Yes - Trinity 2008 - Mission and MIgration Megatrends

yes ...to mission, to hope

Trinity 2008

This issue: Mission and Migration Megatrends

Speak only if you can improve on silence...

It is sound theology to say that

A congregation that is not

there are things we shall never

deeply and earnestly involved

know about Jesus Christ and

in the worldwide proclamation

the written Word unless we

of the gospel does not

see and hear what they do in

understand the nature of

ever-new contexts. Mission is

salvation.

not only the carrying of good news; it is the willingness to

Ted Engstrom, World Vision

hear good news as the Word After this I looked, and behold,

goes abroad and is embedded

a great multitude which no

in culture after culture.

man could number, from every

Archbishop Rowan Williams

With God as leader, who makes his ways in the sea, paths in the stormy waters,

nation, from all tribes and

we take our way unfearing,

peoples and tongues, standing

through unknown pathless

before the throne and before

One in every 24 persons on

the Lamb, clothed in white

the planet lives outside his/her

robes, with palm branches in

land of birth and citizenship.

their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs

places, no end in sight.

Medieval proverb quoted by Canon Max Warren

United Nations

to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!”

The emergence of the nonRevelation 7:9-10

Western missionary movement

It seems that what is required

in conjunction with global

of us is not new ideas, but

migration flows represents

obedience to those God has

a major turning point in the

given us already.

history of Christianity.

John V Taylor

Jehu Hanciles

21M

Coming soon..

21M is a new eight-part CMS introduction to mission. Based on the Five Marks of Mission, the DVD features films from CMS partners in Asia, the USA, Africa and Britain and leaders’ notes for sessions with both young people and adults. A must for your church or home group. mission in the 21st century Order your free copy from Zoe Kuisis at CMS t: 01865 787512 e: zoe.kuisis@cms-uk.org

believed, that early humans took the first steps in a migration that eventually covered the entire earth. My mind went to the early chapters of Genesis: the stories of The Garden, Cain the wanderer, Nimrod the great builder of cities and much more. It’s an inescapable fact that the instinct to migrate has always been part of being human. In some cases it is a forced necessity. For others it’s driven by a sense of adventure. For most, however, it’s simply a quest for a better life.

While I was in Kenya, people in Britain were recalling the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech. Worries about the impact of migration then went on to be at the fore of the local government elections, where the far right made small but significant advances. It all invites the reflection that a thoughtful public debate about migration is long overdue.

That, however, isn’t the last word. Local events need to be viewed and understood in a historic and global – indeed eternal – perspective. Migration is the big mission issue and opportunity of our times. From the earliest times the sovereign God has had a hand on migration movements and has used them to work his purposes out. Migration has been a key factor ensuring that “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord and the waters over the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).

Now migration has come full circle. For two centuries European immigration moved to every point of the compass, populating entire countries and regions. The missionary movement worked in parallel. Europe went out into the world. Now the world is coming to Europe. It raises tensions and debates, of course. But it also signals fresh possibilities. So in this issue of yes we map some of the megatrends, offer theological reflections and tell stories of how people are engaging with this new world of mission opportunity.

...to mission, to hope

Trinity 2008

This issue: Mission and Migration Megatrends

04 From our correspondents 06 Mission and Migration Megatrends

by Jehu Hanciles 09 On the go!

by Tim Dakin 10 The changing patterns of migration

by Oliver Bakewell

16 Migration and people

by Angela Wenham

Editor john.martin@cms-uk.org CMS is a community of mission service: living a mission lifestyle; equipping people in mission; sharing resources for mission work.

Views expressed in yes are not necessarily those of CMS. CMS works in 70 countries, supporting in various ways over 800 people in mission and over 100 projects.

Printed on a sustainable paper that is elementary chlorine free and can be traced to bona fida sources.

yes

14 Ministry to asylum seekers

by Roger Bowen

John Martin

yes Magazine Lent Edition. Published by CMS. General Secretary: Canon Tim Dakin Editor: John Martin Designer: Seth Crewe Printers: CPO

CONTENTS

A few weeks ago I gazed over the huge expanse of Kenya’s Rift Valley. It was from here, it’s widely

18 Migration of churches

by Ross Lawhead 21 Notebook

by John Martin 22 Crowther Centre

Church Mission Society, PO Box 1799, Oxford, OX4 9BN. Registered Charity Number 220297

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..from our correspondents...

Patrick Gavigan visits the Mind Body Spirit Festival in May

It wasn’t the Tantric dancing or psychic readings but the response of the punters that made the biggest impact on Patrick Gavigan at this year’s Mind Body Spirit Festival.

Approaching the Royal Horticultural Halls in Greycoat Street, London, for the Mind Body Spirit Festival 2008, I was a tad nervous about what I’d encounter.

As I passed the turnstile operator charging visitors £8 to enter, the contrast between the Art Deco design and high, vaulted ceiling of the Lawrence Hall, completed in 1928, and its role as host to 20,000 New Agers made an immediate impression. The first thing I saw was a slim woman, over six feet tall, with jet-black hair, dancing silently and unselfconsciously, making snaking arm movements, in the aisle. Greeting her, I thought, “Dancing to salute the morning — not the working day as you know it, Patrick.”

Our stand, No. 43, was named Dekhomai, a Greek word that means ‘the welcoming place’. There, for the first time, I met Dean and Rachel, with whom I’d share a four-hour shift. The following day, Jenny and Paul would be my co-workers.

Dekhomai aimed to offer a place of hospitality, conversation, relaxation, respite and renewal to visitors, a space where we could share something of the spirituality of the Christian tradition, including prayers for blessing, healing and reflection.

Another resource we had for communicating God’s loving purposes was the Jesus Deck, a pack of cards resembling Tarot cards but very different in intent. The four suits correspond to the four gospels. Each card contains a spiritual theme, scripture and illustration. Visitors would choose a card and be helped to determine how it might apply to their life. We also had prayer cords, on which a team member would help a visitor to string five beads of different colours — visual reminders to pray for thanks, mercy, peace, healing and justice.

We offered hand or foot massage with oils too. Everything was free of charge. That, together with the warmth of the team’s welcome, proved to be vital in terms of how our offer was received.

In an exhibition space in which a meditation poster was being sold for £15, a psychic reading would set you back £25 and a half-hour consultation on the use of butterfly and sea essences cost £30, the word ‘free’ was met with uncertainty, wariness, even disbelief, and then acceptance, relief and gratitude. Amid commercial operations with a feel-good ‘vibe’, to offer physical and spiritual ways to well-being without putting a price on them proved invaluable.

When two middle-aged sisters learnt by chance, thanks to my slippery hands spilling several tablespoons’ worth of liquid from a bottle, that the massage oils had cost £120 in total, their appreciation deepened even more.

Brenda, a woman in her late 60s, from Kent, who wanted only one bead on her cord — a purple one for justice — said to Rachel and me after her and her friend Janice’s foot massages, “You know what you two remind me of: Jesus, washing the feet of his disciples.”

Others just commented, “That was heaven” or “I’m in bliss. I could just drift away now” or (to Rachel) “You’re gifted. I feel I’ve been blessed by that!” The intimacy of massage, open and honest conversation, and sharing led quite naturally to the offer of prayer.

Not a single visitor turned down intercession during those Thursday and Friday mornings. The team was very aware of, and grateful for, the cradle of protective prayer in which its work was held before and during the event. God honoured every exchange with his spirit of mutuality – and, often, fun.

Dragonfly Moon, playing their ‘inspirational’ music on the main stage, sang, “Now is the time for your soul to fly; now is the time for your heart to overcome your mind,” but I was more conscious of the integration of heart, mind and soul on offer at Dekhomai.

As Thomas Merton put it, “My only task is to be what I am, a man seeking God…fully aware that others too are seeking the truth in their own way.” So what were the people we met at the festival looking for? Although they take esoteric byways in pursuit of it, again and again, they articulated in so many ways a desire and hunger for something that gave their lives added value, meaning and mystery – “heaven in ordinary”.

By pointing them towards Jesus, we trust the passkey to that is within their grasp.

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To find out more and keep in touch with all our mission partners, log on to www.cms-uk.org/missionletters for the latest reports.

Convinced they are hated, northern Iraq’s Christians are gripped by fear and facing a stark choice: flee or protect themselves.

In the small Iraqi village of Karm Leis, near Mosul – Nineveh in the Bible – I recently met a man whose life seemed to sum up the complexity of his country. He is a former Kurdish Muslim, who is now a Christian.

His conversion was 20 years ago, but he still remembers the one person who helped him through it.

It started with a vision. So he went to see Rahho, the local priest, who responded, “I cannot accept you into this church because we have an agreement with the government and the local authorities but I know of a

In the shadows of Nineveh By a special correspondent*

different denominational church close by and you can go to it and its clergy.”

Rahho had a reputation for being a very helpful person. He always had compassion; he wanted to make a difference in the country – whether humanitarian, developmental or spiritual. He was a brave, godly man, and was loved by everyone.

Now he is missed by many – even by Iraqi ministers of state. That’s because Rahho the priest went on to become Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, leader of the Chaldean Church and a representative of Iraq’s tiny Christian minority. His kidnapping and murder in February was yet another act in the litany of blindly irrational murders which have come to define Iraq today.

The lack of motive for the killing – the archbishop had successfully kept out of party politics – has riven Iraqi Christians with fear and insecurity. Does it signal a new bloody hatred of Christians?, they are asking.

They are scared for their lives. I went to Karm Leis to pay my respects at the archbishop’s resting-place, at the suggestion of one of the staff of the International Bible Society office in Arbil.

At the entrance to the village, I saw men armed with Kalashnikovs. I was told they were Syrian Christians.

They had to call somebody, then check to see if the local priest was around to receive us. Only then did they let us through.

Later, walking with the priest to the Syrian Orthodox church, we were accompanied by two bodyguards – again, armed with Kalashnikovs.

In the beautiful church, behind the sanctuary, I was surprised to see three graves located in the building itself. The archbishop’s was the big one with all the flowers.

Not long before his death, Rahho had made some comments concerning Sharia and the new Iraqi constitution.

He did not attack Sharia; his comments were about Christian church law in the context of Islamic law’s traditional guarantees of freedom to worship for people of other faiths. However, any such comment can now be used as an excuse for killing.

Yet the Christians I met say that that was not the reason Rahho was killed. They are convinced that it was a matter of hatred towards Christians.

Beside Rahho’s grave was that of a young priest, who’d been killed six months beforehand. The third was of one who had been killed about a year ago.

Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho

1943–2008

A few days ago – details are still sketchy – another priest was killed. The killers came to his home and shot him in front of his wife and children outside their home.

In the face of their increasingly acute awareness of their minority status, more and more of Iraq’s Christians are leaving the country. Those that stay are gripped with fear. That’s what I will remember most about my visit.

That, and an injunction to me from the village priest as we sat outside after visiting the church. He asked us to pledge to pray for the Christians there, especially that no more of them would leave. One of his greatest fears is that such an emigration may result in there being no more Christians in one of the lands of the Bible. *The identity of the author and other persons connected with this article are withheld for security purposes.

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The Western missionary movement was framed by imperialism, technological supremacy and political and economic dominance, argues Jehu J Hanciles, who sees it being replaced by a new, non-Western one closer to New Testament models.

The links between human migration and mission or religious expansion are profound.

All the so-called world religions achieved their status by virtue of migration and dispersion, none more so than Christianity. Mention the word missionary (without qualification) today almost everywhere and it primarily evokes an image of a person from the West, sent to other lands but dependent on the superior resources of his/her church and particular nation.

Yet, throughout the history of the Christian faith, migrant Christians who moved to new areas and formed settled fellowships that provided long term witness represent the most common pattern of the cross cultural diffusion of the faith. At first glance, the Western missionary movement from the 16th to mid20th centuries appears to buck this trend.

But its intimate association with extensive migration movements is often overlooked. For the Western missionary movement formed a segment of the massive tide of European movement (linked to colonial expansion) that dominated international migrations prior to the 1950s.

Industrial expansion, population explosion and

“All the so-called world religions achieved their status by virtue of migration and dispersion, none more so than Christianity�

6 yes Trinity 2008

Jehu J Hanciles

the ravenous needs of empire stimulated phenomenal European migrations by the 19th century. From 1800 to 1925, between 50 and 60 million – or one-in-five – Europeans moved to overseas destinations. By 1915, 21 per cent of Europeans resided outside Europe and Europeans effectively occupied or settled in over a third of the inhabited world. European colonial and industrial needs also saw the intercontinental transfer of sizeable African and Asian populations. These European movements and initiatives fostered a new world order. But they also unleashed powerful forces of change which are now acting back on Europe and shaping the new world order in significant ways.

In the wake of decolonisation and the formal end of empire, from the 1960s, international migrations have escalated in volume, velocity, and complexity and transformed into a truly global phenomenon.

The earlier flows which were mostly defined by European initiatives and economic priorities have given way to a far more complex pattern of migration involving vastly greater non-European or non-white migrations from the developing and under-developed non-Western world to the Western world – termed South–North flows.

This directional reversal and escalation of global migration flows was initially prompted by guest worker programmes (implemented to address post World War II rebuilding efforts in Europe) and fundamentally shaped by former colonial ties. It is now primarily sustained by global economic and demographic imbalances. By 1999, 82 million people were being added every year in less developed countries compared to about 1.5 million in more developed countries.

In much the same way that European expansion contributed to the swelling surge of post-1960s global migrations, the Western missionary movement also facilitated the momentous shift within global Christianity which has seen its centre of gravity move to the southern continents. This helps to account for an extraordinary historical coincidence: namely, that the emergence of Christianity as a nonWestern religion has occurred at almost precisely the same time as the equally momentous reversal in the direction of international migrations. For centuries, unprecedented European migrations from Christianity’s old heartland provided the impetus for European missionary movement; now, and for

the foreseeable future, phenomenal migrations from Christianity’s new heartlands (in Africa, Latin America, and Asia) have galvanized a massive nonWestern missionary movement.

This situation is clearly exemplified by African movements. By the end of the 20th century, Africa had emerged as a major heartland of Christianity.

The percentage of Christians on the continent rose in a historically unprecedented fashion, from 9.4 per cent of the population in 1900 to over 40 per cent by 2000; or from 9.9 million to 360 million adherents. And if current projections are accurate this number will double by 2025, by which time there will be more Christians in Africa than on any other continent in the world. Trends within the 78 million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion are germane: half the members are African. And Nigeria has more practising Anglicans than any other country (at least five times the numbers in Britain). It is from communities like these (and their reproductive extensions within African Christianity) – communities whose ancestors were evangelised by CMS missionaries and CMS-trained African agents – that the new African missionary movement to the West is drawn.

In addition to being a major heartland of global Christianity, Africa is a prominent theatre and source of international migrations. With perhaps the most mobile population in the world, the highest population growth of any region, and the largest number of countries ranked lowest in the human development index (2005), Africa has disgorged unprecedented numbers of its inhabitants in the last four decades. African migrants are widely dispersed among the wealthy industrialised countries of the northern hemisphere. Until the 1990s, Britain, the leading colonial power in Africa, attracted the majority of African migrants – at least 800,000 were legally resident by 2001. Over the last two decades, however, the United States has become the chief destination among industrialised countries for African migrants, with 1.3 million legally resident by 2005. Take Ghana. While Ghanaian immigrants arguably represent the largest and longest-serving African immigrant community in the UK their numbers in the US quadrupled from 24,000 in 1996 to 97,000 in 2001.

African Christian migrants are spearheading a new and dynamic non-Western movement that has transformed the West into a major frontier continued on page 8

“Western religion has occurred at almost precisely the same time as the equally momentous reversal in the direction of international migrations”

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“African churches had become prominent fixtures of Europe’s religious landscape by the 1990s”

8 yes Trinity 2008

of missionary expansion. In the US, African immigrant congregations, founded by enterprising migrant-pastors, are flourishing in most major cities. A major example of how the extraordinary levels of African migration from the 1980s have radically transformed the outreach potential of African churches and Christian ministries is provided by the Church of Pentecost (the largest Protestant church in Ghana, with over 800,000 members by 2002).

Dispersed throughout the world as part of the phenomenal outmigration of Ghanaians, Church of Pentecost members have evangelised conscientiously, created small groups of new converts, or started new churches. The first Church of Pentecost assembly in the US dates to 1987 when Ghanaian migrants in New York started a prayer group. When the group began to expand they requested a pastor from Ghana and the fellowship registered as a church. The church grew vigorously with the upsurge of Ghanaian immigrants and other assemblies emerged in various parts of the country. By September 2005, Church of Pentecost (USA) comprised 18 districts and 70 churches/ assemblies with a total of 10,882 members. In 2004 alone, 504 new converts were baptised throughout the US. In addition to utilising Ghanaian migration, the church has also sent official missionaries to Australia, South America, Asia and the Far East.

African congregations are also flourishing in unprecedented fashion throughout Europe. Their unstructured, even clandestine, nature means that estimates of their size and numbers vary widely.

One 1998 assessment put their numbers at 3,000 congregations; another claims that individual membership is in excess of three million. The appellation ‘immigrant’ can also be misleading. In Britain, for instance, the establishment of African churches dates to the early 1920s. Clearly, also, not all African Christian migrants establish separate centres of worship; since countless thousands become members of, or take up ministry within, established denominations and churches where they may also perform a missionary function.

In the event, African churches had become prominent fixtures of Europe’s religious landscape by the 1990s. To cite one example, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (a Nigeria-based movement) established its first church in Britain

in 1989; by 2005 it had expanded to 141 churches with a total of 18,000 members.

Perhaps the most powerful testimony to the dynamism and drive of contemporary African Christianity is the fact that the largest single Christian congregation in all of Europe (the former heartland of the faith) is the Embassy for the Blessed Kingdom of God to All Nations in Kiev, Ukraine, founded by Sunday Adelaja, a Nigerian pastor. Established in November 1993 as a Bible study group of seven people meeting in Adelaja’s apartment, the new group registered as a church three months later with only 49. Yet, by 2002, after adopting an outreach strategy which focused on the marginalised groups within Ukrainian society, the church had grown to 20,000. Over one million Ukrainians have reportedly been converted to Christianity as a result of its ministry.

The missionary function and vision of the rapidly expanding African congregations in the West is undeniable. Much confusion about the nature and potential impact of this non-Western missionary movement arises from assessments that are dependent on models and strategies associated with the still self-evident, if less consequential, Western missionary movement. Importantly, the factors and considerations which framed the Western missionary movement – among these, the idea of Christendom, imperialism, political and economic dominance, and technological supremacy – are largely absent from the newer movement. It’s early days yet but, generally speaking, the emerging non-Western missionary movement exemplifies New Testament patterns and models of mission – including use of house churches, tent-making ministries, lay apostolate, and a consciousness of weakness and marginality – far more closely. One critical element which both share is the inextricable link between migration and missionary expansion.

In this respect, Christian missions have never been more pervasive or irrepressible.

Jehu J Hanciles is associate professor of mission history and globalization at Fuller Seminary, Pasadena, California.

On the go!

“As you go make disciples of all peoples.”

Throughout history, God, by his Holy Spirit, has ensured that the Church has been continually transformed to be a community that obeys this command from Matthew 28:19. But we may be surprised by the way that the Holy Spirit does this.

A major way is through migration. Since Jesus’ time the Holy Spirit has kept us on the go through migrations. This has ensured that the Christian community has faced the challenge of making disciples of all peoples.

To make disciples of all peoples is to be evangelistic in sharing and imparting the gospel, to engage holistically with peoples’ cultures and contexts, and to do all this worldwide as we go.

A “semi-detached appendix of the Great European Migration,” is how Andrew Walls describes the modern mission movement! And though it was sometimes despised, Walls says it played a significant role in the contemporary transformation of Christianity from being a religion of the northern hemisphere to being a global religion for all (see his essay in the book advertised on page 22).

CMS was part of that modern mission movement; and we are now part of the Great Reverse Migration in which people from all over the world are connecting, moving and establishing themselves in the northern hemisphere, particularly the West.

The Holy Spirit, to whom the Church is given for mission, is still working to ensure that God’s people are evangelistic, holistic and worldwide. Today, as never before, we see a worldwide network of God’s people in mission.

So what sort of community is CMS, as shaped by these migrations? We may say five things:

Keeping us always on the move is how the Spirit works, says CMS general secretary Tim Dakin it is a lay community which has discovered that the calling to be a disciple of Jesus is at the heart of all our callings and vocations in God’s world and in his Church it is a diaconal community, a community of mission service that is obeying Jesus’ call and therefore aims to inspire, enable and resource others in God’s mission CMS is exploring what it might mean for the Church of England to recognise us as this kind of mission community. A community that has emerged and been shaped over the last 200 years by mission on the go. We’re exploring how being an ‘acknowledged community’ would help us to be more of what we are, to be encouraged in our vocation and in the way of life that sustains it. More information about this proposal can be found in the latest edition of Connect, the CMS newsletter.

“CMS is a lay community which has discovered that the calling to be a disciple of Jesus is at the heart of all our callings”

it is a missionary or missional community, in which God’s mission to all peoples comes first – a movement in which mission is evangelistic, holistic and worldwide it is an ecumenical community which engages with the greater Church as God seeks to express his life through his people throughout the world it is a spread-out community which has many centres and is held together in a network of relationships in multiple cultures across the world, with some concentrations here and there 9 yes Trinity 2008

Let my people move!

The changing patterns of migration raise difficult challenges for Christians, such as whether mobility is a basic human right, argues Oliver Bakewell

Why is migration so much in the news today? Reading newspapers, listening to the radio or browsing the Internet might easily give the impression that everybody is on the move.

There are large numbers of people moving but there have been times in history when a greater proportion of the globe’s population has been on the move. In particular, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries there were massive transfers of populations around the world – from Europe to the Americas, from India and southern China to southeast Asia. Today, the United Nations estimates that about three per cent of the world’s population are international migrants – that is, living outside their country of birth for over one year.

What has changed is the diversity of migrants and their destinations. Whereas the majority of migration used to go from relatively few countries to a few key destinations, today people may move from anywhere to any other part of the world.

The world has got smaller: there are more flights, to more destinations, at lower prices, making it much easier to move across the globe. On arrival, you can keep in contact with your family and friends by phone and Internet. It is perfectly affordable to have 10 yes Trinity 2008

almost daily contact with your family thousands of miles away.

Despite the relative ease of intercontinental travel, migration patterns are still largely shaped by geography – more people move to neighbouring countries than travel thousands of miles. More than half of the migrants to the EU come from other EU countries and the majority of the rest come from other parts of Europe and North Africa.

Historical and social links also play an important role. People are more likely to move to places where they already have some links, whether relatives or a shared language and culture. For example, large numbers of migrants to the UK and France have come from former colonies.

Of course economic factors are also crucial. People usually move in the hope of better opportunities.

However, it is rarely people living in the poorest societies who migrate to wealthier areas. Richer countries have higher levels of emigration – about 10 per cent of the UK’s citizens live abroad.

Mobility is a relative luxury and the poorest cannot afford to pay for the journey or take the risks involved. In Europe we do not generally see the poorest of the poor arriving. Instead it is

people from upper- or middle-income countries, or wealthier classes from the poorest countries.

There is no doubt that the movement of people from poorer nations to industrialised states of Europe and North America has grown significantly.

Economic growth, relatively low unemployment and an ageing population mean there are many opportunities for migrants and many employers eager to hire them. While the debate about the costs and benefits of migration within the UK will continue for many years, there is no doubt that there is a demand for migrant workers in our fields, hospitals, schools and homes. Migration (both skilled and unskilled) is essential for the functioning of European economies.

But, while we are keen to have their labour, there is less enthusiasm for having the people. Around the world, restrictions on immigration are growing.

In 1976 only six per cent of the United Nations’ member states were keen on lowering immigration; by 2002, this figure had risen to 40 per cent.

Since 9/11, controlling immigration has become a significant security concern. The pressure to increase restrictions is ever growing.

Despite tighter immigration laws, more and more people are now crossing borders in irregular ways.

In Europe, there are estimated to be between three and seven million immigrants who are staying illegally. Rather than stopping the movement of people, attempts to control the borders of Europe have tended only to make it more dangerous and expensive for people to move – resulting in more people dying on the frontiers and greater exploitation of migrants when they arrive.

While governments seem unable, and often unwilling, to control a large proportion of this irregular migration – which serves an important economic role – they seem to find it much easier to make it much tougher for those asking for protection from persecution and war. In the UK, the majority of asylum seekers come from countries in turmoil – such as Somalia, Iraq and DR Congo.

There is a worrying trend for European governments to associate immigration with crime, terrorism and social disintegration. In many poor neighbourhoods across Europe, immigrants are identified as a problem and subjected to discrimination and violence. Recently, the rest of the world has looked on the xenophobic violence in South Africa with horror. These may seem like

distant events, but they are not so far away; they are echoed in the day to day lives of millions of people across the world, such as the immigrants in Italy who were violently attacked in Naples and Rome in May. It is easy to condemn such xenophobia and racism.

It clearly has no place in a Christian response to migration. The Church has consistently preached a message of hospitality and welcome to the stranger in our midst. The institution of asylum in international law drew on the practice shaped by the sanctuary provided by churches and other sacred buildings over centuries. These traditions continue in many congregations and Christian organisations. Such practices and beliefs about attitudes to strangers are shared with other faiths.

But the changing patterns of movement across the world do raise some difficult challenges for Christians and others concerned with ideas of global justice. It is much easier to welcome the stranger in one’s midst – who one can see, meet, chat to and get to know – than those who remain beyond our knowledge. They can be reduced to being seen as frightening numbers of immigrants when they are in other parts of the country, or more terrifying numbers when they are potential migrants, waiting to ‘invade’ the comfort of our society. Then it becomes much easier to agree that we must control their movement. However, if we are concerned with global justice, we have to ask ourselves: why is it that we live in such comfort while others do not? In the UK, for example, we are used to the idea of helping poor people in Africa by supporting development ‘over there’ but do those same people become a threat if they intrude into our comfortable lives in the UK? If we share a common humanity – made in the image of God – what is the theological basis on which we draw our national borders and impose immigration controls to keep poor people out?

Is migration a problem? Let’s turn the question around. Would we like to live in a world where migration is not possible – one in which people have to live and die in the place where they were born? Of course many do exactly that. But many others choose to move to other areas in the same country or further afield. Those of us living in wealthy states take such mobility as our right. Can we deny such an option to others?

Oliver Bakewell is a research officer at the International Migration Institute, Oxford.

“What is the theological basis on which we draw our national borders and impose immigration controls?”

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By 1999 82 million people were being added every year

By 1915 21 per cent of Europeans resided outside Europe

From 1800 to 1925, one in five Europeans moved overseas

All the world religions achieved their status by migration and dispersion

www.cms-uk.org

LIVES

CHANGING

JESUS

SHARING

Mission and Migration megatrends Discover more in yes Trinity 2008 www.cms-uk.org

African Christians are leading a new and dynamic non-Western movement that has transformed the West into a major missionary frontier

Africa has disgorged unprecedented numbers of its inhabitants in the last 40 years

By the end of the 20th century, Africa had emerged as the heartland of Christianity

in less developed countries, compared to 1.5 million in more developed countries

When Roger Bowen was asked to be an immigration centre chaplain, he started to think over some tough questions

J Roger Bowen served as a mission partner in Tanzania and on the staff of St John’s College Nottingham.

He is a former General Secretary of Crosslinks.

The stranger in your midst Retirement is wonderful! For the first time in your life, you don’t have to do anything. Those uncongenial jobs, which even the boss can’t avoid, are gone forever. So when the bishop asked me to serve as parttime chaplain at our local immigration centre, I started thinking. Is this job congenial? Is it worthwhile? What would Jesus do?

First, I thought about anthropology. Human beings are characterised by migration. It was 60,000 years ago that a small group, maybe an extended family of about 200 modern humans, walked out of Africa and eventually populated the rest of the world. All of us non-Africans can trace our DNA back to a first woman migrant 3000 generations ago. Maybe this is reflected in the old tales of Adam and Eve leaving the garden and Cain being a wanderer on earth. Migration was the defining characteristic of Abraham and the Israelites who were required above all to care for the stranger, remembering they were strangers in the land of Egypt. To relate to migrants is to relate to humans as they truly are.

Then Christology. The most ambitious, risky and far-reaching migration in history took place when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

He left his Father’s throne above, So free, so infinite his grace, Emptied himself of all but love And bled for Adam’s helpless race.

So where would I be most likely to meet Jesus?

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In the academic halls of nearby Cambridge, or among the desperate inhabitants of the detention centre? Didn’t he say, “I was a stranger and you took me in...As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me”?

Finally, ecclesiology. Just as the gospel is news not only about peace with God but about peace with one another, those who are far off and those who are near, so the Church is a company which by its very nature must embrace people of all races and classes, breaking down every barrier. But in many of our churches it is difficult to see this. Yet in our detention centre’s chapel all colours, nations, languages and classes are represented. And out of the depths of fear and helplessness, the worship is exuberant, the Bible studies serious, the praying and fasting intense.

As Jean-Louis, from the Ivory Coast, said, “It’s a miracle! I did not know you could find God in a place like this!”

So I accepted. Here are some of the people and stories I have encountered as a result.

Christian converts in Iran, Pakistan, northern Nigeria and Pentecostals in Eritrea face violence from family, neighbours and government.

Those who seek asylum in the UK are normally assumed to be lying, and Home Office lawyers contest most cases. In the case of Ruth, I had seen her lead chapel worship with such a spirit that I could support her claim in court, successfully. But Nermin, a new Christian, fled

Iran with her son and husband – who supported her in her new faith and eventually shared it.

The family were baptised, but were refused asylum because the judge assumed a Muslim husband could not love and respect his wife as much as that. Another young woman, refused asylum and returned to Iran, was imprisoned, and tortured before she escaped again. This time the Medical Foundation examined her and supported her appeal.

Many teenagers are trafficked for domestic or sexual slavery. After months or years they may escape but by so doing become illegal and may be arrested and given a prison sentence; deportation often follows, without anyone giving them time, traumatised as they are, to tell their story.

One never-ending concern is for the families of those arrested and deported. Illegal immigrants have often lived here for five to 10 years, worked, and established stable families. But they will be arrested in dawn raids, to the deep distress of partners and children whom they may never see again. One ‘abandoned’ wife in Ipswich, pregnant with their third child, immediately became homeless until, many weeks later, a Christian woman intervened with the local council to get her accommodation.

Apart from arranging worship, prayer and Bible study, chaplains can at least listen. We can talk to lawyers, recover personal belongings, network with Christian communities; anything to humanise and Christianise the experience of detainees.

There are major proposals for reforming the immigration and asylum system, but there are also many ways the ordinary person can put caring for the stranger into practice: enrol as a Visitor at your local immigration centre; make friends with an asylum seeker or the family of a detainee in your locality support local diocesan or ecumenical Churches’ Refugee Networks support CHASTE or the Poppy Project which

give sanctuary to trafficked women stand surety for bail applications (see Bail Circle at www.ctbi.org.uk/CHA/94 or BID at http://www.biduk.org/) lobby the relevant MP if you discover an urgent case of inhumanity or injustice What is the future of immigration? As long as the rich world takes no action over trade injustice and climate change, it will increase. People migrate for the same reason as our ancestors from Africa so long ago: survival. Don’t we have a moral duty to offer hospitality to those whose livelihoods are threatened by our self-indulgent way of life?

Finally, a football analogy from Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the UN. “The World Cup illustrates the benefits of cross-pollination.

National teams now welcome coaches from other countries, who bring new ways of thinking and playing. The same goes for players...they inject fresh qualities...and then contribute more to their home side when they return. I wish it were equally plain for all to see that human migration can create triple wins – for migrants, for their country of origin, and for the societies that receive them.”

“Don’t we have a moral duty to offer hospitality to those whose livelihoods are threatened by our self-indulgent way of life?”

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Angela Wenham is an American-born staff member at CMS Oxford

This year, says the United Nations, more than three per cent of the world’s population will be on the move, looking for a better life.

That’s 191 million people, equivalent to the population of Brazil, every year. International migration is at an unprecedented level.

CMS has an international staff which includes Yordanos Tesfay from Eritrea, Diane Umuhoza from Rwanda, and Gosia Biowska from Poland.

All three were at similar stages in their lives when they moved to the UK. Yordanos migrated to London 18 years ago at the age of 17, whereas Diane and Gosia were both in their early twenties when they moved to Oxford eight and four years ago respectively. All three moved to England to pursue educational opportunities not available in their own countries.

By definition, migrants are people willing to make big sacrifices to improve their circumstances; they’re up for the challenge. But even so, Yordanos, Gosia and Diane all found integrating into British society difficult.

Yordanos was particularly confused by what many Brits hold to be one of the key national strengths: good old British reserve.

“Back home,” she says, “if you see someone

Silent welcome

So long as it is easier to be introduced to a church in restrictive Eritrea than in free Britain, UK Christians have a problem with immigration, says Angela Wenham

According to Dr Cathy Ross, director of the Crowther Centre for Mission Education, this has caused international mission to come full-circle from the early days of CMS when European missionaries travelled the world, taking the gospel with them. “At a time when the West’s churches are decreasing, the biggest churches are the migrant churches. They’re bringing Christianity to us. It’s the migrants who keep the churches going.”

Are the churches doing enough, therefore, to keep the migrants going – or rather, coming? Are they reaching out to the immigrant population by helping them to integrate into the indigenous community, or are they remaining as stubbornly homogenous units tacitly reinforcing the division of the races? Are they living up to Leviticus 19:33, which says, “The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself”?

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walking you say hi, good morning, good afternoon.

Most people don’t even say hello but go quiet…and when they smile it’s not from their hearts.”

Even among Christians, supposed to be the stranger’s friends, this Anglo-Saxon reticence acted as a barrier. Yordanos says it was hard to meet fellow believers. In Eritrea, the Church is being persecuted; people are forced to pray behind closed doors and even carrying a Bible in public can get you imprisoned. Contrast that with the UK which enjoys almost complete religious freedom and, indeed, lately has attempted to make much of its heritage of Christian values.

Yet the impression Yordanos gives is that it was harder finding anyone in the UK to introduce her to a church or other Christians than it would be back home. Despite all her efforts to reach Britain, she contemplated going back to Eritrea before she was finally invited to church – by

someone from her own country.

The type of Christianity Gosia experienced in her new home was also something she had not encountered in her homeland, Poland. She now believes that coming to England was in fact a key element in her conversion.

Originally she wasn’t even looking for a church but just happened to be living in church accommodation. “I couldn’t understand why people spoke about Christ, the blood, and salvation, and redemption, and the Cross and all this.” Ten months after leaving the accommodation, and by then missing her Christian friends, Gosia decided to attend an Alpha course and eventually came to know Christ.

Before coming to England she associated the church with a “cold dark building with a priest saying ‘Repent!’” The church she found in

What can we learn from these stories? An immediate conclusion is that there is no simple one-size-fits-all solution for making immigrant people feel welcome. Migrants are obviously just as much human individuals as anyone, and so what works for one person will not necessarily work for another.

Yet, irrespective of their churches, each of our interviewees found it easier to make friends among the international community than they did among the British. To an extent that is to be expected; but it shouldn’t be an excuse.

Cathy Ross agrees that, despite some exceptions, the Church generally needs to do better at offering hospitality to outsiders. Many international students, she says, return home from the UK having never been inside a British home.

Diane says that in her eight years in the UK she

Oxford was very welcoming and included her in its international ministry group. That helped integrate her into the wider church community.

Diane’s church was also good at reaching out to immigrants, by tailoring specific services to particular cultures. They were “trying hard to attract the international people in the community…because of the large numbers of people from Poland, they introduced a sermon in Polish.”

However, although this helped to increase the size of the church, she thought that it reinforced national divisions at the same time because it was like the Polish were “still in their own country.” Yet Yordanos admits her struggle to understand the Bible in English was influential in her joining an Ethiopian church.

has only been to dinner in an English household “two or three times”. She points out that, “If people from England don’t welcome foreigners there will always be this sense that they don’t belong.”

Cathy Ross argues that no matter how fraught with complexity the issues around immigration are, the churches should put more effort into reaching out to outsiders and striving harder to provide a community for all people.

It is easier to grow, she says, “when it’s your own kind of people, but that isn’t the vision the Bible gives us. We are taught to love our neighbours as ourselves, and to set aside differences and prejudices because ‘in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.’”

“At a time when the West’s churches are decreasing, the biggest churches are the migrant churches.

They’re bringing Christianity to us.

It’s the migrants who keep the churches going”

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Number blindness

If migrant worshippers were included in official polls, the usual story of church decline would have to be thrown out, says Ross Lawhead

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“The Church is not declining in the UK,” says the Rev Yemi Adedeji from the CMS church relations Team.

This sounds like false encouragement in a day when figures and bar charts about the fall of church attendance are readily available and often quoted in the press. “You can make the statistics say what you like. If you want to say that the church is dying in the UK, the figures are there. If you want to say that the church is living, growing, and thriving, the figures are there also.”

The reason for this highly interpretative situation is that official figures often do not take into account the high numbers of migrant community churches, particularly in urban areas.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), for example, was founded in Nigeria in 1952. One of its visions is to have a church within five minutes’ travelling distance of every house in the world. Right now, it boasts nearly 250 churches in the Greater London area. Jesus House, the largest of these, is located in Brent Cross, in the northwest of the city, and was planted by Freedom Hall, a parish of the RCCG in Lagos, Nigeria. It opened in 1994 and now estimates its congregation at around 2,000 members.

It is a church predominantly made up of Nigerian emigrants. It is also outward-looking.

“Jesus House, as a church, feels a spiritual responsibility – or a responsibility for the spiritual activity – for everyone who is in our local area,” explains Head of Communications Ayo Adedoyina. In addition to door-todoor evangelism which it conducts with other churches, it buys promotional pages in local papers, and provides little teachings or thoughts-for-the-day. “[We] interface, or interact, with what is effectively our wider congregation.”

Recently members offered free car washes to anyone driving by, as a modern-day continuation of Jesus’ ministry of washing his disciples’ feet. Every Christmas they offer a dinner box labelled ‘Christmas Lunch on Jesus’ to local low-income households, in addition to giving tube-travellers teas, coffees, and mince pies. “Often people want to know, ‘why are you washing my car for free?’ And we then get an

opportunity to explain that it’s because of the love of Jesus in our hearts that we’re able to do that.”

As Jesus House expanded it became aware of the issue of gangs and youth violence in the area. In April 2006 it opened the Novo Centre in nearby Colindale, to help combat the causes of youth-related offences by mentoring young people and providing them with a different social context in which to express themselves.

What is its relationship to other churches in the area? “We find them very helpful, especially if they recognise the fact that we’re all here on the mission field doing the kingdom work together.

We’ve got great relationships with churches from different denominations – Baptist, Methodist, Church of England. Twice a year we all come together and have a big prayer summit for the whole area and go on joint evangelism missions together. We also share resources and information out of recognition of the fact that we’re all a team doing God’s work.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum is St Ebbe’s Church in central Oxford, which can trace its history back before the 10th century. It is a migrant community church of a different kind.

Many in its congregation are students, and about 60 per cent of Oxford graduate students are from overseas. St Ebbe’s conducts three Sunday services for around 950 people and last year planted a church near Brookes University.

It employs two staff members whose focus is solely on ministering to international students.

John Aldis is one of these and he works mainly with undergraduates from Singapore, Malaysia, and other East Asia countries.

“Through Christ,” explains John, “‘there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free,’ so it would be wrong if international students came to church and felt like they were not welcome, or that we’d made no special effort to understand them. And they do need a special effort to be understood, I’m just learning that now as I talk to Chinese students who have a different concept of what God is. Also, if we want to see the world won for Christ then we need Christians from each nation who are equipped to go back and talk to people about Jesus Christ. The best people to reach China are the Chinese, the best people to reach Japan are

Ross Lawhead is an Oxford-based writer

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“The Redeemed Christian Church of God was founded in Nigeria in 1952.

Its vision is to have a church within five minutes’ travelling distance of every house in the world”

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the Japanese.”

St Ebbe’s does this not by relying on talks and events, but by fostering social links to international students. “When people come, we want them to come as our friends, to come and see us regularly to meet with us on a social basis in order to share their life with us and become a part of the community in the church.”

International dinner evenings have proved successful. In the past month St Ebbe’s has hosted Singapore and Africa evenings, where students native to those countries prepare meals and entertainment for the rest of the church. “Those are the common denominators of our work,” says John. “Food, the Bible, and different cultures.”

St Ebbe’s has found that its methods for communicating the gospel have changed in response to the cultures that the students have come from. “On a practical level, it’s quite difficult to do interactive Bible studies where we

ask questions and people answer. It seems that in some cultures, particularly Japanese, students are more used to sitting under a master, or a teacher, who will tell them what is right and they won’t necessarily express any difference with that.”

When looking at both Jesus House and St Ebbe’s, one could be forgiven for asking whether Britain’s church can reasonably be expected to support the continual addition of such an increasingly large international population.

“Yes, we do have certain things that are differences,” says Ayo from Jesus House.

“There are certain things that we don’t necessarily all have as common ground, but then we have more things in common than not, so why don’t we get together and align those things that we have in common and move the kingdom of God forward?”

by John Martin New Dawn is a project supported by the Nairobi church where CMS-Africa executive director Dennis Tongoi and his wife Irene worship. It provides educational opportunity to poor young people living in an informal settlement and is only minutes from the plush Embassy District of the Kenyan capital. Their dire circumstances didn’t dampen the welcome to this visitor. (Photo: Karen Blamey/CMS)

The Rt Rev Daniel Deng Bul officially became Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan at a colourful ceremony on 21 April.

The Sudan Tribune (Juba) published a notice about the upcoming event, which it termed the “enthornment” [sic] of Bishop Daniel. Leading the Anglican church in Sudan after many years of civil war is a heavy responsibility. I interviewed him for yes magazine 10 years ago during the Lambeth Conference and it revealed a man of great courage living in acute despair for the plight of his people. Pray that taking on the office of Archbishop doesn’t prove to be the “enthornment” of Daniel Deng.

Speaking of Sudan, I’m delighted to see that the Rev Andrew Wheeler, who served many years there as a CMS mission partner, has been awarded a Lambeth Doctorate. In his book Bombs, Ruins and Honey (Paulines Press) Andrew recalls his first conversation on Sudanese soil with the redoubtable Archbishop Elinana Ngalamu. “You have come to share praise and blame,” he declared.

Andrew unpacks the Archbishop’s curious message: “You are here not as a visitor, or indeed as a helper, certainly not as an observer. You are here to be one of us, to live life as we live it … no special favours, no special respect, no privileges. To be sick as we are sick. To be hungry when we are hungry.

To rejoice and celebrate with us. And that means you will get your share of praise when

things go well. It will also get your share of the blame when things don’t go well… That’s how life is.”

“Since yesterday has gone and tomorrow has not yet come, take account of the moment that is now.”

Words from a Persian poet quoted at the funeral of Bishop Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, 87, exiled Bishop in Iran who died on 29 April.

A convert from Islam, he was consecrated bishop in 1961. Later he caught the sharp end of the Iranian revolution, his son Bahram was murdered and various other members of the tiny Anglican community in Iran were killed or imprisoned. He, his wife Margaret and secretary Jean Waddell (a CMS mission partner) all miraculously escaped attempts on their lives. He was much loved in Winchester, where he served for many years as an assistant bishop, and is buried in the cathedral near his mentor and friend Bishop John V Taylor, a former CMS general secretary. We salute a brave servant of God now at rest.

“Confronted with these deeper questions concerning the origin and destiny of mankind, Christianity proposes Jesus of Nazareth”

The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States proved to be an enormous mission opportunity. It was big news throughout the visit. The Pontiff’s speeches were reported in detail in a way that rarely occurs in the media. Here’s one gem offered to an interfaith gathering: “Confronted with these deeper questions concerning the origin and destiny of mankind, Christianity proposes Jesus of Nazareth.”

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Crowther Centre news

Dr Rene Padilla, missiologist in residence August – December 2008 Dr Rene Padilla is passionate about social justice and the Church’s role in pursuing it.

He grew up in Ecuador and Colombia, earned his PhD in Manchester, UK, and now lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the early 1970s he became one of the leading voices in the recovery of the evangelical social conscience through his contributions to the Lausanne Congress for World Evangelisation.

He is a brilliant author, speaker, evangelist and missiologist who has spent his life practising what he preaches: participating in prison ministry, preaching on radio and on the streets.

He planted a church among slum dwellers and drug addicts and it became a model for

fusing evangelism and social action.

From 1959 to 1982 he led the student ministries in Latin America of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. He is now president of the Micah Network, a worldwide partnership aimed at mobilising Christians against poverty.

He recently declared, “The Micah Network is an encouraging sign of the present-day awakening of the social conscience among evangelicals around the world. Its major strength is that it provides a unique space for evangelical Christians from all over the world to grow together in their understanding and practice of Christian discipleship in a global world affected by consumerism, injustice, and oppression.”

Rene will be travelling with his wife Catharine and while in Oxford will stay at the new CMS Mission House in Iffley Road.

Mission in the 21st Century Edited by Andrew Walls and Cathy Ross Available online at: www.cms-shop.org.uk 22 Yes Trinity 2008

Two great lecture series from the Crowther Centre...

4 December, 8pm – Rob Hutton – Can you love Jesus and Journalism?

Rob currently covers British politics for Bloomberg News. He helped set up Christians in Journalism in 2002.

Mission & the Arts 16 October, 8pm – Lucy Winkett – From iPod to Evensong: the mission of the Church in music

Lucy Winkett is a canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, with responsibility for music and liturgy. With degrees in history, music and theology, she writes and broadcasts on a wide range of issues including culture, gender and religion.

23 October, 8pm – Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga – The Journey of an Evangelical ‘Asher Lev’: no painting please, we are evangelicals

Ernesto is an artist-priest, whose paintings have been exhibited widely both in Europe and the UK. He leads workshops and seminars on the subject of biblical reflection and the creative endeavour, imagination and spirituality.

30 October, 8pm – Ann Pilling – Fake Gardens, Real Toads

Ann Pilling is a well-known children’s novelist. She was awarded the Guardian Prize and has received two Carnegie nominations. In recent years she has focused on poetry. Her poems have won prizes and commendations in several competitions.

Wed 5 November, 8pm – Bishop John Pritchard – Telling it Slant: the need for eccentric mission

Before becoming Bishop of Oxford in 2007, Bishop John was Warden of Cranmer Hall, Archdeacon of Canterbury and Bishop of Jarrow. He has published a number of works, including books on prayer and on the work of a priest.

13 November, 8pm – Catherine Fox

11 December, 1pm – Toddy Hoare – The Word in 3D

The Rev Toddy Hoare trained as a sculptor, served in the Army and later became a parish priest. He has always combined sculpture with his ministry and now preaches in bronze as well as conducting retreats using sculpture.

Venue: CMS, Watlington Road, Oxford OX4 6BZ Free Parking.

All lectures are on Thursday evenings except Wed 5 November and 11 December.

Before the lecture, why not come, meet with other guests and friends and share a meal, served from 7pm at the CMS cafe. Cost: £7 to be paid on the day. RSVP: berdine.vandentoren@cms-uk.org, indicating the date of the lecture.

Enough is enough revisited In a global community, how do we define enough?

The theme of this day conference echoes the title of the former CMS General Secretary Bishop John V Taylor’s ground-breaking book Enough is Enough (1975).

This day is jointly run by CMS and Christian Concern for One World Saturday 25 Oct, 10am–3.30pm Venue: CMS, Watlington Rd, Oxford OX4 6BZ Cost: £8. Concessions £6. Lunch included.

Programme

Catherine Fox is the author of three novels and a series of humorous books arising out of her weekly column for the Church of England Newspaper.

A Theology of Enough Rene Padilla – Former International President of Tearfund (see biography on opposite page)

20 November, 8pm – Roger Wagner – Walking on Water

A Theology of Flourishing Dr Sabine Alkire – Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative

Roger studied under Peter Greenham at the Royal Academy School of Art and his paintings have been exhibited widely. He is also an accomplished poet.

27 November, 8pm – Julia Golding – Creative Struggle: Christian author or author who is a Christian?

Julia was a diplomat and Oxfam policy adviser before becoming a widely published children’s author. Her first novel, The Diamond of Drury Lane (2006), won the Waterstone’s Children’s Book prize and the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Gold Medal.

A choice of seminars on the themes of: Community, Food, Time, Travel, Creation Please register by email with Cathy Ross – cathy.ross@cms-uk.org or Maranda St John Nicolle – ccowinfo@fish.co.uk

NEXT ISSUE OF yes DUE OCTOBER ‘08 23 Yes Trinity 2008

As my parents planted before I was born, so do I plant for those who come after me.

A family, sharing Jesus changing lives for over 200 years. Help enable the work of the CMS family to continue beyond our lifetimes.

For more information, Sarah Thomas, our legacy administrator, is available on 01865 787518 or sarah.thomas@cms-uk.org