Put your faith into action
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.
Jesus (Mark 12:29-31)
Jesus calls us to follow his example and give our lives and loving service. Jesus was compassionately involved with his friends and his followers. He gave explicit instructions in Matthew 25:31-46 to focus on the hungry, imprisoned, naked, homeless, sick, poor, widows and orphans i.e. the most vulnerable in our world. This is every Christian’s calling. It is not a charitable choice but a commandment to right living.
Are you a nurse? Is Faith Community Nursing for you?
” As a Faith Community Nurse (FCN) in my church I see people holistically, as body, mind and spirit, living in relationships, with God, others and the creation, so their support and care needs to consider all these aspects. “
Click here to read ‘As an FCN I make a REAL difference in someone’s life right where I live – you can too!’
Learn more about AFCNA
What about joining a disaster response team?
Gabi’s story: God given nursing opportunities in the midst of disaster
On September 2nd 2019, level 5 Hurricane Dorian arrived in with force, relentlessly delivering devastating and relentless storms to the island of The Bahamas for two days, before moving out and dispersing again. The storms reached winds gusts of over 297 km/h, bringing associated storm surges, high and heavy rainfall which had an overwhelming catastrophic impact.
A group of people set about getting help into this disaster scene as soon as possible.
Click here to read more about Gabi’s experience as part of the Disaster and Responders Team (DART) the medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse in The Bahamas.
Cathy’s story: Against the tide
Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in
Cremona, Italy, April 2020
We spent the entire time in PPE and social distancing from each other. The ‘tactile’ sense of care had been removed… even when caring for our patients and trying to convey love, we had to do this through a double gloved hand. There was no hugging of work colleagues even when times were so tough. The patients’ families were not allowed to spend time with their loved ones in ICU. People had to say “Goodbye” via a mobile phone conversation or ‘Face Time’ with an interpreter conveying their heart breaking messages. I pondered the significance that dying like this had for our patients. Patients I cared for intimately as they struggled for life eventually had to surrender to death. They never saw my face… only my eyes… but I am sure they felt my love and care for them… and I know God heard my silent prayers for them, as I sat with them night after night.
Click here to read the full story
Who is my neighbour?
Jesus commands everyone to “love your neighbour” and we may wonder but “who is my neighbour?” The lawyer in Luke 10:29 asked this question of Jesus and he replied with the parable of the Good Samaritan. A man walking along the road between Jerusalem and Jericho was beaten and left to die. The very people one would expect to help him ignored him and passed by on the other side of the road, namely a priest and a Levite, people of faith who one could expect would have helped him. They didn’t get involved. We too can turn a blind eye and not get involved with vulnerable people that we come across! However, a Samaritan stopped and helped the man. He nursed him, transported him, sheltered him and funded his longer term care and rehabilitation needs. Jesus asked the lawyer “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour [to the Samaritan}…? (Luke 12:36a NIV). The answer obviously is… the person who showed the man mercy! Jesus finished his parable with a command to “Go and do likewise!” (Luke 10:37b NIV). Jesus’ message to Christians everywhere is crystal clear.
The question to each of us is, How will I respond to the person in need? What sort of person will I be?
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More stories of faith in action
On 6 February 2023 at 014:17 an earthquake registering 7.8 magnitude struck southern and central Türkiye (formerly known as Turkey) and northern and western Syria. It is estimated that over 57,000 people died and over 120,000 people were injured in Türkiye. There were more than 10,000 aftershocks in the 3 weeks that followed. An estimated 14 million people, or 16% of Türkiye’s population have been affected. Development experts for the United Nations estimate about 1.5 million have been left homeless. It is the deadliest earthquake in present day Türkiye since the 526 Antakya (Antioch) earthquake, making it the deadliest natural disaster in its modern history…
I watched this event unfold on my television on the Tuesday morning and joined with the world as we saw the devastation of the initial and ongoing earthquakes. SP called me on Thursday 9 and I was flying to Antakya (Antioch), Türkiye as a first responding nurse on Friday 10th February! By Saturday I had been on several plane flights and finally met up with the rest of the first wave team. The final stretch was in a Chinook helicopter due to road closures and we were delivered in the middle of a paddock.