Taipei is a boisterous and expensive city, and it lets you know it. Over seven million people live in and around Taiwan's capital. Between the towering skyscrapers and neon lights, lie bustling markets selling traditional noodles from '7-Eleven' stores. This great city was also the setting for the 12th World Congress of the International Christian Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA).
ICMDA began in 1963 as the International Congress of Christian Physicians; today it unites 50 national movements reaching out to Christian doctors, dentists and medical and dental students around the world. Contacts with groups and individuals also exist in many more countries. Regular conferences at regional and international level are held in selected locations, to enrich and encourage the national bodies and to stimulate the formation of new organisations.
The vision of ICMDA is to encourage the younger and less established movements, to help colleagues working in places of particular need and to channel the resources of the stronger associations towards those who require more help and support. It is a network of national organisations working together to support each other in fulfilling the great commission amongst colleagues and patients.
Never have there been more dilemmas for us to face up to as Christian medics. Yet often we struggle to maintain our integrity in the face of temptations, we choke when opportunities arise to share our faith, and watch apathetically as unethical practices erode the true value of human life. I, like many other Christian medical students around the world, am often tempted to be despondent about our futures, and that of our 'honourable profession'.
Yet it is vital that we learn to become good disciples now as students, as it will be increasingly difficult to start doing so after qualification. For me the ICMDA Student World Conference promised to be an excellent opportunity to explore and discuss these difficult issues at the interface of my faith and medical practice.
The theme chosen for the conference was 'The Transforming Power of Christ in Medicine'. The main speaker for the student conference was Dr Isabelo Magalit, a medically-trained Philippino Bible college lecturer, who addressed the challenges we will face if we seek to serve God as his disciples in medicine. He used examples from the life of Daniel to show how the Christian believer can be a winsome witness in a secular society. Daniel is an inspiration for both a strong start and a faithful finish in our Christian lives. It was a feature of all the seminars that they focussed on practical issues. This was not to be a conference that surrounded important dilemmas in a confusing mist of deep theology.
We spent our first four days in Taiwan at the student conference, before being joined by the graduates; it was an incredible experience to meet with 250 fellow medical students from 45 countries! I was astounded at how much we had in common; how easy it was to put language barriers aside and have fellowship, surprising especially when watching the World Cup final alongside both Brazilians and Germans!
Often during the student conference we had the chance to pray for each other, and for the situations we were facing back at home. I was forever challenged by the lives of medical students from around the world. It is always humbling to hear their amazing achievements, attained in the face of incredible opposition. One girl told of how students at her medical school are forced to bribe examiners in order to 'pass' their exams. As a Christian she feels unable to cheat like this; she therefore has to retake almost all her exams, despite having passed them on the first sitting. Yet these same students exude a refreshing love for Christ that is rarely seen among believers in the UK.
I left Taiwan with far more than happy memories. I had been inspired by the many testimonies that I had heard; I felt deeply challenged by my fellow students, and I had become better equipped in my walk with Christ. I had made many friends, from some very unlikely locations around the world; yet most of all, surrounded by Christians from many tribes and nations, I felt touched by God.
The next ICMDA World Conference is in Sydney, Australia, in 2006; the next European Conference is in Germany in 2004. Further details about ICMDA's work can be obtained from either:
- Website: www.icmda.net
- Email: icmda@telus.net
