Mission

The Mission of Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship

Mission Statement

The mission of Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship (MHF) is to be an interdisciplinary community of Anabaptist health professionals which seeks to nurture the integration of faith and practice, to provide opportunities for dialogue on health related issues, and to address specific needs through education, advocacy, and service.

Mission Focus 2016

As a result of new Strategic Plan adopted by Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship’s Board of Directors in 2016, MHF is engaged in a focus on the mission on mutual support, education, mentoring, and mobilization for service. To do this, MHF has consolidated its assets for the total mission of MHF, shifted more toward a contributions model of funding, and is exploring collaboration with other organizations. See the Strategic Plan page for more details on the plan itself. See below for links to programming within each mission focus area.

Mutual support

Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship promotes mutual support among its members in the following ways:

Annual Gathering. A yearly Annual Gathering during the early summer which provides fellowship and networking.
Regional Meetings in areas with a sufficient concentration of Mennonites to foster face-to-face inter-disciplinary networking among Christian colleagues.
Contact information on member colleagues through an online database.
Encouragement of informal church and community connections.
Articles and responses to them through Mennonite Health Journal.

Education

Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship promotes the continuing education of its members, especially around issues at the intersection of faith and healthcare concerns. These are some primary ways education happens.

Annual Gathering. A yearly Annual Gathering during the early summer which features plenary sessions and workshops.
Regional Meetings in areas with a sufficient concentration of Mennonites.
Student Elective Term (SET) which provides educational grants to students at the Masters level and above.
Mennonite Health Journal provides opportunities for writing and reading, especially about issues having to do with faith and health.

Mentoring

Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship promotes informal mentoring relationships as follows:

Student Elective Term (SET). All recipients of SET educational grants are encouraged to connect with a mentor sponsor from MHF prior to going to the country where they will learn and serve.
MHF encourages healthcare professionals near Mennonite colleges and universities to connect with their pre-med or health sciences club or student group to provide opportunities for networking and shadowing.
MHF members who work in or near major medical centers or professional schools to connect with students who are from Mennonite background or who have interest in Anabaptism.
MHF members are encouraged to connect with students from their home congregations going into healthcare fields. Gift memberships to MHF are also encouraged.

Mobilization for service

Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship has two grant programs to encourage international study and volunteer work in less developed settings.

Student Elective Term (SET) provides educational grants to cover extra travel and living costs for graduate school students to spend 4-8 weeks in a mission-related developing setting as part of their education and experience.
Steven Roth Memorial Grant Program. This program provides grants to any MHF member as part of personal involvement in a developing setting in any healthcare field.
In addition, Service Opportunities are posted on an online blog.

Engaging with the mission of MHF allows me to bridge my identity as a follower of Jesus and healthcare professional, allowing me to strengthen the faith-based motivations in my career as a dentist.