'Great Expectations' fulfilled at National Conference!
Approaching 250 of us gathered at Swanwick from 25–27 April for the annual national conference. It was a great time for all ages and stages, and many expressed appreciation of the varied programme and the less rushed timetable.
One long term member wrote subsequently: 'By the way, I would also like to add just how much I enjoyed the weekend. It must be nearly 20 years since I last went to the national conference and it was great to see how lively + vibrant + relevant CMF has become, with lots of young blood!' Junior doctors were evident in numbers and some were indispensable to the running of the conference. They even had their own committee meeting on the Saturday afternoon.
There was lively participation in the programme for children and young people, organised again by the Scripture Union team. Activities ranged from energetic games for the very young to serious discussion on predestination for the teenagers, with many saying they were already looking forward to coming back next year.
Corporate times of worship and the main Bible readings, given by Sam Leinster on the theme of 'Great Expectations - Living in the Light of the Future' from Matthew 24-25, brought much encouragement and food for thought.
There was a varied seminar programme: on faith issues such as Why trust the Bible?, Sharing faith in the workplace and Islam's increasing influence; through personal issues such as Managing money and Negotiating Busyness; to clinical issues such as Alcohol dependence and Handling ethical dilemmas in the consultation.
Sixty years of the NHS were reviewed by Rodney and Pearl Burnham in the annual Rendle Short Lecture (see their edited version in the accompanying Triple Helix) and we were challenged to be on the lookout for fresh avenues of service in future years.
How about coming to the national conference next year: 24-26 April 2009?
Meetings to suit our lifestyles
Many local groups are trying different patterns of meeting to suit the lifestyle of today's NHS doctor. With the pressure we face in our professional lives, many of us find it difficult to have meaningful contact and friendship with other Christian doctors even though we would long for it. You may be able to address this by joining a prayer triplet, a Saturday morning prayer meeting, an informal open house evening, a small Christian group in your hospital or workplace, or a leisurely Saturday brunch. Do make enquiry and find out what is going on in your patch. If you can't find anything, you might like to start something!
Plans for the autumn
The ICMDA Eurasia Conference Resources (Un)Limited will be in Schladming, Austria from 7-14 September. There will be a preconference for students and juniors from 7th-10th and the main conference will be from 10th-14th. This should be an excellent event and we are already expecting a good contingent from the UK. It's not too late to book now – more details on the CMF website.
Details of our autumn conferences will be on the CMF website. In addition to the usual regional conferences in the Midlands, the North and Scotland, we are having a weekend conference for Southern Ireland and a day conference for London and the South East in November. The psychiatrists are having their conference in London on 3 October and there will be another conference for retirees at Hothorpe Hall from 5-7 October.
We are continuing to hold Saline Solution day conferences around the country. If there hasn't been one near you lately, perhaps you'd like to host one. Please let me know!
Let us encourage one another to live for Christ in our work situations, and remember that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Let's make sure we don't lose our saltiness or hide our light!
