Medicine and the Word: How Two Men Partner to Bring Healing and Hope

Wholistic Concern for Image Bearers

For Dr. Tony Gordon and Pastor Bosco Bukeera, ministry to the whole person involves ministry to the body and ministry to the soul. Tony and Bosco work together to address physical and spiritual ailments in Ssenge, a village outside of Kampala, Uganda. Through Crossway’s One Million Bibles Initiative and Crossway partner, Rafiki Foundation, Bosco and Tony have received various Bibles such as the ESV Pew Bible, the ESV Concise Study Bible, and the ESV Global Study Bible to give and use in their ministry contexts.

Tony is an American medical missionary with Reaching and Teaching International Ministries who has served in Uganda since 2020. His call to medical missions was not “just because there's a need for medicine in Uganda, but there's a need for the gospel and there's a need for healthy churches.” Tony emphasizes the importance for medical missions to be deeply connected to the mission of the local church with the goal that patients not only would receive medical care but also would have an opportunity to be immersed in the gospel.

With his desire to partner with a strong local church, Tony met Bosco. After several years abroad in London being trained in theology and pastoral ministry, Bosco and his wife moved to Ssenge to plant Ssenge Baptist Church. Bosco recalls, “In 2019, that's when the church was launched in our living room with 15 of us and sitting on our sofas and on the floor. And then as we expanded, we moved to our garden.” The church has grown to two services, one in English and one in Luganda, and now meets in a large tent set up in Bosco’s yard with plans to build permanent structures for the church and medical facility.

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Building a Church Community

Tony explains the heart behind building a medical office connected to a strong, healthy, local church:

The model we’d love to see is for the patients who come to our clinic to be the same people who live within walking distance of the church. That’s who we really want to reach through medicine, because they’re the people we can actively evangelize. And if they’re already believers, we can invite them to come and participate in what is currently the only Bible-preaching church in our village.

Bosco describes the situation in Uganda and why finding healthy, Bible-preaching churches is such a challenge and a need. He says, “Over 50% of Uganda is under the age of 15. So literally more than half of Uganda is children, but also 73% are under the age of 35. And so, Tony and I, who have crossed over 35, we are real granddads at the moment in our church.” Tony adds:

And life expectancy is short, which means it’s relatively rare to see an old man with gray hair. But that also raises the question: within the church, who is there to help and lead the church? There just aren’t very many men in their 50s who you would say are part of healthy churches. There are some older men in churches that are less than faithful, or in established churches that are rife with corruption. You could name almost any denomination, and there are examples of that. But older faithful church leaders are exceedingly rare.

God’s Word to Heal the Soul

In addition to the lack of mature, older leaders to guide Christian believers, there is also a lack of Bibles. Bosco shared this story, “There was a time when one of our young pastors went to a conference . . . And as they're teaching tools of exposition, in a group of 60 pastors, there are three who have a Bible. And [the teacher] is thinking, ‘What are we doing? We are telling people to look here?’ And they don't have anywhere to look.”

Thanks to the generosity of Crossway’s donor partners, Bosco has copies of the ESV Pew Bibles for the congregation to use at Ssenge Baptist Church with enough to bless church visitors interested in the gospel. In addition to the pew Bibles, Bosco has also been able to give copies of the ESV Concise Study Bible to local students to use in their studies.

These Bibles have had an even greater reach beyond the church walls. Tony has had opportunities to see medical staff grow in faith through the gift of Bibles. He says, “The ESV Global Study Bible has been really helpful for us. As I've trained medical staff in the past, that's been one resource that I've given to each of them. They've been able to dig into it so that when we say, ‘Hey, you should be reading God's Word,’ they have that not only to read but also the study notes to dig a little deeper and make that part of their daily routine.”

Crossway is so grateful for the kindness of donors towards our initiatives that allow us to impact communities such as Ssenge with the gift of Bibles.

Pray for Bosco and Tony as they continue to care for the medical and spiritual needs of Ssenge Baptist Church.

Pray that the Bibles would deepen and encourage the faith of those who have received one and that others would have an opportunity to obtain a Bible as well.