On 12 May, the International Nurses’ Day was commemorated worldwide in memory of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the woman behind modern nursing.

Celebrating this day, we are pleased to share about the World Congress of the Nurses Christian Fellowship International (NCFI) which will take place in Malaga (Spain) from 27-30 June.

The NCFI was born as an organisation in 1958 by the grouping of several national groups of Christian nurses. Although already in 1910 in England a group of nurses who prayed for their patients and colleagues was formed, and in 1913 in Australia an organised group of Christian nurses emerged, it was not until that date that an organised movement was born on an international level.

Our purpose is to connect Christian nurses and midwives around the world, equipping them to live out their faith in professional practice. The NCFI seeks to train and encourage Christian nurses to integrate biblical principles and Christ-centred values into clinical practice, leadership, education, and research.

In 32 countries

It currently has 32 national member groups and many non-member country groups serving Christian nurses, midwives, and nursing students around the world. These national movements encourage and equipping nurses to live out the Christian faith in their work settings, promoting professionalism and providing learning opportunities, expecting nurses and midwives to be strengthened to be a blessing to all those with whom they work: patients, community members, colleagues, and students.

Officially, the NCFI is based in the United States, which is also home to the International Institute of Christian Nursing (IICN), a division committed to developing and offering non-academic courses that engage nurses to learn more about integrating a Christian worldview into their professional practice.

NCFI publishes a worldwide journal and is financially and academically supported by five US universities.

The Fellowship is integrated or collaborates with other institutions such as the Healthcare Christian Fellowship International, the International Christian Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA), IHS Saline institute (IHS) or Principal, an international network of professional health educators committed to the integration of science and compassionate care for the whole person.

The case of Spain, host of the world congress

Enfermería Cristiana, the Christian Nursing group of Spain was born in the 80s by the hand of a Scottish missionary Marion Scott de Deelen who settled in Spain and began the gestation of a group in our country.

After the integration as a professional group in the structure of the Graduate Bible Groups (GBG) it began to expand throughout the national territory generating local and regional groups of Christian nurses.

Christian Nursing Spain aims to generate a connection between Christian nurses among themselves and with the international movement for their development, growth and empowerment with a clear vocation of service to nursing, the church and society in general with the aim of proclaiming the good news of the gospel and the promotion of excellence in the profession.

Each year it holds a national meeting in different cities throughout Spain. It also organises workshops and courses both in person and online on topics related to professional development and the spiritual realm.

Some of its objectives and strategic lines focus on motivating, training and empowering Christian nurses at a professional level; managing relations with churches and collaboration with them; encouraging Christian nurses to a level of professional excellence; promoting reflection on care and its extension to society; generating relations with academic, professional and research institutions in the health field; collaborating in NGO projects at a social and health level and establishing bridges of relationships for the training and spiritual care of nursing students.

A milestone

The celebration of the NCFI World Congress in Malaga is a milestone and a challenge for Enfermería Cristiana, although we already hosted the European Regional Congress in Madrid in 2014, as it means hosting a meeting of more than 300 people from all over the world, which entails an important organisational structure and human resources.

Under the motto “Strength and courage to care: God’s love and resources for nurses and midwives” there will be biblical presentations, plenary sessions, workshops and presentations of papers and posters from different congress participants.

Although the programme is very extensive there will still be time for a city tour of Malaga, a Spanish evening and a performance by a gospel choir.

Civil, academic, and religious authorities are invited to the opening and closing ceremonies of the congress. There will also be an exhibition of various stands of the national groups participating in the congress as well as of national and international evangelical organisations.

On 25 and 26 June, there will be a pre-congress where participants will be able to attend courses organised by the International Institute of Christian Nurses (IICN). In the days leading up to the congress, the International Committee of the NCFI will have planning meetings which are very important for the development of the organisation.

From this page, the National Committee of Christian Nurses of Spain would like to thank the Spanish United Bible Groups (GBU, IFES) and the Evangelical Council of Malaga for their collaboration in various areas for the organisation of this congress.

We hope that the congress will be a success on an organisational level and a time of communion and learning for all its participants and that it will also have an impact on the city of Malaga.

Juan Carlos Nogal, national secretary of Enfermería Cristiana España (Christian Nursing Spain).