[1]“Every day is a little bit different.” That’s how Jim Vale explained what life is like for him and his wife, Ashley. Both are family medicine physicians who serve with the International Mission Board in Southeast Asia.
They spend two to three days a week working in a clinic and dedicate time to teaching health education and meeting needs in rural villages.
Jim started a Christian fellowship for medical students, and he mentors a young pastor at a local Chinese church, which has a history of helping persecuted pastors seeking asylum. In addition to medical work, Ashley leads a women’s Bible study.
The Vales have served with the IMB for more than 16 years, initially in East Asia where they did medical missions for more than 12 years and are now in their fourth year at their current location.
Their ability to speak the language of many of their patients has been invaluable, they said. They make it a point to pray and share the gospel with every patient they see.
[2]Recently, they helped with a clinic organized by a national church in an area with many elderly people who had never stepped foot in a church. “Over 50 people believed in Christ that day, as they came and heard the gospel for the first time,” Jim said.
Ashley started her women’s Bible study with mothers whose children go to school with their kids. Some were Christians when the study began, but two women made professions of faith after attending, and new members have recently joined.
“It’s been a slow process,” Ashley said, “but it’s been neat to see what has happened over the two years that we’ve been meeting. Another lady just started coming to the Bible study. Her family is new to the school. She’s very engaged in the study, and I think over time she will also become a believer.”
Through the Christian fellowship for medical students, Jim offers guidance and prayer for those going through residency at a Christian hospital in the area. Many of the students have minimal education, so to get a residency in this Christian hospital is coveted.
“Those who come through residency at this hospital receive a solid foundation of biblical truth because they have devotions every single morning,” Jim said. “If they don’t become believers, at least they are learning the Bible and are exposed to the gospel.”
The Vales’ distinctive roles in medical care enable them to spread the gospel in remote and underserved regions.
By leveraging medicine as a bridge, they connect with people who might not otherwise be receptive to the good news of Christ. Additionally, they disciple new believers, empowering them to join in the mission of discipleship and furthering the Great Commission.
“The local medical students are very interested in learning from me as an American physician,” Jim said. “At the same time, I have a unique platform to share Christ with them and develop them as Christian leaders for the next generation. That’s something that wouldn’t happen without medicine.”
Jim and Ashley know their influence on tomorrow’s healthcare workers is important because they too were once medical students seeking guidance on becoming missionaries. They met IMB medical missionaries and heard how different medical strategies are used all over the world.
“There was a doctor who worked in Central Asia and the Middle East,” Jim said. “I felt like he took me under his wing and encouraged me. He shared how he did house calls and didn’t have a formal practice set up.”
The doctor told Jim how he shared the gospel in unengaged, unreached places where he otherwise would not have been accepted. The Vales heard how some medical missionaries were involved in clinics in areas where Christianity is forbidden and found ways to share the gospel and to pray with patients.
Being mentored by medical missionaries broadened their vision of what is possible. It influenced how they currently operate on the mission field, ministering in different ways to spread the gospel and plant churches.
Jim said, “I just remember being around [these missionaries] thinking, ‘I want to be like you. I want to share the gospel without fear in a difficult place and be bold.’”
The Vales’ first opportunity to connect with healthcare workers on the mission field was in 2007 at the inaugural meeting of MedAdvance, IMB’s annual medical missions conference.
“It was such a blessing,” they said, remembering the first MedAdvance as it was the same year they applied to serve with the IMB.
They encourage people who have an interest in medical missions, whether short or long-term, to attend MedAdvance 2025, which will meet Aug. 21-23 at Providence Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.
They also challenge those with this passion to “not put medical missions in a box.” Agriculture, physical therapy, fitness programs and mental health are among the growing opportunities to consider where healthcare workers can make a difference in sharing the gospel.
“There are so many ways that medicine can be used in a wide spectrum of areas where other mission work can’t be done,” Jim said.
Interested in healthcare missions? You are invited to attend MedAdvance 2025 Aug. 21-23, in Raleigh, North Carolina. The conference features opportunities to network with healthcare field workers and to hear about work and needs in every area of the world. For more information and to register, visit imb.org/medadvance [3].
Names have been changed for security.
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