Steve Noblett, Director of the Christian Community Health Fellowship will speak at the upcoming virtual retreat on September 19.
In addition to several Free Methodist Chaplains, Steve Noblett has accepted our invitation as a speaker. CCHF is a fellowship of over 200 Christian community health centers. He will share with us and invite feedback and response.
During the Coronovirus crisis, he has spent hours on the phone with directors and staff of Christian Community Health Centers as they have had to deal with overwhelming stresses and also choices that they have had to make. Whereas other speakers will talk about hospital and nursing home issues, he will talk about primary care and community issues.
In addition, he will share his own vision of the crisis as it involves the church and the opportunity that the church has today. Things are falling apart with a health crisis we cannot control, the closure of schools, massive unemployment, and the protests against racism and police violence. The racism and police violence have been with us a long time, but in the midst of everything that is happening, all this is boiling up and action is demanded, yet all the issues, when taken together, are beyond a human solution.
He points to Romans 8:22, where the creation is groaning as in the pains fo childbirth, yet birth will come and God will act. He believes that what is happening is the result of massive failure of human efforts, but at such a time God can act. Christians need to show Gods love and hope. It can be a time for people to turn to God as they see how Christians have responded to all these troubles (if we are responding in the right ways.)
After his talk, we will open the virtual floor for others to comment on. How do we respond as health care professionals but also as Christians and members of our churches? People can also share their thoughts on our website.