The American Dream Transplanted

After Eleanore Kue first came to the United States on her honeymoon in the early 1990s, she and her husband, Simon, decided to leave Cameroon behind to pursue the American dream. Little did Kue know, God had a larger vision for her future.

The medical doctor and ordained Assemblies of God pastor is participating in the Doctor of Ministry Women’s Cohort at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary  — running a clinic, pastoring a church plant, and providing an outreach program to children in the projects of Lansing, Michigan.

The genesis of her ministry occurred in 2003 when Kue accepted Jesus as her Savior and was baptized in the Holy Spirit at First Assembly of God of Greater Lansing.

Two years later, she began to attend Mount Hope Bible Institute. While there, she was inspired by the missionaries who came from Africa and all over the world, and she went on three mission trips from 2006 to 2008. During a medical mission trip to her home country of Cameroon, Kue felt called to replicate the blending of spiritual and medical care that occurs on the mission field back in the U.S.

In 2009, Kue opened His Healing Hands clinic in inner-city Lansing. According to Kue, the area has almost no access to health care, and a large portion of the residents have no insurance or are on Medicaid, which makes it difficult for them to find care.

Medicaid is the primary source of funding for the clinic. She estimates that government health assistance supplies 80 percent of the clinic’s finances, while donations cover 15 percent of expenses. Only 5 percent of the clinic’s resources are generated through other insurance.

The clinic, where initially only three to five patients were treated daily, now cares for 5,000 patients a year. The majority of Kue’s patients are drug addicts, ex-convicts, and single moms dealing with abusive relationships, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or anxiety. The need for spiritual healing is equal to the quest for medical treatment.

Kue has weekly prayer meetings in the evening at the clinic where patients can receive the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. The clinic also opens its doors for half an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays for prayer and study prior to medical exams. 

To further meet spiritual needs of the area, Kue planted His Healing Hands Church at the clinic in 2013. Many people come for church on Wednesday morning and stay to be seen as a patient in the afternoon.

Kue recognizes another priority in her efforts to bring healing to Lansing.

“I have to be involved with the children if I want to stop the pattern of the destructive behaviors their parents are currently experiencing,” Kue says. “I’m passionate about the children, because I see what they are going to become if we don’t intervene.”

On weekends, Kue and her team go to community room centers in the projects to serve around 50 students with food and the gospel.

Somehow Kue finds the time to run the clinic, the church, and the children’s ministry in the projects.

“I don’t see this as a job; I see this as a passion,” Kue says. “I’m doing what I am supposed to be doing.”

Kue also indicated that twice a month Doug Carr, a member of First Assembly of God of Greater Lansing, shares the preaching load at the clinic, and that members from both churches participate in the ministry to the projects.

“It has been exciting to teach and preach to these folks with their severe physical needs,” Carr says. “When we talk about getting set free, they totally get it and are ready for prayer and deliverance.”

Carr also identifies the many areas in which Kue has overcome obstacles, such as insurance carriers pulling funding, the local housing authority attempting to keep her out of the projects, and the basement of the clinic flooding. He calls Kue “fearless.”

“She presses on and God has been faithful to provide what she needs, when she needs it,” Carr says.

Rebecca Burtram

Rebecca Burtram is an Assemblies of God pastor in Charlottesville, Virginia, a pastor's wife, mother to three, and an English teacher. She is the author of Our Broken Hallelujahs, and she blogs at rebeccaburtram.com.