fellowship news
global
Journeying into Global Health and Mission
Whatever happened to the Developing Health Course? If you’ve been around in CMF for any length of time, you will be aware that CMF has run this course preparing people for working in lower-resourced settings for 65 years. As the world has changed, many health systems have improved, and mission practice has altered. Furthermore, with the ease of holding training online, CMF decided it was time to ‘retire’ the course. However, such was the level of interest from mission agencies in recruiting healthcare professionals, we decided to run a day conference called Journey into Global Health and Mission, which happened at the London School of Theology on Saturday, 13 July.
Sixty people enjoyed a day of thinking about what God is doing in the world and where there are ways and means to continue to serve him in global health and mission. We had talks from theologians, mission practitioners, and experienced healthcare workers, as well as plenty of time to learn from others and explore opportunities to serve.
Such was the level of appreciation that CMF is now planning to run a weekend conference in 2025 on global health and mission, thinking through what our role can be as Western-trained healthcare workers in serving God.
Every Nation Collaborative
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9a)
We are excited to announce the launch of a new initiative at CMF – the Every Nation Collaborative. Our goal is to unite doctors, nurses, and midwives from different backgrounds and nationalities within the fellowship. The initiative aims to:
- Provide practical support for international graduates (IGs) to help them integrate into CMF and the Health Service. This includes connecting them with more established IGs in the UK and offering practical advice, mentoring, and fellowship.
- Encourage and Support Global Majority Heritage (ethnic minority) CMF members: We aim to explore and understand the experiences and concerns of our Global Majority Heritage members, and to provide them with the support they need. We want to involve them across CMF’s ministries, including pastoral care, committees, and as speakers and writers.
- Connect with Global Majority Heritage Christians in Healthcare not currently involved with CMF: We plan to build relationships with Christian diaspora groups and make CMF known to those who are Global Majority Heritage but are not currently involved with us.
If you are interested in knowing more or getting involved, please contact Phoebe on phoebe.owen@cmf.org.uk. Please pray for us as we embark on this collaborative effort, asking for God’s guidance and that this work will bring glory to his name!
Dr Phoebe Owen, CMF Every Nation Collaborative
save the date
Global Health and Mission Conference
4-6 July 2025. At the London School of Theology, Northwood, Middlesex. This is for anyone involved in, interested in, or committed to what God is doing in his world through healthcare. We will send out further details in the coming months.
staff & Volunteer movements
staff joining
Andrew Jackson joined as the new Head of Students in August. Andrew is a portfolio GP in Buckinghamshire with special interests in musculoskeletal and sports medicine. He hit the ground running as CMF’s student team geared up for the Freshers’ season this autumn!
Harriet Bishop joined the team in October as the new Events & Networks Coordinator. She has studied in Spain and managed events for Middlesex University Students Union before joining the CMF staff team.
Hilary Yip took up the role of Ministries Administrator at the start of November. She currently teaches the harpsichord. She was President of the Christian Union at the Royal College of Music until her recent graduation.
Jake Wain joins the CMF Nurses & Midwives Team as an Associate, with a special focus on working with nursing and midwifery students. Jake was himself a student until earlier this year and now works as a staff nurse in the West Midlands. Jake is also a worship leader, leading at April’s NAMfest and the 75th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service in June.
staff leaving
Sally Palmer left in September after ably serving in the role of Field Team Administrator. She is now working with London City Mission.
Roxann Dixon left in August as the Field Team Coordinator. Many of you will have met her at various national events and conferences over the last couple of years.
volunteers joining
CMF Global has two new volunteers joining one day a week from this autumn:
Hannah John was raised in Kuwait, trained in India, and is now working as a plastic surgeon in Birmingham Children’s Hospital. As an international medical graduate, Hannah has a heart for welcoming those who come from across the world to live and work in the UK. Hannah will support the Every Nation Collaborative, led by Phoebe Owen, which aims to facilitate the greater inclusion of many nationalities within the CMF family.
Gordon McFarlane is a general (rural) surgeon who has previously worked in Kenya but who has spent the last 20 years in Shetland. Gordon has joined our team one day a week, adding a ‘surgical dimension’ to our work. He will help in our teaching programmes and plans for 2025.
Stefanie McRoy has now taken over as CMF Link for Women’s Health from Prof David Cahill, who stepped down in July. The Women’s Health Network aims to unite and equip Christian doctors, nurses, and midwives working in the fields of gynaecology, midwifery, and obstetrics to live and speak for Jesus Christ. Stefanie is a specialist midwife in trauma in Oxford & Bucks. Having previously worked in a busy London hospital and abroad in Papua New Guinea, she has an interest in both local and global women’s health. She is keen to support followers of Jesus who are working in women’s health so that they are equipped and encouraged to live out the gospel in their workplaces.
Please pray for the incoming and outgoing CMF volunteers and staff as they settle into new roles and responsibilities.
Nurses Christian Fellowship International World Congress
Amid the heat and bustle of Malaga in late June, around 300 Christian nurses and midwives from about 30 countries gathered in the tranquil setting of the Diocesan House Conference Centre for the Nurses Christian Fellowship International (NCFI) World Congress. This was the first in-person world congress NCFI has held since 2016 due to Covid.
We had a good-sized delegation from the UK, headed up by Bex Lawton on the CMF Nurses and Midwives’ team, including several students and qualified nurses and midwives whom we could support with partial bursaries from CMF. Stef McRoy (now heading up CMF’s Women’s Health Network and on the CMF Board), and Steve Fouch (who was part of the Congress Organising Committee serving as Congress Treasurer) were also there, along with former CMF Staff Workers and Associates Rachel Bacon and Esther Hughes. We were also blessed with the company of several Nigerian and Ghanaian nurses based in the UK. We really felt we were part of an international community.
The conference theme, ‘Strength and courage to care’, resonated deeply with the attendees. This was evident in the engaging plenaries, particularly the inspiring talk by Benson Owusu of Ghana, who encouraged Christian nurses to assume leadership roles in their professions and even consider entering politics to influence health policies. Wilf McSherry of Keele University also delivered a compelling exploration of the ongoing struggle to keep spirituality and spiritual care at the core of nursing and midwifery in the UK.
Steve Fouch, NCFI Board Member and CMF Head of Communications
junior (now resident) doctors’ committee
On a sunny and warm weekend in August, the new Junior Doctors’ Committee had its first meeting in London. We enjoyed getting to know one another over the two days whilst enjoying tasty food and the wonderful British summer! We were also reminded of the important calling of young people, from 1 Timothy 4:12-16, particularly relevant as we seek to build up the next generation of healthcare workers for Christ. A highlight of the weekend was the walking tour led by our very own CEO, Dr Mark Pickering, where we learnt about the rich heritage of the people of faith who have gone before us. It was inspiring to think of the difference we could make to healthcare and beyond by faithful obedience in the service of Christ. As the winter chill starts to set in, we look forward to our annual Junior Doctors’ Conference set to take place from 15-17 November. We are also very excited about the forthcoming webinar series, which will launch in January 2025. We hope to provide biblically based and culturally relevant talks addressing issues at the interface of faith, medicine, and the cultural issues of the day through these seminars.
As always, we are so grateful for the prayers, love, and support of so many of you across the fellowship. Please do continue to pray for our committee members, Rhys, William, Miranda, Harrison, Fiona, Bukola, Katherine and myself, that we would be an ongoing example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (1 Timothy 4:12).
Paula Busuulwa, Chair, Junior Doctors’ Committee
International Christian Medical & Dental Association European Conference
Approximately 30 leaders of National Christian Medical Fellowships from across Europe met in Berlin alongside the International Christian Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA) Students Conference at the Martal’s Conference and Community Centre. We stayed at a student hostel further along the road.
The meeting was a great time of fellowship, sharing, and learning from one another. Leaders from each national fellowship presented over the course of the conference. The challenges faced by each movement were similar yet different. These included difficulties with membership, volunteers, and ensuring that students remained connected after qualification. Leaders presented areas of encouragement, areas of challenge, and prayer.
Presentations were made and discussions held on the topics of mobilising volunteers, bioethics, outreach, and advocacy. There was also a presentation on the work of ICMDA. Some of us went on a guided walking tour of Berlin, which was very illuminating and informative, particularly the visit to the Holocaust Memorial, the site of Hitler’s Bunker a stone’s throw away, and the simple underground memorial to the burning of books in Opernplatz in 1933. The leaders joined the students for the morning worship. CMF member and regular speaker Rev Dr Jason Roach gave Sunday’s closing address. The leaders went home refreshed and strengthened.
David Smithard, ICMDA Europe General Secretary
nurse & midwives
forgotten cohort
Yet Jerusalem says, ‘The Lord has deserted us, the Lord has forgotten us.’
Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! (Isaiah 49:14-15, New Living Translation)
Student nurses and midwives who qualified in 2023 are being referred to as the ‘forgotten cohort’. A cohort of trainees whose experience of studying during the Covid pandemic meant that they had next to no face-to-face teaching time, and some were recruited to work on Covid wards rather than consolidate their learning in their final years. To see them feeling undervalued and unsupported before they even start their careers has been heartbreaking. So, as a reminder that they haven’t been forgotten by their God or by their fellowship, we gathered together graduates of 2023 and 2024 this summer for an in-person graduation celebration event. We helped them celebrate the completion of their courses and commissioned and blessed them as they went out to work as newly qualified nurses and midwives.
One of our nurses commented:
‘I think the bit when we were able to pray together for our doubts was incredible. I got goosebumps. The Holy Spirit was defo moving in the room; it was so powerful! I loved being able to hear people’s testimonies. It was so encouraging!’
Bex Lawton CMF Head of Nurses and Midwives
