Putting faith into action: Campus ministry brings healthcare and healing to communities around the world

CURE International connects Liberty University to a worldwide network of children’s hospitals to bring physical and spiritual healing to hard-to-reach areas of the world. 

Chris Oglesby, spiritual director of CURE at Liberty University and a senior studying biomedical sciences, has seen the Lord work through the Christian organization.   

“We’ve seen CURE play out in real time,” Oglesby said. “The nurses pray over the patients; the surgeons pray over the patients. … The families are hosted where they have lodging and food. The gospel is shared and spoken.”

CURE has chapters on different college campuses, each partnered with one out of the eight hospitals owned and operated by CURE. The chapter at Liberty is partnered with Zambia.

The mission of the club comes from Luke 9:2, “And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”   

“(The club members) are very outspoken,” Oglesby said. “And very unashamed about the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

CURE will send buses into hard-to-reach communities to look for patients. Patients will then receive high-level medical care free of charge.

“It’s just this beautiful articulation of the Great Commission,” Oglesby said. “What we’re charged to do, which is share the gospel, heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

The organization even heals patients’ relationships within their communities. In some locations that CURE operates in, physical conditions are taken as signs of spiritual malady or sins. 

“If someone has an issue — they are struggling to walk, they have some sort of structural anomaly — in that culture, the child and/or their parents can be stigmatized as sinful,” Oglesby said. “In healing them, not only are you increasing their ability to function and walk and have general mobility, but you’re increasing their social mobility. The kids can go back to school; the kids are no longer made fun of. … It’s a beautiful way to tear down and strip away a stereotype in certain cultures.”

The club represents faith working through love. The planning, organizing and success of fundraising events are all accomplished through faith.

“Everything that we’ve done within the club has required deep faith,” Oglesby said. “And the way I’ve seen the Lord move through our club is deepening our faith and allowing us to not only have faith, but to put it into action.”

The club is conducive to developing a biblical work ethic. Oglesby quoted Colossians 3:23-24 and Galatians 6:9 as he explained how being faithful in working for Jesus propels the club forward.

“By faith we’re going to move forward. We’re going to say we’re meeting at these times; we’re going to desire to do fundraisers and do them well,” Oglesby said. “By faith we’re going to put in the work to make the events as successful as possible, and then we’re going to have love.”

The next meeting will include card-making on March 4 at 7:30 p.m. This event serves as a personal way to connect with the families and children helped by CURE. Oglesby explained how that personal touch is possible through CURE’s digital portal.

“You can find the profile of different patients who are currently receiving medical care, and you can read their bio,” Oglesby said. “You can write them a note, and CURE will sometimes release videos of them reading those digital wellness cards, and the kids just light up.”

The club will be hosting a trivia night for students and faculty March 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the Center for Natural Sciences, room 128. The club is also planning a running challenge for donations for students who enjoy running.    

Prayer requests for CURE include patients’ successful healing, salvation through Jesus and prayers for the organization’s CEO, Justin Narducci, to continue this gospel work. Prayers for the surgeons’ continued skill, nurses and surgical teams are requested as well.

“We want the world to experience and know the love of Jesus Christ via surgical healing, one patient at a time,” Oglesby said.

Students who want to earn CSER credit through the club can take up any officer position. There will be five to seven open positions fall 2024, including president, vice president, spiritual director, social media, on campus community director and community outreach coordinator. Other ways to earn CSER are also available upon request to club officers.

Students who want to join CURE are invited to drop into any meeting. All meetings take place in the Center for Natural Sciences, room 238. Details for meeting times can be found on the club’s Instagram @cureliberty.    

Sowell is a feature reporter for The Champion