Church Mission Society

To celebrate Church Mission Society's 222nd birthday, we are inviting you to pause and pray for mission with our 2min 22s mini-liturgy - celebrate and remember God's mission in your neighbourhood and our world.

Recently, Jenny Muscat talked to Tim Curtis about his work as a mission partner in the Chaco region of Paraguay. Tim works on resources to enable the Enxet people to access scripture in their own language, following on from his involvement in the translation of the whole Bible into Southern Enxet.

Chris Duffett, from the Light College and Collective, is an artist with a desire to bring words, comfort and scenes from God’s heart to those he paints for. Chris’ fine art seeks to bring the colours and mystery of other realms. His work is playful and joy filled with an overemphasis of light. Chris studied Art with Theology at Chester College and has exhibited in Chester and Cambridge and worked as an artist in residence with Chelmsley Wood Baptist Church. His work is often used for publications and magazines. As well as painting and creating he is the founding evangelist of The Light Project, an author, tutor, poet and Baptist minister. He talked to Camilla Lloyd at Church Mission Society in Oxford on 3 March 2020 as part of the For Art’s Sake Pioneer Conversations Day.

Jeremy Woodham talks to musician and theologian David Benjamin Blower about the connections between prophets and artists, whether Jesus was an artist and if art is or isn't missional. Also: the power of lament and hymns without happy endings. The interview was recorded at Church Mission Society in Oxford on 3 March 2020 as part of the For Art's Sake Pioneer Conversations Day.

When Phil and Sylvie Good set out for Lebanon as new mission partners, they began working with a church and serving Syrian refugees. “The scale of what happened to them became more apparent as I got to know them,” says Sylvie. “Total lack of future.” In the face of this seemingly overwhelming situation of despair, Phil and Sylvie took the attitude of “do what we can”. Jenny Muscat found out what this means on a practical level, and how some people even say they are glad to have become refugees. To find out why, listen to the interview.

Canon Moses Bushendich, international director of CMS-Africa, gave three talks at Church Mission Society's 2019 Africa conference 8-10 November, at the Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, UK. He spoke from an African and CMS-Africa perspective on the theme taken from Isaiah 43: “See, I am doing a new thing - do you not perceive it?”

Canon Moses Bushendich, international director of CMS-Africa, gave three talks at Church Mission Society's 2019 Africa conference 8-10 November, at the Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, UK. He spoke from an African and CMS-Africa perspective on the theme taken from Isaiah 43: “See, I am doing a new thing - do you not perceive it?”

Canon Moses Bushendich, international director of CMS-Africa, gave three talks at Church Mission Society's 2019 Africa conference 8-10 November, at the Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, UK. He spoke from an African and CMS-Africa perspective on the theme taken from Isaiah 43: “See, I am doing a new thing - do you not perceive it?”

Advisory: contains frank discussion of FGM practices. On the last of #16daysofactivism against gender-based violence, we hear from Ann-Marie Wilson, CMS mission partner and founder of the anti-FGM charity 28toomany. Ann-Marie was working in Sudan in 2003–2004 when she met a little girl in Darfur who’d had female genital mutilation (FGM) at 5 and been raped at 10. From this encounter, the charity @28toomany was born. Ann-Marie felt called to act – to stand up and make a difference. With support from @churchmissionsociety she started @28toomany in 2010 with the goal of reducing the practice of FGM by 10 per cent in 10 countries in 10 years –they are well on the way to achieving that. She recently told us about their latest country report on #Sudan and #SouthSudan – going back to where it all began. Ann-Marie comments, “This particular country report, it’s very close to my heart.”

Jeremy Woodham talks to 2019 graduate Modupe Adefala, prison chaplain and leader of Word Fountain Christian Ministries, a Pentecostal church based in Oxford. They discuss her work in prison, whether pioneering is too white, and how she'd like to see churches becoming learning centres as well as worship centres.

Recently returned from working with asylum seekers and refugees in Malta, Doug Marshall told Jenny Muscat how his perspective on Christmas has shifted thanks to his experience there.

Jenny Muscat talks to Malcolm Pritchard about his work at Janani Luwum Theological College in Gulu, northern Uganda. Malcolm talks about a unique setting in an area that has faced huge trauma over the years, especially through the activity of the LRA and the constant pressures of daily life. And he tells the stories of students coming into their own, and the joy of walking alongside some shining lights of the future church in Uganda.

The Cacouris family recently returned to the UK after spending three years working with Christ Church, Rio de Janeiro. We caught up with Alex, Jane and their children to hear about mission as a family, and how their time in Brazil has taught and shaped them.

Levi Santana, mission partner working along with his wife Debora among the marginalised in Goiania, Brazil, shares what he has learned about the simplicity of mission. This talk was recorded at the recent CMS Adelante conference, celebrating mission in Latin America.

Mark and Rosalie Balfour work with street connected children in Guatemala. Increasingly they have also been working to offer pastoral support to others working on the front line in a difficult urban context – all part of the way in which their mission call is “all about Jesus and all about people”.

Bishop Anthony Poggo's address at the commissioning of Alastair Bateman as CEO of Church Mission Society at St Andrew's Church, Oxford, 8 June 2019. Bishop Anthony represented the Archbishop of Canterbury, the patron of Church Mission Society, and began by reading a special message from him.

Debs North, a youth worker specialising in sex education, PSHE, and mental health work, speaks about enabling youth leaders and parents to have conversations about sex and relationships with young people, and to feel confident engaging with their questions. Debs is passionate about enthusing and resourcing anyone who works with or has contact with young people to normalise talking about relationships, sex, mental health, and all aspects of being human and whole. This interview was recorded at the Pioneering with Youth and Children day at Church Mission Society in Oxford on 7 May 2019.

Sarah Clarke, lead of undergraduate programmes at Church Mission Society's Pioneer Mission Leadership Training, discusses an innovative new module on community development with Jeremy Woodham

"My passion, my dream would be that in every local church, in every home group, Bible study group, discipleship group, we are not just learning scriptures and talking to each other about what's happened in our lives but we're also encouraging each other to care for God's creation more effectively." In this interview Dave Bookless, a CMS mission partner and director of theology for A Rocha International, discusses his call to creation care, the many stories of Christians engaging in caring for the environment, and the reasons why "when Christians take the earth seriously, people take the gospel seriously".

Is there still space for church planting today? Is church-free Christianity possible? Long-serving mission partners Alf and Hilary Cooper from Chile share some of their experience of planting church as hospital, school and training ground.

On 17 July 2018, Church Mission Society hosted a day for people wanting to engage more in mission among those who identify themselves as spiritual but not religious. Matt Arnold spoke about his connections with Pagan Pride. In the following interview he shares more about this, as well as about being, as he puts it, re-evangelised by pagans.

Mission partner Anne Plested shares with us how she is settling in at Bethlehem Bible College, and recounts a remarkable conversation...

Interview with Lucy Ochieng, CMS-Africa's lead on women's training and head of mission support services. Lucy discusses some of the ways African women are marginalised and how CMS-Africa's training programmes for women are lifting up women and girls. For more about the work supported through Church Mission Society's Global Mission through Local Leaders, go to churchmissionsociety.org/local

Berdine van den Toren-Lekkerkerker discusses peace, reconciliation and the importance of lament, with particular reference to an African context. Berdine spoke to Jenny Muscat at the Church Mission Society Africa conference in November 2018.

Talk from the Mission with People who are Spiritual but not Religious day conference at Church Mission Society in Oxford, 17 July 2018.

In the book of Genesis - the great story of beginnings in the Judaeo-Christian stream - creation is described as beginning in the sound of something spoken. 'Then God said...' and 'And God said...' are repeated refrains. This series of prayer exercises, written by Ian Adams, CMS mission spirituality adviser, explores the gift of sound in prayer, and our participation in this gift now through the hearing and making of sound.

Find out what it’s like to be chaplain for the Glastonbury festival… Presenting the third interview from our day conference on mission among people who identify as spiritual but not religious. Meet Diana Greenfield, who spoke about her role as chaplain at the Glastonbury festival as well as attending the Faerie festival. Here she talks with Naomi Steinberg about spending time in wizard yurts, challenging assumptions and the vital importance of cultural integrity within this area of mission.

We talked to Emma and Glyn at the Mission with People who are Spiritual but not Religious day conference at Church Mission Society in Oxford, 17 July 2018.

Helen Botros, based in Cairo, is coordinator of development at Alexandria School of Theology. She talked to Jenny Muscat and Camilla Lloyd about the school’s work enabling students from across the region to study the Bible together and learn from others with a different perspective. She also talks of the excitement of seeing students go into significant leadership roles across the region and produce lasting fruit for God’s kingdom.

A ‘bewitching’ interview: we talk one on one with Phil Wyman from Salem, Massachusetts about building genuine relationships with witches, doing installation mission at the Burning Man festival and embracing Halloween as “the most Christian festival” of the year. Pioneering American pastor Phil Wyman is author of the books Witches Are Real People Too, The Reformation of Halloween and Burning Religion: navigating the impossible space between religion and society. During our day conference on Mission Among People Who Are Spiritual But Not Religious, we sat down with Phil and talked about understanding neo-paganism, what it was like to create a Christian presence at the notorious Burning Man festival in the US, the idea of Halloween being “the most Christian festival” of the year and what it’s like to have your mission misunderstood by many in the Christian church.

Doug and Jacqui Marshall work with refugees in Malta, a place with some of the highest numbers of asylum seekers per capita in Europe. Although many people see this as a holiday destination, Doug and Jacqui are working to build relationships and come alongside those in great need. They shared with us their perspective on having a biblical approach amid the fears and challenging realities of working on the front line with refugees. Doug and Jacqui are mission partners with Church Mission Society.

This interview features one of our longest-standing people in mission, who has been working in theological education in Pakistan for 30 years, seeking to develop biblical understanding, Christian character and ministry skills among Pakistani Christians. She spoke to Jenny about change, challenges and the joy of seeing the local church grow in confidence. Although our mission partner needs to remain anonymous, she offers us a fascinating insight into life in a country we probably only hear about when it is in the news.

Two mission partners working in Europe and North Africa share how their experiences in other cultures have taught them the importance of sitting, eating and drinking with people.

Presenting a special interview with a mission partner couple working to prevent human trafficking in Asia. Due to the sensitive nature of their work in human trafficking prevention, we need to keep this couple’s identity anonymous. However, though you may not know their names, their call to end the exploitation of vulnerable people comes through clearly. Reflection questions for groups If you are listening with your small group, you may like to reflect on some of these questions together: 1. What was the one thing that most struck you when you were listening? 2. What phrase or thought found an echo in your own experience or spiritual journey? 3. Were there any common threads that linked the mission work of the people you’ve listened to and the needs of your local area? 4. Does what you’ve heard inspire you to do anything in particular in response? 5. What one prayer need will you commit to carry with you over the coming month and regularly pray for?

How do we make creation care a genuine part of our mission, worship and discipleship – without becoming “eco-Pharisees”? In this thought-provoking interview, Dave Bookless, CMS mission partner and director of theology for A Rocha International, talks with Jenny Muscat and Naomi Steinberg and shares what it takes to change minds about climate change.

Rachel Burton is a short term mission partner with Church Mission Society, working with the Novo rehabilitation community in Bolivia. Based in Santa Cruz, this is the first of what is hoped will be many self-sustaining Christian communities that set people free from addiction. Rachel talked to Jeremy Woodham at the Church Mission Society in Oxford in March 2018. She starts by explaining the vision of Novo.

It’s a famous definition of mission: “seeing what God is doing and joining in” – and we hear from people who are simply responding to that this month. The first part of that definition involves looking for God in the world around us. We might think that is even more challenging in a war zone. But today we hear in two parts from Lynn Treneary, who is based in Maridi in South Sudan, at Chaima Christian Institute. Perhaps surprisingly, Lynn doesn’t find it hard to find God in this most testing of situations. Jigsaw Kids Ministries in the Philippines has grown immensely over the 14 years since founders Kate and Tim Lee and their family went out to Manila with Church Mission Society. Six years later, they clearly understood that God was calling them home to Britain so that Jigsaw could continue to grow as a Filipino-led project. Since that time Tim has faithfully continued to nurture Jigsaw from the UK, making regular visits, and seeing the local leadership team grow until now there is a fully Filipino board overseeing the work. With 10 community based projects and a central outreach centre the work Jigsaw is wide ranging and has transformed the lives of hundreds of children – and their communities. At its heart, this change is all about what God in Jesus can do. Finally, Luke Larner, a lay pioneer in Luton and a member of God’s Squad – the Christian motorcycle club, reflects on his experience of mission as something that belongs to God.

This month we continue exploring some of the myths that persist around our understanding of what “Mission Is”, as part of Church Mission Society’s “Mission Is” campaign. Find out more about this and the new resources available to help you and your church explore what Mission Is at churchmissionsociety.org. Many people still assume that mission as about people from the West going to the global south – and they have all sorts of concerns about that. But today, although mission does still include people from the West going to the global south, it’s about so much more, and later we’ll hear from a young Brazilian couple reflecting on the nature of global mission. First we hear from an Indian-born mission partner, who is now working back in India, via Africa and Britain. Then we hear from some Western mission partners about the new generation of leaders of the church in the Chaco in remote northern Argentina. David and Shelley Stokes are working with the diocese of northern Argentina to provide training and to walk alongside indigenous leaders as they work out what it means to be a church leader in their culture. Finally this month, we turn to Brazil, or rather to Debora and Levi Santana, who have been working in Britain, where Levi has been a pioneer curate, but who are originally from central Brazil. In the summer they returned to their homeland as CMS mission partners.

This autumn sees us profiling the results of our giant listening exercise to find out what people think about mission. Thank you if you were one of more than 2,000 people who completed our survey, online or at festivals this summer. You can see more about the results by going to the Mission Is tab at churchmissionsociety.org. In the coming months we will be busting some myths about mission based on what we have found out. One we tackle this month, is that mission is basically about helping people. We meet mission partners working in Asia and Latin America, who very obviously do mission that is helping people, but on reflection, what makes it distinctive, what really matters – is something else. First we go to Brazil, where Andy and Rose Roberts lead Revive – an NGO caring for girls who have suffered various kinds of abuse. Andy shared with Jeremy Woodham what got Revive started, the difference it makes – and what makes it different. Then we move to Pakistan, and meet a mission partner who is serving the people there through education, bringing her experience and skills to help train teachers in church schools. She will remain anonymous here, but what Naomi Rose Steinberg discovered when she talked to her about the state of education in Pakistan, is that the personal touch counts. We have no closing reflection this month, as our third interview provides for more purposeful reflection than usual. It is part of a conversation with Jane Jerrard that forms part of our new “Mission Is” bible study, shortly available on the resources section of our website churchmissionsociety.org. Jane, who also worked in education in Pakistan – for two decades – talked to John Orchard, who asked her: is mission just about helping people?

We hope that none of our mission work is very far from the people who find themselves pushed to the margins of society – and this month we focus our attention in their direction – and travel from Tanzania to Paraguay and Peru. We’ll discover deep commitment, significant impact and how working with those who are classed as ‘disadvantaged’ can be both fulfilling and fun. Mission partners Festo and Grace Kanungha run St John’s seminary in Kilimatinde, Tanzania. It offers a secondary school, a theological college, and a nursery school. Peter and Sally Bartlett live and work in Paraguay, where Peter is the bishop of the Anglican diocese of Paraguay. They are involved in raising up much needed local leaders. In Lima, Peru, we find Pat Blanchard, who has pioneered an inclusive church and therapy project for people with disabilities. It's something she never guessed she would be doing, but something she has come to be passionate about.

Effective mission can look very different from place to place and at Church Mission Society we are very committed to taking different cultures and contexts seriously. But training and study naturally form part of our mission commitment all around the world – and provide an ideal situation for mutual learning, as we hear from Berdine van den Toren. We also meet someone who is working in India to facilitate theological training for all sorts of people who would not otherwise have access to it – and hear about the transforming effect it has. And we turn to the Middle East and to our mission partners Nabil and Sarah Shehadi, who are the coordinators for Alpha in the Levant region, from Syria around the east coast of the Mediterranean. They run Alpha and Marriage courses, and train others to run them.

As the summer rolls on, the first phase of Church Mission Society's ‘Mission is’ campaign is in full flow – as we try to gather ‘the big picture’ of what people really think about mission – what it is, and who should be involved. As a result of this, you won’t be surprised that we are hoping to prompt more people to follow their own call to mission – whether that’s across the sea or across the road. If you haven’t taken part yet, please go to churchmissionsociety.org/mi and complete our short, fun survey. And in this edition of Audiomission, we meet four people who talk about how they have discovered their own call and put it into action. We meet Phil and Sylvie Good, who are preparing to go and help serve Syrian refugees in Lebanon. We also meet Michael Green, who has put his call into action in both Jordan and Ipswich – despite serious epilepsy. First we talk to Dr Ruth Hulser, who has spent 14 years in Tanzania, working in a health centre in a small town, and developing a holistic mission community called One Family.

Our theme this month is practical spirituality – faith addressing the concrete realities of everyday life. We talk to Mark Scandrette from the USA, who encourages people to align their time and money with what matters most – and also has an intriguing perspective on the church in the UK – as art museum. We’ll also be digging in to some of the financial freedom training offered by our sister society CMS-Africa, seeing how it fits into their big vision. That's through the experience of CMS gap year participant Ed Hutton. But first we hear from Dennis Tongoi, executive director of CMS-Africa, who have an astonishing vision to reach 50 million families by 2050 – yes, you heard right, 50 million.

This month’s podcast is inspired by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Thy Kingdom Come initiative, in which Church Mission Society is joining along with many other organisations and churches around the world. You can find out more by searching online for Thy Kingdom Come and we hope many of our listeners will pledge to pray during the wave of prayer for more people to know Jesus from 25 May to 4 June. Our interviews this month touch on a few of the many ways we are seeing God at work, examples of that kingdom coming – on earth as it is in heaven. First we meet Bishop Anthony Poggo from South Sudan. He was until last year Bishop of Kajo-Keji in South Sudan. Now he has taken up the role of the archbishop of Canterbury’s adviser on Anglican Communion affairs. We also hear from northern Argentina and our mission partners there Catherine Le Tissier and Bishop Nick Drayson. They spoke to Jonathan Self about two fruits of much prayer: AMARE, the still-new women’s movement Catherine helped start and some new indigenous church leaders. For our final interview we return to East Africa and meet Dave Bishop, who is leading an exciting new coffee growing cooperative in Mbale, Uganda on the slopes of Mt Elgon.

This month we continue our world tour, reaching Latin America. And we start off in Brazil with Olympic memories and new plans in Rio. then we move to Peru and Chile looking at discipleship and church planting. Featuring: Alex and Jane Cacouris and their three children are based at Christ Church in Rio de Janeiro alongside mission partners Jess and Mark Simpson. Paul and Sarah Tester, now with their three young children, have been serving the church in Peru for 10 years. In Chile, Alf and Hilary Cooper had a significant change to their work when Alf was appointed an auxiliary bishop for church planting.

This month our world tour continues into Africa and we meet three local partners of Church Mission Society there – all gathered at the recent joint conference of CMS and CMS-Africa people in mission, which took place in Uganda. They are all also representatives for CMS-Africa – dynamic leaders who are real changemakers in many communities. Sarah Holmes met Rachel Karanja from Kenya and asked about how she first got involved in CMS-Africa and her experience as a woman leading a major biogas construction project. Sarah also talked to the Rev Bisoke Balikenga from DR Congo. He oversees the Anglican Church’s youthwork at a national level and also has a passion for peace and reconciliation. Finally, Paul Thaxter, our international mission director talks to a local partner who must remain anonymous but who works in a very sacrificial way in a remote corner of Kenya.

We’re embarking on a world tour around the regions where our people in mission are at work today. Month by month we’ll be travelling to Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. We start with Asia: November saw a huge celebration take place in India. In the southern state of Kerala, Christians gathered in their tens of thousands to mark 200 years since the arrival of the first CMS missionaries there. Raj Patel, regional manager for Asia, was representing CMS, along with the Reverend Shemil Mathew who is part of our Asia Forum and himself a modern day missionary sent by the Church of South India to the UK. Raj talks about the celebrations and their deeper meaning. The we talk to Bishop Irfan Jamil of Lahore in Pakistan about the legacy of Sadhu Sundar Singh and CMS's Asia: Prayer and Aware campaign. Finally we talk to Joel Hafvenstein, who has recently taken on the role of executive director of the United Mission to Nepal, of which Church Mission Society is a founder member. He gives us the lowdown on one of he world's highest countries.

This month we look at one of Church Mission Society’s focus areas – people at risk. We believe God cares deeply about the most vulnerable people in our world, and so do the people we meet this month. First we look back with Laura and Simon Walton over 16 years of faithful work with people at risk in Tanzania, including those living with HIV. Then we meet Becky Reid who has been working alongside Andy and Rose Roberts at the ReVive safe house in Olinda, Brazil. Revive was set up by our mission partners Andy and Rose to provide refuge and restore the lives of girls from the streets who have often suffered abuse of terrible kinds. For our last interview we travel back to Africa and Uganda, where Richard Rukundo, a Church Mission Society local partner, coordinates children’s and youth work for the Anglican Church of Uganda. He has been totally re-engineering children's work and safeguarding in the church there.

We focus our mission lens on Asia, and primarily Nepal. The astonishing growth of the church in Nepal has been well documented. Church Mission Society has got to know several of Nepal’s home-grown mission partners over recent decades and we have been much inspired by them. Our sister society Asia-CMS has a number of partners there including two we’ll meet today. Mark Berry, our community mission facilitator, attended a partners conference in Nepal earlier in the year and met Milan, who serves with the Leadership Training Department of the National Churches Fellowship of Nepal, and Manoj, a longstanding local partner who heads up the Leadership Training Department. He also talks to Ellie May, who took part in our “Mission Experiment” stand at Big Church Day Out last year. One year on and she was just coming to the end of a short term placement which had taken her to Bangalore in India and then to Kathmandu.

Talks from the Church Mission Society Africa conference, held at the Hayes conference centre, Swanwick, 7-9 October 2016. Featured speakers are Dennis Tongoi (pictured), executive director of CMS-Africa, Philip Mounstephen, executive leader of Church Mission Society, and Harvey Kwiyani, executive director of Missio Africanus.

Philip Mounstephen, executive leader of Church Mission Society, leads the first of two Bible studies from the Church Mission Society Africa conference, held at the Hayes conference centre, Swanwick, 7-9 October 2016. Here he focuses on 'breathing in'.