The Great Commission is one of the last personal recorded instructions given by Jesus to His disciples. It is a special calling that Jesus gives to His disciples about the specific actions they must take while on earth. In Acts 1:8, we read that the disciples will receive power once the Holy Spirit is in them and with that power, they will be Jesus’s witnesses in all parts of the earth. Today, we still carry out Jesus’s instructions as we witness for Him. The purpose of this witnessing is to share the Gospel or the good news about Jesus Christ so that we can make followers and disciples of Jesus Christ.
In considering Jesus’s charge to the disciples, we can view Jesus as the Chief Marketing Officer who was promoting Christianity in the midst of other religious groups such as the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Zealots. Jesus’s teachings and examples demonstrate how Christianity differed from the other religions. For example, the Zealots were like Jesus in that they defended the poor; however, Jesus never promoted armed revolution like the Zealots. In another example, the Pharisees were overly religious and very legalistic in their approach to religion and Jesus accused them of hypocrisy as recorded in Matthew 23.
In reflecting on the Great Commission and Jesus’s earthly ministry, we can all agree that Jesus promoted the Gospel through His teachings and practices, which has relevance to our lesson for the week. This week we examine social marketing, evaluation, and research and their relationship with the social determinants of health, which could be classified as evaluation and research and social marketing. First, evaluation and research help public health and healthcare officials to focus on the social determinants of health. The social determinants of health are factors impacting the quality of life and health outcomes and risks. For example, education and training, housing, clean water, and access to fresh fruits and vegetables are social determinants of health. Thus, those who live in urban areas that are economically depressed without a grocery store and a lack of access to reliable transportation could find themselves at a disadvantage of maintaining a healthy quality of life. Second, to effectively address the barriers to attaining and maintaining positive health outcomes, public health and health officials engage in social marketing campaigns to promote good health. For example, healthcare organizations may provide health screenings to educate citizens about heart health and high blood pressure and sponsor a fresh produce delivery program to ensure that low-income citizens living in food deserts have access to fresh fruits and vegetables that promote healthy living. The idea with social marketing is to help citizens to focus on specific behavioral changes that will improve their health outcomes.
In reflecting on this week’s Scripture, you are challenged to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the unsaved. Moreover, consider these questions:
- What are some of the social determinants of health in your community that are impacting the health outcomes of the citizens?
- What social marketing campaigns have you observed in the last six months to address negative health outcomes?
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