Celebrating the Gift of Nursing
Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF) is unique among the ministries of InterVarsity. NCF is a professional organization as well as a student ministry. It serves as a ministering agency to nursing students and as a resource to practicing nurses. More than any other ministry within InterVarsity, NCF can be a part of an individual’s life, both as a student and after graduation.
Nurses Christian Fellowship began in 1948. At that time, the vision was to minister to students in nursing schools, just as InterVarsity ministered to students at colleges and universities.
Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF) is unique among the ministries of InterVarsity. NCF is a professional organization as well as a student ministry. It serves as a ministering agency to nursing students and as a resource to practicing nurses. More than any other ministry within InterVarsity, NCF can be a part of an individual’s life, both as a student and after graduation.
Nurses Christian Fellowship began in 1948. At that time, the vision was to minister to students in nursing schools, just as InterVarsity ministered to students at colleges and universities. Staff workers were drawn from the ranks of Registered Nurses (R.N.). (Today NCF staff are required to have a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing.) These people know the specific needs of nursing students as they prepared for their profession.
Upon graduation, nurses often maintained informal contact with NCF through prayer meetings and Bible study groups. Over the next three decades, NCF developed a wide-ranging network of nurses and nursing instructors who were available to mentor students and other nurses. In 1983 the Journal of Christian Nursing began publication. This quarterly publication covers a wide variety of topics. “Life in the face of death” and “complementary and alternative therapies” are just two examples of topics covered in recent issues.
Eight more years elapsed, and NCF responded to the call from nurses for a more formal professional organization. In 1991 the first professional conference was held that offered continuing education credits. Currently, there are over thirty conferences a year around the country. The topics covered in these conferences range from ethics to management issues to spiritual retreats. Plans for the future include an Institute for Christian Nursing.
The variety of ministry activities available in Nurses Christian Fellowship can be seen in the participation of one person. Bonnie was a student at University of Wisconsin-Madison in the early 1990’s. She began meeting with Mary Thompson, the local NCF staff member. They would get together once a week to discuss issues that would come up as Bonnie studied nursing. After about a year, they were joined by five other students. This group ministered to one another through sharing and prayer. Soon, Bonnie graduated and went to work in a local hospital. Her relationship with NCF moved from student to professional. Her participation changed little, though. She gathered around her several fellow nurses for meetings of sharing and prayer. This continued until Bonnie took a leave from nursing to raise her children. Even during that time however, she did not sever her relationship with NCF; she just moved into a different area of ministry. For the past few years, Bonnie has taken the time to mentor nursing students. She meets one-to-one with a student for sharing and prayer. The sharing covers a wide range of concerns. Some are concerns that many nursing students face, such as ethical issues in nursing. Others may involve more personal concerns, such as how to deal with racial conflicts in the medical setting in particular.
One of the wonderful things about the ministry of NCF is that it embodies the idea and the reality of a whole person ministry. NCF ministers to students, to working nurses, and to nursing instructors. NCF ministers to the mind with solid academic information, to the soul with spiritual guidance. This ministry takes place as people share with one another to further the Kingdom of God.
The NCF website, (http://www.intervarsity.org/ncf/), has more information about NCF and some specific information about National Nurses Week.