How the UMC Works: Healing the World
At times the churches call to heal the world may seam daunting, but we are making an
impact. Because we care about the holistic well being of all people, mental, physical and
spiritual health is a major focus of the work of The United Methodist Church. Together, we
combat diseases of poverty such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis; we provide health
education, advocacy and infrastructure; and we continue our more than 160-year history of
being a key provider of healthcare through the hospitals, clinics and mission centers.
Promoting health and wholeness has always been an important part of the Methodist
tradition, from John Wesley’s Primitive Physick through the long history of medical missionaries to the current work of United Methodist health boards and many other partners supported by Global Ministries through the Abundant Health for All Initiative. Methodism’s focus
on health as a part of mission dates to the 19th and 20th centuries when missionaries expanded the options for health care in underserved communities.
Through United Methodist conferences and health boards, Global Ministries works to
strengthen whole networks of health responses, from revitalization of facilities and staff
training to building better water sources, developing sanitation facilities and promoting nutrition. Global Health continues to concentrate on eradicating preventable diseases, such as
malaria, HIV and AIDS and COVID-19, and supporting the most vulnerable populations, including mothers, newborns and children.
The Abundant Health for All Initiative grew out of the church’s successful 8-year Imagine No Malaria campaign, which began in 2008. In 2016, the General Conference voted to
expand its global health reach from addressing a single disease, as devastating as it still is,
to promoting Abundant Health for All. It set a goal to provide life-saving interventions to 1
million children over the following four years. With your help, Global Ministries reached that
goal in 2020. Global Ministries’ Global Health work didn’t stop when it hit the goal because
sickness and disease have not stopped. Health challenges, especially those that disproportionately impact women and children, and are exacerbated by poverty, insecurity and climate change, continue to impact the world .