One of the ways that InterVarsity’s Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF) helps nurses is to offer them a Christian perspective on the ethical issues within the practice of nursing. For the past decade NCF has co-sponsored the annual ethics conference with the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois.
The conference this year was entitled Genetic and Reproductive Ethics. Nurses from around the country joined other health care students and professionals to explore the science and ethics of the reproductive technologies and genetic manipulation. Among the speakers were Leon Kass, chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics, and Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project. An infertile couple and a person suffering from a fatal genetic disorder also shared their personal spiritual struggles in the midst of suffering.
The conference also offered an opportunity to develop networks among nurses who are concerned about living their Christian faith in their professional lives. Nursing instructors met to share resources and encourage one another. Joe Whitchurch, InterVarsity graduate & faculty staff in Indiana, brought two students to the conference and other members of InterVarsity’s Emerging Scholars Network met people who also desire to live out their faith through their commitment to research in the academic setting.
Mary Thompson, the Director of Nurses Christian Fellowship, commented, “The value of this conference is the opportunity to learn from and interact with a wide cross-section of professionals, exploring cutting-edge issues in healthcare and applying Christian beliefs.”
