'If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.' (1)

There is great power in God's people coming together to pray. Whether that is in small prayer cells, churches or in dispersed groups, praying for the same needs and with the same heart, changes things. God works in and through his people when they pray together, and he calls us to pray in fellowship as much as in private. (2)

Christian Medical Fellowship is a community of people joined together by our common service to Christ and the healing and caring professions. While we are not a church, we are a community of people called by Christ to serve him in our professions, and as such we are called to pray on all occasions, by all means and for all needs. (3)

We know that medics, nurses, midwives and others working in healthcare face huge day-to-day stresses. The healthcare system in the UK and in many parts of the world is under unprecedented strain. We face ethical, professional and spiritual challenges like never before. Are we praying about these issues with others?

For some years, members have asked for CMF to be much more of a praying community across the country. We know that those of you in local CMF groups pray together regularly, raising personal and professional needs, the needs of your workplace and your city or town. We have not been so good at getting together to pray as a whole Fellowship.

In this edition you should have received the new CMF Prayer Diary. Our aim is very simple - to give our members some areas to pray about together across the breadth of CMF. It covers matters to do with CMF and its members, the British health system, global health and mission needs and other areas relevant to your work. This prayer diary is not static with lists to pray through rigidly. Jump around if it suits you better to pray for certain issues at different times from those we have suggested.

The prayer diary will also be available on the PrayerMate app (available at the App Store and Google Play) (4) and on our CMF Facebook prayer group, CMF Watchers. (5)

Furthermore, while we have compiled this prayer diary in the office, future prayer diaries we hope will be driven by you as members. Send prayer requests to the office at prayer@cmf.org.uk or post them on the CMF Watchers group on Facebook, and we will include them where appropriate.

You may want to use these means to inform your personal prayer life, to bring to a home group, a prayer triplet or a local CMF group or workplace fellowship. By whatever means these tools can help inform your prayers, we want them to be made available to you.

Nothing builds faith like the testimony of answered prayer, so please use the prayer@cmf.org.uk email address or use the CMF Watchers group to share answered prayer, and if appropriate and with your permission, we would love to share some of those stories more widely with the rest of the Fellowship.

Finally, we do not plan to send this prayer diary out to everyone in the Fellowship, but only to those who want it and will use it. Some of you may not feel the need for it, or you might prefer to use the PrayerMate app or social media. But we also think that many members might prefer a paper prayer diary. So if you want to receive it regularly either fill in the carrier sheet with this edition and post to us or email prayer@cmf.org.uk with your name and your membership number and we will make sure that you are put on the mailing list. Above all, keep praying! (6)

Steve Fouch is CMF Head of Communications.

The CMF Prayer Diary will come out three times a year in paper and electronic formats for all those who request it. To receive the paper copy fill in the carrier sheet with this edition and post to CMF, or email prayer@cmf.org.uk. To receive it via the PrayerMate app visit praynow4.org/christianmedicalfellowship