Real Right Through

We had an excellent National Students’ Conference on 21-23 January. Altogether around 330 of us joined to hear Richard Cunningham of UCCF expound 1 John under the title ‘Real Right Through’ - an excellent set of three talks that focussed on the importance of standing up for the truth about Jesus, the need to walk in the light and live according to God’s commands, and how we can get the right balance between striving for holiness and claiming God’s forgiveness. Dr Dave Stevens from CMDA, our US sister organisation, gave a powerful conference address on ‘The Marks of a Christian Doctor’, taking his experiences as a missionary in Kenya to show that Christian doctors should be characterised by qualities such as competence, compassion, integrity, good communication and dealing humbly with the position of power and leadership that our profession gives us. Many in the audience had tears in their eyes as Dave spoke of the disease and death he had witnessed in Somalia when leading relief teams. All main sessions are available on CD from pubs@cmf.org.uk.

There was the usual great range of seminars on issues such as biotechnology, transsexuality, abortion, infertility treatments and medical mission. Saturday evening was lighter with line dancing, a Q&A session or a praise concert from our worship leader Andy Flannagan. Huge quantities of discounted books were shifted on the bookstall after a moving performance in the Newsround session that involved Giles Rawlinson needing defibrillation (with a copy of Cure for Life) after going into ‘financial shock’ and arresting on stage at the thought of all the amazing bargains on offer.

32 international delegates came to the national conference from 16 countries, such as Estonia, Russia, France and Israel. Copies of their prayer needs can be obtained by emailing Matt Kehoe on matt.kehoe@cmf.org.uk. Of these, 19 key leaders from nine countries attended the International Students’ Preconference in London on 17-21 January, with a mixture of lectures and visits to medical units such as a hospice and Christian GP practice. We expect to see significant fruit in terms of summer teams and development of their national organisations. CMF sent out a press release before the conference which resulted in Peter Saunders giving eleven back-to-back live interviews on BBC local radio stations on the Sunday morning about the conference; each would have been heard by around 100,000 people!

Student Leaders’ Conference

For the first year we switched dates from September, to 4-6 March, to try to fit in better with holidays and catch brand new CMF group leaders as they take up the baton. Around 45 students and staff joined together near Worcester for an excellent weekend entitled ‘Be Strong in Christ Jesus’. Birmingham surgeon Hugh Thomson spoke challengingly from 2 Timothy, expounding Paul’s advice to a young Christian leader. Other sessions looked at CMF’s aims and activities, how to be a CMF rep, plan a programme and evangelise peers on campus. I was excited by the keenness and calibre of the next batch of CMF student leaders, and left encouraged by God’s faithfulness. At the national conference in January, Priya Ghosh handed over the chair of the SCC to John Greenall from Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’. Well done to Priya for her work over the last year and our prayers for John as he takes up the reins for the coming year!

Summer Teams

Plans are going well for the annual round of CMF summer teams across Eurasia during July and August. UK regional doctor/student teams will go to around ten locations, such as Lithuania, France and Georgia. One exciting new development is the German team running a camp in the Czech Republic with some UK input. Teams are usually a mixture of evangelism, discipleship, medicine and ethics and help local students grow their Christian medical movements. To find out if there is a team going from your area, or get involved, email matt.kehoe@cmf.org.uk.

Staffworkers and Relay Workers

We were sad to say goodbye to Lorna Nunn (Scotland) and Becky Payne (nee Brain – South West) in February. Our thanks to them and God for their service and partnership. We were delighted to see Becky marry Gareth Payne (Birmingham CMF member) on 8 January. With the goodbyes come two new welcomes, and we are very pleased to say hello to Sarah Gwynne (South West) and Peter Waitt (North West), joining the staff team in February and April respectively.

Mark Pickering
Student Secretary