15 July 2019 | Loma Linda, USA [Helgi Jónsson.]
Quiet-spoken Helgi Jónsson, Health Ministries director for the Trans-European Division (TED), discovers the imperative to ‘talk out loud’ during the 3rd Global Conference on Health and Lifestyle at Loma Linda, California, 9-13 July 2019.
I´m sitting in an airport lounge in Seattle on my way back home to Iceland from Loma Linda. The heat is closer to what I´m used to here. Sweat is no longer crawling down my back for no apparent reason. As I sit, waiting for my flight, I find myself reflecting on what I´ve experienced over the past week along with more than 800 church leaders, health professionals and health and lifestyle advocates from over 100 countries. What difference will that make to the young man sitting next to me in the departure lounge?
I was attending the 3rd Global Conference on Health and Lifestyle. The first one was held in Genève a decade ago, but this was a far larger and more inclusive event. Attendees came from every continent bar Antarctica, and everything was translated into multiple languages simultaneously. This included sign-language, which we sometimes tend to forget, and which is a language, or languages, on its own, just like English or French.
Under the overall theme, “Your Brain, Your Body”, the conference included a special emphasis on mental health. Health specialists pointed out that there is no distinction between the body and the mind, we are one whole being with the mind being an integral part of the whole. This leads to a holistic approach in health ministries, which should always have emphasis on the physical, mental, social, relational and spiritual makeup in appropriate measures. I was delighted to see that this was clearly the case in this conference and want to extend my thanks to the organizers.
Every morning we had inspirational lectures by John Skrzypaszek from Avondale College where he drew lessons from the beginnings of Loma Linda and Ellen White´s leading role in the decision-making of starting a Sanatorium there, by the guidance of God. This led to further plenary sessions before moving to breakout groups in the afternoon.
Breakout options included women´s mental health, mental health, addictions, the interaction between lifestyle and disease, nutrition and the brain, health coaching, music therapy, mental and emotional aspects of HIV, training programme for Adventist recovery ministries, CHIP, and special programmes for nurses, dentists, CEOs and leaders. There was also a track on Special Needs / Possibility ministries and Deaf ministries.
The Trans-European Division was represented by at least ten individuals who are involved with either Health or Special Needs Ministries. Coming from six countries, several of them shared the work they are doing. Chidi Ngwaba and Grace Welsh from the UK; Beata Śleszyńska from the Polish Union, who presented the Youth Mental Health Expo that has been developed in Poland as part of the Mental Health track of the conference; Hannike Tan-Koning from the Netherlands who, in a plenary session, shared her work with Journey to Wholeness, an addiction recovery programme;
Christian Karlsson, the Health ministries director from Sweden and two young representatives from the Health ministries in Hungary: dentistry student David Rajki and neurosurgeon Andras Szokocs.
Presenting in the Special needs track was a father-and-son team, Patrick and Espen Johnson with their respective presentations on “Faith Beyond Limits” and “My Complex Relationship with my Disability”. Patrick is director for the Special Needs ministries at the TED.
“I was positively surprised,” said Espen, “by the genuine desire of our world leaders to look at disability with honest eyes and to make our church and the world a more welcoming place for disabled people.”
As a psychiatrist, I had the opportunity to take part in a panel discussion on Women´s mental health. This is an important topic, since women are twice as likely to develop depression and anxiety than men, a difference mostly explained by violence and injustice. My predecessor in office, Dr Torben Bergland, arranged the mental health track. In the closing plenary session on Friday he talked about fanaticism and how we need to steer clear of all such tendencies in order to fulfil our assignment.
What I found most important was the clear message of meeting people where they are. With respect and dignity, giving them information that we know has positive impact on health.
And why should we do it? Because we love! That’s why. Not because someone has to become like “me” or fit better into the “us”, but because this is what Jesus did, this is what God wants us to do. He loved people so much that He couldn´t watch their misery without responding. (Mat 14:14, Mat 20.34, Mark 1.41 Luke 7.13).
This is the love the Church needs to reflect as a beacon into the world. Which is why Ellen White said that the medical missionary work should be the right hand of the gospel. This is the love the world clearly calls for.
I was inspired to listen to Dr Jorge Amando Barriguete Meléndez, a senior advisor at the Institute of Nutrition in Mexico, several other federal agencies in Mexico, and also an advisor to the National Academy of Medicine in France. Meléndez is not an Adventist but talked about his encounters with the Church as a love story. As he learned more about the church´s health message, he asked these questions to his partners at Montemorelos Adventist University in Mexico: “Why don’t you talk out loud? Why don´t you pay more attention to the people on the streets and why don’t you share your experiences in a more easily understood strategy for Mexico?”
They have since worked together on a strategy to battle obesity and are looking at other initiatives. He shared that he had been so inspired by the writings of Ellen G White that he wanted to arrange a meeting with her. Suffice it to say, that hasn´t happened yet!
He urged Adventists to work with others, like himself, “even though we look suspicious,” he said. He congratulated the church on everything it is doing and ended by saying “…but let us do it together”.
This is a call from the world. Let´s listen to it. Let´s do it together!
For more specific reports from the 3rd Global Conference on Health and Lifestyle see Adventist Review:
Exercise to Fend Off Alzheimer’s, and Other Tips for Healthy Living
Health is more than Tofu and Triathlons
Adventists live longer, but not every Adventist is the same
Does God want you to waste a third of your life?
Disabilities are not barriers but possibilities
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Deana Stojković, associate editor
119 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ted.adventist.org
tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division. Readers are free to republish or share this article with appropriate credit including an active hyperlink to the original article.
