The New Year has seen some important developments in our work with the nursing, midwifery and allied health professions. A major development was the closure of the office of the Nurses’ Christian Fellowship International (NCFI) in Kent on 1 January. NCFI is the nursing equivalent of ICMDA, and is actively involved in over thirty nations, promoting a Christian voice in nursing, and supporting national Christian nursing groups. This closure will have a significant impact on the international Christian nursing movement, and CMF is talking with the NCFI leadership about ways that we can support this network of fellowships as it goes through a time of transition.
We have also been encouraged by the growth of work among Christian nursing and midwifery students in the UK. This is now coming under the leadership of Christian Nurses and Midwives (CNM), and CMF is actively supporting this, through use of my time and extending use of meeting facilities and other resources to the group. A new CNM Council has just been voted in, and there is a new student team, headed by Tim James. The energy and enthusiasm of this group is very encouraging.
The Christian Therapists’ Network (CTN) is also developing, but under immense strain as its numbers begin to outweigh its administrative capacity, especially as there is now only a part time worker for student allied health professionals. We are exploring with CTN ways in which we can support its expanding ministry.
In all these situations, it is the Christian professional groups that have approached CMF for help, rather than the other way round, and it is encouraging that there is such growing willingness for all of us to work together. This was highlighted in early March when CNM and CTN met together at the Quinta in Oswestry for their joint annual conference. CMF was very much involved in supporting this conference; Andrew Fergusson, Alex Bunn and I all led seminars on the Saturday, and I was involved in several aspects of the planning and running of the conference, although most of the hard work was down to the CTN and CNM leadership. Numbers were relatively small (around seventy), but there was a great deal of energy and enthusiasm, especially from a number of new members to both groups. We hope and pray that this energy continues past the end of the conference, as there is still much to do to build a strong Christian voice among all these professional groups.
If you have any colleagues in nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, or any allied health professions, please put them in touch with CNM (Email: info@cnm.org.uk Tel: 07941 800637) or CTN (Email: info@ctn.org.uk Tel: 07986 433493) or through to me on steve.fouch@cmf.org.uk
On the international front, CMF is now involved in the Micah Challenge Campaign, which dovetails into this year’s Make Poverty History campaign, which you may have seen in the news and on the Vicar of Dibley at New Year! This is focussed on engaging churches and individual Christians across the UK on international justice and poverty reduction issues. See my article on Poverty and Health in the Spring 2005 Triple Helix for more details, or visit the website www. micahchallenge.org.
Steve Fouch
Allied Professions Secretary
