Salt & Light
When nurses gather together and invite God into their discussions about nursing, they experience God's gift of Christian community. Just as coals in a fire smolder when separated, nurses who are isolated can become discouraged or burned out as caregivers.
Do you have a nurse friend who can pray for you? Ask God to give you one special friend who understands the challenges and opportunities before you, and prayerfully support each other in your nursing practice.
For more than 70 years, NCF groups across the U.S. have provided welcoming communities for nurses to integrate faith and practice from a biblical, Christian perspective. Nurses meet to encourage each other spiritually and invite others to experience God's love and grace more fully.
Find out if there is a local NCF group near you, or consider starting an NCF group for nurses in your community. Learn more at http://ncf-jcn.org/nurses.
Member Benefits
NCF Members: Let's meet for a chat!
Take advantage of the monthly member benefit to visibly connect with each other online through Video Chats. Join the member community online and be encouraged in your faith and practice by other members and NCF leaders. Meet Kathy Schoonover-Shoffner, NCF Director and JCN Editor-in-Chief, and learn more about what God is doing through NCF ministry.
This year we've had inspiring discussions on Christian nursing, 12-hour shifts, listening as spiritual care, the Agape Model of nursing, and a Bible study based on the theme of Nurses Week.
Each quarter, members can participate in a special Journal Club that offers CE credits. Journal Club features an exclusive presentation and discussion on a selected JCN article. Connect in the NCF member community and get free CE credits at the same time!
Thank you for making a difference by following Christ in nursing!
Learn more about monthly Video Chats and other member benefits athttp://ncf-jcn.org/membership/members-only.
JCN Problems?
NCF members who need help with their JCN print subscription or online account should contact LWW Member Services at 866-489-0443 or mailto:[email protected].
Intersections
Why is NCF membership important?
During my 45+ years in nursing, I have often reflected on how fortunate I was to have forward-looking nursing faculty who taught us the value of holistic care for individuals, families, and communities. They also taught us how to become nurses who would be committed life-long learners, invested in our professional growth.
My wise instructors also stressed the importance of investing in nursing itself by engaging in professional issues and organizations.
Every nurse knows it is challenging to be involved in professional organizations, along with our many other responsibilities. But being involved in NCF has been a gift for me, rather than a challenge.
Through NCF staff, resources, and events, I have been able to invest in my personal growth as a Christian nurse and in the growth of Christian nursing. It has been a joy to discover how faith and nursing can be completely integrated and how I can flourish while serving Christ and others.
And, even better, I've had countless opportunities to see students and nurses find life in Christ through NCF!
If you are an NCF member, thank you! You are connected to a broad network of Christian nurses who are devoted to serving God in healthcare. Please renew your membership promptly when it comes due so you don't miss any issues of Journal of Christian Nursing or other benefits.
If you are a JCN subscriber but not a member, consider joining NCF. For a few more dollars a year, you can continue receiving JCN and take advantage of a professional nursing organization with a biblical worldview.
NCF members are more than individual members; they partner in what God is doing to prepare and equip Christian nursing students and nurses through NCF ministry. Together we can make a difference in healthcare by supporting Christian faith and nursing practice.
Find out more about the benefits of NCF membership and how to join athttp://ncf-jcn.org/membership/join-ncfusa. If you are not sure if you're a member, emailmailto:[email protected]
-Jane Hall, MS, RN, former NCF National Director
From the NCF Director
July 1, I will complete my first 2 years as NCF National Director and JCN Editor-in-Chief. I've worked vigorously, traveled the U.S., taught, met some of you, and shared about NCF everywhere. I am thrilled to see what God is doing through NCF. Nursing students and nurses are finding relationship with Jesus, as they meet in NCF chapters on campus and in Nurse Fellowships in communities. We recently learned of another new Bible study a nurse started in her hospital, using NCF Bible studies (see ncf-jcn.org/resources). I was speaking at a college last week and heard how JCN blesses the students and educators.
But I believe God wants to do so much more.
There are roughly 2,000 nursing schools in the U.S., and NCF has around 100 chapters. Our goal is to be on 200 campuses by 2020 (10% of schools) and keep growing. NCF has almost 30 Nurse Fellowships for the nation's 3 million nurses. Our profession continues to seek spirituality but not in relationship with God. There is much work to do to make Jesus Christ known in nursing!
As we move forward on my 2-year anniversary as director, please pray with me for NCF:
* To remain fully committed to lifting high and strong the name of Jesus Christ in nursing.
* For God to clearly lead NCF. I relate to Moses who told God, "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you...If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" (Exodus 33:12-17).
* For God to provide everything needed to do this work-more staff members, finances, resources, and ideas.
* That NCF would remain faithful to the long-term view of God's plan, even as we work day by day, semester by semester, and JCN issue by issue. Romans 15:4 says, "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." We must find hope in the Bible.
Our prayer for you is what we ask you to pray for NCF-"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
-Kathy Schoonover-Shoffner, PhD, RN, is the NCF National Director and Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Christian Nursing.
On Campus
I have a favorite acronym in my work as a campus minister-NSO, which stands for New Student Outreach.
NSO takes place during the first month of college, as students everywhere are most open to exploring life in Jesus and checking out campus organizations, like NCF. And right now, across the country, NCF student leaders and faculty advisors are actively engaged in the NSO season, doing everything they can to invite and recruit nursing students to join their chapter.
When we experience transition in our lives, our disequilibrium often brings a heightened openness to spirituality. You may see this in healthcare when patients learn of a life-changing diagnosis.
This is also true on campus. When students enroll in their first semester of nursing, they often find themselves in challenging and confusing transitions. They wrestle with unsettling questions. How do I relate to my professors and classmates? How do I study effectively and efficiently? How do I plan and schedule my day?
I believe that God uses these transitions and their corresponding disequilibria to draw nursing students to himself, which is why I believe so strongly in the power of NSO. Will you please pray with me that our NCF chapters will boldly reach out to their nursing schools with the gospel during this NSO season? I long to see every nursing student on every campus invited to explore the goodness and grace of Jesus Christ.
May God use NSO to call more and more nursing students into his kingdom!
-Timothy Lin, MA, NCF Student Ministries Director and Senior Area Director in Kansas with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA