Like a chick kicked out of the nest finding out whether or not she can fly. That’s how I’ve felt at times during the first nine weeks of my initiation into clinical medicine. Studying at a university that has been one of the last to see the light and convert to an integrated course means that I am a total novice in the hospital environment I have spent so long trying to reach. It’s not that the pre-clinical sciences aren’t relevant to clinical medicine - it’s just that since I didn’t apply them at the time, I’ve now got to go back and re-learn the basics.

It’s a similar situation when it comes to putting Christian ‘head’ knowledge into practice. We may have listened to numerous Bible expositions and carefully scribbled down and stored away sermon notes, but not allowed this knowledge to affect our lives. Sometimes this may be due to wilful disobedience. We may not wish to follow Christ, and choose to live life our own way instead. However, we may have difficulty in applying what God teaches us in the Bible come the 8am post-take ward round.

At Nucleus we strive to present articles which help Christian medics to put principles into practice. The sad case of Jodie and Mary, the conjoint twins separated in November, has received considerable media converage. But what should Christians think? John Wyatt investigates here. We may believe abortion is wrong but what should we do if told we have a professional obligation to participate? Helen Barratt looks at what we can learn from a real case involving a CMF member (click here).

Equally, we may have professional concerns when it comes to evangelism. How should we go about witnessing to patients? In the UK, the General Medical Council permits us to express personal beliefs so long as this is not done ‘in ways which may cause distress or which exploit patients’ vulnerability’.[1,2] In Sharing Christ with Patients (here) Liz Croton offers examples from her experience about how to witness on the wards in a sensitive manner. As Christian doctors should we be involved in war? Should we take up arms? Should we volunteer to help the casualties? Chris Richards takes us through these questions in two articles (Should Christians fight?and Serving the casualties of war).

Finally, we hope that Evidence Based Faith (here) will provide i nformation to counter those strongly held objections which prevent colleagues steeped in ‘evidence-based medicine’ from even considering the Christian faith. Our prayer is that this issue of Nucleus will help you, in your personal walk with Jesus Christ, to put principles into practice that you might be like the men of Isaachar ‘who understood the times and knew what they should do’ (1 Ch 12:32).