Peter Saunders explains CMF's vision for the next five years.
CMF exists to glorify God by uniting and equipping Christian doctors and medical students to live and speak for Jesus Christ in medicine. We are called to be faithful to God's great commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and great commandment (John 13:34-35) against a background of three huge ongoing challenges:
1. Geopolitical and economic crisis and its impact on families and the health service
2. Growing hostility to Christian faith and values from Islam and the new atheism
3. Escalating healthcare needs and diminishing resources both here and abroad
To grow to full maturity in Christ in the face of these challenges we need each other - in order to be both encouraged (Hebrews 10:24-25) and equipped (Ephesians 4:11-13). Our development plan from 2011 to 2014 had seven key objectives and involved raising an extra £700k over three years.
By God's grace and with your help we both achieved the objectives and raised over £700k.
2015 has been a year of capacity building with five main priorities: strengthening our senior team and board, laying the foundations for a volunteer programme, completing migration of our IT database to an online platform, promotion of the Human Journey course and putting a fundraising strategy in place. Again these aims have been largely achieved, within budget. Following much prayer and planning over the course of this year the CMF senior staff and board are just putting the finishing touches to our 2020 ACTIVE Vision for the years 2016-2020.
The overall theme is Connect & Grow, Speak & Serve. These four imperatives are deeply grounded in Scripture and sum up all that we are helping members (doctors, nurses and students) to do. They are to be reflected in a soon-to-be-launched new website and across all our publications and activities.
The 2020 ACTIVE vision is all about clarity and focus. So until 2020 we plan to focus on six key priorities. These fit the acronym ACTIVE - which makes them easily memorable but does not convey any order of priority - all are important:
1. Advocacy - Being a voice for the voiceless
2. Communications - Digital and print for the next decade
3. Training - Courses, resources and road-shows to build up and equip
4. International Partnerships - Strengthening our international partners
5. Volunteering - Opportunities for members to serve in new ways
6. Evangelism - Sharing and defending the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ.
We look forward to sharing this journey with you. Look out for more details in the coming months.
Peter Saunders, Chief Executive
National Conference 2016
We are delighted to have Professor Don Carson delivering the Bible readings at the next National Conference, 22-24 April 2016. He is an acclaimed Bible scholar, speaker and author. Taking his theme from 1 Corinthians 15 he will speak on 'Matters of first importance: what is primary and essential to the Christian faith.'
This is a vital theme for Christian doctors, where there is much confusion about what the gospel is and how it applies in relationships and the workplace. In three talks we will hear how the apostle Paul sets out what is primary to the Christian faith. We will reflect on how this applies today so we will be encouraged to live out our faith and bear witness to Christ with renewed confidence and commitment.
Professor Andrew Tomkins will deliver the 2016 Rendle Short Lecture: 'Tackling global health inequalities'. Andrew recently edited a special issue on Global Health in The Lancet. He works at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, and the Institute for Global Health, UCL.
Finance update
We have just launched our Christmas Appeal. Please give generously.
The management accounts for the nine months to September show that income is ahead of budget by just under £55,000. This is thanks to the continued generosity of members supporting CMF through donations and good attendances at the National Conference and Developing Health Course earlier in the year.
We've continued to keep a tight grip on costs with our spending being £40,000 below budget. As a result, our deficit was close to £29,000 as against our budgeted deficit of £122,000. Praise the Lord for this encouraging result and thanks to all the members who have helped to achieve it.
Graham Sopp, Head of Operations
