local groups : Dundee
In a small city like Dundee (popularly known as ‘Scotland’s sunniest city’), you might be tempted to believe that visiting the new Victoria and Albert Museum (standing by the beautiful Tay river) is the highlight of our year. But because of our living room gatherings where we ‘ponder over pudding’, study the Bible, and debate ethics, we have been able to get to know each other and build a rich CMF student community.
The year commenced with a potluck dinner to welcome new students and plan for the year ahead. October will be remembered for getting a taster of the TV programme ‘Total Wipeout’ at our local aqua park in Dundee’s City Quay. It was an adventurous afternoon of swimming in the icy water and lots of jumping off inflatable assault courses, followed by hot chocolate at our medical school link’s house. In addition, some of our students attended the ‘Three Great Debates’ at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.
Over the next few months, we continued our study of The Human Journey, [1] focusing on ‘marriage and sexuality’. We had our downtime and devotional of the year at our local Blend Coffee Lounge. The year concluded with a Christmas potluck dinner and social, before we headed homewards to spend the holidays with our families.
We are always excited about the CMF Student Conference; the long drive to Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire was sustained by Laura Doherty’s mouth-watering tray-bake. Our more senior students had raved about the excellent food at Yarnfield, and we were not disappointed; but more importantly, our souls were truly fed as we navigated through the book of Philippians under the guidance of Dr Peter Saunders. One of our Dundee CMF members, Daniel Chiew, said the conference highlighted the importance of ‘reconnecting and prioritising what matters in life, cutting through the noise of the busy every-day and worldly distractions to be in God’s peace and grace’. The weekend also gave us the rare opportunity of interacting with fellow students from other universities in Scotland with whom we attended various seminars. I was particularly amused by how effortlessly the students from England mastered the Ceilidh, which was directed by our own Matthew Amer.
February was rounded off by a visit from CMF’s Head of Student Ministries, Rachel Owusu-Ankomah, who directed our study on ‘New Technology’, another installment in the Human Journey series.
Despite all that has happened this year with the pandemic, as we reflect on the previous year at CMF Dundee, the Lord has undoubtedly been good to us. We look forward to the year ahead, assured that the Lord will provide for us and enable us to shine. Our prayer at CMF Dundee is that:
- We would all grow in the knowledge of how to live and love Christ in our medical school.
- We would be good ambassadors for him, and have courage and compassion as we seek to spread the gospel.
- That all the events we hold would be fruitful. ?