After two years of preparation, The Human Journey – our major new resource for churches, healthcare professionals and student groups – was launched on 17 November.
We welcomed over fifty CMF members, church leaders, and journalists to the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity for a special launch event.
A keynote address from Prof John Wyatt on some of the medical and ethical challenges facing the church today was followed by a presentation by CEO, Peter Saunders, who explained the background to The Human Journey, how it came into being and how we envisage it being used.
The Human Journey is an eight-session course designed to help Christians think biblically about health, and includes a book, Study and Leader's guides, a DVD, website and social media community. Attendees were able to purchase our full range of products from our bookstall, and there was time for excellent canapés, drinks and the sharing of hopes, questions and aspirations about the new resource.
We very much hope that you will use and promote The Human Journey in your churches, and we are excited to think that it could also have a significant global impact too.
Visit the website www.humanjourney.org.uk to find out more.
Don't forget our Christmas Appeal
CMF's Christmas Appeal for 2014 seeks much-needed support for strategic work among students and junior doctors. Students and junior doctors are the lifeblood and future of CMF. This is why we make students' and juniors' ministry a key priority.
Many readers of CMF News will testify to being converted as students. Probably their first contact with the Fellowship was a local student group or our Student Conference. Most of our 500 new graduate members since January 2010 joined us as students and were retained as juniors through our transition programme.
Pressures on Christian students and juniors are enormous – arguably greater than ever before. This is why we need strong student work and to sustain it requires a financial commitment.
Please give as much as you can: www.cmf.org.uk
Lord Falconer's phoney war
Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying Bill reached Committee Stage in the House of Lords on 7 November. It seeks to legalise assisted suicide (but not euthanasia) for mentally competent adults (aged over 18) with less than six months to live, subject to 'safeguards' under a two doctors' signature model similar to the Abortion Act 1967.
The House of Lords will now debate it line by line. Opponents have tabled a whole raft of amendments, and protocol requires that each has to receive debating time. One development on 7 November was acceptance of an amendment that judges, not doctors, should take final decisions about whether someone should be given the go-ahead to take their own life. This puts a fearsome onus on judges and at face value looks unworkable.
Opponents to the bill had tactical choices: either to try to kill the bill at the second reading – as they did with a similar bill from Lord Joffe in 2006 – or to strangle it slowly in committee by amending it, if necessary with 'wrecking' devices. They have opted for the latter, which means clear arguments against will form part of the official record of the debate.
This series of events has all the hallmarks of a phoney war. There is little hope that the bill will pass all stages in both Houses of Parliament ahead of the next general election which is already set for 7 May 2015. Falconer and his allies will undoubtedly bring the bill back to Parliament regardless.
CMF finances to end of September
Eleanor Orr, CMF's accountant, produces accounts each month so that the board of trustees and senior staff can assess where we are in relation to budget. The most recent set of accounts we have relates to the financial situation at the end of September 2014.
Regular income such as general donations and membership was £32,000 below budget. Departmental income, for example conference income and donations to support specific ministry, was in line with budget. So overall income at £779,000 was £32,000 below budget. Development income at £152,000 was £17,000 below budget. Spending at £1,008,000 was £76,000 below budget as the result of the careful use of funds. So overall, CMF was doing better than budget with a deficit of £77,000 which was £26,000 better than budget. Thank you to all members for their support.
