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News archive
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| Commentary: Healthcare access is an issue for everyone |
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While author Jim Wallis says, “God is neither Republican nor Democrat,” the way we express ourselves often seems to indicate otherwise. There is a political divide around many issues in our country that tends to split us into opposing camps. One of these issues is differing opinions about how much government involvement in the everyday lives of people is good and preferable. Some feel strongly that the less the government intrudes the better. Others feel strongly that the government needs to do more for people, especially the poor. In recent years, these discussions have become more rancorous and open dialogue more difficult.
There are similar conflicting views in people of good will within Mennonite Church USA. We are often righteously indignant toward those with the opposing view. Each suspects the other has missed the essential message of the gospel.
The Delegate Assembly at Charlotte 2005 asked the church to focus on the issue of access to healthcare in this biennium. Healthcare is an urgent issue in our country and needs both discussion and action. However, this issue has the potential to divide the church along red and blue lines. If this happens, our voice as a denomination will be lessened. On the other hand, if we can speak with a united voice on this subject to each other, to our neighbors and to our nation, we have the possibility of making a significant impact.
When considering healthcare, most of us agree on certain principles. We believe all people – rich and poor, male and female, neighbors and strangers – are created in God’s image. As bearers of God’s image, each person has worth, dignity and deserves respect. Jesus calls us to empathy and compassion for the poor and needy for “inasmuch as you have done it for the least of these, you have done it for me.” As Anabaptists, we have a longstanding tradition of commitment to mutual sharing and community.
Health and healthcare affect everyone. Some of us have experienced the drastic U-turn life can take after a sudden injury or illness. Others have lived for years with chronic illness limiting our movement and options. Some of us are relatively healthy with occasional healthcare needs. No matter what our situation, we view access to quality healthcare as essential and expected.
Some Mennonites are connected to healthcare as providers, such as doctors and nurses working to provide direct care to the sick. Others work in institutions providing healthcare to the elderly and people with physical and developmental disabilities. All providers struggle with rising costs that jeopardize their ability to serve their patients. In Mennonite businesses, employers increasingly struggle to balance their desire to provide employee healthcare benefits with rising healthcare costs.
Those of us with relatively good healthcare may lose sight of the fact that one person in five does not have adequate access to healthcare because they lack insurance. For these, being restored to health is not simply a matter of going to the doctor and getting appropriate help. Their attempts may involve frustrating, anxiety-producing and degrading experiences. Among these people are the mothers who must make the difficult choices between food and medicine, the middle-aged person who can’t afford to see a doctor to check out what they suspect are symptoms of cancer, the elderly with the embarrassment of rotting teeth, the family who lost their house because of their medical bills.
“This is not acceptable.” Those were the words of Bill Gates when he and his wife Melinda went to Africa and were told one million children die each year of malaria. What we find unacceptable, we usually find ways to change. And indeed, the Gates Foundation has made a major commitment to find a vaccine for malaria.
There are 46 million people who suffer from lack of healthcare access in the United States. Eighteen thousand of these die annually as a result. To this we can also say “this is not acceptable.”
What can we do? We don’t have the billions the Gates Foundation does. But we can educate ourselves and become aware of the people in our congregations and among our neighbors who lack healthcare access. I continue to receive reports of congregations who have completed the six-lesson Healing Healthcare study guide. As congregations consider this issue, their compassion for those left out moves them to respond in various ways: to start a parish nurse program, offer a respite service for caregivers of shut-ins, offer assisted living that allows persons to stay in their own home, or participate in a clinic for the uninsured.
Within our congregations we can search for the ways that contribute to healthier lives for all in the congregation and in the community. Some congregations have formed a group that considers and advises the congregation on how to help each other to a more healthy life – mentally, physically and spiritually. It can be done at little cost, yet may save many dollars in healthcare costs. The life of the congregation will be enhanced as members look to the health and welfare of one another in new ways.
As we consider the healthcare system, we can be united in the need for change. We can say with one voice, “This is unacceptable.” We can join others across the country and speak to those in positions of power about our concern for the millions who lack access to decent healthcare. Yes, much difficult work will remain to create an effective, viable system, but that work must begin with a voice of compassion that speaks on behalf of those who suffer.
In addressing all of our health needs, including those who lack access to healthcare, we will be faithful to Jesus’ call to love others as we love ourselves and to address the needs of the least of these among us. Our Delegate Assembly asked us to do just that. Let us unite and say, “On this issue, we are neither Democrats nor Republicans, we are people of compassion responding to people in need.”
Glen E Miller can be contacted at glenm@mennoniteusa.org. He is a retired physician and is the program manager of the Mennonite Church USA Healthcare Access Initiative.
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| Former denominational minister built bridges he now crosses |
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Dale Stoltzfus |
by Laurie Oswald Robinson
NEWTON, Kan. (Mennonite Church USA) – In looking back over the landscape of the years he served in Executive Leadership for Mennonite Church USA, Dale Stoltzfus sees many bridges he helped build between the past and the future.
Stoltzfus finished his work as a denominational minister for Executive Leadership in late January. But he believes God is calling him to cross some of those bridges by continuing to help the wider church move forward. To do this, he continues to serve half-time as bishop for Lancaster Mennonite Conference (LMC), one of Mennonite Church USA’s 21 area conferences. He also serves as a consultant for congregations and area conferences.
This new season of ministry is helping him reflect on the pattern of God’s call on his life, he says. After graduating from college and serving as a social worker, he became a pastor and then a conference minister for Allegheny Conference. Most recently, he served in denominational roles where he guided pastors and congregations, developed leaders and shaped ministerial policies.
Each call throughout his 67 years led to bridge-building work: between eras, between cultures, between people, between congregations and area conferences and between area conferences and the rest of Mennonite Church USA.
“Respect for others who are different from me is one of the most important skills I have developed – and continue to develop,” Stoltzfus said. “Good things happen when – in the face of fear – we allow God to be in charge. When we don’t know the outcome, but trust God for the journey, we hear and respect others and don’t demand they be where we are. Respect helps us to live with situations for awhile, while we discern where to go next.”
Stoltzfus has often needed to trust God for unknowns on his journey. It’s included a move from his Amish Mennonite roots in homogeneous Lancaster County and to multicultural New York City, where he attended seminary and served as a pastor and church administrator.
“The move to New York City was very transforming,” Stoltzfus says. “It brought me into a different culture with different people. And the city, like all other parts of the country in the early 1960s, was going through so much social upheaval. I had to learn to balance a lot of new information and experiences.”
A move from the city into conference minister role with Allegheny Conference was a transforming experience in the reverse, he says.
“The city stretched my world beyond my conservative and traditional roots,” he says. “The move to Allegheny Conference took me back to the theological center of the church. It’s where I developed much of my understanding of the ‘big picture’ of the church. In an urban area, I had been more focused on one end of the spectrum, and I had to learn to see more broadly.”
His vision for the church grew when he began denominational work. His first work in ministerial leadership was with the former Mennonite Church. And in 2002, he joined the ministerial leadership team of Mennonite Church USA, after the merger of the Mennonite Church and the former General Conference Mennonite Church. He served in various capacities that helped launch the culture of calling and developing new leaders.
Merger work included helping area conferences discern whether they would become a full member of Mennonite Church USA. When LMC was in the discernment process, Stoltzfus worked for both the conference and Executive Leadership. Some area conferences wanted further clarity on such issues as homosexuality and membership before fully committing. By fall 2005, all 21 area conferences joined as full members.
“I wore two hats – my Mennonite Church USA hat and my bishop’s hat,” Stoltzfus says. “I tried to wear them both at the same time, but sometimes it felt like I was splitting apart. Balancing these two roles wasn’t easy.”
Finding an easy job isn’t what Stoltzfus has ever tried to do. He still finds himself in the midst of challenges. One is helping LMC discern whether it will ordain women as leaders in the conference. By fall, the conference will have made that decision – a decision that he as bishop will have helped shape.
In the meantime, Stoltzfus is striving to practice the balance and respect he’s learned over the years. Many times, he saw God’s miracles of grace occur. He watched Mennonites of many different stripes find ways to unify instead of divide in the face of theological and cultural differences. Not only did he watch; he also pitched in and helped build bridges people could walk across together.
“When I least thought it could happen, I saw people from two different worlds choose to see that splitting and going separate ways was not the only way to be faithful,” Stoltzfus says. “I saw less people saying, ‘You need to come my way to be faithful’ and more people granting grace and the willingness to walk together on an uncertain road.”
Laurie Oswald Robinson is editor for Mennonite Women USA and its bimonthly publication, Timbrel |
