fellowship news

CMF Global

the lowdown on the Laos trip

A  team of three Global Trackers (Katie, Afua, and Tristan) and I visited Laos as part of the 18-month Global Track training course, which started in September 2024. We left on 14 February, to return just over a week later, on the 23rd. The seven-hour time difference really wasn’t a joke for those headed back to work the next morning!

The team spent an action-packed week meeting with inspiring believers who faithfully carry out God’s work by improving the healthcare in this nation. The main destinations we reached were Vientiane, the capital; Salavan, a province in the South of the country that requires a plane or night bus to reach (we opted for the plane!); and Luang Prabang, a well-known tourist spot featuring some of the most scenic views of the landscape, as well as a large hospital run by a secular non-governmental organisation (NGO).

A key highlight of the trip was being hosted by Alison, a CMF member and formerly a nurse/midwife in Preston. Alison now works in Laos with a French NGO coordinating a health development project alongside her husband, Colin. Though their work is now focused in the capital, Vientiane, we were able to visit the development work they had completed in the South. Seeing the positive change implemented in Salavan was evidence of God’s call on their lives; being able to witness the impact of their work was a blessing for us visiting.

On the rare occasions that we weren’t travelling by plane, train, truck, or tuk tuk to visit a district or government hospital, the team was occupied with teaching medical English to university students. This meant that the Trackers were able to put their skills into practice firsthand and get a taste for the kinds of work that they could get involved with in the future.

A surprising feature of the trip was being faced with the prevalent spirituality, despite Laos being a communist country. Buddhist belief is everywhere, and it’s likely that if you weren’t a Buddhist, you were an animist. It was beneficial to have fellowship with other missionaries living in Laos, a country where proselytising is not allowed. We witnessed how these Christians live out the Scriptures daily, despite facing the challenge of not being able to openly share their faith. We were encouraged by 1 Peter 2:12: ‘Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’

God blessed us as a team, giving us the opportunity to visit the best parts of the country, while also coming face to face with the difficult realities faced by Christian healthcare workers: lack of proselytising, feeling out of place, facing uncertainty over the future, missing home, dealing with language difficulties, and suffering stomach bugs!

Please pray for the continued encouragement of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are faithful and covertly carry out God’s work in Laos.

Lois Fielder, CMF Global Coordinator

fellowship prayer for the Middle East

We are thankful for the many members and friends of CMF who have been able to join us for prayer about the conflict in Israel and Gaza over the last year. We are regularly praying for those most affected by the conflict and especially for medical needs and the awful plight of our medical colleagues in Gaza, with over 1,000 having lost their lives.

Do continue to pray and consider joining us again on Wednesday, 21 May. Contact the CMF office for more information.

international medical and nursing graduates

The CMF international graduates’ community run a regular monthly online Bible study with face-to-face meetings in different cities from time to time. The first such meeting of all international health professionals (doctors, nurses and allied health professionals) was held in Birmingham on 19 March. It was a lovely time of fun, food, and fellowship.

Here is some of the feedback we received:

I had an incredible experience, one that I’ll always treasure. Since moving to the UK, I haven’t encountered such a strong sense of fellowship with fellow believers until now. Meeting people from diverse backgrounds was truly enriching – it felt like being part of a big, loving family. I’m grateful to have discovered that such a wonderful community (CMF) exists. God bless each of the organisers for bringing joy to my life. May God return that joy manifold to each of you in Jesus’ name.

Rebecca Danzaria (radiographer)

It was a blessing to meet everyone yesterday…It felt really encouraging.

Sanny Samson (resident doctor)

If you would like to know more about CMF’s support and networking for Christian health professionals who have come to work in the UK, please go to cmf.li/IMNG, or if you would like to organise a similar event in your city, please email us at img@cmf.org.uk

Hannah John, CMF Associate for International Graduates

RASH in Sheffield

On Saturday, 25 January, CMF Global, along with the South Yorkshire Catalyst Team, hosted a Refugee and Asylum Seeker Health (RASH) course. Thirty people from across the region attended, learning from those working with refugees and asylum seekers. The course covered physical and mental health issues, along with hearing from refugees themselves about their experiences of accessing health services and their own faith journeys.

Our next RASH day will be hosted in Bristol on Saturday, 4 October. If you encounter refugees, asylum seekers, or migrants in your work, then this day is for you! More details coming soon!

resident doctors

Built on the Rock

The CMF Resident Doctors’ committee launched a new monthly webinar series in January 2025, entitled ‘Built on the Rock: Biblical Foundations for Healthcare in a Changing World’. These aim to bring together residents across the UK and Ireland as we meet online to consider key issues at the interface. We meet online for one hour, on the first Monday of the month, with a talk from an expert in a particular field, followed by a lively discussion and question-and-answer time. Webinars cover four themes: Biblical foundations, engaging with culture, medical ethics and pastoral issues. We are grateful for those within and outside CMF who have given up their time and expertise to build up our resident members through these webinars.

Sessions to date include a Christian framework for end of life care with Dr David Randall – a timely opportunity to formulate and articulate a biblical basis for our stance in preparation for conversations with colleagues; and the theology of work with Mark Greene – a welcome reminder of the purpose and God-ordained opportunities provided by our work, while acknowledging the difficulties posed by a fallen world. Those who have attended have appreciated the opportunity to think through these issues together, as we want to navigate what feels like an increasing divide between our faith and a secular NHS.

We’re looking forward to upcoming sessions on the trustworthiness of the Bible, decision making and risk management. You can sign up to join us at: cmf.li/BuiltontheRock, and future topics are available on the events page on the CMF website. Whilst specifically aimed at our resident doctor members, students and other members, irrespective of grade or profession, would be very welcome to attend!

salting the slippery slope

CMF recently ran a new online course to help members and Friends of CMF to grow in principled and practical opposition to assisted suicide in general, and to the current Westminster Bill in particular. We had heard from several members that they would appreciate a space to consider this issue that was both ‘Christian’ and ‘medical’. Consequently, the webinars combined space for biblical teaching and prayer with hearing from expert medical speakers, along with space for Q&A where questions and answers were free to combine Christian and medical perspectives.  This space to consider things from that dual perspective proved to be a blessing to many of us who attended.

Some personal highlights included John Wyatt opening the first session with some biblical wisdom and fielding a range of insightful questions. I was struck in session two by the wonderful person-centred nature of palliative care at its best and sensed a challenge to all of us in our professional lives to strive towards this richer biblical love of neighbour. In session three, we were confronted with particulars of the current bill, and session four focused on the reality of the slippery slope as seen overseas. In both sessions, I found it striking that you can’t do a bad thing in a good way and was helped to pray for God’s intervention and mercy.

Gillian Wright from ODOC also generously supported the course by offering helpful pointers each week on how we can engage with the political process and our own MPs.

Over 200 people registered to either attend in person or to catch up on the recordings, and I have also heard a report of one local group who met and caught up together, pausing the recording for reflection and prayer. A particular encouragement was to see nursing and medical members from all career stages, from students through to seniors, engaging and praying together around this material. If you would like to access the recordings to watch alone or with a local group, that is still possible via cmf.li/SSS-playlist.

Susan Marriott, CMF Head of Public Policy

specialty networks

prayerful paediatrics

During the recent Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Conference, a CMF session on Prayerful Paediatrics was attended by around 40 paediatricians. This included a reflective talk by Alasdair Fyfe, a retired paediatric surgeon, which gave lots to pray and ponder over.

Organised by CMF members Onajite Etuwewe and Rebecca Rhodes, this session was included alongside other optional morning sessions following an approach to the RCPCH to include something in the programme.

Reflecting on the session, Rebecca writes: ‘We had a really blessed time, and several people approached us afterwards to say how pleased, encouraged (and surprised) they had been to see such a gathering on the programme. Alasdair led us through a really helpful time of reflection, fixing our eyes back on Jesus and reminding us of the imperative to have our ears open to listen to God speaking’.

The session also led to a group sharing fellowship over dinner during the conference, and there is now a Paediatric WhatsApp group connecting Christian paediatricians up and down the country.

Reflecting on organising the session, Onajite and Rebecca were grateful to God for bringing it together and to the RCPCH for facilitating it. If you are inspired to explore something similar at a specialty conference, please contact the CMF Head of Volunteers and Networks, James Tomlinson, at james.tomlinson@cmf.org.uk for advice and support.

Christian Healthcare Leadership Network (CHLN)

The Christian Healthcare Leadership Network organised a recent conference on 8 March. It explored the timely theme of Leading in Chaos.

Sessions explored a Christian response to chaos, leading in the grey, looking at the big picture of the NHS in chaos, and leading a team through chaos. A particular highlight was a video created by Catriona Waitt exploring her journey through chaos as a Christian healthcare leader.

Feedback comments included:  ‘Relevant. I loved the focus on prayer and the Kingdom, a day that was full of Jesus; it was refreshing to meet like-minded people working in healthcare, and good to network.’

Thank you to Chris Holcombe, (CMF’s Associate for CHLN), the CHLN committee, and everyone who spoke and contributed to the day. The Christian Healthcare Leadership Network exists to unite and equip Christian leaders in healthcare (both current and future) to live and speak for Jesus Christ. CHLN welcomes clinical and non-clinical leaders and managers and is committed to fostering a supportive community and sharpening relationships, modelling what it means to be salt and light in challenging circumstances. Those in the network can connect to one another in a WhatsApp group for support and meetups. Go to cmf.li/CHLN to find out more and sign up. Also, look out for a CHLN-organised webinar on healthcare leadership coming soon.

catalyst teams and local groups

CMF Thames Valley

The CMF Thames Valley folk gathered for breakfast on 18 January in Headington. We shared a continental-type breakfast and then listened to Andrew Jackson (CMF Head of Student Ministries) share his testimony of being called to faith and ministry with CMF. He connected with the students with an active ministry in the region, hosting dinners and Bible studies. They have upcoming events on planning electives, preparation for FY1, and spiritual history taking. Please pray for fruitful conversations during these gatherings!

CMF East of England

The East of England Catalyst Team held a Saline Solution course at Histon near Cambridge on Saturday, 1 March. There was a good sprinkling of students, nursing graduates and retirees. We enjoyed fellowship and learning from each other about sharing and living our faith in the workplace. To find out more about Saline Solution, visit cmf.li/SalineSolution

CMF Merseyside

Angela Wilkinson stepped down as the Catalyst Team Leader for the Merseyside team at the end of March, having faithfully served as team leader since August 2018. She had previously been the Merseyside Regional Team Leader. We are hugely grateful for Angela’s leadership and enthusiasm for CMF, her leadership of the team, and her contribution to CMF’s Catalyst Teams as one of the early adopters. Please do pray for Angela and the team in this period of transition, and for a new leader for the team.

student conference

Student Conference 2025 took place over the weekend of 31 January to 2 February in Yarnfield, Staffordshire. We had over 300 attendees. The main speaker was Matt Lillicrap (former CMF staff and now CEO of UCCF The Christian Unions Movement), speaking on the topic of ‘Know Limits – a celebration of limitation’. Using the book of Ecclesiastes, Matt unpacked how we were created as limited beings by a limitless God and how we will go from groans to glory as we recognise that Jesus has died, Jesus is risen, Jesus will return. Consequently, we can look to him to let our futility fuel our hope. There was a broad range of seminars, excellent worship, fantastic fellowship, and so much more. The feedback received has been overwhelmingly great. We hope and pray to continue to unite and equip the next generation to live and speak for Jesus! This may not be the last generation, but it is the last chance for this generation to live and speak for Jesus!

Andrew Jackson, Head of Student Minsitries

nurses & midwives

Student Conference remains one of our highlights of the year because of these smiling faces! It was such a joy to connect with student nurses and midwives over the weekend, to hear the ups and downs of their placements, the challenges of juggling their courses, and connecting with church, and envisioning them for careers spent working with Jesus wherever he calls them. This year, nurses and midwives made their presence known at the conference, with the worship team led by Jacob Wain and one of the nursing and midwifery National Student Council reps giving a moving testimony from the main stage.

Our seminar on Sabbath, Simplicity, and Solitude had 126 students attend over the course of the weekend. We looked at Jesus’ busy healthcare ministry, how he prioritised seeking his Father, and the unforced rhythms of grace he taught us to live freely. One student commented that he’d never been to a conference with so many young people passionate about Jesus! Praise God for answered prayers and for his faithfulness to us as we seek to unite and equip student nurses and midwives.

Bex Lawton, Head of Nurses and Midwives

day of prayer for the health service

Organised in response to the ongoing pressures being experienced by many in the health service, Christians working in healthcare and other believers engaged in a focused day of prayer for the health service on Tuesday, 25 March 2025.

Lamentations 3:19-24 was chosen as the focus passage for the day. Bex Lawton, CMF Head of Nurses and Midwives, also wrote her own Healthcare Lamentation as a reflection on the current challenges in the health service.

Resources were provided on the CMF website – cmf.li/prayer25, including a prayer wall, a Spotify playlist, and a resource for personal reflection. An online prayer gathering in the evening saw over 80 join together to pray and encourage one another. In the mess and the muddle of the health service at the moment, we were encouraged to choose to call to mind the Lord’s great love, never-failing compassion, and great faithfulness, and thus, ‘keep a grip on hope’. (Lamentations 3:21, The Message)

CMF (alongside the Christian Institute, CARE, the Evangelical Alliance, and Affinity) was also part of an initiative to pray about the current pressures to legalise assisted suicide in various legislatures in the British Isles on the same day.

We will hold further prayer events during the year, including regular prayer about the assisted suicide bills across the UK, the conflict in Gaza, and in the lead-up to Healthcare Sunday on 19 October. Watch CMF E-News and the CMF Prayer Diary for more details over the spring and summer, or contact us at prayer@cmf.org.uk

staff movements

joining

Adele Pye joins us in July as our new Ministries Administrator, playing a vital role in supporting all our ministries.

leaving

Hilary Yip moved on from her role as the Ministries Administrator in March.

Naomi Buckler finished her role as Membership Engagement Developer, developing our membership services, communications, and fundraising.