40 years of sharing
By Craig J. Brown II, President & CEO
*Editor’s note: This information was published in the September 2021 issue of Heartfelt Magazine, CHM’s monthly magazine that provides CHM membership-related tips and tricks, medical advice from doctors, testimonies from CHM members, and more. Please refer to the CHM Guidelines and applicable web pages for the most up-to-date information regarding CHM membership, sharing eligibility, and ministry news.*
Sharing. What a beautiful word! It points beyond what’s transactional into what’s relational and illustrates the relational experience all CHM members have with each other.
Sharing requires two or more people to interact and carry each other’s burdens. What a difference it makes when you’re not alone and when another person is willing to share your burdens. And what a difference it makes when you volunteer to share someone else’s burdens.
In the New Testament, the Greek words koinoneo and metecho are two verbs used interchangeably to mean “partake” or “share.” Koinoneo means “to have a share in common with someone else.” Our word “communion” also comes from this same root word. Metecho is a compound of “meta” (to hold) and “echo” (with) and refers to “holding with” someone else.
At Christian Healthcare Ministries, a defining relational component binds us together as a sharing community, making it much more than simply transactional. We’re a community of Christ-followers who unite around a common set of values. While we transactionally volunteer to share in meeting each other’s medical bills, we also relationally share by loving, praying for, and ministering to each other as members of the body of Christ. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
For 40 years, CHM has been a ministry that helps to keep this commandment. Our health cost sharing community enables Christians like you to demonstrate love for one another by making burdens lighter together, both in spiritual and practical ways. Thank you for being a part of this ministry and for your commitment to our Lord and His kingdom!
