Looking forward

We are now in the third year of our five-year 2020 ACTIVE Vision with six main strategic priorities – Advocacy, Communications, Training, International Partnerships, Volunteering and Evangelism.

Integral to this is the mobilisation of members under the direction of our new National Field Director, John Greenall and the building of a strong volunteer workforce in four main areas: Regional Catalyst Teams, Deep:ER Fellowships, Associate Staff Workers, and other opportunities.

These changes are really starting to bear fruit. Over the last three years Catalyst Teams have been established in six regions to stimulate local ministry; fifteen junior doctors and students have so far been engaged in our one year Deep:ER ministry training programme; five members have served as Associate Staff Workers and many others have been involved as speakers and trainers. All these people have given their time voluntarily to serve the Fellowship.

In addition:

• 24 students, nurses and juniors have now completed our 18-month Global Track preparing them for the challenges of cross-cultural mission
• Sixteen new nursing student groups have been established throughout the country
• We are rising to meet the huge ethical challenges of assisted suicide, any-reason abortion and transgender ideology
• Exciting new resources in film, blogs, podcasts, videos and social media are coming on-stream

Needs going forward

The board and senior staff have prayerfully considered what we need going forward to maintain momentum and streamline our ministry and have identified five priorities.

• Senior Advocate (four sessions) – a doctor to take on our departing CEO’s role in media and public policy strategy
• IT Support (six sessions) – a skilled specialist to help us clear backlogs in income processing, membership administration and website development
• Administrator (ten sessions) – to provide much needed support to our Head of Nursing, Head of CMF Global and National Field Director
• Pastoral Associate (four sessions) – a senior doctor to coordinate pastoral support for members nationwide
• Evangelism Associate (four sessions) – a senior doctor gifted in evangelism to run training and events aimed at reaching colleagues for Christ

Significantly stretched

We are encouraged but still feel we are only scraping the surface. We also face huge new challenges, with Peter Saunders moving on as CEO after 27 years with CMF. The search is currently underway for his successor. We are also significantly stretched, especially in the areas of administrative and IT support for our ministry staff. We need a to develop our ministry and admin staff to support the growing volunteer opportunities we are developing with members.

There are big financial challenges too. We are projecting a deficit of over £80,000 this year – over 5% of our annual budget of £1.5million.