Christian Medical Fellowship Korea

Overview

Christian Medical Fellowship Korea is a Protestant faith organization of medical professionals, including physicians, dentists, and practitioners of Korean medicine, together with students of medicine, dentistry, Korean medicine, and nursing. It describes itself as an evangelical and interdenominational faith movement of medical professionals and future medical professionals "who acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ (confessing Christ as the Lord of one's life) in the medical community." Its Korean name is taken from Luke, who is described as a physician in the New Testament (Colossians 4:14). Professional members are called "Lukes," and student members are called "student Lukes." The abbreviation CMF is modeled on the name of the Christian Medical Fellowship in the United Kingdom.

Founding and History

In August 1979, Christian students of medicine, dentistry, and Korean medicine at Kyung Hee University concluded that a Christian fellowship specifically for students in medical fields was needed. Their effort to share this vision with Christian student groups and students at universities across the country is regarded as the starting point of the organization. From February 4 to 8, 1980, sixty-nine students gathered at a Salvation Army retreat center for the first National Retreat. At this retreat, Peter Pattisson, a British OMF missionary, gave expository teaching (explaining the biblical text) on the Gospel of Luke, and Song In-kyu, then general secretary of IVF, delivered lectures. The participants decided to continue the gathering as a movement and named it after the British CMF. That same year, they also began publishing a newsletter, The Kingdom and the Physician.

• 1982: The graduate (alumni) fellowship was named the "Luke Society," and Christian Medical Fellowship Korea was formally established.
• 1985: The first National University Leadership Training Course (LTC) was held, and an independent office, "Luke's House," was secured.
• 1988: Regional Luke Societies were established in six regions across the country.
• 1990: The first overseas medical mission training trip was made to four Southeast Asian countries, and Ahn Jeong-yong and Yoon Chae-jin were sent as the first overseas missionaries.
• 1993: The first academic seminar was held on the theme "The Meeting of Eastern and Western Medicine." That same year, the Jubilee Clinic was started to provide the Dail Community's medical care for foreign workers.
• Around 1997: According to available accounts, the medical NGO GlobalCare emerged out of ministry to Rwandan refugees, and the Sungsan Institute for Bioethics was established.

As many new medical and nursing schools were founded in the 1990s, the organization expanded its ministry to include nursing colleges.

Major Activities

• Retreats: The national student retreats held each summer and winter are its signature events and have been held more than seventy times. A separate graduate retreat is held for medical professionals who have graduated. Regular activity centers on fellowship meetings on each university campus.
• Missions: The organization's missions department oversees the sending of overseas missionaries and short-term mission trips. One example of a short-term mission was a 2016 medical outreach to ethnic minority communities in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The missions department also takes part in cooperative ministries such as the Korea World Missions Association (KWMA), Mission Korea, and the Medical Missions Conference. In partnership with other organizations, it has also operated medical missions training programs such as a Medical Missions School.
• Social engagement: Groups such as "Love for the North," a fellowship concerned with North Korea, operate under the social affairs department.
• International cooperation: The organization is listed as co-hosting, with the Korean Christian Medical Association, the 18th World Congress of the International Christian Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA), to be held on Jeju Island in 2026.

Organization and Membership

The organization is interdenominational and is not affiliated with any particular denomination. Rather than being a federation of denominations, it is made up of individual members.

• Student members: Students of medicine, dentistry, Korean medicine, and nursing meet by campus.
• Graduate members: Medical professionals who have graduated; they are active in regional Luke Societies.
• Departments: These include the Graduate and Campus Ministry Department, the Missions Department, and the Social Affairs Department, with day-to-day operations led by the general secretary.
• Related organizations: GlobalCare and the Sungsan Institute for Bioethics both grew out of the organization's ministry.