Picture the situation: you’re a hardworking, frequently stressed junior doctor in a busy hospital. The firm is close-knit, supportive and your colleagues are all good mates.
Five o’clock comes, you jet off home swapping your stethoscope for a Bible. Home group is your next stop. You’re actually a committed Christian doctor but nobody at work knows. You see you’d rather they didn’t find out what extracurricular activities you get up to. Sharing the most important part of your life with colleagues can be indescribably difficult at times. We all dread the raised eyebrows and smirks of ridicule that we fear will come thick and fast once the Truth is out.
Or maybe we find it difficult to see the relevance of God in a profession so blessed with individuals at the pinnacle of human intelligence, people with awe-inspiring power and ability.
What if we don’t fit in? The whole culture of medicine is highly conformist with someone who is a bit different sticking out like a sore thumb. Do we dare to be different or do we resign ourselves to being ‘private-life’ Christians. What would Jesus have us do?
Jesus’s earthly ministry was scandalous in the frequency with which it broke social norms and conventions. Similarly he commands us to do the same. We do not belong to the world - we have been called from it (Jn 15:18). We may be disliked in our choice but we are not living to please men but God (Gal 1:10).
Similarly, our undeserved gift of salvation is a dynamic gift which can be given and re-given to those who accept Jesus. We are told that Christ’s return is purposely delayed to allow as many as possible to come to know him. (2 Pet 3:19). In the interim, Jesus has explicitly commissioned us to make disciples for him from all nations. We should not delay.
The power of the Spirit
If we examine closely what we are being commanded to do, it all seems like a pretty tall order. We are after all friable human beings. Thankfully we have been lessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit which does a very good job of helping us in our weaknesses (Rom 8:26) and our efforts at evangelism.
Christians have a distinctive whiff about them which irritates the noses of unbelievers (2 Cor 2:14-16). They live life with a new purpose - to serve God. Gone are the worldly insecurities about money and image so prevalent in our profession. The outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost set tongues wagging (Acts 2:12). ‘What does this mean?’ the unbelievers demanded. Later on that day 3,000 were saved. We may not do our ward rounds with tongues of fire on our heads but we have in our hands a potent, life-giving gift which has the power to win unbelievers for Christ.
Do not be ashamed to testify
We have the Spirit on board, so what comes next? ‘Faith comes from hearing the message,’ states Paul in his letter to the Romans (Rom 10:17). While we busy ourselves living out good lives among the pagans, there may well ultimately come a time when we are called to give account for our faith and present a Gospel outline to our colleagues.
When Timothy was being schooled for ministry, his mentor St Paul instructed him not to be ashamed to testify about the Lord (2 Tim 1:8). This was good advice from a man who had not one ounce of shame for God’s Word. Paul’s boldness in preaching the Gospel stemmed directly from his realisation its words glistened with the Lord’s power (Rom 1:16).
I have been caught red-handed with a Bible before in hospital and sadly too often the general consensus is to view my choice of literature as an antiquated fable with the life-changing ability of a soap opera. We must be prepared to preach the Word faithfully and allow the Spirit’s power to challenge these misconceptions.
So, you’re going to share the Gospel with a colleague. The pair of you are having lunch together but the opportunity never arises. Disheartened you head to the mess where about 20 of your peers are watching MTV. One guy asks why you weren’t at the drug lunch last night. ‘Oh I was at church,’ you reply. Silence falls while several pairs of eyes swivel in your direction waiting for you to explain yourself. Now, in which situation would you rather talk about Jesus?
The young apostle Timothy was command by Paul to ‘preach the Word in season and out of season’ (2 Tim 4:2). Paul was no doubt aware that when faced with a less receptive gang of listeners, it was tempting to baton down, shut up and wait for an easier opportunity. A quick skim through the Book of Acts reveals that the majority of Paul’s audiences were abusive and frequently hostile. This didn’t phase him as he would happily put up with anything rather than hinder the Gospel of Christ (1 Cor 9:2). Paul’s drive should be our drive. Let us disregard issues of pride and image as the resilience and fervour of our preaching communicates the power of the Lord we serve.
Respect the boss
Being in authority is tough work. Too often our seniors find themselves in the difficult position of living up to juniors’ expectations while at the same time bearing the brunt of their criticism.
There are few jobs in medicine where we don’t have seniors above us. What do we think of them? Do we hold them in high respect or do they become an object of gossip and slander once they are out of earshot. I personally found the speed at which I slipped into moaning mode was really quite phenomenal. I hated 4.30 post-clinic ward rounds with a vengeance and by the end of week one, I had managed to communicate this sad fact to practically everybody. It’s not difficult to engage a fellow moaner in conversation and before you know it, you have an infectious habit.
As Christians, we have a terrific opportunity to shatter the mould and turn the tables on authority-bashing. Peter tells us we must submit for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men (1 Pet 2:13). Paul teaches his Roman brothers that all authority has been put there by God (Rom 13:1). Obviously some people in authority are better at their job than others. Nevertheless, we are still to submit and the reason for this is twofold.
Firstly a refusal to accept God’s chosen authority is to rebel against him. Secondly love and respect are the hallmarks of Christ’s character and by endorsing these we show reverence to our Lord. A stubborn refusal to disrespect our seniors whatever their actions is a powerful witness to the grace of God and will effectively silence the ignorant talk of foolish men (1 Pet 2:13).
Service and prayer
‘I hate being a houseman,’ a colleague told me one evening. He was fed up of admin, taking blood from difficult patients every morning and being the Registrar’s punch bag on ward rounds. He desperately wanted to be an SHO and be able to push his dogsbody jobs onto someone else.
His remarks aren’t uncommon and in some ways understandable. In the world’s view it is distinctly more pleasant being nearer the top of the medical hierarchy than the bottom. He asked me if I agreed. I explained that as a Christian, I was called to a lifetime of service. I think he thought I was mad but left deeply touched by the sacrifice Christ had made for mankind.
The analogy is clear: if Jesus, as God, was willing to humble himself to serve sinful men, then we as his followers should be eager to do the same. Indeed, we should serve without complaint (Phil 2:14) even if the task seems beneath us or unfair. We are called to step in where others have refused, to continue where others have left and to persevere where others have given up. In doing so we shall achieve two aims. We shall know God hrough the fellowship of sharing in his suffering (Phil 3:10) and the world shall know us as children of God - shining like stars in this universe (Phil 2:15), as a witness to our Lord.
The last word must go to prayer, a commitment to pray for our hospital and colleagues. ‘Should I not be concerned about that great city?’ the Lord said to the prophet Jonah. He was of course talking about Nineveh - a city that had been full of unbelievers. In the same way he is concerned for the NHS establishments in which we work.
Time and again in the apostolic letters we are urged to pray (eg 1 Thes 5:17). Following Pentecost, the spirit-filled apostles committed themselves to pray for boldness to speak God’s Word. Their request was honoured with a great revival all over Jerusalem (Acts 2:42-47, 4:31).
As we pray for our hospitals we shall see God’s blessing fall and his grace begin to open hearts to his gospel. Prayer works and it is a powerful witness to gather resident Christians together to pray on-site for God’s work. We decided to prayer walk the corridors one evening to claim the ground for Jesus. The tough part was actually admitting to passers-by what we up to! God was gracious in opening doors for us to share him with work-mates and distribute Christian literature which sparked off a fair bit of interest.
Over to you
So the proof of the pudding is that we can share Christ with our colleagues and impact their lives. We have to be receptive to God’s call, immerse ourselves in his Word and dare to be different! There are so many people who have never heard the gospel or alternatively think they know what it’s all about and have dismissed it as irrelevant. We will rub shoulders with many people like this in our walk through medicine. Let us not be frightened to use these opportunities to make our Lord known.
