Download Campus Vitals as a PDF

Included are:
• Encouraging Words
• Back to Basics - What does a NCF student group look like?
• Student Groups in Action - What are some groups doing?
• Information on Affiliation - How can affiliation benefit your group?
• NCF student membership - What can membership offer you?
• Congratulations to a NCF group faculty advisor
• Missions Opportunity for Nursing Students

Encouraging Words

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14

Back to Basics - FAQs

What does a NCF student group look like?
A group may:
    • Meet for Bible Study
    • Meet for sharing and prayer
    • Have an email list to send out prayer requests and notes of encouragement
    • Host a speaker
    • Host a special outreach event for fellow students
    • Provide a special community outreach event

A group may be 2 or more students or faculty. Don't be discouraged by a small group. God can do big things where 2 or 3 are gathered!

How can we start the year off right?
     Pray together
    Make a plan for regular meetings for the semester. Community is important.
    Talk about the goals of the group
    Pick a Bible study guide - (http://www.ncf-jcn.org/publications.html - see the three silver highlighted sections in the middle column)
    Advertise - posters and postcard invitations can be downloaded at http://www.ncf-jcn.org/student/resources/main.html.

We have so many scheduling conflicts - how do we work around this?
This is a good thing to discuss at a kick-off meeting. Some groups find it easiest to meet before class time or over a lunch hour or class break. Other groups like to meet at night. In some schools, each class of nursing students has a different schedule. It may be best to have separately meeting small groups and then come together for a speaker or event

So, what does a group look like in action?
Here are some ideas from what groups across the US reported this past year:

LSU - New Orleans - The first week of school we gave out 150 pounds of free jambalaya along with water and starbursts on campus- it was a HUGE success!
      We've already had two monthly meetings where we invite the whole school and have pizza. A local pastor is coming and teaching from Philippians which has been GREAT (we had 25 students at the first meeting, 13 at the second).

Florida State University - Jessica C., a senior nursing student at FSU was a guest speaker. She shared her experiences of a mission trip to New Delhi, India, the summer of 2006 where she worked with orphans.
      Before going, Jessica attended a training session in Georgia and learned many new skills to help during the 9-week trip. In India, Jessica was exposed to much poverty. The pictures she showed and the stories she shared were quite moving. Jessica was an inspiration to those considering mission work in nursing.

Austin Community College - Students helped out with a Thanksgiving meal at a local mental health facility (set up, serving, and clean up). The week before the event, we experienced an awesome prayer time.
      We will celebrate the end of the semester with stew and cornbread and hear from a home health nurse (from Africa) how she shares Jesus with her clients and peers.

Biola University - This year, we decided to focus on overseas missions. We have invited various missionary speakers from other countries who are serving the Lord through medical missions (nurses, doctors, PAs, etc.) Each of the classes also has been assigned a grad from our nursing program who is currently serving in nursing missions overseas.
      Each class sent notes of encouragement and care packages to their missionaries. We have an NCF bulletin board that includes a big map. Each missionary grad is noted on the map by name, organization, and country. It's exciting to see how God is using our grads in missions overseas!

Does our NCF group need to be affiliated?

Does your school require your group to be affiliated in order to be recognized? Did you know that being a recognized organization can sometimes entitle your group to funds from student activity fees and other benefits?

If you are interested in becoming an affiliated chapter of NCF, please see the "Why Affiliate" document along with the affiliation and constitution documents available at the bottom of this webpage - http://www.ncf-jcn.org/student/start/plan.html.

Have you considered becoming a NCF member?
What can NCF membership do for you?

Becoming a member at the student rate of $35.00 is a great deal. Not only do you get the benefits of membership but also a subscription to the Journal of Christian Nursing. JCN has applicable articles written from a Christian healthcare perspective that will help you with research and practice.

But wait, there's more. You also receive access to past JCN articles. These can be very helpful when doing research papers or thinking through your philosophy of Christian nursing. To see a topical list of archived articles that could be available to you, go to http://www.ncf-jcn.org/jcn/subject_index.php.

So, how do you join? Go to http://www.ncf-jcn.org/info/membership/main.html and follow the prompts.

Congratulations!

Susan Lehman, NCF faculty advisor at the University of Iowa, was named the 2007 recipient of the Faith and Learning Award. This award goes to a faculty member, staff member, researcher or student at the UI who has made significant contributions to the life and work of the university through the integration of Christian faith with learning and service. Congratulations, Susan, for achieving this honor!

Missions Opportunity for Nursing Students

Each year InterVarsity sponsors a student Global Project to Kenya, where the leaders take a sub-team of nursing majors. If you are looking for an opportunity to experience nursing in a different culture, check out http://www.intervarsity.org/gp/ and insert "Kenya" as the country. Currently on the website you can learn about what the 2007 team is doing. Registration for this summer missions opportunity is in February, so now is the time to start thinking about it!

If you have anything that you would like to share in Campus Vitals, please send them to bhann@intervarsity.org. Thanks!