Medical/Dental Ministries

The Southern Union Medical/Dental Department provides educational and spiritual growth opportunities, financial assistance*, and encouragement to all physicians and dentists who are practicing in the Southern Union or who would like to relocate to the Southern Union Territory. We value all health care professionals and encourage them to utilize their profession to share the love of Christ and the Good News of His soon return in the workplace.

*(A one-time moving allowance is provided for a recent Seventh-day Adventist graduate of a medical or dental school who moves to the Southern Union. A moving allowance is also available to a practicing Seventh-day Adventist physician/dentist who moves from another territory into the Southern Union territory to practice.)

We currently visit Loma Linda School of Medicine and School of Dentistry twice each year to encourage our Seventh-day Adventist medical and dental graduates to move to the Southern Union to live and practice their ministry.

We believe our Seventh-day Adventist physicians and dentists, as well as all health professions, play a significant role in the gospel ministry.  Their leadership and teaching skills help support our churches, especially in our rural areas.   They impact our communities as a whole with their ministry of extending the healing love of Christ for body, mind, and soul.  The Christian doctor is a positive influence and can lead many souls to Christ’s kingdom.

Medical missionary work is in no case to be divorced from the gospel ministry.  The Lord has specified that the two shall be as closely connected as the arm is with the body.  With out the union neither part of the work is complete. ~Testimonies, Volume 6, p. 240

Christ’s servants are to follow His example.  As He went from place to place, He comforted the suffering and healed the sick.  Then He placed before them the great truths in regard to His kingdom.  This is the work of His followers.  As you relieve the sufferings of the body, you will find ways for ministering to the wants of the soul.  You can point to the uplifted Saviour and tell of the love of the Great Physician who alone has the power to restore. ~Christ Object Lessons, p.233-234

The presenting of Bible principles by an intelligent physician will have great weight with many people.  There is efficiency and power with one who can combine in his influence the work of a physician and of a gospel minister. ~Counsels on Health, p. 546

When connected with other lines of gospel effort, medical missionary work is a most effective instrument by which the ground is prepared for the sowing of the seeds of truth, and the instrument also by which the harvest is reaped.  Medical missionary work is the helping hand of the gospel ministry…The Lord has ordained that Christian physicians and nurses shall labor in connection with those who preach the Word.  The medical missionary work is to be bound up with the gospel ministry. ~Review and Herald, September 10, 1908