Neil Thompson
MD
Dr. Neil Thompson served with OMF as general surgeon at Manorom
Christian Hospital in Central Thailand from 1978 to 2001. His main
objective was to provide high quality surgical care in a medical
ministry designed to glorify God by caring for body, soul and spirit.
The hospital team worked and prayed to see patients and staff come to
know Jesus and to form new churches. He served as Hospital Director from
1998-2001.
He was the OMF-US National Director from 2001-2010, focusing on
mobilizing professionals for the harvest, especially among creative
access nations in East Asia. During this time there was an exciting
growth of both short-term and long-term participants.
Neil then served as Medical Mission Advocate (2011-2021), introducing an
intentional focus on OMF healthcare missions, striving to promote and
raise the profile of medical missions worldwide in general and in East
Asia in particular.
He currently serves as =E2=80=9CHealthcare Mission Consultant
for OMF. He has also been part of the team preparing and presenting the
Christian Global Health in Perspective course, covering biblical
foundations, history, cultural matters and current strategies. For more
information on the course and how to take part, join the session
Biblical Foundations of Healthcare Missions
From the Old Face to the New Face of Medical Missions in East Asia: What? No Mission Hospitals?
James Hudson Taylor was a pioneer missionary who took God’s love and the gospel to the remote inland regions of China in the mid-19th century. He founded the China Inland Mission (CIM) and introduced medical care and education as strategic components of evangelism and discipleship. After leaving China, CIM became the Overseas Missionary Fellowship, now OMF International. Medical work continued in Thailand, mainly through the ministries of 3 mission hospitals. The last of them closed over 15 years ago. In this workshop, we will briefly review the “old face” of medical missions. As we consider the “new face,” we will describe what medical missions looks like when there are no mission hospitals—the medical missionary entrepreneurs of healthcare missions today.