Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.
Proverbs 3:27

Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble.
Psalm 41:1

13 years ago, John Neir, a missionary, and a few leaders from Evangelical Free Church, started Medicare when they were moved and guided by the Lord. Since then, Evangelical Free Church has been the best partner of Medicare. Our mission is to show Christ’s love through medical care, education, social services and community development. We believe that caring for the poor does not mean only giving lavish donations to them. Rather, it means caring given after in-depth observation and understanding, hoping that one can eventually give the poor the most appropriate help and lead them to know the true path in life. Medicare is willing to be a partner of the church to seek a way to bring love and care to fellow Chinese in the Mainland in ways that are both acceptable to God and effective.

Crisis / Opportunity / Turning points
In 1998, there was a serious flood in Central China. Through Medicare, Evangelical Free Church helped the Christian Church in Hubei Province to assist in relieving the disaster. In the past decade or so, we have witnessed the rapid growth of the Hubei Church. As a result, we have also built a strong foundation for cooperation with Hubei Church and the government departments. Medicare opened Loving Heart Clinics in Wuhan and Yichang, in collaboration with Zhongnan Theological Seminary and Yichang church respectively. We have also operated Loving Heart Mobile Clinics in both places to provide medical services and teach basic health knowledge to the people in the poor villages. Later, the Government of Chongqing City invited us to work with Fengjie County People’s Hospital to run a medical vehicle and set up a loving heart medical assistance fund. We hope that by doing so, the situation of “Finding it difficult and expensive to consult a doctor” in poor mountain areas can be improved. Besides medical care, we also strongly support and recommend the needs in education (sponsoring students, English camps, school facilities), community development (assistance in agriculture, road repairing, drinking water projects), supporting the poor, repairing and construction work of churches and so on.

In early 2008, the middle south area of China encountered the worst snowstorm in the past 100 years. Hubei was the first to suffer. We immediately visited the churches in the villages in the areas affected by the disaster with church leaders and government officers to have an understanding of the situation. After several visits, Medicare and Evangelical Free Church of China jointly organized the “Urgent Act of Love for Snow Storm in Hubei”. We helped 10 churches to repair or rebuild (including places such as E’zhou, Chibi, Xianning, Jianli in Hubei and Luzhou in Sichuan and so on). We also matched individual churches of EFCC with churches affected by the disaster so that they could have more mutual understanding and build up long-term partnership.

In May last year, we organized the “Hiking for Love” in Yichang to raise fund for the establishment of “Emergency assistant fund”. Unexpectedly, the earthquake in Sichuan happened on the day after the hiking had finished. We immediately hurried to Chengdu and Dujiangyan to visit the areas affected by the disaster. After we returned to Hong Kong, the Evangelical Free Church and Medicare immediately started to work on relieving the disaster. Within a few months, we had visited the areas affected by the disaster for more than 10 times and helped the churches, organizations and government departments to help the people affected by the disaster. We had also started “A glass of cool water” to support the “International Research and Training on Psychological Reconstruction after the Disaster” to promote churches in Hong Kong to jointly support the areas affected by the disaster. A few vehicles presented to the areas affected by the disaster for medical and service purpose had also played an active role in providing free medical services and transportation of people and resources. As a result, Jesus’ love went through the cities and villages.

Thank God, from the youth camps in the summer holiday to the “Sending Warmth to Sichuan by Evangelical Free Church”, the Lord Himself moved churches in Evangelical Free Church to care for the needs in the areas affected by the disaster. In this year, God used voluntary teams sent out by different churches to visit the people affected by the disaster every month. They brought love and care to the temporary schools, settlement areas and camps. From this year onward, Medicare will concentrate on helping churches to rebuild and working with local churches to establish medical and comprehensive social services centres. We are experimenting on giving small loans and making use of the model of social enterprises to help people, families and churches to help and provide for themselves. This can help to develop long-term friendship and partnership with them. The reconstruction of Sichuan still has a long way to go. We need leaders and brethrens to continue to pray and walk with us!

Letter From A Minzhu Mother After Earthquake

Letter From A Pengzhou Driver After Earthquake

New chapter in Hubei: Medical and Care Centre for the Elderly in Wuhan
Besides Sichuan, Medicare’s work in other areas is still in progress. In the past year, three young persons suffering from cancer whom we had cared for passed away one after another (aged between 13 and 24). Thank God we had the chance to go through the last months with them and help them and their family to know and accept the Saviour. Their death inspired us to care for the needs of patients who are dying and their families. Medicare has been exploring the possibility of opening a Christian medical organization by building on the foundation of the Loving Heart Clinic in Wuhan. After investigation for more than one year, we understood that the society in the Mainland had become an elderly society. Among the 8.7 million people in Wuhan, more than 1 million are elderly. There are only 60,000 beds for the aged in organizations caring for the elderly. Moreover, the facilities are very poor. There also lacks medical and hospice organizations for the aged. Therefore we decided to open a medical and care centre for aged which will combine medical, caring and hospice services. This is a very meaningful and valuable project of ours in the future. We hope that the Lord will help us to accomplish it.

Thanksgiving
1. God led a former head of hospital and Medical and Health Bureau to become our co-worker (Medical Services Officer in the Mainland). He had become a Christian last year and was baptized in last Easter.
2. The reconstruction work of Fuli Church in the south of Sichuan and the eight churches in Huili County in Liangshan are in good progress. They will be among the first churches to be rebuilt.
3. Through many visits, many partners and people affected by the disaster in Sichuan are interested in the gospel. We hope that the Lord will continue to use volunteers and chances for cooperation to witness His love.

Prayer requests
1. Thank God for providing new co-workers joining our team so that our service can develop. We hope that we can honour God and benefit people with the same mind.
2. Most people affected by the disaster are recovering quite well in their bodies, mind and spirit. Please pray that the Lord will continue to use us to rebuild the spirit and body of them. We will continue to explore the possibility of helping the people affected by the disaster to make a living by small loans and social enterprises.
3. The establishment of a medical and care centre for the elderly in Wuhan, Hubei, which will combine medical, caring and hospice. We have already found a suitable site. We need to raise HK$3 million for starting it.

He who has pity on the poor gives to the Lord, and the Lord will give him his reward.

Proverbs 19:17