Audiomission From Cms

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 ove

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

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 p

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.