Missions

BIG KNIFE - Operating for God in Africa

FMHF member and long term missionary, Frank Ogdon, publishes his story in a book.

Share information about this book with your friends and pastors. Buy one for your church library.

We are pleased to announce the release of Frank’s life story in paperback: BIG KNIFE—Operating for God in Africa which is now available for purchase online at Xulon Press or on Amazon for $22.49. It includes 40 color photos. 

However, we want to give you the author’s discount of $18 (includes postage). Send Frank a check with your mailing address:

Frank Ogden
620 12th St. S.W. #17
Everett, WA 98204

Here’s an excerpt from the Foreword by Dr. David Goodnight.

“This is the incredible story of the miraculous growth of the Kingdom at Kibuye Hospital in the upcountry of Burundi, Africa, and a faithful servant, Dr. Frank Ogden. If you visited Kibuye Hospital today you would find it buzzing with well-trained doctors and staff. You could tour a thriving medical facility with over 300 beds. Fifty years ago no one could have imagined this. The surgery center was primitive. The Frank Ogden School of Medicine did not exist. Electricity was not reliable. But the power and presence of the Kingdom was absolutely active – and growing…”

In Frank’s own words: “This is the account of my preparation for missionary service and the medical adventures I had in the development of rural hospitals in three Central African countries. But more than that, it is the story of how God advances His cause through committed servants of Christ, using medicine to relieve physical suffering and pointing people to Christ.

Living Life with Purpose

By: Tim Kratzer, M.D.

I find myself thinking a lot about Nundu where a Free Methodist rural hospital is located. Nundu is where we raised our family and lived out our missionary call to provide healthcare in the name of Jesus. How did we end up in South Kivu, a province of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, far away from family and friends?

God works in amazing ways, calling us to serve him and transforming us to be the people we were created to be. As a 6th grade student, I very clearly heard God calling me to be a missionary doctor. I even wrote a grade school term paper on the Belgian Congo, as it was known in that day. It’s a long journey from being a 12-year-old to being a 75-year-old retired missionary doctor. Connie was also being called to be the wife of a missionary doctor, even before she met me at Greenville College. As I entered medical school, it was not just me but it was us. How did we complete the course?

Family, friends, and faith in God have guided us along the way. Christian faith was modeled for us in my family. The fellowship of believers nurtured us. God has been with us each step of the way. The Free Methodist Medical Fellowship, as it was known when I was a medical student, came along to encourage us in only the way a group of healthcare professionals could. I met with folks who understood where I was in my journey of faith and professional development. In that fellowship, I met folks who encouraged me to follow the call into medical missions and supported me with their prayers as my wife and I were appointed as Free Methodist missionaries.

The journey is not yet complete. We continue to be a part of what is now known as the Free Methodist Healthcare Fellowship. I fellowship with others who continue to see healthcare as more than a career. For each of us, it is a calling. Our time at Nundu was interrupted when we left Central Africa during a time of civil unrest. By God’s grace, the Deaconess Nundu Hospital continued to minister, and now we have the blessing of encouraging the work of the church as it continues to provide healthcare in South Kivu.

The mission of the Fellowship is to encourage healthcare professionals to pursue their careers as a calling, a calling to minister in the name of Jesus. I am encouraged in that calling. We as a Fellowship continue to reach out to young people as they respond to God’s call on their lives. What a blessing to live life with a purpose.

A Light in the Darkness

By: Dierdre L. McCool, Butterfield Foundation Vice President

“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)

Early Christians turned the world upside down when it came to fulfilling Christ’s command to care for the sick. Love so characterized the early Church that Tertullian reported Romans would exclaim, “See how they love one another!” When a devastating plague swept across the ancient world in the third century, Christians were the only ones who cared for the sick, which they did at the risk of contracting the plague themselves. Meanwhile, pagans were throwing infected members of their own families into the streets even before they died in order to protect themselves from the disease.

Today, many Christians continue to risk their lives to bring hope and healing to the sick and dying in some of the poorest countries on earth. Butterfield Memorial Foundation (BMF) actively collaborates with organizations advancing the Kingdom through funding and encouragement. In 2019, BMF staff conducted site visits to several ministries who have received funding from BMF in the past. We plan to visit others later this year.

During a visit to Burundi, Shelly Goodnight, BMF Grant Committee Chair, Dierdre McCool, BMF Vice President, and Jennifer Richardson, Director of Programs, participated in the Widow and Orphan Conference hosted by Sister Connection. We had the opportunity to visit several of the widow’s homes.

A visit to Kibuye Hospital was inspirational. The group learned how Busoma was made and had the opportunity to tour the hospital and see the community where all the missionaries live. A new pediatric wing is under construction.

A visit was made to Hope Africa University to see how the solar power project funded by BMF was coming along.

 
 

During our visit to the Van Norman Clinic in Bujumbura, we saw the ongoing need for expanded maternity services and the excellent training provided to the staff.

In January 2020, Hal Hoxie, President of BMF, and his wife, Kathy, along with Anita and Sarah Baird, traveled to India to participate in the dedication of the Eric Hostel at UMRI Hospital and participate in graduation at Immanuel University.

If you are aware of a non-profit, Christian healthcare organization that is in need of funding, just direct them to our website to complete a Letter of Inquiry at butterfieldfoundation.org.

Looking Back on 50 Years

By: Frank Ogden, M.D.

In 1970 I first arrived in Burundi to serve at Kibuye Hospital with my wife Maxine and 3 elementary school-age children. I was following several doctors who had served before me since 1946 when the hospital first opened, chiefly, Dr. Esther Kuhn, the founder, and Dr. Len Ensign. Others came for short periods. Ever since my freshman year at Seattle Pacific College (SPU) I had been preparing for this moment. That’s when God used a course in anatomy and physiology to confirm my call to missionary service.

What we found on arrival was a 42-bed hospital staffed by a handful of African nurses led by a Canadian nurse, Doris Moore. We had basic equipment with which to do medicine and surgery—a portable x-ray machine and a generator to power electric lights in the operating room. Kerosene lanterns were important for night duty in the wards. The water supply was usually good, though sometimes lacking. The pharmacy had basic medicines most of the time. We didn’t have fancy facilities and medicines; but God was with us, helping us meet the challenges.

I plugged right into building up services for the years ahead while doing my best to serve a population of 250,000. Since the road was only paved partway from the capital city of Bujumbura, our 100-mile journey to Kibuye was an all-day event, especially in rainy season. Nowadays it takes 2 ¼ hours.

Frank Ogden School of Medicine

Frank Ogden School of Medicine

Never could I have dreamed what was to transpire ½ century later, but here we are in 2020 and that small hospital with only one doctor most of the time has been transformed into a medical center with 229 beds and 18 doctors, half of them Africans. Also, there are 10 interns. Besides these, the hospital campus includes medical students and nurses in training in conjunction with the Frank Ogden School of Medicine, a division of Hope Africa University. Who could have imagined? The facilities’ expansion alone are amazing enough—two-story surgical ward, three-story pediatric building, two additional operating rooms, solar power, and an eye center, just to name a few. Recently Kibuye Hope Hospital has become a training facility for surgeons as part of the Pan-Africa Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS). We are so grateful for the team of Serge missionaries who have really developed Kibuye as the foremost Christian medical center of Burundi.

In the early days, there was no blood available so I had to devise a way to take it from a patient and store it until his operation 2 weeks later in order to give it back to him. Being the only surgeon I was quite busy caring for every kind of illness. Often people came from a far distance, even adjacent countries such as Tanzania and Congo. Epidemic typhus was a devastating epidemic. We had nearly 100% fatality rate until I learned that one 100 mg tablet of doxycycline would cure it. Pfizer Lab gave me the medicine for the clinical work and sent me to Czechoslovakia to present it at a medical conference. We have now eradicated typhus from Burundi. When I retired for the second time, finally hanging up my scalpel in early 2013, we left a one hundred thirty bed hospital as a referral center for 10 health centers. We knew that a team of young doctors was coming later that year to continue the work in the highlands of central Burundi. It was gratifying to me to help train the first class of medical students (from Hope Africa Univ) and attend their graduation in December 2012.

There were some setbacks in the progress to becoming the medical center it is today. A civil war came in 1972 that caused many of the hospital staff to be killed or flee. Then again in 1993, a second genocide caused chaos in the country and devastation to the hospital. Nevertheless, God continued to bless Kibuye through the troubled times, enabling faithful staff to offer healthcare and hope to many. Though I was absent for some years Dr. Dave Crandall, a general surgeon, began building the new hospital at Kibuye in 1973. When I returned three years later I completed the construction and appreciated working in this much larger facility with two operating rooms, maternity, wards, lab, and pharmacy. In 1990 I started the feeding program (Busoma) to prevent the malnutrition of children which has since grown into a major nutrition program with the help of Free Methodist International Childcare Ministry (ICCM) and other donors.

In 1993, while on home assignment in the US Maxine was found to have colon cancer. After a 3-year battle, the cancer recurred and I lost my wife of 39 years. In June 1997 the Lord gave me a new helpmate in order to continue working for Him in Central Africa. Carol Watson had been an evangelistic missionary of the Free Methodist Mission for 10 years in Rwanda prior to the genocide of that country. She had no trouble adapting to life in Burundi due to the similarities in language and culture. We served the hospital and the church full time until 2005 when I retired just short of age 70.

After that we went as volunteers, going for 3 months each year to help, often with the assistance of other short term doctors - especially Dr. Jerry Rusher and Dr. Patricia Rees. There were also three African doctors in residence. We built a 16-bed dormitory for medical students coming for clinical training, a new maternity, and a quadruplex for the expected arrival of the Serge Medical Team coming in 2014 with 6 new doctors. Thus, I could fully retire at age 78.

Now two of the graduates from our medical school have returned to serve at Kibuye after their specialty training in surgery and ophthalmology. Another graduate, a Ugandan, having trained in surgery in his home country, is now establishing a Christian hospital in his home area. We thank God for these first fruits of the new medical school.

It is very gratifying to look back on 50 years to see the phenomenal growth of Kibuye--- from a 42-bed, one-doctor mission hospital, to an important Christian medical center, Kibuye Hope Hospital (soon to be 300-beds) with multiple medical staff, including many specialists. All glory to God for His provision and protection for a half-century of service.

Lament for Congo

By: NORMAN WETTERAU, M.D. - FMHF PRESIDENT

Missions, medical care, church growth, a Nobel peace prize, and now lament as there is renewed civil war. Several of our members including board member Tim Kratzer and former board member Linda Stryker were involved in the medical work in Congo in the 1980s.

Deaconess Nundu Hospital was established in the South Kivu Province of Eastern Congo and a system of rural health centers was developed. A nursing school was established to staff these clinics. Along with these medical facilities, numerous churches were planted and schools established.  It was a time to praise the Lord for the work there. Members of the Free Methodist Medical Fellowship, as it was known then, were involved in this medical work in the Congo as well as work in Rwanda, Burundi, Haiti, and other countries.

Now our time of praise has turned to mourning. In several of these countries civil war broke out. The war in Congo appears to be the longest and most deadly with over 5 million people dying since 1995. This is more people than in other well-known wars including Cambodia, Syria, and Rwanda. What is worse is that this war seems to go on and on, over 25 years now. Hundreds of thousands have also fled as refugees and some have been resettled in the US. Free Methodist Churches of Congolese refugees dot our nation and add vitality to the United States Free Methodist Church, but the praise and vitality of these churches belie the fact that war and conflict continue in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Civil unrest has persisted and accelerated in intensity over the past year on the plateau region west of Deaconess Nundu Hospital. This situation is very critical and the Free Methodist Church has been severely impacted. More than 80% of the villages where the FMC has churches have been destroyed. Hundreds of people have lost their lives. The conflict is ongoing with fighting reported around Minembwe, the principle town in the area. More than 35,000 have fled the area for Uvira to the north and Baraka to the south and even to neighboring countries. It is reported that 40,000 people are concentrated in Minembwe, posing a humanitarian crisis with lack of shelter, food and clothing. The Bishops Famine and Relief Fund has assisted these internally displaced people, but has not yet gotten to those who have fled to Minembwe. More assistance is needed.  

In November, several congregations in the Rochester, NY area gathered in a Lament for Congo Service. As doctors, we try to fix things and so we have been attempting to help through support of Deaconess Nundu Hospital.  Those that gathered in Rochester are encouraged by these efforts. Susan Uwiringiyimana, a Free Methodist who fled this region of the DRC almost twenty years ago, was also at that service. She works with displaced women in the Congo.  Dr. Wetterau represented Champions for Congo and the Free Methodist Healthcare Fellowship. But the service was about lament. We need to start with prayer and call on God to act. The various plans for peace, whether brokered by the UN, the government or even the Free Methodist Church have not worked. We need to cry out and this service was a time to do that. The service began with songs of praise to God by everyone and then by an African refugee choir. Following the singing there was a time of remembering the good things of the Congo, the establishment of the church in 1963 and the tremendous growth of the church. God has been and still is working there. God will do more.

There was then confession. One person from the Congo began to recite portions of Romans. I do what I do not want to do. I am against what is happening but then I do it. He went over and over that as a confessional and helping all to realize that there are Christians from different tribes who feel what is happing is terrible yet end up participating in it. How is that possible? Paul made it clear in Romans that it is possible and we need to confess and repent. We need to beg God to help us change and help the whole country to change. This confession then moved to general confession, repentance, and lament

Scriptures of lament were read including Psalm 90. The service ended with communion. Jesus died at the hands of men, but unlike the refugees who have lost their lives, he died for the sins of humankind, people from every nation. And he was resurrected as clear evidence that God has overcome evil. We ask God to come and walk with us but in communion we join with Jesus at the table of death, forgiveness, and healing.

Many of us have been trying to solve the problem through our giving of financial resources to provide medical care or to help refugees. We need to continue to give, but let us also fall on our knees, weep, and repent. As we join with the refugees in lament, God will guide us in the ways that we can join in assisting those who are suffering with both our prayers and gifts. Can those of us who are not from the Congo and are not refugees really appreciate how good our own situation is? Can we join with those who weep? As we do that God will visit us and walk with us.

Nundu Deaconess Hospital on the Front Lines Offering Hope

By: Norm Wetterau, MD - FMHF President

Nobel Laureate, Dr. DenisMukwege. Photo: ANP Martijn Beekman.

Nundu Deaconess Hospital has been in a region of civil unrest for more than twenty years. Nundu is located in South Kivu, which is an eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Over 5 million lives have been lost, hospitals and schools have been destroyed, and untold numbers of citizens have been terrorized. Women have been especially vulnerable as they have become victims of rape by gangs of soldiers, resulting in gynecologic injuries and the spread of HIV-AIDS. Our hospital at Nundu has survived by God’s protective hands and the prayers of the Free Methodist Church of the Congo. Thank you for being among those who have prayed for God’s protection and provision.

Yes, God has not been silent in the face of terror. Our hospital in Nundu was ransacked but not destroyed. Many of our outlying clinics continued to function at a basic level. People would carry medicines on their backs up the hills to these clinics. The nursing school at Nundu retreated to a safe place but continued to function.

Dr. Esther Labunga Kenge, the wife of the Free Methodist Bishop of Congo, spent time in South Africa as a refugee during this time of terror and has written and taught about this sexual violence and HIV. She has taught that women who were terrorized and traumatized are not being punished by God and are the special focus of God’s love. She is spreading this word and through International Child Care Ministries is developing projects so that widows and their children can grow food, care for animals, and support themselves. The goal is for the mothers to work, receive love and healing through the church and for their children to attend school. Your support of these programs through ICCM is very much appreciated. Though the situation for many has seemed hopeless, God has not been silent in the face of terror.

During this same period of war, a sister hospital known as the Lemera Swedish Pentecostal Hospital was totally destroyed. Rather than withdraw from the Congo, the Swedish Pentecostal Church established a medical center and medical school in the provincial capital of Bukavu. Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Christian Congolese surgeon and member of the medical school faculty, developed a graduate training program in gynecologic surgery. His special interest has been perfecting surgical procedures to repair the damage resulting from violent rape. He has dedicated his life to offering hope to victims of sexual violence. After his complicated surgeries, women have been able to maintain pregnancies and live a normal life. Their curse was healed by God through Dr. Mukwege.

This year the world became aware of what has happened in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. How did this happen? In 2018, Dr. Mukwege and Nadia Murad, a woman who was enslaved by ISIS and escaped, were chosen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Nadia did not receive this prize because she was raped nor did Dr. Mukwege receive recognition simply for his surgical skill. They received this honor because they have spoken on behalf of women both in the middle-east and in the Congo who have become the victims of violence. Dr. Mukwege has spoken at the UN even as he has been threatened for making the story of war and terror known throughout the world. It is wonderful for a Christian to receive such a prize. It is not just recognition for him, but for the church and God’s Kingdom.

What about the Free Methodist Church in the US? The Free Methodist Church in the Congo is strong and growing. They evangelize, maintain schools, operate clinics and hospitals, and worship with enthusiasm. Even in the face of civil war, they did not give up. Indeed, in some areas, the church actually grew. How is the North American Free Methodist Church to respond to such overwhelming human tragedy? In our affluence and in our relative domestic stability, poverty and the terror of war make us feel uncomfortable. It is easy to not want to hear. There is too much for us to handle. Frankly, over the years I have offered to speak in churches about this situation and very few want to hear about it. This is a common reaction for people presented with overwhelming hopeless situations. Is it because the realities of war are so far away and seem so hopeless, or is it because we feel that our meager donations cannot do much? Now the world knows about the realities of the Congo through the Nobel Peace Prize offered to Dr. Mukwege.

Nundu Deaconess Hospital is on the front lines of offering hope. Our challenge is to be informed and tell the story of the Church in the Congo. Pray for those who have been the victims of violence. Pray for the North American Church as it faces the realities of a world with overwhelming human need even as it enters into countries which have been closed to the Gospel. Pray that there will be a response with the resources God has blessed us with in addressing the humanitarian needs of the Congo.