A major goal of Grace Missions is to establish a conspicuous testimony for Christ extending throughout the entire Nampula province and beyond by providing quality, compassionate health care to Mozambicans.
We want to show the difference between surgical care provided through Christians indwelt by the Spirit of Christ and ministering as if unto Christ, and the kind of care available from those who serve from other motives. Our hope is that many patients will not only obtain good medical results, but will also seek the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ displayed by their nurses and doctors.
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” Matthew 5:16
“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38
During the first eight years, God provided a wonderful opportunity for establishing just such a testimony through the government hospital at Marrere. For details of God’s faithful and often extraordinary provision through this time, see the overview article Ministry at Marrere.
The years at Marrere were prized because of constant opportunities to preach Christ to the patients. This was all the more remarkable in the earlier days as the government was then strongly Marxist. Even pastors were not permitted to pray aloud in government hospitals at the bedside of their own church members. Dr. Woodrow, however, openly proclaimed the full gospel of Christ to gatherings of up to 120 patients, family members, and staff at weekly evangelistic services. No one thought to object as Grace Missions was providing the only doctor for the medical center as well as most of the medications and all the surgical supplies necessary to treat the patients.
So it was with dismay that we learned some years later that these evangelistic opportunities would end. The hospital was being returned to the Catholic Church. God used these circumstances, however, to prepare the way for Grace Missions to build its own hospital.
Getting authorization from the Minister of Health appeared to be unlikely at best, then it turned nearly impossible due to opposition from local doctors. Nevertheless, the Minister’s approval was secured through a stunning series of events displaying the hand of God in our affairs. For those details, read Winning the Minister’s Approval.
Once we had land, start up funds, and authorization to build, Grace Missions Mozambique was incorporated to assume oversight of the growing medical work thus freeing Grace Missions to devote its full attention to spiritual ministries expanding on other fronts.
The desperate need for surgical care in Mozambique is displayed in photos of late stage pathology. Only the least shocking of our many medical photos are displayed to avoid offending visitors to this website, but even these milder photos reveal the suffering endured by Mozambicans cut off from surgical care as they await the completion of our new hospital.
Please pray that the hospital may soon be equipped and staffed so that Grace Missions may resume its testimony of Christ to Mozambicans far and near through deeds of love and mercy. For more information, please watch the five-minute video, Hospital Africa.
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