Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=issue&id=6115
This year will be another busy and challenging year on beginning of life issues. Abortion October 2017 marks the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act. Throughout the year this significant anniversary will generate media publicity, events, stories from women and will fire up campaigns by those who want to see the...
Obesity is not a new phenomenon, but it is increasingly on the secular agenda. Struggles with 'body weight' can stretch to either extreme - from restrictive 'clean' eating to morbid obesity. Yet it seems our culture is more judgmental of people who are overweight than underweight. Each of us should...
What motivates us as Christian healthcare professionals to work with vulnerable individuals such as refugees and asylum seekers? The Bible has a lot to say on caring for those in need. The well-known parable of the Good Samaritan is a notable example: On one occasion an expert in the law stood...
If you have been following the news over the past couple of years you may have got the impression that it is becoming harder for Christians to share their faith openly in the workplace. There has been high-profile reporting of several cases in which Christians have been disciplined, or even...
When it comes to prayer, it's a relief to notice that Jesus didn't browbeat ('You! Pray more!') or offer a system. Instead, he gave us a prayer-model packed with unimaginable riches. The foundation of the Lord's Prayer will drive us to our knees and overcome the guilt-induced approach to prayer....
Anyone working in the NHS cannot fail to notice the diverse cultures that make up staff and, in some areas, patients. Cultural issues surface not only when colleagues interact with one another, but also when patients from other cultures seek medical attention. Culture has been described by the Oxford English dictionary...
When I joined CMF as a medical student in the early 1970s, the standard advice then to aspiring young Christian doctors was to get as far as possible in terms of seniority and prestige in the profession. The idea was you would be better able to exert Christian influence. This...
Growing up as a missionary kid to parents serving in Senegal with WEC International, I had the privilege of being exposed to countless godly women and men who served as missionaries in some of the world's most challenging places. But none stuck with me more than Dr Helen Roseveare, the...
Transgender, how to understand it - as disobedience, dysphoria or deconstruction? Vaughan Roberts steers towards pastoral sensitivity and robust biblical clarity. Roberts shows how gender identity has been dislocated from biological sex, assuming that we should seek to alter a person's body to conform to their sense of gender identity, and...
In the midst of commemorations of the centenary of the First World War, the story of a Christian nurse in Belgium, executed for treason, is not an obvious stand out. Yet the death of Edith Cavell became a global cause celebre. Butcher paints a picture of this most unlikely patriot and...
A book about our digital world has the potential to be irrelevant faster than you can say 'Google plus'. Thankfully, this book skillfully avoids this trap. It begins with the theory and theology of technology, followed by practical applications and insights for us today. Theology isn't left behind, there's biblical...
Older readers will probably be familiar with Bishop J C Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospels. Surgeon Jonathan Redden's book is consciously modelled on those volumes. It covers the whole of Acts in about 70 short sections. The Bible text is printed, followed by one or two pages of...
Peter May is a gifted evangelist whose insights and approaches have lasted. The Search for God is packed with useful outlines and worked examples for sharing the gospel. Evangelism, he says, is primarily dialogue. Conversation is a skill to be cultivated and he offers copious insights on how. He isn't terribly keen...
Clarity about the concepts and inter-relationships of 'ageing' and 'spirituality' is urgently needed for healthcare professionals. Ageing (attitudinal perceptions and misperceptions, and their consequences) is explored against background demography and speculated across a range of religious and cultural contexts either formally (drawing on traditional teachings) or anecdotally (eg amongst Australian indigenous...
Aimed at people seriously considering medical mission in India, this book explains the complex history of healthcare in India and provides practical advice. The gems on its pages should be absorbed carefully as it is a unique study guide rather than a quick read. Each chapter has a different author...
John Lennox says that we live in a culture where 'God has lost his glory… holiness has degenerated into an exclusively negative concept'. Either Christianity is held to be worthless, or it is simply 'one choice' in the marketplace of ideas. In Against the Flow, he takes hold of the...
Should pharmacists be forced to dispense drugs for what they consider to be unethical practices - like emergency contraception, gender reassignment, abortion and assisted suicide? Or should they have the right to exercise freedom of conscience by either referring to a colleague or opting out? The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), (1)...
Three score and ten? Taking their cue from Psalm 90:10, Christians are apt to say mortals are allotted 70 years 'or 80, if our strength endures.' Imperial College London and the WHO's study of lifespans in 35 industrialised countries says life expectancy is set to rise, with women in South Korea...
'No! Please don't take my eye out!' The four-year-old boy desperately kicked and screamed as his worst nightmare was about to happen. It was the most unpleasant anaesthetic induction I had observed, as the small child was prepped for his enucleation. He was understandably terrified of his eye being gouged...
The Government has announced that Sex and Relationships Education will be made compulsory in all schools, from age four. The drive to do so seems unstoppable given that 'the numbers of STI diagnoses in those aged 15 to 24 years has risen considerably'. (1) Supporters of relationship education believe it will...
It seems hard to credit that an organisation whose primary focus is the care of the sick should have an appalling reputation for bullying and intimidation of staff. However multiple surveys (1) of NHS staff show that at least 25-30% of respondents reported experiencing bullying from colleagues and managers at...
In May 2016, Lord Shinkwin's Private Member's Bill (1) sought the provision of equality within the 1967 Abortion Act, by changing the law to ensure that disability can no longer be given as a reason for termination at any gestation. Lord Shinkwin and the 'We're All Equal' campaign cite the 1995...
This winter has been bad for the NHS for many reasons, not least of which has been the lack of social care for those medically fit for discharge. In the last year alone, the number of care homes for the elderly in England has fallen by 1,500, or 8%. Local...
