Nurses & Graduates: new from coalface

An encouraging evening with a CMF nursing group

Earlier this autumn I spoke at a CMF student nurse group. I went thinking I would be giving out, but ended up being blessed and encouraged myself. This was in response to seeing how the Lord is using CMF groups and hearing individual stories. Here are just a few of them.

Among the new fresher students who came, there was one third year nursing student who had desperately wanted to connect with others and be re-envisioned to see her faith integrated with her nursing. She hadn’t heard about CMF until someone in church told her about this local group. She was so thrilled to meet up, connect, be encouraged and prayed for and told me what a complete answer to prayer it was!

Another (newly qualified) nurse had moved to Southampton this summer for her first job and felt rather lonely, not knowing anyone in this new place. She had such a smile on her face as we introduced her to friendly local Christian nurses – she said it made all the difference.

During the time of worship, I was struck at how worshipful one particular student was; afterwards she came up and spoke with me. I realised I had met her at the group’s fresher event last year when she had come along as a non-Christian, attracted by both the talk that evening, and by the loving hospitality of these Christian nurses. She had continued attending each month since, and had given her life to Jesus in the summer term. She told me of her debt to the group and how instrumental it had been in leading her to Christ.

Finally, I’ll end with the highlight of seeing how well the three local student reps of this group have grown in their leadership. They were united and thriving, sharing seamlessly the roles of cooking, hosting, leading, welcoming, praying, etc. Their faith and enthusiasm were infectious, and their generous serving of others a witness to Christ; it’s no wonder that Jesus loves hanging out with this group!

Pippa Peppiatt, CMF Head of Nursing

Grads news

CMF hosted a stand at the RCGP Annual Conference at Glasgow from 3-5 October. It was a wonderful opportunity for local CMF members to get involved and to meet other Christian GPs from around the world. Stephanie Moss, a GP from Birmingham, spoke at the breakfast on ‘Count it all joy – responding to trials at home and at work.’ It was an excellent start to the day, remembering our Lord Jesus Christ who for the joy that was set before him, endured Emma Pedlarthe cross for our sake (Hebrews 12:2).

At the end of October, we had what we believe was our biggest ever Junior Doctors’ Conference, with 160 juniors joining us. This included nine juniors from nations around the world who had been on our SYD2 course the previous week, and 19 juniors from the ICMDA Western European Region.

Upcoming events

The annual London Healthcare Carol Service will be held on 12 December 2018 at 18:30 at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London. This will be a wonderful opportunity to bring friends, colleagues and loved ones to hear the message of Christmas. We look forward to seeing many of you join us to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Clinical Academic Day Conference

Join us for this one-day conference which aims to equip and encourage Christian clinical academics to flourish. There will be plenty of opportunities for networking, and we will hear from some excellent speakers with lots of experience to share. This conference is for Christian clinical academics at any stage of their career and those who are considering an academic career. All healthcare professionals and students are welcome.

Further details of both these events are on the CMF website at cmf.org.uk/events