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News Archive News from HealthServe: Special Update: Proposed Merger with the Christian Medical FellowshipJune 2003
Special Update: Proposed Merger with the Christian Medical Fellowship
Last month we briefly mentioned that we were in
discussions with the Christian Medical Fellowship
about a possible merger next year. This has been
prompted by a number of things. Firstly, the
relationship between CMF and MMA goes back
even before the founding of CMF over fifty years
ago. There had been close links with the Medical
Prayer Union (MPU) since MMA’s founding, with
both bodies often sharing General Secretaries. The
MPU joined with the medical student and graduates
fellowship of UCCF and went on to become CMF in
1949. Since that time we have shared staff, events,
resources and initiatives, as the support of medical
mission has been part of CMF’s core aims since its
foundation.
A merger between MMA and CMF has been
considered at least once before, but it was felt that it
was not God’s timing. However, as we look to our
work and that of CMF, we are seeing more than ever
that there is a natural coming together in terms of
thinking and work between the two bodies, and a
sense that God is in the process of bringing together
the separate streams into one river, not just with us,
but across the mission world. It is worth noting that
this sort of merger between organisations is both
common amongst charitable organisations, and
usually a positive process – eliminating duplication
of work where we overlap, increasing the breadth of
work where we don’t. It is not primarily about
saving money but, more importantly, it is about
building on each other’s strengths to create
something better under one umbrella than what
had previously existed under two.
In particular, we believe that working as a part of
CMF will enable us to reach more doctors and
medical students to motivate and mobilise them into
mission, while our multidisciplinary ethos and
relationships will enable CMF to have more
interaction with other health professions engaged in
the missionary endeavour. And we also believe that
there are potentially many more benefits than this to
a merger.
As you may be aware, we have been faced with an
ongoing deficit situation for some years. Although
MMA HealthServe could have lived off its reserves
for a few more years, we felt that the cost saving of
merging the two organisations would help preserve
the work of both, ensuring that our resources were
available for the long-term. Whatever the
practicalities of the merger may turn out to be, one
thing is agreed – that all the assets of MMA
HealthServe will be used to continue the work of
supporting and mobilising multidisciplinary
healthcare mission – none of the money given to us
to support and mobilise healthcare mission will be
used for any other purpose.
We are still in the early stages, but both bodies are
committed to seeing multidisciplinary healthcare
mission mobilised and supported. We are looking at
how this multidisciplinary emphasis can work in an
organisation that is primarily doctor led, and at how
we can expand and develop the work that we
already do within the wider network of the
International Christian Medical and Dental
Association, of which CMF is a founding member.
At this stage, we do not know what the merger will
mean in terms of specific services, although we plan
to continue and expand our work rather than see it
contract, but there will inevitably be some changes.
The possibilities are exciting, and over the course of
the coming months we hope to share our plans
more widely.
In the meantime, we would ask that you pray for
those in leadership of both CMF and MMA
HealthServe in the coming months as we seek God’s
leading on whether and how we take this forward.
If you have questions at all, please contact Steve
Fouch at
steve@healthserve.org or
+44 [0]20 7790 1336
