FAQs
- What does HCJB stand for?
- What is HCJB Global?
- How did Radio Station HCJB begin?
- Where are your clinics and hospitals located, and what types of healthcare does HCJB Global offer?
- Does HCJB Global have partnerships in healthcare similar to those in radio?
- When did the healthcare ministries begin?
- What is unique about HCJB Global?
- What types of programming does the ministry broadcast?
- How does HCJB Global broadcast?
1. What does HCJB stand for?
It began as the call letters of the radio station in Ecuador. These call letters were assigned in 1930 and have been a part of the organisation ever since. The call letters stand for Heralding Christ Jesus’ Blessings or in Spanish Hoy Cristo Jesús Bendice (Today Christ Jesus Blesses) [Back to Top]
2. What is HCJB Global?
World Radio Missionary Fellowship, Inc., commonly known as HCJB Global, is a non-profit, non-commercial, interdenominational organisation. The world’s first missionary broadcast organisation, it has been touching lives around the globe since 25th December 1931.
HCJB Global’s passion is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Through the practical tools of media and healthcare, the mission is equipping the voices and hands of the growing church. By working with local believers around the globe, ministries have been established in nearly 400 cities in more than 100 countries as partners focus on blessing their communities. Together with these partners, HCJB Global broadcasts the gospel in more than 120 languages and dialects. Thousands of healthcare patients are also meeting Jesus. Believers are being trained as missionaries, pastors, broadcasters and healthcare providers. HCJB Global’s desire is to integrate discipleship with practical tools to equip the growing church around the world and see lives transformed. [Back to Top]
3. How did Radio Station HCJB begin?
In 1927 Clarence and Katherine Jones felt called by God to go to Latin America and start a pioneer missionary radio station. Clarence travelled to Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Cuba in 1928 looking for a suitable location, but was unable to get the necessary government permits to start a station.
Two years later, back in Chicago, Clarence met several Christian and Missionary Alliance missionaries from Ecuador: John and Ruth Clark, Reuben and Grace Larson, and Paul and Bernice Young. These missionaries encouraged Clarence to seek permission for the missionary radio station in Ecuador.
Reuben and another Christian and Missionary Alliance missionary, D.S. Clark, along with Luís Calisto, an Ecuadorian lawyer, helped Clarence procure the initial contract with the Ecuadorian government in August 1930. The station’s first programme occurred in Quito on Christmas Day, 1931, making it the first missionary radio station in the world and the first radio station in Ecuador with daily programmes. [Back to Top]
4. Where are your clinics and hospitals located, and what types of healthcare does HCJB Global offer?
HCJB Global has two hospitals in Ecuador: Hospital Vozandes-Quito and Hospital Vozandes-Shell, treating a total of more than 200,000 patients in 2007.
Healthcare extends beyond the hospitals with staff working in Community Development in six provinces of Ecuador—Bolívar, Chimborazo, Esmeraldas, Morona Santiago, Pastaza and Pichincha.
We have many satellite medical clinics: These are family practice and eye clinics that bring affordable, Christ-centred medical care primarily to poor people in Quito and other cities of Ecuador. Medical staff saw nearly 111,000 patients at clinics in 2007, including those coming for dental work, lab tests and physiotherapy. Most clinics are managed by graduates of the family practice residency programme at Hospital Vozandes-Quito. Specialists such as orthopedic surgeons and ophthalmologists also see patients in our clinics.
Mobile Medical Clinics are a large part of the Healthcare Division. Approximately once a month, staff members visit rural areas and poor city neighbourhoods, offering care where no public health facilities exist. [Back to Top]
5. Does HCJB Global have partnerships in healthcare similar to those in radio?
The Healthcare Advisory Group was formed in 2000 to expand the healthcare ministries beyond the borders of Ecuador and is comprised of friends of the mission and missionaries.
We envision that local partners will take the lead in these ministries as they do in radio, and our role would be a supportive one.
HCJB Global Hands has already been involved to a limited extent with projects outside of Ecuador for years. The programme to eliminate river blindness, for example, has been used as a model in Colombia and Venezuela. In the last couple of years we’ve partnered with a group in Bolivia, helping them start a mobile medical clinic ministry by donating our old truck for their use. Staff members speak at conferences outside of Ecuador, and we’ve sent staff to Africa to explore potential partnerships. A team from Quito went to Indonesia to help the survivors of the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami. While there, an earthquake struck, and our medical team was first on site in Nias Island, Indonesia, to provide emergency medical care. More recently the ministry sent two emergency relief teams from Ecuador to Pakistan to assist after the earthquake. [Back to Top]
6. When did the healthcare ministries begin?
HCJB Global opened its first Indian clinic in Quito in 1950, the beginning of an extensive healthcare outreach that now includes two hospitals and extensive community development and training ministries. Hospital Vozandes-Quito opened in 1955, and the mission celebrated the hospital’s 50th anniversary in 2005. Hospital Vozandes-Shell in the jungle opened in 1958. Now the mission is looking outside of Ecuador and into the rest of Latin America and the world. The focus of providing integral healthcare so people come to Christ and join healthy churches has not changed. [Back to Top]
7. What is unique about HCJB Global?
The mission is characterised by an innovative, international staff with training and experience in a number of specialised fields. HCJB Global has many partners, and the ministry is strong in training. A majority of the audiences are non-Christian, so evangelism is emphasised through the various programmes. The most significant uniqueness is our focus on the integration of media and healthcare globally. [Back to Top]
8. What types of programming does the ministry broadcast?
Because a majority of the listeners are not yet Christians, HCJB Global offers a large variety of programmes. These include general interest, sports, preventive healthcare, travel, culture and music. [Back to Top]
9. How does HCJB Global broadcast?
Shortwave, FM, AM, satellite, Internet [Back to Top]
