We exist to make disciples of Jesus at the edges. Read on to see what this means, as well as where and how we work – and how you can join in.

Where we work

What or where are the edges? We’re glad you asked.

By working “at the edges” we mean that we encourage individuals and groups of people to follow Jesus:

• At the edges of existing church
• At the edges of society
• At the edges of our comfort zones

Within the UK and overseas, we are specifically called to mission at the margins and cultural fringes, where Jesus is not often followed and which are often overlooked or written off. We believe God is already at work in these spaces and our task is to join in.

Some examples of CMS mission at the edges might include:

• Catalysing faith-based peace movements in conflict-prone areas of Africa
• Supporting new Jesus-followers in Muslim-majority contexts in the Middle East and North Africa
• Creatively sharing the way of Jesus among spiritual but not religious seekers in the UK

What we do

We are called to make disciples of Jesus where you may not expect to find them. And to see those disciples make more disciples until communities of people committed to following the way of Jesus are formed.

This is how we see change happen: person by person, community by community. To be more specific:

1. We connect people with a heart for the edges so they can work together. Often this takes the form of cross-cultural hubs, or pockets of people from Western and non-Western backgrounds teaming up to bring change in a specific edge-based context. 
2. We train people for ground-breaking, transformational and sustainable mission in the UK and overseas.
3. We equip churches to look around, see what God is doing among people at the edges within their communities and join in.

In CMS’s vast history, thousands of people have crossed geographical, cultural and societal boundaries to make disciples of Jesus. Through their efforts, missteps and all, we have seen the gospel of Jesus make itself at home in a variety of contexts all over the world. Sometimes in ways we could never have foreseen.

How we work

If only there were a one-size-fits all mission process or programme! But there isn’t. More than 220 years of mission have proved this time and again.

There are some basic steps we take, based on what we believe about mission:

1. We pray, trusting that wherever we go, God is already there and already at work. This is humbling, freeing and incredibly encouraging – to understand it’s not all down to us.
2. Once in a context, we pay attention and try to discover how God is already at work. We take the setting seriously: listening and learning from the local culture, discerning the best way to share Jesus. This will likely involve a mix of words and action.
3. We don’t work alone. We are guided by those more familiar with the way things are in a given place or space, as we work together to make disciples. We take the time to build genuine, respectful relationships.
4. We are always willing to try new, creative mission methods. We learn from what works and what doesn’t, and we share that learning as widely as possible.
5. We don’t get too comfortable – we keep pushing to the edges, hoping that more and more Jesus-followers will get inspired and come, too.

We are people-focused rather than programme-focused. Everything we do is through people working together. People are how God brings about beautiful change in our world.

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