The Call - September 2019

Putting mission on the map Our 2018–19 financial year in review

A woman of principal Interview with Cathy Ross, head of pioneer training at CMS in Oxford

A dream deferred Daniel and Sarah Brito Medeiros share how it feels when the journey of calling isn’t smooth

PURSUING PEACE Meet Bisoke Balikenga, helping women whose lives have been shattered by violence in DR Congo T HE CALL IN ACTIO N

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CHURCHMISSIO NSO CI E TY.ORG

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

ISSUE 13 | AUTUMN 2019

The Call

The call in action

Welcome to The Call, produced three times a year by Church Mission Society.

The Call is a platform for global voices in mission. In these pages you will get to know people from around the world who are joining in God’s mission in a variety of ways. By sharing their stories, insights and reflections, our goal is to give you hope that God is still at work in our world and to inspire you to put your own mission call into action, if not with Church Mission Society then with someone – but preferably with Church Mission Society.

In this edition

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MISSION NEWS

19

FUNDRAISING FEAT

07

WORLD VIEWS

22

MISSION MEANS

11

COVER STORY

27

CMS ON THE ROAD

14

NEW MISSION PARTNERS

31

HOW TO

What God is doing through your prayerful support

Eyewitness reports of God at work in Guatemala, Burundi and the Philippines

Meet a CMS local partner seeking peace in DR Congo

Introducing new partners whom God is calling in mission

Two CMS supporters share their fundraising journey

Andrea and Andrew Young highlight the value of rest

A round-up from Christian festivals we visited this summer

Ann-Marie Wilson on challenging cultural norms about FGM

... and much more Many thanks to our readers who have contacted us, asking us to dispense with using plastic in our packaging for The Call. Like you, we want to be good stewards of creation. To that end, we are urgently looking into planet-friendly alternatives. In the meantime, please note that the packaging we currently use is recyclable. Again thank you so much – we hear you and we agree.

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CHURCH MISSIO N SO CIETY

WELCOME

OUT OF OUR DEPTH, TRUSTING GOD ALASTAIR BATEMAN, CEO, CHURCH MISSION SOCIETY

W Church Mission Society Watlington Road, Oxford, OX4 6BZ T: +44 (0)1865 787400 E: info@churchmissionsociety.org churchmissionsociety.org

/churchmissionsociety @cmsmission

If you have any comments about The Call, please contact the editor: the.call@churchmissionsociety.org Opinions expressed in The Call are those of the authors, not necessarily of Church Mission Society.

Church Mission Society is a mission community acknowledged by the Church of England Registered Company No. 6985330 and Registered Charity No.1131655 (England & Wales) and SC047163 (Scotland). Also part of CMS: The South American Mission Society, Registered Company No. 65048 and Registered Charity No. 221328 (England & Wales); The Church Mission Society Trust, Registered Charity No. 1131655-1 (previously 220297).

Registered and principal offices of all above entities: Watlington Road, Oxford, OX4 6BZ.

hen was the last time you were out of your depth? I’ve had moments since starting my role as CEO when I’ve certainly felt this. Thankfully, this has not been accompanied by the usual panic associated with being thrown in the deep end unable to stay afloat. I’ve been able to go with it and find my feet.

I’m convinced that one of the reasons I’ve been able to do this has been the prayer that CMS is known for – among both the staff and our faithful supporters, that preceded me starting the role and continues every day. Thank you so much for this – it really has made an enormous difference as I’ve sought to prioritise prayer, connect with people and discern the future direction with the team.

One of the opportunities to prioritise prayer has been to join in with the Thy Kingdom Come prayer movement started by the archbishops of Canterbury and York with our brothers and sisters across the world. What a joy it was to watch online the different Christian faith traditions in Trafalgar Square praying together in unity at Pentecost. In the run up to Pentecost, a number of us in the CMS staff team joined in and prayed together between 8.45 and 9am every weekday and we’ve been so encouraged we decided to continue. After all, why stop praying together when you’re enjoying it so much?

A number of themes continue to emerge from those prayer times.

One is the sense of God’s provision being more than enough. Many verses point to this – Ezekiel 47:1–12, John 7:37–39, Revelation 22 and Ephesians 3:20. It’s so encouraging, in a world where it’s easy to have a “scarcity mindset”, to be encouraged to trust in God’s provision and abundant generosity towards us.

Stephen Covey, in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, describes two mindsets: “Most people are deeply scripted in what I call the Scarcity Mentality. They see life as having only so much, as though there were only one pie out there. And if someone were to get a big piece of the pie, it would mean less for everybody else… The Abundance Mentality, on the other hand, flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth or security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in the sharing of prestige, recognition, profits and decision-making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives and creativity.”

In Jesus, we find the ultimate “deep inner sense of personal worth”, because we know he loves us so much he died for us and offers us new and abundant life in him. Just as we have come to know this, we rejoice to see others set free to know their worth in Jesus – and you can read about some of their stories in this issue of The Call. From traumatised women coming to the peace centre run by local partner Bisoke Balikenga in DR Congo to mission partners Daniel and Sarah Brito Medeiros coming to know both God’s call

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

and God’s timing or Cathy Ross stepping into a new role to equip pioneers to step into God’s mission in new ways, I hope you will share my excitement at all God is doing in our world.

As we go forward in God’s mission at CMS, it’s so important that we continue to commit to time in prayer, drawing on his living water – filling ourselves up to overflowing so we are indeed “out of our depth”. From this place of deep security in Christ, we trust God as we step into his mission both locally and overseas.

This is a challenge to those of us who like to do things in our own strength. As I recently read in a social media post from a younger church leader, Nick Drake at the Gas Street church plant in the centre of Birmingham, “EVERYTHING and I mean absolutely everything MUST be done from the life of the Spirit.

The phrase for me right now is ‘Do it from the river’ (Ezekiel 47). It is so easy to work out of the shallows rather than fish from the deep.”

Please do continue to pray for us all to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit rather than our own strength, for our thirst to be quenched by the Holy Spirit, to not be afraid to be out of our depth trusting in him. In other words, to use Nick Drake’s inspired words, “Do it from the river.”

As you read this issue of The Call, I hope that you will be encouraged as you hear of God at work in the world and inspired to join the brothers and sisters who you read about in praying that we would see God’s Kingdom come wherever we are.

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MISSION NEWS A matter of time and teamwork Mission partner Ann Moore is retiring after working at Kisiizi Hospital, Uganda, for 23 years. Ann worked as a nurse in the special care baby unit and at the school of nursing.

She spoke about the privilege of seeing the whole story on a recent visit to the Church Mission Society office, saying, “I have seen the whole thread, almost like a patchwork quilt of the good and the bad, together forming a rich fabric of life.”

Ann has been able to share in the joy of countless families whose children and mothers may not have survived without Kisiizi. Many of the babies and young children treated at the hospital have grown up to train and work as nurses at Kisiizi as well as in numerous other industries.

“And so as I prepare to retire, I feel that my legacy will be one of deep compassion for children, and that Kisiizi is now in a better place because of all the things we initiated.

“Mission is, for me, that wherever you are, Jesus is the driving force behind everything.”

Mission partner Corrie Verduyn is also retiring from CMS after seven years as the lead doctor in maternity and women’s health at Kiwoko Hospital, Uganda. Upon arriving back in the UK, Corrie emphasised the importance of teamwork in mission.

She comments, “A hospital is a community, so to apportion any kind of progress to one particular person is difficult. You work in a team and it becomes a process which involves many people. In the setting where I worked you cannot say this person has achieved, whether it’s me or somebody else, because we have achieved together.”

Top Right: Ann Moore (centre) marks her retirement with members of the CMS international team Left: Mission partner Corrie Verduym finishing after seven years

Living the Dream in Cambodia On Easter Sunday 2019 The Shalom Dream Centre opened in a rural area of Cambodia. Although construction was not technically complete, CMS local partner Chhinho and the Shalom Ministries Cambodia (SMC) team wasted no time putting their new space to good use.

“We have already had Bible teaching for pastors, conferences and youth camps.

Very importantly, we have commenced daily schooling to supplement what poor local children get,” said Chhinho. Between 40 and 80 children attend between 2 and 4pm Tuesday to Saturday, with an extra class offered on Friday evenings.

“They learn Khmer and Bunong literacy, basic English and also enjoy Bible stories in their Bunong tribal language. It is especially important that the Bunong children become fluent in Khmer reading and writing if they are to participate in Cambodian society and not be permanently disadvantaged.” Healthy snacks are also provided for the children.

Chhinho said, “As God provides the funds, the Dream Centre will eventually include a church, Bible school, a retreat centre, campsite, vocational training centre, sports facility, clinic and income-generating agriculture. Our dream is that both beginners in ministry and experienced pastors who want further training will come for learning, refreshing and encouragement and leave equipped and with increased faith to extend the Kingdom of God. “The Dream Centre is our base for training and outreach to unreached people groups in provinces beyond the Mekong. Please pray that the people of this region experience full salvation and that we will be effective in reaching them. God’s love has brought us here and God’s love will keep us united.”

Through his work with SMC, Chhinho helps oversee and encourage more than 40 churches that have been planted across 17 provinces in the country.

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Deaf footballers achieve higher goal The Neema Crafts football team, who are all deaf, won a match 3–0 against a hearing team in a village outside Iringa, Tanzania.

As sweet as that victory was, the real triumph was showing villagers how disabled people can contribute to their communities.

Allen, Neema’s team captain, says playing football gave him muchneeded confidence.

At secondary school, no one thought Allen could do much because he was deaf. “I used to cry a lot at night as I felt really isolated,” he says. Then one day he was invited to play football with the senior boys.

“Everyone was amazed when they saw me play so well and I made friends with someone from two years above who helped to look after me.”

After completing his GCSEs, Allen started working at Neema Crafts, which trains and employs exclusively deaf and disabled people. At Neema, Allen found more than a job; he also found faith and was baptised at a Neema staff retreat. Now, he is the kitchen manager of Neema’s renowned cafe.

Part of Neema’s mission is to challenge prevailing attitudes toward disability in Tanzania. Every month or so, Neema staff take the football team to visit a different village church to demonstrate to church members and the local community that deaf and disabled people are highly capable. Then they play a local team.

“Communication on the pitch is obviously more of a challenge between deaf footballers, but despite this disadvantage the team has fared very well against hearing sides,” say Ben and Katy Ray, CMS mission partners who lead Neema Crafts.

Founded in 2003, Neema has now trained and employed more than 120 deaf and disabled people in a variety of skills including craftmaking and hospitality.

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Neema footballers in action

MISSION NEWS

Jonny Baker and Bishop Emma Ineson embark on a pioneering journey. (Photo: Carlisle Diocese)

Sporting chance

Paddling in partnership Church Mission Society and the Diocese of Carlisle launched the Northern Centre for Pioneer Mission in July with an electrifying launch of another kind.

The Bishop of Penrith, the Rt Rev Dr Emma Ineson, and Jonny Baker, director of mission education at CMS, were due to lead a flotilla of canoes in paddling out to St Herbert’s Island on Derwentwater, but a sudden thunderstorm cut the voyage short.

Far from being a discouragement, the thunder and lightning were a cause for enthusiasm. Jonny, who managed to paddle to the island later that evening after the storm had passed, told those gathered: “I have been reading Mark 4 all this week which is where Jesus says, ‘Let’s go to the other side of the lake.’ There’s a storm on their way there, so I was genuinely excited when I saw lightning and heard thunder. I thought ‘This is it!’

“My experience of pioneering is that to get to where you need to be you often go through storms on the way. So this feels real for the start of our journey to new things but I’m sure that it will be smooth sailing between CMS and the Diocese.”

From 2020 the Northern Centre will offer the CMS Certificate in Pioneer Mission, and is for people looking to develop both their understanding and practice of pioneering mission. The course is designed to give a foundation for pioneering mission that relates to a place, a context, a community, to the real world, to somewhere where mission is happening on the ground. Everyone who does the certificate will be in a community that they care about and want to help make good through joining in with God’s mission in that place.

New music classes bring harmony to South Asian prison CMS local partners in South Asia have pioneered a music school for prisoners and the impact has exceeded expectations.

“Over 40 young people are learning guitar, keyboard, tabla, dijmbe and flute,” said C and R, who work with a peacemaking organisation. The music classes have been met with much enthusiasm from prisoners and their behaviours are changing: “Young people have stopped smoking, chewing pan and fighting. They are developing a healthier daily routine: rising early, bathing, washing their clothes. And they feel more hope for their future when previously they felt hopeless and discouraged.”

As a result of hearing the prisoners perform and seeing their change in outlook, 20 more prisoners are waiting to start music classes. Classes are taught by a talented inmate. “He has a new meaning and purpose in life,” said R. The music school “represents a new benchmark in correctional management services in the state” (specific location withheld). C and R have also started a mental health and wellness programme, skills training for women and exam preparation classes – all designed to give people in prison hope and reduce repeat crime rates.

Athletes participate in the Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru

Mission partner Pat Blanchard in Lima, Peru, was honoured to be chosen as one of the chaplains for the Pan American and Parapan American Games in the city this summer. It was a good fit for Pat as she is deacon in the Shalom church in Lima and leads the Shalom rehabilitation ministry for disabled people and their families. Pat spent time providing pastoral support in the athletes’ village and reports that there was curiosity about Christianity among several athletes, trainers and volunteers. “We had a prayer and praise meeting with some of the Peru team. Pray for the impact of these games in society to raise the profile of disabilities in sport.”

Challenging fundraiser exceeds expectations As part of a unique Land’s End to John O’Groats challenge, mission partner Steve Poulson, along with three colleagues, recently walked over 300 miles in 13 days to raise money for the street kids they work with in Honduras.

The plan was to cover the distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats relay-style in two teams racing against each other: Steve and Ben (Team Victory) against Duncan and Joseph (Team Love Shack).

Unfortunately, Steve’s team was a team member down before they even started: Ben was declared not well enough to walk following too many recent stomach bugs and antibiotics.

Duncan and Joseph set off at a rate of knots and covered impressive distance in the first four days, giving Joseph a stress fracture in his foot and Duncan a knee injury, but they did indeed complete their journey.

Ben and Steve then drove down to Land’s End, where Steve started his section back up to Kendal. The going was slow and Steve wanted to give up every day, but things did get easier, and Team Victory did indeed finish fastest.

Hoping to raise around £10,000, Steve and his fellow walkers in fact raised around £13,500 from donors in the US and the UK. Steve has come away from the walk not only struck by the natural beauty of England and Wales but also surprised by the generosity of people: everyone who helped them along the way by providing a bed for the night, sharing a meal or just offering a cup of tea, as well as the many generous donors.

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

The walkers (L to R): Duncan Dyason, Steve Poulson, Ben Soden, Joseph Soden

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MISSION NEWS The new home for abused and abandoned children

Opened to shut “We hope one day we can close down our children’s homes – because the children are being cared for within a strong, quality fostering service.”

Andy Roberts was speaking on 31 July at the official opening of ReVive International’s second home for abused and abandoned children in north east Brazil.

Andy and Rose head up the work of ReVive, dedicating their lives to helping these young children who have been abused or abandoned, and opened the first ReVive safe house for

vulnerable girls in 2014. It has space for 12 girls from the age of seven upwards.

The new building, which cost £150,000 and was funded by a generous donation from the UK, comprises living space for 12 children and an administrative area for the charity. The new facilities will allow ReVive to expand its abuse prevention work with children at risk as well as influencing public policy to promote fostering and adoption within the local community.

Andy explained: “The new home will mean that we can keep brothers and sisters together, something we haven’t been able to do so far, and help provide a safe place for babies to stay before they’re adopted.”

He continued: “The new building is solar powered with panels installed on every available roof space, meaning all power for both homes will be provided by solar energy.”

Brewing community focus A church in Durham diocese welcomed 1,200 people from the local community over four days to an unusual event – a beer festival in partnership with local businesses. Members of St Mary’s Norton welcomed those attending and heard stories and concerns from parishioners who had not been to the church for decades.

This was a far cry from the place the church had previously had in village life. As St Mary’s began the Partnership for Missional Church journey with CMS, members surveyed how their community viewed the church – and discovered that some saw it as “inconsequential and irrelevant to the life of the village”. The church has since embraced the opportunity to reimagine the ways in which they communicate the gospel in their context.

Following the success of their Love Norton Advent Trail, in which local businesses hosted windows to tell the nativity story illustrated by local school children, the church sought another way to start conversations and provide a focal point in the community. The vicar, Rev

NEWS IN BRIEF KIMBILIO BIRTHDAY

The Kimbilio project, which provides shelter, food and education for street children in Lubumbashi, DR Congo, celebrates its 10th birthday this year. The project is led by local partner Jean Bosco Tshiswaka, who worked alongside former CMS mission partner Ian Harvey before taking the lead. Birthday celebrations took place over the first weekend in July, including music and a special service. Kimbilio also began work in August on the foundations for a new primary school.

BIRTHDAY FUNDRAISING

Rev Margery Stanlake, of Mount Charles Methodist Church, celebrated her 90th birthday by fundraising for CMS. She completed the challenge of living on £1 a day by eating cheap ready meals, foraged blackberries and windfall apples. Reflecting on her sponsored challenge, Margery said that “it was not a very healthy diet” but it really made her “feel at one with people” who live on a small budget. She raised a massive £1,205 for CMS mission partner Stephen Hatch. Thanks, Margery!

MISSION IN PRINT

Long-standing CMS mission partner Alf Cooper has released an English version of his book Inside the Palace, recounting his experiences as chaplain to Chilean President Pinera between 2010 and 2013. He comments, “This has entailed a lot of work, trying to work it for a UK audience, as we pitch the same story and struggles but within a very different cultural and church scene. It’s interesting how the gospel wears different clothes around the same message – Christ’s love on the cross and in his resurrection.” The book is available from Amazon.

AMARE GATHERING Community growing at St Mary’s Norton

Martin Anderson, had heard of other churches hosting real ale festivals, and a local brewery business with strong church connections was a logical partner. Alongside the beer, local food businesses participated and had to restock their supplies as demand was so great.

Martin commented: “Using our buildings creatively removes barriers that so many still feel about church. When our doors are open, and something dynamic is going on, we can meet people on the margins and reach out to those who for whatever reason feel excluded or uncertain about our welcome. There was so much talk of Jesus implicit and explicit in the conversations.”

AMARE, the Argentine branch of Mothers’ Union (founded by CMS mission partners Catherine Le Tissier and Shelley Stokes), held their second annual assembly in August. About 200 women from across Northern Argentina attended, participating in a business meeting, workshops, Bible teaching and services.

DEFENDING CHILDREN

Evaldo Reid Rodrigues, a short-termer working with the ReVive safe house in Olinda, Brazil, has recently joined the Brazilian Bar’s (OAB) Commission for the Defence of the Rights of Children and Adolescents. Its aim is to guarantee that the rights of children and adolescents are upheld in policies across the state of Pernambuco and to educate the public. It is an opportunity for Evaldo to bring to light the issues facing the ReVive girls and other children to a wider audience.

For more mission news, stories and resources visit: CHURCHMISSIONSOCIETY.ORG 6

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WORLD VIEWS

WHERE BEING ON HIGH ALERT IS THE NORM Eugene Peterson once wrote that disciples of Jesus are called to “practise a life of resurrection in a world in which death gets the biggest headlines”. That seems good to recall as we write this.

Guatemala

By Mark and Rosalie Balfour, providing pastoral support for the staff of Street Kids Direct and partner projects in Central America and supporting others engaged in difficult urban ministries.

N

ot too long ago we invited some friends round to our apartment in Guatemala City for a Sunday roast.

They are a Guatemalan family from our church, part of our home group, and live in one of the “red zones” in the capital.

A couple of weeks previously, a grenade exploded on a bus only a few metres from their home, which shook with the impact. They live next door to major drug dealers so they won’t leave their house at certain times of the day in case they are suspected of witnessing the deals, which would put them in certain danger.

The Wednesday prior to the Sunday roast, we spent time as usual volunteering with Tamar’s Hope, a project that reaches out to women working in prostitution on the infamous La Linea (a redlight district). While Rosalie taught some of them a craft, a few others of us played Uno while eating pizza and laughing together.

We also took turns to hold a two-week-old baby, fully aware that we may not see that mother – or indeed any of them – again once they had walked out the door. I think we will always remember the conversation with our friends who run the project in which they were trying to recall how many of the women they knew had been murdered in the past few years. For the women on La Linea, being killed by a customer or the gangs is an ever-present possibility.

The reality is that violence and death are never far away from the

everyday lives of most of the people we know in Central America. As we write, we are back in the UK – spending time with family, visiting link churches, debriefing with CMS and taking some holiday.

Since moving to Guatemala, we have been back to the UK twice on short family visits but during this longer visit we have felt more disorientated than before.

One thing we have realised is that when we are in Central America, there is a part of us which is on almost constant alert – watching out for signs of danger, especially when walking or driving anywhere.

We count it an enormous privilege to serve in Guatemala, but working in the midst of such violence and death carries an emotional and mental cost, one that we have seen borne out in the lives of others. Which is why, increasingly, with the encouragement of Street Kids Direct and CMS, we believe Jesus is calling us to a pastoral ministry that supports and encourages others working in difficult urban contexts within Central America. Do pray for us as we ourselves pray and prepare for that ministry on our return to Guatemala.

“…working in the midst of such violence and death carries an emotional and mental cost…”

Left: Rosalie with some of the women at the Tamar’s Hope project

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

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WORLD VIEWS

WHAT ABOUT A MOVE? Imagine your school or university is moving to a new site.

Picture the planning and preparation involved, all the logistical headaches that the administrators would have to solve.

Burundi

By Michael Hunter, a CMS mission associate teaching annual courses at Bujumbura Christian University in Burundi.

Students outside the new building at Bujumbura Christian University

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T

hey would almost certainly arrange for the move to happen between terms to minimise disruption to studies. There would also need to be plenty of time to sort out teething problems before the students arrive at the new site.

Not necessarily so in Burundi! One Thursday I was told that Bujumbura Christian University, where I lecture, would be moving to our new building. When? The very next week.

The original plan was to move the various items from the university staff offices during the week as lectures continued at the old site. On the Friday the library would be moved and on Saturday it would be the desks and chairs. Then, the following Monday, I would continue lecturing in the new building.

However, at the end of lectures on the next Monday morning, we were told that the move was starting that afternoon, would be completed on Tuesday and that lectures would restart at the new campus on Wednesday morning. Why the change of plan? The university had learned that representatives from the Ministry of Higher Education were coming to inspect on Wednesday. Rather than merely saying we were about to move, the university wanted to be in the new building with its much better facilities for the inspection – and so that is what happened.

So, Monday afternoon saw six truckloads of desks, chairs, library shelving and other furniture transported to the new building.

With help from the students, all the files and contents of the library were also moved.

The following day, the students set to work arranging everything. All the books were put back on the library shelves, the computers were installed in the new computer suite and

the various university officers’ rooms were organised. At 7.30 on Wednesday morning we met as usual for worship, and at 8.00am lectures began at the new site.

I have also moved to a different guest house that is only five minutes’ walk away from the new building. Yet while some of the students find that they are nearer to the new building, there are more who now find themselves living further away. The new site is too far away for the staff to walk and some are now having to pay 700 Burundi francs for transport each way. While that amounts to just under 20p, many here are unsure how long they can afford it as it soon adds up to £2 a week. Situations like these remind me just how wealthy I am.

Nonetheless, the new building is being much enjoyed by students and staff. Things seem to be working well; the rooms don’t get

CHURCH MISSIO N SO CIETY

so hot, there’s much more space and much less dust. The students receive one meal a day at the adjoining restaurant and many say that the food there is better than at the previous site. It is not surprising that people are happy.

There were bound to be challenges with this move, and change will not always suit everyone. But I suspect that overall it may work very well.

Think back to the scenario you imagined earlier. Would such a sudden move happen as successfully where you are? Often, in Africa, people have a flexibility that we lack in the West. If God calls for change, we allow ourselves all too frequently to be held back by questions of logistics or money.

If it’s time to move, let’s go. If the Spirit says “Go”, get on with it!

WORLD VIEWS

EVERY SMALL SEED Recently, Raymond – the brother of our former caretaker – was re-housed near our farm. Very sadly, he suffers from brain damage after being poisoned by carbon monoxide a few years ago and although he can understand a bit, he can’t attend to his own basic needs.

Philippines

By Eric and Sandra Read, giving renewed vision to churches in the Philippines, training them to better love and serve their communities so they can see transformation in all areas of life.

A

fter his mother died a few months ago, the family badly neglected Raymond and left his elderly father to look after him. When we went to visit Raymond, he reeked of urine, was pitifully thin and had very bad pressure sores all over his back. We cleaned him up, tended to his sores and gave him some milk. Sandra asked him if he knew Jesus and he nodded his head.

Two days later, Sandra saw that Raymond had deteriorated to the point where he was dying and, along with Linda (the wife of our caretaker) and Romel (who also works for us), she stayed with him.

They sang worship songs over him, read Psalm 23 and assured him of the peace he would find in Jesus on the other side.

We think he understood as we saw tears streaming through his closed eyes as he then quietly went. Following his passing, we cleaned him up and dressed him in new clothes. Later the family came to organise the burial. What touched us was how all the workers on our farm voluntarily came to help in ministering to Raymond, gently washing him despite the awful smell of the

sores. Even some of the children who come regularly to our community centre came to help by fetching water and things. It was a beautiful thing and one born out of love.

Later, during our Bible study, Raymond’s passing brought up a discussion of death and eternal life in Christ and people openly expressed how they were not sure where they would go after death. We then discussed Jesus’ forgiveness of our sins and the assurance we can have of salvation. Following this meeting, our Bible study group has settled into five regular couples and some singles, along with the children who love to share their “thanks and praises” at the opening of each session. The most keenly awaited part for them, however, is the merienda (snack) time!

Robert (not his real name) is a 10-yearold boy who came to the children’s summer activities. He shared with us that he often gets bad dreams and then can’t go back to sleep. He was also very worried about his dad who had disappeared.

We prayed for him and the next day he confided in us that when he couldn’t sleep the previous night, he prayed and then he fell asleep! At the Bible study, he shared that he was thankful that he has somewhere to come where he feels happy.

Robert’s father has since come home.

As we take every opportunity that opens up, we are thankful that the Lord is showing us that every small seed is planted for God’s Kingdom. Please pray with us that we can continue to minister to others in their day-to-day lives and that more neighbours will come and join our Bible study group.

“We are thankful that the Lord is showing us that every small seed is planted for God’s Kingdom.”

GOD IS AT WORK IN OUR WORLD. WE JUST HAVE TO KNOW WHERE TO LOOK. Follow the This is Mission campaign on the Instagram app or visit: instagram.com/mission_is THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

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PIONEER MISSION

NORTHERN CENTRE FOR PIONEER MISSION

LEADERSHIP TRAINING Through a partnership with the Diocese of Carlisle, the CMS certificate in pioneer mission will be available in Cumbria from September 2020.

Hear more about northern pioneering at Threads Fresh Expressions day

Carlisle Diocese

COMING TO THE N SOON ORTH

Sat 2 Nov 2019 10:30am–4:30pm Stoneybeck Inn, Penrith, Cumbria

Find out more about the course and event at pioneer.churchmissionsociety.org/north

AFRICA CONFERENCE

8–10 NOVEMBER 2019

The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire

New Vision for Mission in Africa

“See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”Isaiah 43:19

Main speaker: Canon Moses Bushendich, CMS-Africa international director

More info and booking online at: churchmissionsociety.org/ac2019 For enquiries please email: ac2019@fanes.uk

INTRODUCING:

A new gap year opportunity from Church Mission Society.

W

NDER

SEE. KNOW. SERVE.

WHO?

WHAT?

WHERE?

Christians aged 18–25 interested in mission.

A four, eight or 12 month immersive mission experience.

South Asia or Southall, UK, or both!

For more info on this new gap year opportunity email: vro@churchmissionsociety.org or visit churchmissionsociety.org/opportunities

COVER STORY

PURSUING

PEACE In DR Congo (DRC), Bisoke Balikenga is helping women whose lives have been shattered by violence

BY JENNY MUSCAT, SENIOR EDITORIAL CONTENT PRODUCER FOR CHURCH MISSION SOCIETY

“S

eek peace and pursue it.” So we are told in Psalm 34:14 – yet how much do we think about what that means in practice? Rev Bisoke Balikenga is pursuing peace in the most challenging of circumstances in an area of constant conflict.

When N arrived in Bunia, she could not read or write, and was traumatised by the sexual violence she had fled in her village. She resented her parents for not sending her to school and had little self-confidence after spending years unable to make her own decisions or develop practical skills. Yet after coming to the peace centre run by Bisoke and his team, she has found that she is not alone in her suffering, has had trauma counselling, has learned to read and write – and met Jesus. Now she can read her Bible for herself, help to disciple her children and has gained practical skills to earn an income.

Bisoke Balikenga is the provincial youth coordinator for the Anglican Church of the Congo (including DRC and CongoBrazzaville) – and is Church Mission Society’s longest-standing local partner in Africa. He worked closely with former CMS mission partner Judy Acheson for many years, and took on

his current role when she stepped down in 2009.

And if overseeing youth provision (including work with young adults and women) in 12 dioceses spread over an area the size of Western Europe was not enough, Bisoke also helped to set up and continues to run a peace centre near his home town of Bunia, capital of Ituri province in eastern DRC. DRC is no easy place to work for peace, with a troubled and turbulent history since it became independent – and yet Bisoke’s work is having such an impact that he was recently invited by the governor of Ituri province to discuss ways to help young people and foster peace. Although he was slightly nervous on first being called to see the governor, Bisoke was able to participate in discussions with five others working for peace and reconciliation in Bunia across different faiths.

PLACE OF REFUGE Thousands of displaced people from surrounding villages have travelled to the town of Bunia amid violence between militias and rebels. When the CMS team caught up with Bisoke at a CMS-Africa ten-year anniversary celebration last year, he

Continues over page THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

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PURSUING PEACE commented, “Maybe – we hope – after the election, then we will have peace.” Sadly, the violence continues. He describes the killing in DRC: “the killing of human beings is like the killing of insects in the forest”.

There were hopes that some of the displaced would be able to go home, but this has not been possible – killing continues in more remote areas, and Bisoke tells us that it is not even safe to travel by car in some places.

It can be deeply discouraging for Bisoke and his colleagues to see violence and trauma continue in DR Congo – and to be left asking the question, “When will we have peace?” There have been UN peacekeepers in DRC for 20 years, and yet killings continue. Bisoke is very aware of the need for collaboration if peace is to be achieved: “the local churches plus the international churches need to work closely with Congolese politicians and the UN as well in order to build a durable peace on the ground.” This awareness of the important role the church can play drives Bisoke to continue to seek God and to see him at work in individual lives even as the wider situation seems bleak.

RAPE: A WEAPON OF WAR What have Bisoke and his team been doing that has brought about transformation amid such suffering?

Bisoke has found working to support women who have experienced the trauma and displacement of war is a key part of seeking peace in his context. This includes offering training, counselling and the seemingly simple step of providing clean water.

Women in Ituri province have much to overcome both in daily life and as a result of ongoing conflict. Women and girls have traditionally not been given the same opportunities as men in terms of education and skills, so they may not be equipped to provide an income for their families or to engage with the Bible as they seek to follow Jesus. During conflict in this region of DRC many women have been raped or sexually abused, with nowhere to heal from this trauma. Indeed, even the basic task of going to fetch water can see women experiencing sexual violence, beatings and theft as they travel several kilometres each way. Compounding this, women who have been raped can be rejected by their families, leaving them to face the trauma alone.

The peace centre, 11km from the town of Bunia and built on land from the Diocese of Boga, is a place of calm and quiet, and of practical, spiritual and emotional support, for women and young people. There are eight staff and 12

CHURCH MISSIO N SO CIETY

two volunteers, all counsellors with different skills – having grown from a team consisting primarily of volunteers. Part of their work is counselling traumatised women and girls – though this is in the face of overwhelming need. Bisoke is very aware that there is much greater demand than the centre can meet, yet their input is transformative for the women they do work with. Many women are also helped by the sheer fact of knowing that they are not alone in their experiences – and so can share with one another without shame.

PRACTICAL PROVISION Just as the town and the area have seen many displaced people in great emotional and physical need, so has the peace centre.

The provision of clean water there makes a dramatic difference for the 20,000 families who have access to it. Importantly, those who come to the peace centre to get water do not have to run the risk of violence as they undertake this routine task – an example of a very practical step with a wider impact.

Women who have fled violence are able to live near to the peace centre – some with relatives, some helped by local families.

They are joined in Bisoke’s programmes by local women – and by some who travel from villages up to 20km away. The local community have welcomed the centre as they see local women are learning there.

It offers a range of practical training – in literacy, discipleship and income generation skills. The core of the training to generate an income is a tailoring programme.

Women begin by learning to sew by hand, then progress to using sewing machines.

They also learn to carry out basic repairs to the sewing machines. Despite having to share machines between the trainees, they leave the programme with the skills not only to make clothes, in particular school uniforms, for their families, but also to earn money through sewing. Some of the women stay in the area – others travel back to their villages to put their new skills into action.

The centre has also offered some basic agricultural training, enabling women to grow food on small plots to supplement their family’s meals. In the future Bisoke hopes that the centre will be able to expand into carpentry, hairdressing and computer skills training for women and men. The team also hope to build a house in the grounds of the centre so that there is more space for meetings, counselling and training.

WOMEN LEADING THE WAY

Top left: Bisoke with his wife, Furaha Left middle: Women use sewing machines to learn income generating skills Left bottom: Bisoke with a group of young people who are being trained to disciple others and lead them to Jesus Top middle: The peace centre in Bunia provides clean water to 20,000 families Top right: Women begin tailoring training by learning to hand sew

Offering dignity and empowerment to women is central to the vision of the peace centre – and the effects of their efforts ripple out through the community. Gaining skills in literacy, discipleship and other practical tasks helps women and girls to see their value in God’s sight and gives them hope in Jesus for their future.

As the women are trained, the centre sees how this training affects their families.

As well as helping their families by making clothes, Bisoke explains that when women can read the Bible and help disciple the family, read and write letters and use a mobile phone to stay in touch, a new level of development is established in the family. This can also help to strengthen relationships if husbands have to travel, with couples more able to stay in touch once women can send and receive messages by phone.

One woman, Madame Birungi, did not know how to read and write when she first came to the centre. Now, after a year and a half of training at the peace centre, she can read the Bible and use a mobile phone.

fit, but rather to offer a space for building community. Bisoke and his team then pray with the young people and the wider community at the centre to finish each day.

And lives are being transformed – with knock-on effects far beyond the centre.

One young man who has come to know Jesus through their work was a rebel in Ituri province and participated in theft and sexual violence and has turned his life around. Bisoke longs for more young people to see Jesus and become disciples and peacemakers.

Violence is not the only challenge that the team at the peace centre has been addressing. The spread of Ebola in eastern DRC has limited where Bisoke can travel, in order to avoid areas where there is known infection, and has caused widespread fear.

Yet even as this new threat has arisen, Bisoke continues to equip others to work together for change. At a conference for 70 youth leaders in July, Bisoke arranged for doctors from Medecins Sans Frontieres to deliver training on reacting to and reducing the spread of Ebola alongside the main programme on discipleship and peacebuilding.

ENGAGING WITH WIDER CHALLENGES Alongside the practical training and counselling for women, the centre also works with young people. After a morning in his office, most days Bisoke spends the afternoon helping to run the discipleship, training and sports programmes. Four days per week there is spiritual teaching and prayer from one until four, which currently sees 78 women and 55 boys coming to the centre. After this, there is a sports session each day, and this programme currently has 35 women and 90 boys participating.

These sessions are not just about keeping

PLEASE PRAY Bisoke asks that CMS supporters join him in praying in a few specific ways: Pray that the spread of Ebola be stopped.

Pray for peace in the villages so that those who have been displaced can go back home.

Pray for reconciliation in the midst of tribal conflict in Ituri.

Pray for the centre to be able to build a house on site to increase capacity.

Pray for the women arriving at the peace centre, that they would know healing and fullness of life in Jesus.

SUPPORT

Would you like to support local leaders like Bisoke as they seek to bring God’s transformation in their areas?

Church Mission Society is privileged to support more than 70 inspiring men and women through our Global Mission through Local Leaders programme.

FIND OUT MORE AND GIVE AT: churchmissionsociety.org/local THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

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NEW PEOPLE IN MISSION

NEW PEOPLE IN MISSION We want to highlight to you some of the new mission partners who have joined Church Mission Society over the past few months. This edition features Bev Richardson working at a Christian school in Paraguay and a couple sharing Jesus in North Africa.

BEV RICHARDSON

H and M

Bev Richardson has been working in Paraguay for two years and has now been selected as a mission partner.

She is a school chaplain at Colegio San Andres (CSA), a Christian school in Asuncion founded by missionaries and part of the work of the Anglican Diocese of Paraguay. Bev offers prayer and pastoral support, discipleship, spiritual guidance and educational support to students, teachers, staff and parents.

Based in the mountains of North Africa, this couple are passionate about sharing the love of Christ with people living nearby.

They do this largely through taking Western groups trekking and exploring in the mountains, staying with friends in the villages. This enables them to build relationships and opens doors to praying and sharing Jesus.

Bev also has a role in the Anglican Church more widely, as a coordinator and pioneer lay worker ministering at St Andrew’s Chapel and the Catedral Iglesia Anglicana Paraguaya. Having studied with the CMS Pioneer Mission Leadership Training programme, Bev is now using her learning to explore new ways of doing mission and church. This means teaching and discipling the students and staff at CSA and the congregation at the chapel, as well as networking with church leaders and missionaries in Paraguay to develop the next generation of leaders.

The couple also encourage isolated secret believers through regular visits and discipleship. They believe passionately that prayer and worship can change lives and open the way for God to work. They have had the privilege of regularly seeing Jesus’ love and transformation in the world.

Having become a Christian through missionaries she met in Spain, Bev first felt called to mission in Latin America when she and her late husband were at a boot camp run by local missionaries. In 2016, while studying for an MA with CMS, she received much encouragement and support to fulfil her long-term dream of serving overseas in mission and CMS helped to make this vision a reality.

Both H and M began to follow God’s leading into overseas work as students. They have served together in different parts of North Africa during their married life, working on Bible translation for people living in the desert as well as healthcare and development projects.

IF YOU...

would like to find out more about these mission partners or sign up to support them, please go to: churchmissionsociety.org/pim

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In addition, H and M are advocates for community health, improving hygiene and caring for the environment.

They commented, “We are thrilled to be a part of CMS – it’s great to be part of a wider movement of people passionate about seeing God’s Kingdom changing lives today.”

IF YOUR CHURCH...

would like to link with CMS mission partners to give financial and prayer support, please get in touch with our church relations team for more information at: churchrelations@churchmissionsociety.org

CHURCH MISSIO N SO CIETY

ANNUAL REVIEW

PUTTING

MISSI N

ON THE MAP The 2018-19 financial year in review

“In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world – just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.”

Colossians 1:6

EUROPE

MIDDLE EAST ASIA

AFRICA

LATIN AMERICA

call in action TheThecall in action

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

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Come with us as we spread out the map and take a look at some of the places and people you helped us reach in the 2018– 19 financial year. Thanks to your prayerful support, CMS people in mission – mission partners, local leaders and pioneers – crossed boundaries, forged new paths and shared the love of Jesus in the four corners of the world.

UK

UK

More people than ever took part in CMS’s Pioneer Mission Leadership Training programme in 2018, with record numbers at our Oxford centre. We heard inspiring stories of innovators like Adam Gompertz, a classic car enthusiast who pioneered REVS, a mission consisting of a Sunday gathering, other events and art “geared” towards people who share that passion.

In 2018, interest in the Partnership for Missional Church (PMC) process continued to grow. CMS commissioned The Transformational Index to conduct research on all 82 churches that had participated in PMC since 2011 and their findings, published in April 2018, reflect the effectiveness and credibility of the process. Most respondents said PMC led to greater confidence and freedom in their Christian witness.

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2

EUROPE

“To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map.”

132 MISSION PARTNERS ACROSS 37 COUNTRIES,

5

William Carey

AFRIC

in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America MISSION PARTNERS

LATIN AMERICA

AFRICA

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33

5 newl

CMS-AFRICA

y

HONDURAS

t ra

gra

ined

ined

76 innetw raliny int

MISSION PARTNERS

EUROPE/ ME/N AFRICA

16

LATIN AMERICA

MISSION PARTNERS

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23 MISSION PARTNERS

ASIA

CHURCH MISSIO N SO CIETY

Mission partner Steve Poulson in Honduras mentors Cristofer, age 13. Cristofer’s parents don’t look after him.

He’d never had access to healthcare or education. He was spending a lot of time on the dangerous streets – until Steve got him into school where he’s earning top marks! “Seeing Cristofer become who God has made him to be is incredible.”

CMS-Africa celebra its 10-year annivers in 2018! In October, partners from aroun the world joined in celebrations in Nairo opening CMS-Africa built multi-storey bu Dennis Tongoi officia leadership of CMS-A Moses Bushendich. C committed to holisti renewing mindsets a communities across

MIDDLE EAST

ASIACMS

In the Middle East, local partners Rami Fellemon and Alexei Nemchenko saw God at work in their respective ministries. Connect Cafe in Bethlehem, run by Rami, continued to create a buzz, providing space for discipleship, particularly among young people.

Meanwhile in Tel Aviv, Alexei helped people struggling with addiction find shelter, peace, healing and faith.

As new leader of Asia-CMS, Rev Dr Chan Nam Chen says: “We are to live on the edge of God’s mission.” In 2018, Asia-CMS honed its focus on reaching the leastreached people groups with the gospel, engaging in spheres of mission that are under-engaged by national churches and thinking and research on Asian issues.

59 CHURCHES ACROSS 7 DIOCESES

DURHAM DIOCESE

have participated in the Partnership for Missional Church process in 2018–19

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SOUTHWELL & NOTTINGHAM DIOCESE

ELY DIOCESE

3 LEICESTER DIOCESE

7 9

OXFORD DIOCESE

18

BATH & WELLS DIOCESE

4

7

E

3

CANTERBURY DIOCESE

MIDDLE EAST ASIA

7

CA

4

6

ated sary , nd

obi, which included a’s new purposeuilding. Rev Dr ally handed over Africa to Rev Canon CMS-Africa is ic discipleship: and transforming s the continent.

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STUDENTS IN OXFORD DOING AT LEAST ONE UNDERGRADUATE MODULE

AT ST CEDD, 14 STUDENTS CHELMSFORD

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STUDENTS DID THE MAKE GOOD COURSE AS A STAND ALONE MODULE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLIFF COLLEGE

SRI LANKA In Sri Lanka, the topic of child abuse is taboo, yet the problem is prevalent. For 17 years, local partner Nevedita Jeevabalan, a psychologist, has worked to break taboos and help traumatised children find healing and hope. She has urged the government to recognise that abuse is a reality and helped communities take safeguarding more seriously.

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STUDENTS IN OXFORD DOING AT LEAST ONE POSTGRADUATE MODULE

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STUDENTS AT LONDON SCHOOL OF PIONEERS

PIONEER MISSION LEADERSHIP TRAINING

Our network of pioneer hubs continues to grow across the country

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

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ANNUAL REVIEW

THANK YOU, YOU MADE OUR YEAR!

£38

GIVING FROM CHURCHES AND GROUPS

£160k

61

7k

£3

£46

k 75 k 44

GIFTS FROM TRUSTS

£1

INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES WILLIAM LEECH TRUST INCOME

OTHER INCOME

INVESTMENT INCOME

INCOME FROM TRADING ACTIVITIES

£2

There are many causes out there that are worthy of support.

We are grateful to our Church Mission Society family for sharing what you have for the sake of God’s mission.

Thank you again for your prayerful, faithful generosity and for understanding how vital mission is today.

£1.737m

k

2k

Total income:

£8.618m

£2.229m £2.863m LEGACY INCOME

GIVING FROM INDIVIDUALS

The 2018–19 financial year figures (1 February 2018 to 31 January 2019): EXPENDITURE ON RAISING FUNDS*

£779k

ENABLING MISSION NETWORK LOCAL PARTNERS

Total expenditure:

£435k

£7.667m

£396k

MISSION GRANTS

*For every £1 spent on fundraising, we raised £9.70

£474k

MISSION TRANSFORMATION

£629k

PIONEER MISSION EDUCATION

£724k

MISSION PARTNERS

£4.230m

CHURCH MISSIO N SO CIETY

60%

18

50%

for your giving to Church Mission Society during the financial year 2018–19. We are thankful for your partnership with us.

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Thank you...

To see the full audited accounts for the financial year 2018–19, go to churchmissionsociety.org/annualreport

CHURCHES IN MISSION Eldon Sandys pedalling on through adverse weather to raise money for mission!

WESTWARD HO! T

he Parish of Wisley with Pyrford in Surrey has supported mission partner Ruth Sayers since January 2018. In June two parishioners, Ian Lamaison and Eldon Sandys, cycled from Pyrford in Surrey to Devonport, Plymouth, to raise money for Ruth’s work.

Here they share their story.

It started with a chance encounter. We bumped into each other going in to church one Sunday morning. “We must do a bike ride together sometime?” suggested Ian. We are both keen cyclists and what we had in mind was a ride around our local area.

We were just passing the noticeboard in our church about Ruth Sayers and her work in Devonport. A lightbulb moment came a few minutes later. “Why not ride to Devonport and try to raise money for Ruth’s project there?” And so, in that brief moment, the idea was born.

Ruth is linked to a small church community to be a presence in an area of deprivation and disadvantage brought on by the closure of Devonport’s naval dockyard. She sees lives devastated by unemployment and a sense of feeling forgotten.

Ruth has many roles and a key one is leading a work club, which seeks to help the unemployed through fellowship, practical advice and guidance. A part-time professional employment specialist is provided to facilitate this. The work club costs £6,000 a year to run and we learned that it only had funds to last until the autumn.

Any fundraising idea needs to engage the interest and involvement of potential sponsors – the cause must be recognised as a good one.

That much had already been established by our parish’s decision to support CMS through our

yn’s Church with Ruth Ian and Eldon outside St Aub ide her in Devonport. and others working alongs

collective giving. But we wanted to focus our particular appeal on the need for support for Ruth’s work club. £6,000 seemed too large a sum to raise, but we hoped to make a significant contribution, at least.

To involve sponsors an event also needs to sound like a real challenge. A 250-mile bike ride for two gentlemen past the first flush of youth met that requirement. (Eldon is 75, Ian is 66.)

Another advantage of a bike ride to Plymouth was that it would help to make the connection between our parish and Ruth’s project in Devonport a little more personal. We would be delivering the money raised in person to where it was needed. Not literally, of course – we weren’t going to cycle all that way with panniers stuffed with banknotes. But we hoped that the ride, and the attendant publicity, would increase awareness of Ruth’s work within our own congregation and help to make Ruth feel that our parish was thinking of her.

And so the plan was born. We gave it a brand name, Westward Ho!, and set up a website using give.net for donations. Sponsorship forms were designed for those who wanted to pledge support offline and given out in the three churches in our parish. We wrote an article for our parish magazine and sent out a press release to our local media, who gave us some good coverage.

A route and timetable were worked out (Pyrford – nr Winchester – nr Sherborne – Exeter – Plymouth) and accommodation was booked. The plan was to take four days, which younger cyclists might feel is rather generous. We were aware of our advancing years and the realisation that, try as we might to avoid them, large sections of the route would be very hilly. (Ian later calculated that we had climbed around 14,389 feet in total, half the height of Mount Everest!)

We launched the venture at the end of a Sunday morning service by cycling down the aisle of the church dressed in hi-viz jackets and helmets to tell the congregation all about it. We said that we believed God was smiling on our ride because we both felt strongly that this was the case. We invited the congregation to pledge whatever they could in support of Ruth’s work.

We had discussed setting a financial target. Too high, and it may have seemed unrealistic. Too low, and it could seem rather pessimistic.

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

We settled on £2,000 initially. By the end of that first service hundreds of pounds were donated or pledged by the congregation as they left church. Within a few days the initial target had been reached and thereafter we kept raising it in steady increments on what seemed like a weekly basis.

We even began to think that we might reach £6,000, the sum identified as being needed to keep the work club going. That had seemed unrealistic but, as Ian kept reminding us, when you step out in faith, and God is with you, nothing is impossible.

Two days before we set off we had raised £5,945! And at the time of writing, the bike ride has raised £7,500 when Gift Aid is included.

As for the ride itself, we completed 245 miles in the four days without major mishaps. It didn’t start well, however, as we set off on 10 June in pouring rain which didn’t stop all day. On the final day, between Exeter and Plymouth, even heavier rain fell from first thing until lunchtime and we were riding into a strong headwind.

The unavoidable hills were as numerous and unavoidable as we had anticipated but afforded wonderful views of the glorious countryside. And, as any cyclist will tell you, what goes up (usually) also goes down!

We finally reached Plymouth at 9pm after quite an arduous final day. After a good night’s rest, we cycled to St Aubyn’s Church to meet up with Ruth and many others involved in her project and received a very warm welcome.

Later that day we set off to return home. Could we have cycled all the way back? Perhaps, but after four days in the saddle we let the train take the strain. As the train pulled out of Plymouth station the sun came out, the first time in four days.

JOIN IN

If you are planning a creative fundraising idea to raise money for CMS, please let us know at supporter.care@churchmissionsociety.org 19

INTERVIEW CATHY ROSS

A WOMAN OF PRINCIPAL INTERVIEW WITH DR CATHY ROSS

BY NAOMI ROSE STEINBERG, HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS AT CHURCH MISSION SOCIETY

W

hen I first sit down in the CMS cafe with Dr Cathy Ross, new head of the CMS Pioneer Mission Leadership Training course in Oxford, I admit I’m a bit sceptical about one of her key passions: postgraduate pioneer study.

By the end of our conversation, she’s nearly convinced me to join the newly formed PhD cohort at CMS. Turns out, when it comes to pioneering and study, it’s not all academic.

Naomi: With your CV, you could pretty much go anywhere. Why take on this role with CMS? Cathy: CMS is my natural habitat. I feel at home here. I’ve really enjoyed working with the pioneer mission education team as MA course leader.

And the students are so interesting, so committed. That’s life-giving. Here, people are willing to give anything a go.

It’s experimental. It’s imaginative. I was recently saying to someone that I think the magic of the course at CMS is the global perspective we bring. I think CMS has saved me from domesticity. Being here just opens you up to the world.

Naomi: When did you get the “pioneering bug”?

Cathy: Funnily, I actually don’t really like the word “pioneering”. Where I come from (New Zealand), the word reeks of colonialism, machetes, oppressing native peoples. It conjures up images of lonely heroic figures, usually men, striding through the wilderness to impose their will… I think we might need a better term but maybe that’s a conversation for another day. I think

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people talk about New Zealanders as having an “anything is possible” mentality. A New World mentality. Jonny Baker, director of mission education at CMS, talks about pioneers making a way where there is no way. And I feel like I’ve always instinctively had that worldview, but maybe not the language for it. Which is why I like being here, on the edge of things. I like the questioning and the curiosity and the willingness to, in a way, deconstruct everything. Not just for the sake of deconstructing, but asking why are things the way they are?

Is there another way of doing this? I’ve never been one for conformity.

Naomi: One of the things you’ve passionately pushed for is for CMS to start a doctoral programme within the Pioneer Mission Leadership course. Can you explain to me the point of doing doctoral study in pioneering? Doesn’t that seem a bit…

Cathy: Institutional? Counterintuitive?

Naomi: Well, yes. What’s your reaction to that?

Cathy: So the doctorate is a professional doctorate; it’s designed for people in ministry. Since it’s part-time, it’s not like you go and hide in your room and write 100,000 words over three years. It’s supposed to come out of and feed back into your context. The other thing I like about it is that you are part of a learning cohort.

I think PhDs are a bit weird even though I’ve done one, because they can be really lonely.

But with this

CHURCH MISSIO N SO CIETY

ProfDoc, the first two years are taught modules, so you’re learning in community. And I do think learning should be a communal experience. It’s not just about sitting in a chamber thinking worthy thoughts – that strikes me as a very Western individualistic enlightenment frame, isn’t it?

That’s what’s been so great about leading the MA: that buzz about the place that comes from learning together. So we want to extend that energy into the doctorate, challenging one another in our different areas. My dream is to create a postgraduate community around research and mission, or pioneering mission, or innovative mission or whatever you want to call it. Because there’s just so much more to be learned and challenged and dreamed about.

Naomi: So how much of a role should research play in mission?

Cathy: I think it should be a huge part. Research is dreaming. It’s ideas and it’s having hunches and following them up. It’s trying to find what’s out there and that’s really part of what John Taylor (a mission thinker and former general secretary of CMS) called an adventure of the imagination. I want us to be pioneering in our research.

Naomi: What are the areas within mission that need the most research right now?

Cathy: Probably climate change. Missiologist Steve Bevans talks a lot about the cosmos. What does it mean to do mission in the cosmos, rather than just the world? Economic disparity is another huge topic. Race. Gender. Mutuality in learning across cultures.

Naomi: So the CMS pioneer programme has six doctoral candidates now?

Cathy: Yes. Mostly women. I think we are bucking the trend for theological study in that regard.

I’m particularly enthusiastic about harnessing the imagination of women in mission. They will be looking at interesting fields: housing estates, the idea of play, chaplaincy, social enterprise, the book of Esther. If we take on four to six candidates each year, it won’t take long to build up a good community of researchers. Since CMS has such a vast network of people involved in different contexts it won’t be hard to find supervisors for the candidates, which is good.

Naomi: What do you say to people who contend that pioneering is something you do, not something you study? That it should be more about practice than pondering?

Cathy: I think that in itself is a false dichotomy because surely we should be reflecting on what we do?

Otherwise, you could be doing stuff dangerously, unhelpfully.

You’d never say to a doctor or plumber or electrician that they don’t need to study, just do it all through trial and error.

Naomi: The Pioneer Mission Leadership Training course is now

going into its 10th year. Now that you are leading the Oxford centre, what are some of your dreams or goals for the next ten years?

Cathy: We’d like to see more diversity in our learning community, in terms of ethnicity, economic background and age. More diversity means more ideas and that’s a good thing.

There are also quite a lot of people who are into pioneering mission and who could benefit from the education we provide, but who would never come to do a course like ours, so how can we share learning outside “the bubble” as it were?

I’d also like to restart the missiologist in residence programme we used to have, with lots of global voices.

And, as I said, a good buzzing postgrad community.

Naomi: What are your favourite examples of pioneering that have come out of the programme in its first ten years?

obvious that when you go to Mongolia or Uganda you should learn the language, and now we can apply that to learning the language of subcultures here: housing estates, steampunks, kids involved in knife crime, Mind Body Spirit festivals. The principles of translation are applicable. Listening to local people, realising that one location can have many different subcultures. We’ve learned much over the centuries about reading culture and being incarnated in it.

We’ve also developed a focus and impetus on living simply and bias towards the poor. Again, when we come back to the question about how to share learning across economic backgrounds and boundaries, we will need to utilise this understanding.

Naomi: In your vast career, what are some things you are most proud of?

“The thing I’m most proud of is the students.

Because it’s all really about people.”

Cathy: Kim Brown and the Upper Room in Cirencester, a community for mostly men with mental health issues. Luke Larner recently did a creative art project around knife crime in Luton. David Harrigan and his new boxing club and Andrea Campanale connecting with steampunks and spiritual but not religious people. Adam Gompertz taking his passion for classic cars and connecting with people through that and becoming chaplain for Aston Martin. Something interesting that a student said to me recently is that when she came here she thought pioneering was all about projects and she’s learned that it’s actually about a way of thinking and being.

Cathy: Well I’ve really enjoyed my involvement in leading the International Association of Mission Studies. And publishing. Jonny Baker and I are really excited about this book about John Taylor we are working on. I’m involved in getting some African theology published, too, and it’s great that this will be more accessible for Africans. Probably the thing I’m most proud of is the students. What they have done, what they will still do. Because it’s all really about people.

Naomi: Can you think of some specific ways that CMS has poured more than two centuries of crosscultural, contextual mission learning into the pioneer course? What are some lessons we learned that are truly relevant for pioneering mission today?

Cathy: Well the idea of mission being about finding where God’s Spirit is at work and joining in. People think of this as newer thinking, but John Taylor actually said this back in 1974 after his experiences of working as a mission partner in Uganda. One of our students is in a traditional parish in Derby. They have a community of exoffenders meeting regularly. What she’s learned from CMS history and practice is to follow the Spirit’s lead and not come in with a whole bunch of prescriptive ideas.

I think there are things we have learned from years of going into other contexts, like language learning. The whole issue of translation. It’s

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

LEARN

To find out more about Pioneer Mission Leadership Training with CMS, in Oxford and at hubs around the country, go to: pioneer.churchmissionsociety.org 21

MISSION MEANS

MISSION MEANS...

A PLACE OF PEACE Andrea and Andrew Young, who are providing vital pastoral care to United Mission to Nepal workers in Kathmandu, Tansen and Okhaldunga, recently learned about the importance of rest in a way that profoundly affected how they see and live out their call to mission.

BY ANDREA AND ANDREW YOUNG, CMS MISSION PARTNERS IN NEPAL

“G

ive thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 It is not always easy to give thanks when life is difficult. Earlier this year, Andrew suffered a heart attack while we were on UK leave. There were dark moments of questioning that made us wonder what God was saying to us. Our experience made us feel vulnerable, realising that our lives are fragile.

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Many of you reading this will understand what that feels like.

During the five months while Andrew was recovering, we lived with the sense that we had left part of ourselves in Nepal and that things there were not complete. We were aware that many in Nepal were waiting for our return. We struggled when our plans were completely turned around, and yet with hindsight we see the extra time in the UK as God’s gift and realise, as it says in Proverbs 16:9, “in their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

In our darkest times, we discovered that God was there in the stillness, waiting for us, wanting to draw us even closer to himself. We experienced the verse, “Be still and know that I am God,” (Psalm 46:10) in a new way. Through times of retreat, we experienced his renewal of spirit, especially through silence and meditation, particularly during a trip to the

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windswept beaches of Lindisfarne.

While Andrew was recuperating, we stayed in North Yorkshire. Andrew’s sister was across the road – having family close by was very special. The time of illness and recovery was actually a wakeup call for us! It forced us to be quiet as we couldn’t really do anything other than stay at home. When people rang us up and asked whether could they come round, we said “yes” as our diary was empty.

People could stay for as long as they wanted without any pressure of other appointments getting in the way, and we saw how important that was. This experience profoundly affected how we saw our pastoral role with UMN and it started to bring to life a vision that we had had in 2016 of creating a retreat centre in Nepal.

While in Nepal we had seen many mission workers feeling stressed, as the needs are great and ever present. And so our vision came about to create a place where people could just “be”, a space for them to develop a life of prayer and experience quiet before God – to receive more of him in their lives as they deepened their relationship with him. It would also be a place where people could come for possible counselling or spiritual companionship.

This vision has started to become a reality now that we are back in Nepal, as the flat below us where we live became vacant and we were able to rent it. Over the next year we will begin to use this space in different ways in order to strengthen the spiritual life of those working with UMN. In time, it could also be a resource for the Nepali church, helping Nepali pastors to encourage their congregations to develop a more reflective, contemplative style of prayer and to fully rest in God’s presence.

MISSION ISSUES Bottom: The Brito Medeiros family are now returning to Brazil to put their call into action

BY CAMILLA LLOYD, CMS COPYWRITER

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hat’s it like to apply for mission partner service and hear “not yet”?

Camilla Lloyd talked to Daniel and Sarah Brito Medeiros about their journey.

“We were told at the beginning of the mission partner selection process that we’d get a ‘yes’, a ‘no’ or a ‘yes but not now,’” Sarah Brito Medeiros recalls, adding as she looks around the meeting room we are sitting in: “Actually, it was in this room where CMS told us, ‘it’s yes, but not now.’”

In 2015, Daniel and Sarah Brito Medeiros were disappointed when Church Mission Society told them they couldn’t be accepted as mission partners just yet. Even though those delivering the message did so gently, Daniel and Sarah say they left CMS that day feeling very low.

DELAYED BUT NOT DISMAYED Daniel (from Recife, Brazil) and Sarah (from Surrey) first met in 2005 on a ministry course at Happy Child International in Brazil. It was Sarah’s first visit to Brazil and during this visit she says God gave her a vision for bringing his healing to young people through dance: “He gave me the words danca agua viva (dance of living water).”

Before long, Sarah was serving with a project that worked with children who spent their days

A DREAM DEFERRED foraging on a local rubbish dump. She met with them at a local church in the afternoons and taught them ballet.

Daniel, whose background is in public relations, also felt a call to work with children facing life on the streets, but it took a couple more ministry visits from Sarah and a few more “chance” meetings over the next couple of years for him to realise this was the woman he’d been waiting for. Daniel and Sarah were married in 2008 and set up home in England. “But we always knew we were going to go back to continue working with street children,” Daniel says.

By 2015, they had two children, Sophie and Ana, and were considering returning to Brazil long-term. Thinking about a mission organisation that could partner with them, they saw CMS as the obvious choice. Two couples they knew well from working with street children in Brazil – Andy and Rose Roberts, and Ian and Simea Meldrum – were both connected with CMS, and Daniel and Sarah could see these couples were well-supported in their mission calls.

They drove up to CMS in Oxford for an intense weekend of interviews. Daniel remembers, “They told us, ‘Yes, we believe in your calling, we believe this is of God, but we don’t think you’re ready at the moment.’”

They were gutted. But in the car going home, Daniel and Sarah had a feeling the panel had made the right call. They decided to spend time exploring the issues that had led to the panel’s conclusion.

Happy Child International, sent by their church.

After about a year and a half, Caroline Taylor, head of operations at Happy Child International, suggested Daniel and Sarah apply again to CMS. Sarah’s initial reaction was, “No no no, we’ve done CMS. I’m never doing that again…”

At the same time, long-time friend Andy Roberts, CMS mission partner and founder of ReVive International, persuaded them to have a chat with Henry Scriven, CMS’s Latin America mission director at the time, who just happened to be in Recife. Henry told them he thought CMS could help them serve in Brazil longer term.

BACK TO BRAZIL CMS offered to interview Daniel and Sarah via Skype, focusing specifically on the issues that kept them from being selected the first time.

Daniel and Sarah then flew to England for another selection weekend and this time, the panel had a different answer for them. They were ready. Now officially mission partners, they have finished their training with CMS and are returning to Brazil this year to work with ReVive International alongside several other CMS people in mission, restoring the lives of girls who have been abused and exploited.

Daniel says: “Even if you hear yes but not now, be open. God knows who he calls, and sometimes when he calls us, we are still broken.”

TAKING TIME A year or so later, Daniel and Sarah had taken part in counselling and completed the Marriage Course. They were in Brazil for Christmas visiting Daniel’s family.

One day they visited a new safe house at Happy Child Recife, and saw areas of need in the ministry that matched their skills and calling. This prompted them to think more seriously about returning to Brazil. Praying about it over the next few weeks, they felt a very strong conviction and a sense of peace.

They approached their local church, praying that doors would open for them to go to Brazil if it was God’s will. Within six months, Daniel and Sarah had begun a two-year stint working with

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

RESPOND

To explore your mission call with CMS, go to churchmissionsociety.org/ opportunities or contact vro@ churchmissionsociety.org 23

MISSION SPIRITUALITY

By Ian Adams, mission spirituality adviser for Church Mission Society

CANTICLES: SONGS OF THE CHURCH

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he mission of the church has been shaped over two millennia. The Christ story has been practised, nurtured, pondered and shared by a huge variety of people in different contexts.

One wonderful treasure trove of this experience lies in the collection of songs we know as canticles that emerged from some of the earliest songs of the church.

These songs have been sung in times of plenty and in times of need, in times of joy and in times of persecution. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by experience, they offer gifts to us now as we seek to live and share the Jesus Way. While necessarily reshaped for time and context, their message of faith, hope and love remains the same.

What might happen if we begin to speak or sing these canticles again? How might we be changed if we allow them to seep into us?

This series in The Call continues by exploring the canticle Magnificat.

REFLECTION My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; he has looked with favour on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed;

Part 3: Magnificat the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.

He has mercy on those who fear him, from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm and has scattered the proud in their conceit, Casting down the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.

He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, to remember his promise of mercy, The promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children for ever. * The Magnificat is a fierce text. Unsettling and exultant, personal and cosmic, humble and bold, of its own time, yet so appropriate for our times. Now it echoes down the ages to us, encouraging us to praise, inviting us to trust, inciting us to action.

The opening section is personal.

And it is full of joy. It begins…

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour...

Of course, Mary is speaking (perhaps singing!) from her story, with a unique source of joy, her call to be Theotokos, the God-bearer, the mother of God. And yet, in Christian tradition, Mary is also seen as one of us, a first disciple. And we are called to bear the Christ in our own way, where we are. So her joy is ours too. Can we allow that deep joy to surface again today, our souls proclaiming the greatness of the Lord?

The middle section of the canticle offers hope in times when injustice seems to be rampant.

He has mercy on those who fear him, from generation to generation...

The proud in their conceit may seem to have everything sewn up.

The mighty on their thrones seem to be secure, and nothing they do, however abhorrent, seems to trouble them or reduce their power.

An abandoned roadside chapel near Cortona in Tuscany, close to the Franciscan Convent de Le Celle

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But in God’s time they will be cast down and scattered. And the rich, for whom wealth seems to create ever more wealth, will find the emptiness that lies beneath wealth when it is wielded as power.

In contrast to the proud, powerful and wealthy, the fearful, humble lovers of God will find mercy, the lowly will be lifted up and the hungry will be filled with good things.

Please notice that Mary says the process has already begun. However tough things seem, in God’s grace, change is already underway.

This offers us encouragement as we seek to travel the Jesus path through challenging times.

The canticle begins on a personal note. It expands into universal themes. It concludes with a focus on community. In Mary’s case this is her people: God’s people, the people of Israel.

He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, to remember his promise of mercy, The promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children for ever.

In Mary’s imagination this song is for her people. But as her son’s story unfolds it becomes clear that he will be a gift for all peoples. This great song of love is for all communities that embrace it.

So, how might this canticle be sung in your community? How, if at all, might it need translating or setting for context?

PRACTICE

Commit to learning the Magnificat by heart.

Gradually build your deep remembrance of it by speaking it (or singing it!) line by line. You might like to make it your prayer of the afternoon or early evening, joining in with others around the world who pray it at this time of day. Be curious about the effect this has upon you.

And may you find yourself, in God’s grace, increasingly living the Magnificat, as well as speaking it: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour… *Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England © The Archbishops’ Council 2000 and published by Church House Publishing.

WHEN CULTURES COMMUNITY CONVERGE NEWS

COMMUNITY EVENTS 4 OCTOBER. Harrogate CMS group, 7pm, St Mark’s Church, Leeds Road. A chance to gather for a meal and to hear guest speaker Marcio Ciechanovicz, CMS community mission enabler. Booking essential. Contact Tim Cundy: 01423 569135 or tim.cundy@smch.org.uk.

12 OCTOBER. CMS Yorkshire mission day, St Peter’s Greenhill, Sheffield, 10am for 10.30– 3.30pm. The event is free, but an offering will be taken to cover costs and as a donation to CMS. Speakers TBC. Contact Alan Nickless: 01142 364517 or alan@nickless-online. co.uk.

15 OCTOBER. Mid-Northants CMS group, 10.30am for coffee, St Mary’s Church, Rushden. Talk by Ann Moore, who has recently returned from many years of service at Kisiizi hospital in south west Uganda, followed by a soup and pudding lunch.

Contact Joan Botterill: 01933 350126.

21 OCTOBER. Edinburgh CMS – mission focused prayer, 12 noon in Undercroft Chapel at St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church, George Street, Edinburgh. A time to share news and pray for mission, including CMS and world events, followed by shared lunch in the church cafe. Contact Liz Traill: 01620 894843 or liztraill2000@yahoo.co.uk.

21 OCTOBER. Norwich CMS fellowship group, 10.45, House of Prayer at St Edmund’s Church, Fishergate, Norwich. A time of fellowship and prayer for mission partners with links in the Norwich area and other mission concerns. Drinks provided, bring your own lunch. Contact Louise Wright: 01508 536940 or louisewri@yahoo.co.uk.

26 OCTOBER. Manchester CMS fellowship group, 18.30, Bishop’s Lodge, Walkden Road, Worsley. A time to share in a meal, fellowship and prayer. Contact Sally Ashcroft: 0161 790 4337 or sally_ashcroft@yahoo.co.uk.

THE CALL IN ACTION 2 NOVEMBER. Threads Fresh Expressions day, 10.30am–4.30pm Stoneybeck Inn, Penrith, Cumbria. Hear more about northern pioneering, fresh expressions and the CMS certificate in pioneer mission in the north.

Find out more and book at: pioneer.churchmissionsociety.org/north.

8–10 NOVEMBER. Africa Conference 2019, Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire. Speakers include Canon Moses Bushendich, CMS-Africa international director. For more information, see churchmissionsociety.org/ac2019 or contact Nick Fane on ac2019@fanes.co.uk.

11–15 NOVEMBER. Make Good, Pickwell Manor, Devon. Mission entrepreneurship residential module: a social/missional enterprise accelerator to help you turn your ideas for social change into action.

More information available from Helen: 01865 787439 or helen.harwood@ churchmissionsociety.org.

18 NOVEMBER. Edinburgh CMS – mission focused prayer, 12 noon in Undercroft Chapel at St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church, George Street, Edinburgh. A time to share news and pray for mission, including CMS and world events, followed by shared lunch in the church cafe. Contact Liz Traill: 01620 894843 or liztraill2000@yahoo.co.uk.

28 FEBRUARY–1 MARCH 2020. CMS Southern Conference, High Leigh Conference Centre, Hoddesdon, Herts.

Theme: Sharing the Gospel Here, There and Everywhere. Speakers: Rev Dr Judith Stephenson and Janet Quarry. For more information and booking, contact Jane Fulford: jane.fulford@btinternet.com or 0118 969 947495.

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH CMS EVENTS AT churchmissionsociety.org/events

CHURCH MISSION SOCIETY STAFF CHANGES SINCE MAY 2019 FAREWELL TO:

Peter Guy, conferencing and reception assistant and team administrator for mission transformation (August); Ruth Young, PMC facilitator (August); Isaac Frisby, vocational recruitment officer (September).

WELCOME TO:

Rayssa Kobinski, conferencing and reception assistant (August); Gilberto Da Silva, vocational recruitment officer (September).

CHANGES:

Adina Lewis, legacy officer, returned from maternity leave (July); Cathy Ross, pioneer MA coordinator, became head of pioneer mission leadership training in Oxford (August); Tara Martin, temporary communications team administrator (June–September).

NEW PEOPLE IN MISSION NEW MISSION PARTNERS:

Andrew and Lisa Peart, with Liliana and Anayah, have returned long-term to Bolivia where they have already served for two years.

They will continue to work with the church in a variety of projects reaching out into the local community.

Daniel and Sarah Brito Medeiros, with Sophie and Ana, are moving to Brazil, where they have already served for two years, to work with ReVive International which runs a safe house for children at risk.

NEW SHORT-TERMERS:

Arleen and Mark Rowell (Moldova).

NEW MISSION ASSOCIATES:

Sharon Rose (Moldova), Hilary Marshall (UK), Janet Phythian (Mozambique), Jane and Nick Cook (Rwanda).

ENDING SERVICE:

PHOTO COMPETITION!

CALLING

ALL ASPIRING PHOTOGRAPHERS!

Aspiring photographers, share your views of mission with us for a chance to win.

Deadline: 1 November 2019 PRIZE DETAILS + TERMS AND CONDITIONS: churchmissionsociety.org/photo THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

Daniel and Ellelein Kirk, with David and Joshua, served for almost 14 years planting and leading a church in Vina del Mar, Chile.

Daniel has been appointed to a parish in Chelmsford Diocese.

C and P have completed their second period of mission partner service, leading a church in North Africa for five years, and have now moved to a group of parishes in Cornwall.

Ed and Marie Brice have completed a remarkable 43 years with SAMS, serving in Paraguay and Argentina. Although officially retiring they are becoming mission associates and continue to serve in Argentina.

Corrie Verduyn has returned to the UK after serving for seven years leading the maternity department in Kiwoko Hospital, Uganda.

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FEATURE STORY

FROM FLYING VISITS TO DEEP FRIENDSHIPS

Visiting supporting churches involves careful planning – and a colour-coded map!

Felipe and Sarah Yanez, mission partners working to bring encouragement and hope through Christ in Malaga, Spain, share with us the joys they have found in visiting their supporting churches.

BY SARAH YANEZ, CMS MISSION PARTNER IN MALAGA, SPAIN

I

have spent nearly my entire life visiting link churches. As a child of missionaries, my first visits were at the age of only a few months and we would visit all their supporting churches every three or four years when on home leave. I have fond memories of “typical” English food: Wagon Wheel biscuits and Quality Street chocolates among my favourites. Late night drives back from various corners of the UK to rural Suffolk also come to mind, usually curled up on the back seat of an Ichthus Motors rented car, wrapped in a blanket, exhausted after the whistle-stop weekend visit.

Several years later, having married and as mission partners with SAMS and CMS in Birmingham, Felipe and I would travel to visit our supporting churches in various parts of the country. Again, these were usually brief weekend trips. Even after our two boys were born, we continued having short weekend visits, returning home on Sunday afternoons.

Once we moved to Spain in 2007, still with CMS, we decided to change the nature of our visits. Different friends have very kindly loaned us their “spare” cars and, so as to not over-burden my parents by living in their small house for two months, we decided to plan our church visits geographically and spend more time visiting each area. This has meant asking our churches to host us not just for the weekend, but for three to four nights at a time. A typical “Yanez missionary journey” might be Ipswich to Uxbridge (three nights – Sunday visit) to Oxford (two nights for a visit to the CMS office) to Gloucester (three nights – Sunday visit) to Birmingham (five nights – midweek visits to two churches and friends) then return to

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Ipswich. The difference in mileage: 450 instead of 1,120 miles.

Although the reduced mileage has been a great blessing (to both the environment and our sanity), the greatest impact has been on our relationships with our supporting churches. Those who have hosted us, who have been so generous and hospitable in opening their homes, have been such a blessing to us.

Conversations over meal preparation, while washing up together or sitting around in the evening have led to some amazing friendships. We have so loved to hear our hosts’ stories; to get to know something of their families, to understand more about our link churches and the local community, the joys and the challenges. And so as not to overwhelm our hosts, we always ask for invitations out for meals with other folk from the church as well, or sometimes take ourselves out to local sites of interest or shopping malls so as to have some family time. And for our boys, having several days in each place has meant they, too, have got to know other children from the churches and there is also a sense of being on holiday as we look for fun activities to do with them.

So now, after 12 years in Spain, when we visit the UK and go up to York or Meltham, it’s not just to visit the churches in order to tell them what we’re doing. Instead we look forward to a re-encounter with dear friends we have made, to hear how members of their families are doing, to meet the new vicars and to pop into the Sculpture Park as we drive down the M1.

In Nailsea, it would be a trip to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, where we’d remember our race through the maze with Jenny, and see the new skate park in town which was about to be inaugurated at our last visit. And in Birmingham, we would see our extended “Sparkhill family” who we don’t have a lot of contact with but

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who will always feel like home. We’d go out for a good curry (or two) and catch up with Maddy and Zac, who would probably be thrilled to see the boys. Then in Hemel Hempstead we’d see Joseph, “the one who plays tennis, whose house we stayed in,” and Joe, “with the trampoline, where we had a barbecue”. And we mustn’t forget our church in Woking, catching up with babyhood friends from Birmingham days and visiting other friends who have since moved from the church but continue to support us.

And there are more supporting churches, all equally important to us. Our 13 churches are not just financial supporters (although that is essential for us to remain in Spain), but they are also fellow mission workers striving, as we are, to carry out God’s mission in the families and communities where he has placed them.

SUPPORT

If your church would like to link with CMS mission partners to give financial and prayer support, and get to know people in mission, get in touch with our church relations team to find out who is in need of support: churchrelations@ churchmissionsociety.org

FESTIVAL UPDATE 7

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CHURCH MISSION SOCIETY HITS THE ROAD!

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his summer, the Church Mission Society team once again headed out to various Christian festivals. This year, we took our “Humans in Mission” gallery (1), showcasing CMS people in mission in the UK and overseas. The photographs and accompanying app helped us to open up conversations about what mission looks like today and to encourage people to engage in mission themselves.

We kicked off the Humans in Mission exhibition at Big Church Day Out (2) at the end of May. Later in the summer, the team at New Wine faced a lot of rain (3), but also had some great conversations. It was a privilege to meet George Ondwasi (4), whose father had trained with CMS in Butere, Kenya, in 1914!

At Greenbelt, as well as the Humans in Mission exhibition the Pioneer Mission Leadership Training team hosted panel discussions in the Exchange venue (5, 6). People gathered to hear stories of entrepreneurial mission and to share in celebrating the launch of a partnership with Carlisle diocese to see pioneer training in the north.

At the same time, another team at David’s Tent (7) focused on encouraging people to explore shortterm and gap year opportunities with CMS. It was great to connect with new and existing CMS supporters at these events.

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Illustration: freepix.com

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

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MISSIONFOLLOW APPEAL ISSUES -UP Mercy Awino, a graduate of CMS-Africa’s women’s training

Solomo to serve does ou

TRANSF RMED THROUGH PARTNERSHIP AND PRAYER Earlier this year, Church Mission Society supporters gave generously in response to an appeal to support the work of our sister organisation, CMS-Africa. Canon Moses Bushendich, CMS-Africa’s international director, recently visited the CMS offices and shared some stories of people whose lives have been transformed through the training programmes that your donations will support. Your donations make more stories like these possible! CMS-Africa training has…

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y on using his talent for carpentr he s ines bus the e God through utside of church

Diana has been equip ped to set up a busin ess selling secondhand clothes at Matana market, Burundi

STARTED NEW SMALL BUSINESSES Diana, from Matana, Burundi, has started her own secondhand clothes business at Matana market. She buys a batch of clothes for 400,000 Burundi francs (about £170) and sells them all within two weeks for a profit of 100,000 francs (or £43). That may not sound like a lot, but in Burundi it’s enough for her to live off.

Sharon, from Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya, has started a bakery.

She makes doughnuts, pastries and cakes from her home and sells them in the local neighbourhood. She is already looking forward to expanding in the future!

attending 3D training, he said that he felt like he “didn’t have a purpose in life”. But the training reminded him that his practical skills had value. When his friend approached him with a carpentry project, he took it on without hesitation. He made the seats that his friend had asked for and charged a fair price for his materials and labour. He saved his friend 900,000 Ugandan shillings (about £195)! Through this, he came to realise that “serving God is not only in church on Sunday, ministering at the pulpit… or helping in the children’s ministry or any other ministry, but it also includes the business we do out of church.”

PROTECTED THE ENVIRONMENT

DELIVERED MORE YOUTH TRAINING CMS local partner Salvator Nkorerimana has delivered 3D youth empowerment training to 182 young people in Matana, Burundi.

These young people are now working together to build a church that will seat 2,000 people.

Solomon Kajumba, from Uganda, has discovered his talent for carpentry following the 3D course. He was in and out of school due to lack of school fees, was called “stupid” by his teachers and was unable to secure sponsorship for a university course. Before

Margaret Oluoch is CMS-Africa’s creation care champion for western Kenya. She noticed that the Oruba river had suffered from years of pollution from the sugar factory in Miwani and so began to plant trees and grasses along the riverbanks. She planted grasses to stabilise the riverbanks, medicinal plants, fruit trees, trees for building materials and fodder trees, soya beans and sunflowers.

Her work has changed the attitudes of the local communities to the trees. No longer do

t trees as part of a creation Secondary school students plan t Oluoch in Kenya care event organised by Margare

they simply cut down the trees, but instead they harvest them, with a new understanding of their value. By caring for the environment, Margaret also showed the local people the true value of their natural resources.

EMPOWERED WOMEN Mercy was supporting two children on her own. She didn’t know where to start, but the CMS-Africa women’s training in Kisumu, Kenya, thrust her into an unexpected business: fishmongering. Using skills such as record-keeping and budgeting that she learned on the women’s training, Mercy has managed her loans and savings to keep the business afloat. She has now bought her own land, built a modern house and educated her children through secondary school and even to university.

Mary is originally from the White Nile valley, in what was Central Equatoria (now in South Sudan). She fled to Kenya in 1994 due to conflict, and all of her children have been educated in Kenya. She said, “Many of us women from my area have been through traumatic experiences and thus have not only lost self-identity but been shamed and made unworthy by our life experiences. Such affirming teaching on our identity as women, created in the image of God and endowed with skills and abilities, has rejuvenated me and my fellow participants.”

Salvator Nkorerimana has delivered 3D youth training to 182 young peo ple in Matana, Burundi

Jackson Wanga equips young people in ing Nairobi through the CMS-Africa 3D train

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

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CLASSIFIEDS

PUT YOUR CALL INTO ACTION SOME CURRENT MISSION OPPORTUNITIES MISSIONAL PRIEST KYIV, UKRAINE

Our partners in the Diocese in Europe are looking for a missional priest for Christ Church, the Anglican Chaplaincy in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Christ Church Kyiv was planted by the Intercontinental Church Society in 1997. It has a small but faithful number of expatriate members as well as regular Ukrainian members and visitors.

Roles and tasks: lead the Sunday afternoon worship service,

HOW DOES CMS ARRANGE PLACEMENTS? Exploring a placement with CMS is a bit different to requesting a job description and, if you like the look of it, applying.

Most CMS placements are actually arranged with partners, as leadership was handed over to local churches, organisations and people decades ago.

CMS partners with churches and organisations all over the world to provide volunteers who support the ongoing work of those projects. We offer volunteers with gifts, skills and experience and, in return, we in the UK church gain the stories and renewed perspectives on mission back here, with eyes fresh from seeing the world through very different contexts.

administer the sacraments, oversee and develop the congregation’s Christian education programme for adults and children.

COORDINATOR OF DISCIPLESHIP AND LEADERSHIP BOLIVIA Our partners in the Diocese of Bolivia are looking for a volunteer for the role of coordinator of discipleship and leadership training. The church, currently consisting of five congregations and two church plants in four major cities in Bolivia, is seeking a mission partner who will fulfil a key role in developing and coordinating a programme of formation and training. The future of this Anglican contribution to the spread of the gospel in Bolivia depends on the members of these local congregations being further motivated and equipped to assume full responsibility in mission and ministry. Spanish language skills (or the willingness to undertake intensive learning) are essential.

TO ENQUIRE FURTHER ABOUT EITHER OF THESE ROLES, PLEASE CONTACT OUR RECRUITMENT TEAM ON:

This means that not all of our roles are the neat and bullet-pointed job descriptions you might be used to seeing.

A lot of it gets worked out as we go on this mission journey together. This is what CMS does best – and we’ve being doing it for over 200 years. Exploring a placement with CMS is the beginning of a journey.

We in the selection and recruitment team would love to speak with you more about our programmes. From there, we can set up conversations with our regional managers who will be able to answer your questions about putting together a role and which of our partners need your gifts, skills and experience.

01865 787400 or email vro@churchmissionsociety.org

FINANCE UPDATE

BY CHARLIE WALKER, CMS DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND CORPORATE SERVICES

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n this edition I want to give you an update on the situation in CMS House. I have asked you in recent editions of The Call to join the staff and me in praying for new tenants to rent out the space above our library.

As I mentioned in the previous issue, Oxfam temporarily moved into the space when they were unable to use their own building – and then moved back to their main office in June. Since then, I am delighted to report that new tenants have arrived (or will be arriving imminently). The two tenants are charities doing some excellent work in the UK and Uganda and we are looking forward to getting to know them and their staff over the coming months and years. Both have signed a five-year lease.

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I am particularly thrilled and delighted as it is an answer to our prayers here in the office over a number of months and years, and I want to thank you for joining in with those prayers.

It is wonderful that the God we know and speak of is a God who listens, who answers and who is faithful to provide, in his ways and his timings. The rental income from these tenants will be particularly useful in helping to contribute to the operational costs of running our building. So a short message from me, but one that I hope encourages us all to be faithful in prayer.

CHURCH MISSIO N SO CIETY

LAST WORD

HOW TO…

CHALLENGE CULTURAL NORMS HOW CAN WE CHANGE SOCIAL NORMS?

BY ANN-MARIE WILSON, A MISSION PARTNER WHO FOUNDED THE ANTIFGM CHARITY 28 TOO MANY

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t is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone the ritual of female genital mutilation (FGM), and current trends indicate that each year, approximately three million girls under the age of 15 are added to these statistics.

Some facts: FGM is a traditional cultural practice involving the cutting or removal of the external female genitals. It results in pain and emotional and physical health problems, often life-long. Most FGM takes place in 28 African countries and in some communities in the Middle East and Asia. As a result of immigration and refugee movements, FGM can also be found in other countries including most European countries, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Since 2004 I have worked for eight overseas relief, rehabilitation or development agencies in 18 countries.

In 2005, working in West Darfur with Medair, I met a girl who had had FGM at the age of five, who was then raped and orphaned at 10 during a military attack on her village, and gave birth to a child conceived from the rape. I cried out to God to ask who would look after girls like her. In response I heard him say, “You will.” That was all I needed!

I came home, told my church, closed my business and started to undertake research and training into what was needed in the FGM sector, so as not to duplicate existing work. I founded 28 Too Many in 2010. I realised that there was a lack of support and practical information for those trying to end FGM, so we provide the knowledge, tools, best practice models and support networks to enable anti-FGM campaigners and organisations working with communities to bring about sustainable change.

Over the past few decades, there has been enormous momentum within the international development community towards ending FGM. This has translated into a large number of laws, policies, campaigns and programmes at international, national and local levels, yet results remain mixed. While there is evidence that the most extreme types of FGM are slowly declining in prevalence, the overall rate of decline does not always reflect the huge amounts of money, time and energy invested.

It is often felt by many FGM-practising communities that local priorities are ignored by visiting development “experts” and that their cultures and traditions are framed as problems to be solved. At the same time, for women and girls who are at risk or have experienced FGM and wish to end the practice, often the only perceived solution is to fight against their loved ones and risk losing their place in the community.

In contrast, 28 Too Many believes that the most effective approach to reducing FGM lies in culturally sensitive, community-based programmes encouraging changes to social norms.

WHAT ARE SOCIAL NORMS? Social norms flow from our beliefs about what others do and about what others think we should do. There is an increasing consensus that FGM is often a social norm – the practice continues because “everyone does it”, or people believe that everyone does it. Individuals practise it because they have never questioned behaving otherwise, they receive social benefits from conforming to the norm or they fear social sanctions from others for deviating from the norm.

THE CULTURE OF FGMPRACTISING COMMUNITIES The relevance of culture to FGM is always challenging in our work. We must be aware that in most FGMpractising contexts there are strong collectivist values which encourage conformity to social norms, including those that support FGM. In many African societies, the role of elders is also key. They transmit knowledge to the younger generation, play a key leadership role and ensure the social cohesion and survival of their family and community. The presence and role of elders is particularly felt when people live in extended family settings with several generations living close together.

Another characteristic we must appreciate in FGMpractising societies is gender specificity in the activities of different family members. Here, the roles of men and women are generally quite distinct. Cultural norms dictate which activities males carry out and which ones are reserved for females. So, a key starting point for working with communities on FGM, and women’s and children’s health generally, is to understand how they are organised with respect to gendered roles.

THE CALL – AUTUMN 2019

At 28 Too Many we recognise that many of the popular FGM-abandonment strategies have limited effectiveness unless they are accompanied by community-wide processes of dialogue and consensusbuilding. While many strategies try to bring about changes in individual behaviour, this fails to take into account the influence of social structures and cultural values on people’s beliefs and actions, especially in contexts with collectivist values. Evidence shows that, rather than focusing on individual behaviour change, it is more effective for programmes to focus on promoting changes in social norms, which in turn will influence individual behaviour.

To successfully shift social norms and end FGM we first need to identify the characteristics of FGM: which practising communities to focus on, why they practise FGM, at what age girls are cut and what type of FGM is performed. We even need to consider what FGM is called in that community. (There are many different terms – we use the local term when working in a community and FGM when working internationally.)

We need to understand the decision-making processes (who decides that a girl will be cut, and when?) and the power dynamics. Recognising who exercises authority and power within a community, and whether or not that authority supports the desired change, is essential.

In our work on social norms and FGM we always try to identify the influencers and decision makers: these are most commonly the religious or traditional leaders, elders (such as grandmothers and chiefs) or parents. It is then essential to catalyse community dialogue and collaborative problem-solving with these decisionmakers and influencers and support those stakeholders who have the most cultural authority to shape, and ultimately end, the practice of FGM in their community.

LEARN

For more information about Ann-Marie’s work go to churchmissionsociety.org/ annmariewilson or 28toomany.org 31

S T O P THE THI EF

“The thief comes only to ste al and kill and destroy; I hav e come in order that you might have li fe – life in all its fullness.” Jo hn 10:10 This thief tried to destroy Bhoke and her three children in Tanzania. Her husband abandoned her. Her business collapsed when she couldn’t work after her son’s difficult birth. Her children were severely malnourished.

But now look at them! Bhoke found a home at the Rehema project.

She started her business again. She can pay her rent and feed her children. She is full of smiles and thankful to God and the Rehema team for changing her life and restoring her hope.

GIVE

Give to CMS today, using the enclosed You can help more women like Bhoke face down the thief. form or go to: churchmissionsociety.org/stopthethief

BY GIVING TODAY