What is the most pressing need of the church today?  If Paul, observing false teachers within the church, experiencing persecution from outside of it and, all the while, desiring to be about the business of spreading the message of Christ to Gentiles, is able to write “First of all, then, I urge that prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…”, then we need to take notice.  Mounce comments “It is not so much that prayer for all peoples is the first on the list but that it is the most important on this list.”[i] Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matt. 21:13) and yet we would be hard pressed to find many churches where the name fits.  The church needs desperately to recover the practice of corporate prayer. One the most basic level, prayer is an act of obedience before God.  When Paul urged Timothy to lead the Christians in Ephesus to pray, the Holy Spirit was speaking to us as well. More fundamentally, the Holy Spirit was speaking to those who are charged with the pastoral care of a church and calling to them to take a lead role in the prayer life of the church. This call is needed afresh. A survey conducted by Ellison Research found that just 9 percent of pastors under age 45 are very satisfied with their prayer life and, of the ministers between the ages of 45 and 59, only 13 percent say that they are.[ii]  The letter of 1 Timothy confronts us with the truth that a church’s ministries reflect the pastor, and so it is no surprise that a Lifeway study found that, when ranking the most important ministries in their churches, prayer received only 5 percent of the vote by those surveyed[iii] and we should not share in the surprise of an African church leader who, after visiting American churches commented: “I’m surprised by how little prayer I witnessed.”[iv] Much like Ephesus needed a Timothy to lead them, and much like Timothy needed a Paul to urge him to do so, our churches need pastors to lead them and our pastors seem to need older mentors to hold them accountable to doing so. Denominational leaders need to wake up to the true need in the church and call their ministers to action.

For what should the churches be called to pray for?  They need to pray for those within the church. Especially for unity within the local household of faith that is based upon a shared confession of the uniqueness of God and the penal substitutionary work of the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Jesus linked being “sanctified in the truth” to the ability of brothers and sisters in Christ to be a good witness before a watching world (John 17:19-23) and the church must recognize this need. They should also pray for those outside of our church, including our government.  On May 5, 2014, the Supreme Court affirmed that prayer before a legislative body is constitutional and it is permissible for that prayer to contain Christian faith-specific language and a 2012 Pew Research Center poll found that 65% of Americans believe political groups have gone too far trying to keep religion out of schools and government.[v] These facts indicate that churches have been given an opportunity to pray not only for, but in the presence of “all who are in high positions.” A privilege which Paul and Timothy did not have. 

How do we motivate pastors and lay members alike to embrace this call?  It must begin with a love of God and a love of man.  Undergirding this call to Timothy was the desire to honor God.  Paul, after having recounted the mercy shown to him in Jesus Christ, exclaims “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1:17).  In a real way, the “then” of 2:1 could be linked to that proclamation:  “Our desires is that God may be honored (1:17), therefore (then) let us pray (2:1) for such prayers are good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior (2:3).” Also undergirding this call was a desire to see men saved.  When we love God, we will love what He love and we will desire what He desires.  Paul makes it clear that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2:4).   This desire should be evidenced in every church that claims to love the Lord and it should be evidenced by their prayers. As D.A. Carson states,

If we follow Paul’s example, then, we will never overlook the monumental importance of praying for others.  Prayer will never descend to the level where it is nothing more than a retreat house in which we find strength for ourselves, whether through the celebration of praise or through a mystic communion with God or through the relief of casting our cares upon the Almighty.  Prayer may embrace all of these elements, and more; but if we learn to pray with Paul, we will learn to pray for others.[vi]

These points would have been readily affirmed by the students but none of them related the passage to their own context as medical students nor to that of the profession they are seeking to enter into. This is where the work of the Christian faculty of the school must begin. Much like Calvin’s likening of Prince Edward to Paul with numerous “Timothys” under his tutelage, so today’s Christian medical school faculty play a similar role.  They should take passages such as 1 Timothy 2:1-7 and point out that, although the hostel of God (the hospital) is not the house of God (the church), there are some similarities in the situation facing Christians in both.  

The church in Ephesus was established with the intention to honor God by following Christ but false teachers within had gained positions of influence and were making shipwrecks of individual’s faith and persecution from those in authority without threatened their welfare if they were to dare put their faith on display. In the same way, voices from within and outside of the healthcare system are pressuring Christians to steer clear of a faith-influenced practice of medicine.  “Doctors are in a position of power in relation to their patients…any attempt by doctors to impose their religious or political views would be an abuse of that power,” says Sheikh Muhammad Yusuf, a fellow of the Interfaith Alliance, which represents both doctors and patients.[vii]

Paul’s instruction to pray for those in authority because they had it within their power to make life easier for them has clear application here.  It should be the practice of every Christian physician to pray for hospital administrators, licensing bodies, and state legislatures which oversee the healthcare system, that they would allow for the freedom of expression and conscience when it comes to the faith of the physician. I have heard Christian professors, in their role as Paul, tell their class of Timothys tales of ignoring expected protocols in their dealings with patients and charging medical students to take a risk in doing the same when it comes to matters of faith. While the sentiment is appreciated and we must encourage our fellow Christians to “obey God rather than men,” one must wonder how much good could be accomplished if they were to follow Paul’s lead and instruct these students to begin, not in rebellion, but in praying that the hearts of those who create the rules would be changed and, as a consequence, the rules themselves.

The intended result of the prayers for those “in high positions” within the healthcare field is that there would be a freedom to engage with patients over matters of faith and to follow Paul’s charge to pray all kinds of prayers for all people without the fear of retribution. “Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings” would each easily find their place in the exam room and studies show that up to 70 percent of patients would be receptive to their doctors praying with them.  Despite this, those same studies show that as little as 10 percent of doctors actually do.[viii] Why is that? Physicians are told repeatedly that there are lines they cannot cross.  Resembling the false teachers within the church in Ephesus who were teaching doctrines which led the believers astray, one physician who identifies as a Christian warns, “Do not prescribe religion to non-religious patients; force a spiritual history if the patient is non-religious; coerce patients in any way to believe or practice; spiritually counsel patients; engage in any activity that is not patient-centered; or argue with patients over religious matters, even when they conflict with medical care and treatment.”[ix] No one would argue that one should “coerce” or “argue” with a patient but the use of such language gives the impression that is exactly what Christian physicians are being asked to do.  When a student is led to believe that the only alternatives are silence or coercion, then it is no wonder that many remain silent. 

            We desire the number of Christian physicians who are willing to share their faith to grow. With the increasing interest in spirituality and health, the resources available to help us in leading our students in this direction are more plentiful than they have ever been. 1 Tim 2:1-7, however, provides a much needed corrective to some of the most popular writings in this arena. For instance, many of the academic studies and popular treatments regarding faith and medicine focus on the so-called “power of prayer” in the exam room and its ability to change health outcomes.  The BBC produced a documentary which framed the topic in its most popular form by asking in its title “Does Prayer Work?: A Medical Perspective.”[x] Paul, however, frames it differently.  Certainly, the variety of prayers that Paul charges believers to pray “for all people” would include their healing and the hope would be that these prayers would “work” in that the people would, indeed, be healed.  But for Paul, that is not the end of the matter. Any physical healing is ultimately temporary in that physical death will come to all.  Paul reminds his readers that God is after the eternal healing that comes through someone coming to faith: He desires “all people to be saved.” A Christian doctor must remember the same and seek to ensure that their prayers are not perceived as simply a means to manipulate God into providing a quick fix for a medical problem, but, instead, are a genuine expression of faith in the One True God to whom all must turn for salvation and that they are prayed in the hope that the patient will, indeed, find this hope.

The alternative is to risk reducing our prayers to the level of incantations. As Howard L. Kay warns, 

To encourage religious practice and greater spirituality for its putative health benefits on the order of physical exercise, a low-fat diet, and relaxation training runs the risk of trivializing religion into little more than magic…If religion is practiced essentially for its therapeutic benefits, what happens to religious practice if scientists discover that some other psychotherapeutic technique, such as meditation or self-hypnosis, is more effective as a source of stress reduction, or if scientists identify the biochemical pathways by which prayer strengthens the body’s immune system and then develops a more potent pharmacological means of doing so? Might religion then become medically obsolete, similar to the early antidepressants?[xi]

Another issue that 1 Timothy 2:1-7 highlights is in regard to the question “to whom do we pray?” Even academics who claim the Christian faith include in their studies research on the health benefits of subscribing to non-Christian faiths. For example, Koenig, King and Carson’s monumental tome “Handbook of Religion and Health,” includes examinations of the health outcomes that faithful Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist adherents have experienced due to their own religious practice. Though such studies are not as numerous, the authors found that the results were similar to those of adherents of Christianity.[xii] The implication is that physicians need not concern themselves with the particular faith tradition of the patient for the results of their spiritual interventions will be the same regardless of the faith to which they subscribe. Paul disagrees. There is “but one God, there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus.” Christian doctors have to resist the urge to downplay the uniqueness of Christ in their efforts to avoid offending patients of other faiths as well as the administrators that they may fear are taking note of their actions. 

The fact of the uniqueness of Christ as the sole mediator between humankind and the one true God also begs the question as to which students/physicians should be encouraged to pray. This is no hypothetical question as Christian and non-Christian medical students alike take part in our medical mission trips.  If prayer is nothing more than a patient-centered therapeutic technique which brings about results no matter what faith the physician and/or patient subscribes to, then it would not matter who dispenses it.  If, on the other hand, it is a cry to the Father through the mediation of the Son by those whom He has saved, then only the redeemed can be truly called upon to engage in prayer with their patients. As a result, the manner in which we encourage our students in this exercise must be well thought out.  A generic call for all students to pray for all patients would, as Kay put it, “trivialize religion into little more than magic.”

Given the above, a way of paraphrasing 1 Timothy 2:1-7 for the context in which we work at the medical school might be something like this:

Christian medical students, first of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all of your patients, (and) for those who oversee the healthcare system you will one day be a part of. This includes those in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the North Carolina Medical Board and the administrators who oversee the daily operations of the facilities within which you will one day work. Do this that you might practice medicine in all godliness and dignity. This is right and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

            I had opportunity to share these conclusions before a group of faculty and students who had gathered for a midweek morning worship service we hold on campus. The response was unanimous in its positive reception and calls for the message to be repeated in other venues.  One professor exclaimed, “This must be shared with others!” In order to accomplish this, I would propose that a teaching series be presented to our students through the auspices of the Christian Medical and Dental Association student group on campus.  It would cover the history of Christians in medicine and the challenges facing the practice of faith in the medical system today. The importance of prayer and of living out one’s faith in the context of their calling as medical professionals would be examined and we would talk about the uniqueness of Christ and the implications for how they approach patients from a variety of faiths. 

In addition, before our medical missions trips, we would gather together those whom we know to be Christians and discuss the importance of their praying and sharing their faith with their patients and how this can be a witness, not only to the patients, but to the non-Christian students who will be joining them on the trip. In the clinics, Christian faculty would model praying for the patients and would ask local pastors and missionaries to work closely with our students in an effort to ensure cultural sensitivity while modeling a boldness of faith. Upon our return, we would gather the students for a follow-up debriefing in which we would invite them to share of their experience to the CMDA group and to the student body as a whole.

  Locally, our department offers to conduct screening clinics at churches which they can leverage for evangelistic events.  Typically, we invite the student body as whole to join us and we have had large groups of students work in our screening clinics which were sponsored by groups like the Lion’s Club.  When a church asks to organize a clinic, I would propose that we meet with the pastor to inquire as to the church’s goals for the clinic. If the church is desirous for the event to be an outreach event, then we would limit the student participants to students of faith by issuing personal invitations to them. We would then conduct a pre-clinic teaching session much like what we would do before an international trip.  We would discuss the importance of praying with one’s patients with an eye to their embracing the Christian faith.   

Finally, I would propose that Christian faculty, students and student organizations should unite in prayer for those in places of influence in the healthcare system in the United States.  Those in “higher places” wield considerable influence over how medicine is practiced and whether or not physicians of faith can follow their conscience in the exam room.  In response, organizations like the Christian Medical and Dental Association have established Washington offices where they can speak to government officials regarding a variety of issues facing Christians in the field of healthcare. This is a commendable activity, but I would liken it to Paul’s instructions to Timothy on how to order the church in Ephesus when it was facing disruptions from within and without.  The instructions were necessary, but the first order of the day was to be prayer. Prayer that is lifted up for “peaceful, quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved.”

[i] Mounce, 78.

[ii] “Survey: Pastors Dissatisfied With Personal Prayer Lives,” The Christian Post, accessed September 13, 2018, https://www.christianpost.com/news/survey-pastors-dissatisfied-with-personal-prayer-lives-13473/

[iii] “LifeWay study reveals pastors’ ministry priorities,” The Baptist Message, accessed September 13, 2018, http://baptistmessage.com/lifeway-study-reveals-pastors-ministry-priorities/

[iv] Jason Helopoulos, “Pastor, Include More Prayer in Your Church Service,” The Gospel Coalition, accessed September 13, 2018, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/include-more-prayer-church-service/

[v] Michael Lipka, “South Carolina valedictorian reignites debate on prayer in school,” FactTank, Pew Research Center, June 13, 2013, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/13/south-carolina-valedictorian-reignites-debate-on-prayer-in-school/

[vi] D.A. Carson. A Call to Spiritual Formation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1992), 74-75.

[vii] “Doctors are told not to let their personal faith affect the advice they give to their patients,” The Scotsman, March 17, 2008, https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/doctors-are-told-not-to-let-their-personal-faith-affect-the-advice-they-give-to-their-patients-1-1159283.

[viii] Harold G. Koenig, Spirituality in Patient Care: Why, When, How and What, 3^rd ed., (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press, 2013), 29.

[ix] Richard Sloan, Harold Koenig, Stuart Butler, Cynthia Cohen, and Christina Puchalski, “Is Prayer Good for Your Health? A Critique of the Scientific Research,” The Heritage Foundation, December 22, 2003, https://www.heritage.org/civil-society/report/prayer-good-your-health-critique-the-scientific-research.

[x] “Does Prayer Work?: A Medical Perspective,” BBC “Worldwide Ltd.; Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm); Films Media Group, (New York: Films Media Group, 2006).

[xi] Howard L. Kay, “Psychoneuroimmunology and Religion: Implications for Society and Culture,” in The Link Between Religion and Health: Psychoneuroimmunology and the Faith Factor, ed. Harold G. Koenig and Harvey Jay Cohen (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 283.

[xii] Harold G. Koenig, Dana E. King, and Verna Benner Carson, Handbook of Faith and Religion and Health (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 138-142, 453-456.