An Unfortunate Situation

Up to this time the medical school had been a foster child of the sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. There had been no calls through the organized body of Seventh-day Adventists for means either for its establishment or its operation. Not only had the school been supported by the sanitarium, but this institution also had made it possible for many students to attend the medical college, by offering them work sufficient to pay their living expenses and tuition.SHM 302.3

These factors help to an understanding of an unfortunate relationship that existed between the General Conference organization, which directs the worldwide evangelistic work of the denomination, and the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association with its complete control of the varied lines of service carried on by the denomination in medical and philanthropic endeavor, and, as we have seen, employing a larger number of workers than the general organization.SHM 303.1

The relative strength of these two organizations was further affected by the respective financial assets of each. The General Conference was dependent, for its support and the prosecution of the purely evangelistic lines, almost wholly upon the tithes and freewill offerings of loyal church members. The medical missionary organization also could draw liberally upon the sympathy and support of the members of the church; but besides this, the nature of its work enabled the medical leaders to make effective appeals to wealthy philanthropists outside the church membership. Then, too, through their professional services, sanitariums and treatment rooms were capable of earning hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. This explains the fact that the sanitarium at Battle Creek could support the medical college and furnish work for the medical students and nurses while pursuing their professional studies.SHM 303.2