A grand national
A best-ever attendance (388 in all). A hugely encouraging turnout by student leaders (58) and nine nurses present. The 2013 CMF National Conference, with the timely theme of integrity, is being acclaimed as one of the best ever: 'great fellowship and teaching...an amazing experience...taking care of our children was wonderful... delightful, crowded but rich...ten out of ten'.
Uprightness, honesty, sincerity, consistency: these are the hallmarks of integrity and much-needed qualities in today's NHS. Jonathan Lamb's Bible expositions on integrity drew on case material from 2 Corinthians, where Paul's integrity as an apostle and messenger of the gospel was on trial. 'It destroys credibility when our lives are out of sync with what we say,' he declared.
Servant leadership was the theme of the 2013 Rendle Short Lecture. 'Most of us are called to be leaders at some level, whether in our practice, in a department, in a student or junior doctors' committee, or in a whole range of other parts of life' observed Nick Land, former CMF Chairman, who shared biblical insights about work and case examples.
The Rendle Short lecture audio is available at: cmf.li/15dpWeo. The two Bible readings on Integrity by Jonathan Lamb can be accessed at: cmf.li/13ymGwt & cmf.li/1bkr4j7. For your diaries: next year's conference is set for 25-27 April 2014 with a new venue, Yarnfield Park Conference Centre near Stone, Staffs.
Development plan
We are now 24 months into our development plan for 2011-2014 aimed at 'strengthening our ministry and serving the church' which identified seven key areas of growth: strengthening our core services to students and doctors, helping CNM (Christian Nurses and Midwives) build a new nurses' ministry, launching a new website with online forums and new media, engaging and resourcing churches, building stronger links with media and parliament and mobilising members for mission. The Development Fund after 24 of 36 months stands at about £382k (~55% of the total £700k income required). We have just launched a third major annual appeal to the fellowship and are approaching charitable trusts. Being sustainable at current staffing levels into 2014-5 will require both that we reach this £700k target and also increase our baseline income.
Introducing CMF
This attractive new booklet is ideal for sharing CMF with medics, students and churches. We suggest that every member arms themselves with multiple copies and prayerfully looks for people who would benefit from knowing about CMF – Christian doctors, certainly, but ministers and church leaders too. Order your supply from pubs@cmf.org.uk
CMF in the media
Staff and members gave an impressive 131 media interviews during 2012. Up to May 2012 CMF noted 10,390 views of YouTube videos (compared to 4,395 in the previous year). CMF's Facebook page has 2,458 fans, up from 1,692 in June 2012, while there are 1,210 Twitter followers, up from 612 in June 2012.
