God brought the Jewish people out of captivity in Egypt. He did this by entrusting them to leaders. Psalm 77:20 Team leadership in EMAS Canada is multifaceted including clinical, spiritual, and administrative responsibilities. Much can be and is delegated, but the overall responsibility remains with the team leader. There are four tasks for the [...]
by Beatrice Vandervelde I have now been on two medical missions to Vietnam. Since I don’t have medical training, I come as team support. What would my role be? That first day, there was a huge crowd so I helped keep order. AT first, by the end of the day I was a bit [...]
The healthcare situation in Zimbabwe’s public hospitals is in dire straits, the recent doctors’ strike is in part due to the frustrations of the under- resourced conditions healthcare givers are struggling with. This is how severe the situation has become. EMAS Canada wants to do something about this desperate healthcare situation. We are concerned [...]
TRIP CANCELLATION NOTICE To protect our volunteers and in keeping with our policies, EMAS has had to cancel the Hand-In-Hand-with-Haiti 2019 mission due to a travel advisory. The EMAS Haiti project, called Hand in Hand with Haiti, is a partnership between EMAS Canada and the El Shaddai Church community in Port-au-Prince. For more information [...]
Dr. Garth Slysz, MD. has resigned from the EMAS Board effective February 5th 2019. He will be taking on more responsibility with the Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evangelism, Canada (FAME). His new responsibilities will include medical mission to Ethiopia. On behalf of the Board, Team Leaders and Staff, I wish him and his wife [...]
EMAS Canada is highly decentralized. Team leaders and their team form the functional units through which the Vision of EMAS is turned into its mission. We have cultural diversity among the leaders, our volunteers span two generations, and younger leaders are emerging. Our services are carried out within the boundaries of well defined core values. [...]
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36) Jesus responded to the needs of the people around Him. He healed all manner of diseases, He fed the hungry, and He announced the good news of the Kingdom of God. [...]
I see three opportunities to live out our confidence in the promises of God. What if God would give us: Leadership that is united by our common Vision, accountable to Him and to one another. Stewardship of His people and His task for increasing momentum to advance the gospel through healthcare teams. Improved [...]
Two things permeate the life of every EMAS Canada team which define us: our Vision and our Mission; and then there are five Core Values that we treasure. With 70 years to look back on, we see that our vision has become even more unifying, our mission remains constant, and our core values continue [...]
Jesus never used His healing miracles as bait for preaching the gospel or for gaining publicity, nor were they a public relations tool. He did not exploit healthcare for the purpose of marketing His spiritual program, or as a magnet to draw people to some hidden agenda. He did good for their bodies because He [...]
Mark1 described an incident when Jesus and His disciples made an extremely short “medical mission” trip to the east, by crossing a stormy Sea of Galilee. During the perilous trip a storm threatened to capsize their boat. It was, however, clear that Jesus wanted to make this trip. Jesus treated just one patient: a [...]
An important role of the EMAS Team Leader is mentoring the next generation of Christ-like leaders. In this way we participate in Jesus Christ’s strategy to establish God’s kingdom. His strategy was to delegate His mission to His followers. A.B Bruce in The Training of the Twelve paraphrases John 17:6-10 in this way: “It [...]
Teamwork is at the core of how EMAS operates. Christ-centered healthcare teams are the fundamental functional units that carry out the charitable purposes of the organization. All teams are guided by a Strategic Plan that is revised by the team leaders, board, and staff. Once a potential leader has been recommended to the board [...]
EMAS Canada teams are composed of followers of Jesus Christ who aspire to become like Him. They serve in teams that are built over long periods of planning, praying and discerning God’s leading in response to overseas opportunities. An invitation to serve will often be followed by two or more exploratory visits, during which the [...]
Empowering Local Leaders The inaugural Université Lumière Interprofessional Student Elective initiative kicked off in February 2018 during the fourteenth EMAS Canada (Hand in Hand with Haiti) trip to Haiti. Planning had been underway for a year before the team arrived in Port-au-Prince to offer six medical students and six nursing students from Université Lumière [...]
Each year about 350 Canadian volunteers, led by volunteer team leaders, travel to and serve in seven different countries. EMAS runs with two full-time staff and one contract staff person. Our Board members serve voluntarily. They minimize the cost of running EMAS by donating their time and use of their own personal resources to [...]
Christ-Centred Healthcare About two years ago, Ana had been bed ridden for a month due to a fracture of her mid femur. She’d also had a hip replacement on the same limb with the prosthesis very close to the fracture. Local surgeons were unable to help her. Operation Esperanza, an EMAS team from Edmonton [...]
Imagine your life story as part of a letter from Christ. Your story: written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. God gives us opportunities to speak through the lives we live among family and friends, and through the occupations He gives us. [...]
A SMALL BUSINESS INITIATIVE to help raise two recently orphaned children Before leaving Canada for Haiti, in February 2018, a Christian lady approached my wife, Appoline and asked her to take a gift of $100 with her to Gambade. Her only instruction was that this amount be given to a family to facilitate a [...]
During twenty-five years of medical practice in Kenya, I worked in Christian mission hospitals, private practice and in a national teaching hospital. I observed how wasteful some short-term medical missions could be: Some came with the donations of inappropriate and even outdated medical equipment. In one incident a group arrived with a large supply [...]