan’s Purse is helping to expand and upgrade the hospital, where a new 100-bed medical center will nearly double the current capacity.

The new surgical wing of the hospital will be named after the late Dr. Lowell Furman, a good friend who served for many years on the Samaritan’s Purse board of directors. Back in 1977, I helped Lowell and his brother, Dr. Dick Furman, launch World Medical Mission, which is now part of the medical ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. Over the years, the Furman brothers and hundreds of other doctors have been sent out around the world to serve in mission hospitals such as Memorial Christian.

Building Up Mission Hospitals

At Kapsowar Hospital in the highlands of Kenya, Samaritan’s Purse is building a major expansion that will include two operating rooms, an intensive care unit, and other specialized facilities. World Medical Mission regularly sends surgeons to Kapsowar on short-term assignments, and soon they will have the resources they need to save even more lives and share the love of Jesus Christ.

The resident surgeon, Dr. Bill Rhodes, is a dedicated servant of the Lord who was 27 when God called him to become a doctor and 44 when he finally made it to the
mission field.

Deep in the interior of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Samaritan’s Purse is helping to rebuild the Evangelical Medical Center at Nyankunde, which was destroyed during a terrible tribal massacre in September 2002. I have been there several times as guest of pioneer missionaries Dr. Ruth Dix and her husband, Richard.

Forty years after they first went to Nyankunde, the Dixes have returned to reopen the
hospital. Richard is overseeing the construction of a new operating room as well as the rehabilitation of other facilities, including one where Ruth is already doing surgery and delivering babies. Their return has been a great encouragement to the Christians who
have suffered so much.

On the outskirts of Mumbai, India—one of the world’s largest cities—is Lok Hospital, which welcomes patients who cannot afford hospital care elsewhere. Lok was founded by Dr. Stephen Alfred, a native of India who went to England to study medicine and then returned to India to provide Christian medical care in a city that has 14 million Hindus, 4 million Muslims, a million Buddhists, and relatively few evangelical Christians.

Samaritan’s Purse is helping to build a new seven-story hospital, and the current facility will be renovated to care for those who are dying of HIV/AIDS.

Hospital construction is just one of many ways that Samaritan’s Purse supports medical missions in parts of the world that desperately need to hear the Gospel. Through your prayers and gifts for these projects, you are making it possible for countless people to receive life-saving care and hear the true message of Christ’s redeeming love.

Please remember to pray for our staff and ministry partners working in over 100 nations to bring the eternal Gospel to the unreached corners of the world. Thank you, and may God bless you.

Sincerely,


Franklin Graham
President
Samaritan's Purse

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