Church Mission Society: Recent Episodes
Church Mission Society (CMS)
Podcasts from Church Mission Society (CMS). We long to see our world made new through the love of God as we follow Jesus to the edges.
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'.
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.
Dennis Tongoi (pictured), executive director of CMS-Africa, and Harvey Kwiyani, executive director of Missio Africanus, discuss an African perspective on gloabl mission. With Philip Mounstephen, executive leader of Church Mission Society. Recorded at 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, and Philip Mounstephen, executive leader of Church Mission Society, talk to the Church Mission Society Africa conference, held at the Hayes conference centre, Swanwick, 7-9 October 2016.
How can Church Mission Society come alongside your church and how are we playing our part in growing churches around the world? We hear from the founder of Partnership for Missional Church, an extraordinary initiative CMS has launched nationally in the UK. First we'll hear from Peru and Pakistan, where our people are helping the church grow in discipleship.
Featuring: Anna Sims, of Peru diocese's Christian Life and Formation team; Freda, who has spent 30 years working in Pakistan; Pat Keifert, founder of Church Innovations.
We in the UK are well into the summer festival season, which now last from May to September – whatever the weather!
This month we're offering you a mini-festival for your ears – a festival of hope. Three of our people in mission tell stories of lives changed as they continue to put their call into action, sharing Jesus in word and deed.
Featuring: Sharon Wilcox, working alongside young people with disabilities in Ecuador; David and Liza Cooke reporting on peacemaking and distributing wheelchairs in Kenya's borderlands; Amy and David Roche sharing the story of a truly international journey with Jesus from Lebanon.
This month our occasional series on 'the five marks of mission' continues with the longest of the marks: "To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation".
Violence of every kind has been experienced far too often in too many places lately, and not least in Burundi, where mission associate Simon Guillebaud is based with his organisation Great Lakes Outreach. We also meet mission partners in India who are working with those trapped at the bottom by society's unjust structures - including refugee women and people with leprosy. And we hear from mission partner Ed Brice about his work with the Asociana team in northern Argentina, who stand alongside and fight for the rights of indigenous peoples there.
Our theme this month is one of the 'five marks of mission' of the Anglican Communion: to teach, baptise and nurture new believers.
We hear about how this is happening from different angles in Argentina, Kenya and across East Africa, as in the Middle East.
Featuring: Karobia Njogu of CMS-Africa, who heads up their training programmes. Ed and his wife Marie Brice, whose ministry among women in the Chaco region of northern Argentina is nurturing a steady flow of new believers. And mission partners in the Middle East, working in a sensitive location to support the local church and helping to feed their faith by creating a new Bible translation in a local language.
January traditionally includes the week of prayer for Christian unity, and our programme this month takes that theme. In Brazil, Spain and South East Asia, we'll discover how Christians are learning to work together in very different situations. Featuring: Eluned and Mat Phipps, working across Protestant/Roman Catholic divides in Madrid, Spain. Lizzie Simpson, short termer who worked with Anglicans and Catholics near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And anonymous mission partners working ecumenically in South East Asia.
This month continues our occasional series on the five marks for mission of the Anglican Communion. The "mark" we focus on this time is "to respond to human need by loving service" and we'll meet three people doing just that through CMS:
Wies Landheer, from the Netherlands, is a CMS mission partner doctor working at Gahini hospital in Rwanda; Ruth Bevan, another doctor, spent six months at the Diospi Suyana mission hospital in Peru as a CMS short termer; and Lendehl Sallidao, a CMS Timothy partner, is a priest in the Philippines and leads Jigsaw Kids Ministries, serving well over 1,000 children at risk in the Metro Manila area every week.
The issues of migration and the refugee crisis have scarcely been out of the news these last few months. This time on Audiomission, we'll hear three different perspectives on these issues from a variety of places around the Mediterranean.
We meet: Doug Marshall, who with his wife Jacqui and their children is a CMS mission partner working among refugees in Malta; a mission partner based in Spain and working to support Arab Christians across North Africa; Adel Shokralla, an Egyptian priest who has been a mission partner in Cairo for the last two and an half years along with wife Claire and children.
This month we start an occasional series themed around what are known as the "five marks of mission", developed by the Anglican Communion. The first mark of mission is "to proclaim the good news of the kingdom".
We meet: Victor Osoro, who leads the evangelism department in the Diocese of Toliara, Madagascar, who reports extraordinary church planting; Jean and Paul Dobbing, recently returned from serving in Nepal, where they have watched the local church reach out to the furthest parts of the country; Felipe and Sarah Yanez in Spain, using an innovative Bible study approach to allow people to discover Christ for themselves.
This month we meet people from India, South Sudan and the Philippines, who are all living and working alongside marginalised people in difficult places, often dealing with difficult issues. They are committed to sharing life together as well as making a real difference.
Featuring Stephen Lubari, Eric and Sandra Read, and mission partners working in northern India.
Audio booklet "Welcome to the CMS Community" outlining the purpose and practice of the CMS mission community.
August sees many short term mission teams heading off on trips of just a few weeks to connect with Christians in another culture. Others are preparing to travel for a gap year or a career break. This month we meet five people who have all been involved in short term mission from three months to two years.
Featuring Alan and Lex Hamilton, Irina Dale and Gavin and Hannah Steele.
Last month saw two landmark days in the development of cross cultural mission work in the UK – with both African and Asian Christians emphasising this month's theme of "let's work together". At Lambeth Palace, CMS launched its Prayer and Aware campaign to throw the spotlight on mission to and from Asia and Asians. We hear from the Rev Rana Khan, chair of the CMS Asia Forum. The other landmark was the conference, held at CMS in Oxford, of Missio Africanus, an organisation we learn more about with CMS mission partner Harvey Kwiyani, who is originally from Malawi. We also hear from CMS Latin partner the Rev Ronnie Irene in Paraguay.
A special edition about the value of long term mission. It's something that is becoming less fashionable, even derided, but we'll be hearing from two long term CMS mission partners – and from the Anglican Bishop of Bolivia (himself a long term mission partner from Singapore) who thinks their contribution is vital!
Featuring: Dr Corrie Verduyn, CMS mission partner at Kiwoko hospital, Uganda. Canon Patricia Wick, CMS mission partner just returned to the UK after more than a decade in South Sudan. Michelle and the Rt Rev Raphael Samuel, who is Bishop of the Diocese of Bolivia in the Anglican Church of South America.
Today Jeremy Woodham talked to CMS mission partner Paul Dobbing about his experience of the Nepal earthquake, what the aftermath means for some of his friends and insights for prayer. Sorry about the variable sound quality down the Skype line!
We hear stories of two CMS Timothy mission partners this month – that's local mission leaders supported by CMS to follow their calling in their own part of the world. We'll travel to Paraguay, Rwanda and also take in some voices from the CMS Community Vision Day that kicked off the year – hopefully it will inspire you to get involved in the next community day – a day of action on creation care on 7 June. See www.cms-uk.org/sos
Featuring: Manasseh Tuyizere, a CMS Timothy partner in Rwanda who heads up the youth ministry of Kigali diocese. Bishop Peter Bartlett, mission partner in Paraguay. CMS members Peter Hemming, Pat Goodchild, Chuli Scarfe, Ann Bower and Alison Francis.
This month we focus on training and we'll discover more about: what you can expect from the preparation offered by CMS if you serve through one of our People in Mission programmes; how African-inspired training is empowering minority Christians in Pakistan to reach out to their communities; how African missionaries are getting trained in Brazil by CMS people.
Featuring: Marcus Throup, CMS mission partner in Brazil, mission associate Peter Massey, short termer Charlotte Spear and Aamir Shahzad, of Asia CMS.
This month's reflection - on the strangeness of mission - comes from Naomi Rose Steinberg, CMS publications manager.
Church Mission Society mission partner Andrew Leake describes recent developments in mapping and fighting deforestation of the Chaco by big business.
Church Mission Society mission partner Kailean Khongsai, who works with Christian conservation charity A Rocha, talks about how growing things together builds community.
Church Mission Society mission partners Anna and Chris Hembury talk about hope they are seeing hope grow in an area of deprivation in Hull - including transforming a patch of waste ground into a community garden.
Church Mission Society mission partners Catherine and Bishop Nick Drayson discuss northern Argentina's top priorities of faith, family and forest.
With the Women's world day of prayer and International Women's Day this month – we focus on women in leadership.
First we travel to Nepal to hear about what in that culture is a radical women's leadership training programme. Then Spain, where a CMS partner is caring for vulnerable women in her community on the edge of Madrid. We also hear how a CMS partner is promoting women's leadership in a very traditional culture in DR Congo.
Featuring: In Nepal, CMS Timothy mission partner Manoj Pradhananga and CMS mission partner Jean Dobbing. In Spain, CMS Latin partner Jessica Coello and in DRC, CMS Timothy mission partner Bisoke Balikenga.
Also featuring a reflection from the Rt Rev Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham, and a former chair of CMS trustees.
Audiomission from the Church Mission Society, produced and presented by Trevor Smith.
This month we journey to some very marginal places. We'll hear a special interview with mission partner Helen Burningham, who was dramatically evacuated from South Sudan, and we'll hear from a church community in southern Chile, led by CMS Latin partner Joel Millanguir. Plus, Nepal: CMS Timothy mission partner Ram Prasad Shrestha talks church planting and slum schools.
Also featuring a reflection from the Rt Rev Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham, and a former chair of CMS trustees.
Audiomission from the Church Mission Society, produced and presented by Trevor Smith.
Mission among young people is the theme of this month's Audiomission. We travel from Taiwan to Uganda to Peru, finding out how young people are becoming followers of Jesus and how the church is working hard to change societies' attitudes to vulnerable children.
Featuring: Richard Rukundo, children's ministry coordinator fro the Church of Uganda, and a CMS Timothy mission partner. Catherine Lee, CMS mission partner in Taiwan, and Pat Blanchard, CMS mission partner in Peru.
Also featuring a reflection from the Rt Rev Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham, and a former chair of CMS trustees.
Audiomission from the Church Mission Society, produced and presented by Trevor Smith.
"Jesus' example is: you get out on mission from day one." Third of a series of talks given at CMS's Africa conference 2014 at The Hayes, Swanwick, on 16 November, by the Rt Rev Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham. The first voice you will hear is Faith Gichuhi of CMS Africa reading Matthew 10:1-16.
"Discipleship begins before conversion and call." Second of a series of talks given at CMS's Africa conference 2014 at The Hayes, Swanwick, on 15 November, by the Rt Rev Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham. The first voice you will hear is Sally Ashcroft, a former CMS mission partner, reading Matthew 9:18-38.
"Jesus is committed to reaching those outside." First of a series of talks based on Matthew's Gospel given at CMS's Africa conference 2014 at The Hayes, Swanwick, on 14 November, by the Rt Rev Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham. The first voice you will hear is Peter Hyatt, a CMS trustee, reading from Matthew 9:9-17.
We look at some of the big issues in the world that can often seem overwhelming. We'll hear honest reflections - and stories of hope - about disability, deforestation and human trafficking. With CMS short termer Rebecca Flitcroft who worked in trafficking education and awareness in India, CMS mission partner Andrew Leake who works to conserve forest in northern Argentina, and CMS mission partners Christine and Paul Salaman, working with the Anglican Church in Tanzania.
Travel round the world to meet members of the CMS family: people whose lives have been changed beyond recognition as they have responded to the one whose birth we will soon be celebrating – Jesus Christ.
Featuring: mission partner Ruth Hulser, the health coordinator for the Diocese of Tabora and runs the diocesan St Philip’s Health Centre in Tanzania. Plus: mission partners Angela and Chris have spent 10 years in Egypt working with Coptic Orthodox and Anglican churches. And we meet a whole family in mission in India.
Interviews with CMS people in mission on three continents – all with something to say to shed light on this month's theme of community mission. Hope grows in Hull... serving Syrian refugees in Cairo... missional communities in Chile... Featuring CMS mission partners including Anna and Chris Hembury and short termer Tyler Overton.
A strong environmental strand in the mix this time, from the threatened forest landscape of northern Argentina to transforming both places and people in forgotten corners of London, by way of Tanzania. Featuring mission partners Catherine and Nick Drayson, Kailean Khongsai and short termer Elsbeth Priestley.
In this "Asia Special" we meet some of the key players in the recently launched Asia-CMS as well as mission partners in Nepal. Featuring Loun Ling Lee, Berdine van den Toren and Paul Dobbing.
We hear the stories of three women who have become 'firsts': mission partner Bertha Schoonbee in Rwanda became the first coach of the Rwandan national Goalball team - much to her surprise! Nolavy from Madagascar became the first woman in her Province of the Anglican Communion to graduate from theological college. And Bishop Pushpa is the first woman bishop in the Church of South India!
Samuel Ajayi Crowther was perhaps the most outstanding African Christian of the 19th century. To mark the 150th anniversary of his consecration as bishop in 1864, we tell his life story in a special edition of Audiomission narrated by Burt Caesar and featuring contributions from Professor Andrew Walls and John Martin. (This was first published in 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade and the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Gospel in Nigeria through Crowther's mission expedition.)
Sara Afshari of Sat-7 Pars talks about Christian broadcasting across the Persian world and Tim Curtis gives an insight into Bible translation in rural Paraguay. And, as booking opens for the Church Mission Society's 2014 Africa conference, we find out what goes on.
Audio podcast about the Biological water filter project produced by the Church Mission Society (CMS)
In Pakistan, Ukraine and Uganda, CMS mission partners have returned to their true 'homeland': to love others as we were first loved. In Pakistan, mission partners who must remain anonymous talk about the brave Christians - and Muslims - they know who are making a real difference in society. In remote northwest Uganda, mission partners Allan and Anne Lacey discovered the depths of relationship in Christ with brothers and sisters there, and in Ukraine, Alison Giblett helps people find true love and freedom from many forms of addiction.
How the church in Lebanon is responding to the flood of Syrian refugees, walking with the Wichi people at a time of massive change; and a couple make difficult decisions as they are plunged back into the UK's consumer culture after years in Kenya.
In February 2012, we heard from Andrea Campanale, who is a Pioneer from Kingston and part of the Pilot Year for the CMS Pioneer Course. Andrea shared provocatively about her work with spiritual seekers, especially offering Christian prayer and reflection in the midst of the ‘Mind/Body/Spirit’ scene. Many reflected that Andrea’s session helped them to ask very difficult questions of their own work and particularly the challenges of contexualising mission amongst those who are exploring different or varied spiritualities.
In February 2012, we heard from Andrea Campanale, who is a Pioneer from Kingston and part of the Pilot Year for the CMS Pioneer Course. Andrea shared provocatively about her work with spiritual seekers, especially offering Christian prayer and reflection in the midst of the 'Mind/Body/Spirit' scene. Many reflected that Andrea's session helped them to ask very difficult questions of their own work and particularly the challenges of contexualising mission amongst those who are exploring different or varied spiritualities.
In 2012, our Pioneer Witness sessions we began with Anna Norman-Walker in January. Anna shared a variety of different experiences from planting a Fresh Expression in a Cathedral to developing Pioneering sessions in a Diocese. Anna shared from a deep sense of experience and everyone there learnt valuable lessons.
Shannon is an entrepreneur and has pioneered a number of projects including a women's refuge called Matryoshka Haus and a social enterprise called Sweet Notions. You can find out more at Shannons blog here.
Shannon spoke powerfully about her experiences of pioneering projects, their ups and downs and some of the lessons she has learnt.
Series of first hand accounts of pioneer mission - part of the programme at the Pioneer Mission Hub at CMS. Tim Lomax's Pioneer Witness Session from 15 Nov 2011. his account of being a Pioneer Curate.
Series of first hand accounts of pioneer mission - part of the programme at the Pioneer Mission Hub at CMS. Penny Joyce's Pioneer Witness session from 29 Nov 2011. Penny works in Pioneering projects with children.
In 2011 we had Pioneer Witness sessions from a number of really brilliant speakers.
In October we had Johnny Sertin visit. Johnny is a CMS Pioneer and is working in the growing community at Earlsfield Priory. Johnny shared in an honest and vulnerable way about pioneering work and its challenges.
We focus on imaginative and joyful ways of promoting human rights across Africa this month. Ten years on from small beginnings the pioneering project for disabled artisans in Tanzania - Neema Crafts - goes from strength to strength and is genuinely changing attitudes to disability. Ben and Katy Ray explain. Mission partner Ann-Marie Wilson tells the story of the incredible growth of her campaign to end FGM and mission partner Ruth Radley negotiates tricky cross-cultural issues in promoting children's rights in South Sudan.
Focus on the Middle East with the Rev Bassi Mirzania, Persian chaplain in the UK, Michael green, working in Jordan in medical care, and an anonymous mission partner who has been working in Lebanon.
CMS-Africa leader Dennis Tongoi responds to the Al-Shabab terror attack on his home city of Nairobi. Plus inter-African exchange programmes and the struggles of indigenous people in Argentina.
Africa conference 2013. The Rev Joe Kapolyo gave the Bible readings. Here he explains what the church looks like from an African, mainly Zambian, perspective.
Exploring how the Centre for Urban Mission in Kibera, Nairobi is building up Kenya's mission pioneers in the slums with mission partner Colin Smith. Plus, mission partner Jill Ball looks back on the remarkable progress of Life in Abundance Trust in Ecuador.
Meet CMS mission partner Isobel Booth-Clibborn, promoting children's place in the world and in mission across Africa. Also this month: Caroline and Dick Seed, pushing forward theological education, and we hear from a local UK church about what it means to play a part in mission as a CMS link church.
Working alongside locals and immigrants in Spain's economic nightmare and stepping up to the medical mark in Uganda.
Featuring mission partners working among the most marginalised on the edges of the Indian capital, Marcus Throup leading in theological education in Brazil, and CMS's Jonny Baker on a pioneering trip to South Korea.
Holy Trinity Combe Down is a church deeply involved in mission. They are the home church of CMS mission partner Miriam Knowles, who is helping Neema Crafts in Tanzania to change attitudes to disability and support David and Heather Sharland in Uganda.
Mike Stranks meets some of the team at the church who are working hard to instil a mission vision throughout the parish. They talk about the rewards of the "two-way street" of supporting link mission partners.
Pictured are mission partner Miriam Knowles and vicar Paul Kenchington.
Featuring Cristobal Ceron reaching out in a student zone in Chile's capital, Jane, an education specialist in Pakistan, and Jonny Baker, leader of CMS's Pioneer mission training team, on a trip to encourage some mission pioneers in South Korea.
Featuring Andy Roberts and ReVive International helping vulnerable girls in Brazil, Bishop Anthony Poggo from South Sudan, and Bishop Peter and Sally Bartlett from Paraguay.
We meet David Hucker, a CMS mission partner who has planted and established a church in Chile over the past 15 years and now feel it's time to move on to a new team in northern Argentina, bringing new life to struggling urban churches. Mike Stranks talked to David and also found out just how critical is the support of churches and individuals at home.
With CMS's Stephen Burgess talking about a pioneering schools link between South Sudan and a Finchley primary school. We also meet mission partner Pat Blanchard working with children with disabilities in Peru and Anna Sims, an arty mission partner who's preparing to go out and help her.
The intriguing impact of sewing clubs in mission in Paraguay, reflecting on the energy of Africa with the CMS executive leader, and how a short term mission trip led to 18 years helping to reconstruct war-torn parts of Africa for one mission partner.
With Eve Vause, 'the real life Chummy' from the BBC series, the Chilean president's chaplain, and the descendant of an Olympic oarsman.
Audiomission meets Anna Sims, a mission partner soon heading to South America to use her art skills in mission, and finds out the story of her call.
Meeting an anonymous mission partner off to what most people think of as a very dangerous part of the world, and talking with Debbie James, CMS's discipleship team leader about a recent trip to India where she met lots of inspiring individuals and pioneering mission workers.
Chatting with CMS's Jo Hazelton about meeting up with a huge variety of CMS people in mission in Paraguay, and to Mary Rollin, who took part in a CMS Encounter team visit to Peru in August.
When we saw one of Call the Midwife's favourite characters, 'Chummy', apply to CMS to go as a missionary to Sierra Leone, we just had to see if we could track down a real 1950s midwife who did the same thing. Audiomission's Mike Stranks talks to Eve Vause, who set off for Sierra Leone, just like Chummy, in 1958.
Audiomission spends some time with Philip Mounstephen, new executive leader of the Church Mission Society, and with Stephen Burgess, CMS's transcultural mission manager for Africa, talking about the urgent situation in DR Congo.
"I don't do this alone," says Philip Mounstephen of his new role leading the Church Mission Society. Mike Stranks spoke to him just a few days into the job.
Focus on Paraguay, with 'extreme nurse' Beryl Baker, UK with urban abbot Mark Berry, and fighting female genital mutilation with Ann-Marie Wilson.
Fresh from her Paraguay road trip meeting CMS people in mission on the ground, CMS's Jo Hazelton reflects on the impact and inspiration of their work
Highlights from the commissioning service of the new executive leader of the Church Mission Society (CMS), the Rev Canon Philip Mounstephen.
Fifteen years in Paraguay, a year in Arequipa, and combining youthwork and peacemaking in DR Congo.
Interviews with CMS mission partners Jill Ball in Ecuador, Caroline Gilmour-White in Paraguay and the Rt Rev Louis Muvunyi, the Bishop of Kigali, Rwanda.
Faithful, fun, honest and raw, Suzanne Irvine was chaplain in a Manchester school - a job she loved but didn't know what to do next.
So it was she became a CMS short-termer in Arequipa, Peru where she "sticks out like a sore thumb" and has been learning to persevere, no matter how difficult it gets. "Just doing life" alongside people is what it's all about, says Suzanne, whether in Arequipa or Manchester - trying to be faithful every day.
Mark Berry has been a CMS mission partner in Telford, UK, for the past seven years. He's just joined the staff as Community Mission Facilitator. Mike Stranks met him and asked him about his new role.
Guns and gangs are the norm for far too many young boys on the streets in northeast Brazil. Audiomission's Mike Stranks met CMS mission partner Andy Roberts and heard more about the struggles of young people on the streets in northeast Brazil.
The inspirational founders of Neema Crafts in Tanzania - Susie and Andy Hart - plan to keep challenging attitudes now they are back in the UK. They reflect on the project's amazing impact and international renown - and on how their experience will inspire them to live differently back at home.
Interview by Sarah Holmes. Produced and presented by Mike Stranks.