Like a Spring of Water

Global Health Ministries’ (GHM’s) roots run deep in the red dirt of Madagascar, in Liberia, Tanzania, and Cameroon. These places were home, at least for a time, for many of GHM’s founders and early supporters.

The origins of GHM are rooted in Lutheran missionaries who lived and worked and often raised their families in these countries. Many were medical missionaries, serving alongside local colleagues as doctors and nurses at mission hospitals they helped build. Eventually, many of the missionaries returned to the U.S. to practice medicine in Minnesota, California, Wisconsin, Montana. But the people and places they had come to love stayed in their hearts.

By the 1980s, administration of mission hospitals had largely transferred to local churches, but few could absorb the financial responsibilities associated with running hospitals. Lack of funds resulted in shortages of medicine and supplies, and aging equipment they couldn’t afford to replace. A small group of American medical missionaries serving in Madagascar and Liberia met at a conference in Kenya in 1986, and shared their experiences and frustrations with each other. They learned the Presbyterians had similar challenges, and in response had successfully formed a fundraising organization to provide support. Energized by what they heard, they reached out to their network of friends and supporters with a letter describing an organization that would “support and assist our overseas Lutheran churches in realizing the full potential of Christ’s healing ministry.” The idea of Global Health Ministries was born, and took root.

This network of friends and supporters, called GHM, has grown exponentially for over three decades. Dr. Steve Friberg, long-term missionary to Tanzania, says it well: “One of the amazing things about God is that when God is working, there’s a ripple effect; materials go a lot farther, and people that weren’t connected get more connected.” Donated medical supplies and equipment are now sent by sea container from a 12,000 square foot warehouse instead of in cardboard boxes packed in a garage. We are still marked by deep relationships, and the connections that move us forward. We continue to serve alongside international colleagues, now in 14 countries, expanding our programs to include leadership consulting and accompanying partners in grassroots efforts to improve community health. Sometimes we have been amazed at all that is accomplished - the materials that arrive just when we need them, the funding that comes in the “nick of time,” the projects that flourish against all odds. But God is working, watering the deep roots with water that never fails.