FM Healthcare Fellowship Connects and Informs

by Jeff Finley 

The Free Methodist Healthcare Fellowship has a mission “to connect and nurture Christian healthcare professionals to reflect Christ and communicate the gospel.” Although President Norman Wetterau is a medical doctor, he emphasizes the fellowship is open to people who provide a wide variety of care — not just the folks with M.D. after their names.

Wetterau envisions these care providers increasingly helping congregations address diverse needs.

“Health and healing is a major issue in the Bible and also a major issue in the church, particularly when you consider not just people who are acutely in the hospital, people that have disabilities, people that have mental disorders, people that are struggling with health issues at home, nursing homes, all of that,” Wetterau said in an interview with Light + Life. “The health professions need to be involved.”

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“Many churches aren’t sure how to minister.”

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Along with joining in prayer, Wetterau said, health care workers should be “sharing resources to the pastor and helping to lead the church so that we can minister to these people. Many churches aren’t sure how to minister.”

Susanne Mohnkern, Ph.D., emeritus professor of nursing at Roberts Wesleyan College, said the fellowship “introduces me to experts” through a conference each fall that “brings information to me that I wouldn’t get any other way.”

Mohnkern, a fellowship board member, previously served as the vice president and secretary of the Free Methodist Parish Nurses organization that merged into the Free Methodist Healthcare Fellowship in 2010. She said the nurses and other fellowship members decided to “increase the membership by combining the two. I think it also just makes it more pertinent to a congregation or to health care providers when you have a team of collaborative providers and not just the physicians’ approach.”

Addressing Attraction

Fellowship leaders want to see more mental health counselors and health administrators join the medical doctors, nurses and dentists who currently make up most of the group’s membership. For this year’s conference, they’re opening the table even more and inviting pastors, students and anyone else interested in the theme, “Addressing Same-Sex Attraction From a Christian Perspective,” to join them.

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“It’s a resource to the church to discuss these issues from a scriptural and mental health standpoint.”

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The conference will be held Sept. 16–18 at the Essenhaus Inn & Conference Center in Middlebury, Indiana, near the state’s border with Michigan. A virtual option is available for people who want to participate but cannot make it to Middlebury. Keynote speakers will include Bruce N.G. Cromwell, Ph.D., the superintendent of the Great Plains and Mid-America conferences and the author of “Loving From Where We Stand: A Call to Biblically Faithful Ministry With the LGBTQ+ Community,” and Rodney Bassett, Ph.D., emeritus professor of psychology at Roberts Wesleyan College.

“It’s a resource to the church to discuss these issues from a scriptural and mental health standpoint,” Wetterau said. “We try to address contemporary issues and post notes on our website after the conferences. Last year’s conference was ‘Cornavirus: Lament and Recovery for Ourselves and Those We Serve’ led by Chaplain Larry Lyons. Notes from this conference are still on our website under past events. Other subjects in the past included ‘Holistic Health Care,’ ‘Suffering,’ ‘Serving God Throughout Our Professional Lives’ and ‘Walking With Those in Need Without Losing Heart.’ The speakers for that retreat were Dr. Eric and Rachel McLaughlin who are medical missionaries at Kibuye Hope Hospital, the teaching hospital for Hope Africa University in Burundi. Many of their thoughts can be found in Eric’s book, ‘Promises in the Dark: Walking With Those in Need Without Losing Heart.’”

Broadening the Vision

The fellowship “has changed a lot. It started in 1960,” Wetterau said. “Our vision for health and healing is much broader than what it’s been in the past.”

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“It isn’t just our organization. Health care has changed its vision.”

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In its early years, the fellowship’s membership consisted primarily of medical doctors and dentists who served on the mission field or otherwise supported missions efforts. Wetterau wasn’t a medical missionary but still attended a fellowship gathering where the members welcomed him. Unlike the others, Wetterau specialized in primary care and addiction, and he was involved in the Christian Medical Society.

Free Methodist medical missions work continues, but many of the doctors now come from the countries where the work is taking place instead of hailing from the United States. Since becoming president, Wetterau has helped the fellowship expand its vision while also keeping up with professional developments.

“It isn’t just our organization. Health care has changed its vision,” said Wetterau, who noted that only 15% of the length of a person’s life “is determined by medical interventions. The rest has to do with where you live, how you live, and other issues. … Some of our biggest killers are drug overdoses and suicide, and the church is interested in those things.”

Some health care professionals are now connecting physical health and spiritual health.

“Actually, the medical profession, they’re encouraging people to have a spiritual conversation with patients because the church is a major area of support,” said Wetterau, who added that spiritual awakening is considered a possible treatment in addiction medicine.

Visit fmhealth.org to learn more about the fellowship, sign up for its quarterly newsletter, or for conference contact and registration information. +