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Susan Powell

Susan is a spiritual director who has served overseas in various roles since 2008. Susan delights in accompanying others as she seeks to help others “dust for the fingerprints of God” in the everyday particulars of their lives. Susan uses a trauma informed, somatic approach to spiritual direction inviting one to engage God with all of oneself. She is married to Mark and together they delight in their three adult children and their spouses and one delightful granddaughter. Susan is serving as a spiritual director at MedRefresh Retreat and is available for one-on-one conversations around spirituality and one’s relationship with God.

Flourishing by Design: Imagining Medical Missions for 2040

Our predecessors faithfully built institutions that have served for generations. Our challenge is different. We have inherited those institutions into a world they could scarcely have imagined. Population growth, urbanization, changing disease patterns, financial pressures, conflict, climate shocks, and technological change are reshaping healthcare across low- and middle-income countries.

Drawing on new data about the Christian health ecosystem, strategic consultations with global and African Christian health leaders, and field experience across Africa and Asia, this session explores what it will take for Christian health ministries to flourish by 2040.

Together we’ll imagine what it will take for Christian health ministries to flourish by 2040, strengthening resilient institutions, cultivating exceptional local leadership, and mobilizing a broader range of Christian expertise from medicine and nursing to governance, education, engineering, finance, data science, and technology.

How can Christian health ministries become indispensable partners in building resilient health systems that reflect the compassion and hope of Christ? The legacy of the next generation of medical missions will be measured not only by the number of missionaries sent, but by the resilience, flourishing, and Christ-centered witness of systems they strengthen.