Advocacy

CMFnz is moving towards being a Christian medical voice on issues of importance in New Zealand. We are working towards developing consultation processes and discussion documents to enable informed debate and thought within our membership as well as the wider Christian community. In recent years our advocacy focus has been on the Euthanasia and assisted suicide legislative debate, but we are broadening our scope to look at our collective position around the changes in abortion law and how this can impact Christian doctors. We also want to start to share our voice and expertise with the wider Christian and healthcare community on other health and wellness issues.

Our activities within the euthanasia debate were reactivated in June 2017 when David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill was drawn from the ballot. The Bill is proceeding through the Select Committee process, and CMFnz has presented written and oral submissions to both the Health and Justice Select Committees. CMFnz has a position on medical euthanasia which holds that it is dangerous for both patients and New Zealand as a whole. CMFnz as an organisation is strongly opposed to euthanasia or any form of physician assisted suicide. As doctors we have many ethical and practical concerns about the possibility of legalising euthanasia or PAS. For many of us our view of the inherent value of human life that the Bible teaches also forms our view. We encourage our members to learn more about these issues for themselves and form their own stance on this frequently debated topic. If you wish to be involved in the development of our advocacy work please contact [email protected]

Saline

Developed by IHS Global, the Saline Process is an opportunity to learn how to integrate faith and practice, learn to be a workplace witness, and practice medicine that addresses the needs of the whole person. In 2018 CMFnz supported Saline Process Training events in main centres around the country to encourage health professionals, doctors and others to have the joy of meeting the expectations of our Lord Jesus Christ to be Salt, Light and a Witness to him as resurrected Lord and Saviour.
The training provides practical tools to help a Christian demonstrate the love and reality of Jesus in healthcare, all with permission, sensitivity and respect. Within the training, five main questions are addressed:

• Why is faith important to healthcare?
• What are the opportunities and barriers to fulfilling God’s call?
• What is my role?
• What are the tools I can use to cultivate, sow and harvest?
• Where do we go from here?

If you wish to attend one of these courses in 2019 you can attend a face to face training day in a centre near you or you can start learning on your own via an online course found at https://www.ihsglobal.org/SPOT. The Saline Process training system also includes a Saline Process Training-the-Trainers (SPTTT) course, which equips those who have completed the Saline Process to, in turn, train other Christian colleagues in their region or locality. We are keen to develop a team of trainers so we can offer this training in more places and equip more people healthcare to share their voice. For more information please contact [email protected]

To continue supporting advocacy/ saline, CMFnz needs financial support. If you would like to support CMFnz as a regular giver or to offer a one-off donation please follow this link: www.cmf.nz/donations or email [email protected]