May 1, 2003

He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.There above it stood the Lord…Genesis 28:12-13

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We greet you in the precious name of our Risen Savoir, Jesus Christ. We thank you for your prayers, support and Christian love. We rejoice in our God, who knows the perfect times to give his vision, and to support and encourage each of us in our walk before Him.

We are currently studying the Zulu language.We are also getting to know and worshipping with our hosts in mission, Indian Baptists.Many of the ancestors of these Indian people came to South Africa between 1873 and 1900 as indentured sugar cane workers. Eighty percent of South African Indians are Hindus and 10 percent are Muslims.

The vision that the Lord has given us is diagrammed in Figure 1. This vision has come through much prayer and consultation with our partners in mission here in South Africa and in the United States. The steps represent increasingly challenging ministry states, requiring progressively more commitment, training and local resources.

The Indians have especially high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and stroke.Their health situation reminds us of that in our Michigan cities, and especially of the Mexican immigrant community.The Zulu people are over 1/3 to 1/2 infected with the HIV virus.HIV/AIDS is present in the Indian community as well.Substance abuse is a problem for both people groups.Our Indian partners want to address cardiovascular problems first. Accordingly, step one is blood pressure screening, education, and referrals. This gives the church somewhere to start into health ministry that has minimal operating expenses, simple and durable equipment, and a large clinical impact and value to the community.

Last month we began meeting with six women at the Tongaat Baptist Mission Church. They requested that we train them in blood pressure and blood sugar screening.They also expressed their heart-felt desire to share the Gospel while doing health outreach.They have been providing some very basic health outreach efforts amongst a Zulu rural settlement called Zwelisha Farms about three miles away from their city. Our students are all women in their 30s-60s, and five of the six were formerly Hindu. They come from three different churches in the area. They are mature in the faith. We join them at their mid-week morning prayer meeting before having our training time with them. At the time of this church's request for training, by the power and leading of the Holy Spirit, the First Baptist Church of Charlotte, Michigan provided ministry funds for us to obtain blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride monitoring instruments and supplies.We are using these instruments for training this group and will be able to use the equipment in the future for teaching other church groups.We also created a manual on blood pressure screening suitable for training the Christian layperson.

Already, these women have had opportunity to witness to the love of Jesus with their Hindu and Muslim neighbors by checking their blood pressures.They will also use this skill in their outreach to Zulu people at Zwelisha Farms and in their own church.One student, Mrs. Alice Perumalsamy, walks a far distance to attend these sessions. She told us that she didn't think that they would really be able to measure blood pressure, and has been surprised by their success. Mrs. Savy Naiker's husband has offered to purchase his wife a blood pressure kit in order to support her evangelistic efforts.Working with these Christian sisters has been a rich and beautiful experience for us as we have experienced the grace of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit moving amongst these women.We have challenged these women to create some written materials to accompany their screening efforts, combining scriptural truths with information on blood pressure.

The next step on our Jacob's stairway is to prepare manuals for training in the skills of blood sugar and cholesterol screening.We also plan to prepare a biblically and scientifically based booklet on heart healthy living, which will include low-fat recipes for common South African Indian dishes.

When a church has developed confidence and expertise in steps 1 and 2, it might broaden its ministry by undertaking the further steps of HIV/AIDS and/or substance abuse screening and referral.What each individual church actually does will depend on God's call.Eventually, some churches may move to establish clinics that provide medical treatment as part of their ministry.These might involve nurses with skills in primary care, for example.

Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."Acts 3:6

Your fellow walkers in Jesus,

Rick and Anita Gutierrez