New from cmf

The Electives Handbook

A student elective is a great opportunity to do something different, widen experience and learn new skills. Many students will say that the experience was life-changing and challenged them to see the world in an entirely different way. Even so, choosing where to go and how to prepare can be daunting tasks. The Electives Handbook (CMF) is a concise and practical booklet which helpfully guides the prospective traveller though the options and issues they will encounter.

'I hope lots of our members will buy this booklet and pass it on to medical students they know', comments CMF Head of International Ministries Vicky Lavy, who co-authored the booklet with medical students Rachel Perry and Emma Pedlar. £3.00, available from CMF.

Facing Infertility: Guidance for Christian couples considering IVF

Infertility affects one in seven couples. Not surprisingly it is deeply distressing, and penetrates every area of the lives of couples affected. Options available are complex and confusing. Few babies are available for adoption but there are now myriad ways in which to have a child of your own, or even someone else's child.

Many infertile couples will consider in vitro fertilisation (IVF). But where do they look if they want ethical guidance about this option? This new booklet by Jason Roach and Philippa Taylor and published by CMF sets out the key issues involved in what is a complex and emotive subject. Included, too, are two personal testimonies from couples who both considered IVF and decided to take different courses of action. Pastors who find themselves on the receiving end of questions from infertile couples will also find this booklet timely and helpful.To be published Spring 2014.

Thank you for your partnership

There are enormous benefits from being a CMF member. It enables connections with other Christian doctors, opportunities to be part of local groups for prayer and mutual support, inspiring national and regional conferences and breakfasts for particular specialties, and publications to help you keep a finger on the pulse of the interface of faith and medicine. What is often overlooked, however, is what CMF membership helps make possible for others.

Your membership is an investment in the next generation of Christian doctors. It helped subsidise 350 medical students who attended this year's Student Conference, ensuring that medical students are equipped to think biblically about their faith and work. It enabled 26 medical students to attend the International Medical Students Conference. Many of them will return to their home countries to play key roles in founding and leading national movements of Christian doctors.

Your CMF subscription enables the Fellowship to support 190 Christian doctors working internationally, the majority of them in resource-poor settings. With your help the annual CMF Developing Health Course equips and envisions doctors for work overseas, both short and long term. A Christian doctor's impact is exponential, not only through service in the workplace but in contributions to the life and work of local churches too.

As well, CMF membership fuels public witness, both in the profession and in national life. The challenges are immense. There is unprecedented hostility to the Christian faith and the ethical precepts it offers. So it is more important than ever that the Christian voice is heard in public forums and in the media.

Peter Saunders, Chief Executive of CMF, says, 'I want to thank warmly all CMF members for their partnership in the gospel. Your prayers, your subscriptions and your gifts help ensure that a future generation of Christian doctors is equipped for service in medicine, that vital overseas work is supported and the Christian voice in the public square is not muted.'

Please consider giving a Christian colleague or friend a CMF Gift Membership. See www.cmf.org.uk/gift/buy for details.

God and the silent pager

Stories of God-sent opportunities to share faith in the course of routine work situations were a huge encouragement to delegates attending a Birmingham Saline training day, held on 15 March.

A surgeon recounted how she had been called to re-site a cannula. Initially she asked the nurses to try to find someone else: she thought there would be plenty of colleagues capable of doing this. What's more she had plenty to keep her busy. A couple of hours later the nurses phoned again. No-one else was available: she really was the only one who could do this task, so she went. She apologised for keeping the man waiting and he told her he had been waiting all day for the chaplain to come and it was now evening.

The surgeon sat and chatted after sorting the drip, then offered to pray with him. He was so grateful and for 40 minutes her pager was silent, so she had time for unhurried conversation. Surely, here is an example of God's hand at work. Some 21 delegates gathered at a venue a stone's throw from Birmingham University. In total there were 29 delegates, (14 medics, six nurses, five students and four allied professionals) plus four trainers.

CMF is keen to sponsor as many Saline training days as possible. Why not prayerfully consider offering one in your area. For more info contact Ruth Haley, CMF Graduate Ministries Coordinator: ruth.haley@cmf.org.uk

CMF is producing two promotional videos explaining the Saline vision. CMF wishes to acknowledge with gratitude our partnership with IHS Global, which originated Saline and is energetically promoting it globally. CMF was represented at an International Saline consultation in Budapest on 23 January 2014. See article in this month's Triple Helix.