St. Luke's Hospital

"When we are well and upright, our line of sight is horizontal. But when we are ill and on our backs, our line of sight is upward."

With that thought in mind, a young Dr. Demosthenes Katsarkas imagined a hospital that would treat the patient as a whole person - providing excellent medical care for the body, and ministering the Good News for the soul's wellbeing.

The vision that would become St. Luke's Hospital was born in the early 1960s. The leadership of AMG wanted to establish a medical center in northern Greece that would offer a successful combination of modern medical treatment and a spiritual approach to the sick. The combination of those hopes with the skills of Dr. Katsarkas would be the fulfillment of that vision.

After almost 10 years of praying, visioning and planning, St. Luke's Hospital, located in the Biblical city of Thessaloniki, Greece opened its doors in April 1975.

St Luke's is a 270-bed medical facility whose staff of 500 serves more than 2,000 patients each month. 90% of patients are physician referrals. The hospital hosts nearly 80 surgical procedures each day, and 80 to 100 heart surgeries each month.

The impact of St. Luke's Hospital extends well beyond the direct medical services provided in the region to include the following:

• St. Luke's Hospital provides a platform for the Gospel.
• St. Luke's reputation provides credibility for the evangelical community and missionaries in Greece.
• St. Luke's Hospital provides medical care to Eastern Europe's missionary force.
• St. Luke's Hospital provides meaningful employment for 500 staff - half of the hospital staff are believers.
• St. Luke's Hospital is the recommended service provider by foreign government and other public agencies with staff in Greece and Eastern Europe.
• St. Luke's Hospital provides funding for many other ministry efforts, including:
  - an orphanage in Albania from which 200 children were placed for adoption
  - the construction of a Bible School in Indonesia
  - national workers ministering in Bulgaria and Romania
  - relief work in what was formerly Yugoslavia
  - the operation of the only Christian radio station broadcasting to the island of Cyprus

St. Luke's Hospital has earned the reputation of being one of the best hospitals in Eastern Europe and in the Balkan region. Consequently, many people who might not otherwise hear the Gospel come to St. Luke's Hospital and hear it for the first, and perhaps only, time in their lives. More people hear the Gospel there in a year than are visitors to all evangelical churches in Greece combined.

We praise God for what He is doing through St. Luke's Hospital and we look forward with eager anticipation to the future for this wonderful ministry that is being used so mightily by the Lord.