We are delighted to have Lorna Nunn (Scottish staffworker) join the student ministry team (see page 2). Becky Petherick (Midlands Relay worker) completed an excellent six months in February and has returned to full time medicine as an A&E SHO. She was a great help to the students in Warwick and we are very grateful for all her hard work. The student staff team is stronger than ever, for which we thank God. All our staffworkers produce regular prayer letters so if you would like to support any one of them in prayer please let us know. The current team is Mark Pickering (Student Secretary), Tim Lewis (Ireland), Lorna Nunn (Scotland), Kerry Waterfield (North England), Ruth Selwood (Midlands), Rebecca Brain (West UK) and Chris Downing (South England). Mark Pickering’s email address is mark.pickering@cmf.org.uk. We expect you can guess the rest! For student staff vacancies see New Staff Needed
Turning Points
Another excellent National Students’ Conference on 7-9 February saw over 360 present, partly due to changing the date to February.
Don Carson (USA) spoke on three ‘Turning Points’ in the history of salvation - the fall, David’s dynasty and the cross. Excellent emphasis was made on the pervasive nature of evil, which is essential before we can understand God’s grace in providing a messiah to atone for our sins. John Patrick (Canada) gave the Conference Address on ‘Meaning and Purpose in Medicine’, focussing on the principles of the Hippocratic Oath and the need for objective truth, transcendence and trust as vital ingredients in medical practice. A four-CD boxed set of the main talks is available from CMF see Publications section
A fantastic selection of seminars on topics such as ‘Suffering’, ‘Cloning & Stem Cells’ and ‘Imposing our Morality’ were very well received. The bookstall was as popular as ever (Don Carson’s books selling out by Saturday lunchtime) and students enjoyed meeting the many international students who came from as far as Croatia, Kenya and Australia. See the conference report in the April Nucleus for further details.
International Students’ Preconference
Now in its fifth year, this London-based week immediately preceded the National Students’ Conference (3-7 February). A wonderful group of 17 students from Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kenya, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine stayed with local students. They had ethics teaching and visits to local medical units run by CMF members; they also visited the Houses of Parliament and had a day trip to Oxford for sightseeing and time at the IFES headquarters. The aim remains to strengthen leaders and potential leaders where student CMFs are small or non-existent. A number of the countries will be receiving CMF summer teams this year (see below).
Irish Conference
40 students and doctors came to Ovoca Manor in County Wicklow to hear Anthony Petterson speak on ‘God’s Guidance’ for the 2002 CMF Irish Conference (31 Jan - 2 Feb). Seminars included ‘Addictions’, ‘Science & Faith’ and ‘Studying the Old Testament’. The weekend coincided with Chinese New Year, so on Saturday evening a Chinese dinner and table quiz added some colour to an excellent time.
Missionary Breakfast 6 May
London students can look forward to the great view and monumental cooked breakfast of Guy’s hospital tower on Tuesday 6 May. Peter Armon (CMF Overseas Secretary) will speak on ‘Get Out More! 21st century medical mission’. Publicity is now available and the cost will be £5.
Electives Days
Electives days were held in Leeds (8 March) and London (19 March). Nearly 50 students attended for first-hand advice on the how and why of organising an elective in the developing world. Free booklets on planning your elective are available from CMF and on the website at www.cmf.org.uk/mission/prepelec.htm. For specific advice on an elective, contact Peter Armon, the CMF Overseas Secretary, on peter.armon@cmf.org.uk. Healthserve is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2003 and would like to give 125 elective grants to students studying in English or Welsh universities over the next two years! Contact HealthServe, First Floor, 106-110 Watney Street, London E1 2QE. Tel 020 7790 1336. Email info@healthserve.org.
CMF Summer Teams
Student/doctor summer teams go out each year, mainly to help run evangelistic camps. This year teams are planned in Kursk (Russia, 4-12 Jul), Chilyabinsk (Russia, 27 Jul-6 Aug), Simferopol (Ukraine, 4-8 Aug), Tver (Russia, 4-11 Aug), Bulgaria (first week of Aug), Yerevan (Armenia, date to be confirmed) and Tirana (Albania, date to be confirmed). Much prayer is needed for planning, finance and extra team members.
Other CMF teams will be helping to run student leaders’ conferences in Bucharest, Romania (23-25 May) and Samara, Russia (15-20 July). These will include medical student leaders from across the Balkans (Bucharest) and the Russian-speaking world (Samara). Both will be instrumental in the strengthening of Christian medical student movements in these regions. A further team will assist at a student/doctor conference in Moscow (3-6 Oct).
Summer School
The CMF Student Leaders’ Conference takes place each September for all CMF reps, but we are conscious of the need for intensive leadership training for key CMF students in order to help ‘pass on the baton’ to the next generation of Christian doctors. As a result, this year there will be a residential CMF student summer school for a small number of invited students. This will take place at Felden Lodge, Hemel Hempstead, 30 June - 3 July. Further details will follow but please pray for this important new venture.
Confident Christianity
The national tour finished on 15 March in Cardiff after covering 16 venues across the UK and Ireland. 250 students were equipped to share their faith with friends, ‘in words they understand, in an environment where they feel comfortable and with the opportunity for discussion’. Please pray for the fruits of this work in coming months. Numbers were lower than expected, partly due to changes in student culture, but those that came invariably had a great time. The CC material is still available at www.cmf.org.uk/evang/conf/intro.htm and further CC days can be arranged on request.
