“God is always at work”
“God is always at work”
Meet first year undergraduate student Adam Robson who has discovered life-changing theology and radical honesty at CMS
by Helen Harwood,
HH: Please can you share a little about the journey that led you to CMS?
AR: After a period of prayer and discernment, I felt called to theological study as the next step in helping me understand where God might be calling me.
The next challenge was deciding where to study for an undergraduate degree, and I must admit, I had a preconceived idea that theological study was only for a very particular type of person or demographic.
CMS has an openness and realness that I had not experienced before.
My local DDO mentioned CMS to me and spoke about its focus on pioneering, so I picked up the phone, called CMS, and from that first conversation, I knew it was the right place.
CMS has an openness and realness that I had not experienced before. It is a place where people are truly met where they are, and until you experience the honesty of CMS for yourself, it is hard to put into words.
Can you tell us about life before CMS?
I have been married to my wife for 16 years. I am a Chartered Quantity Surveyor with over 20 years’ experience, and I currently work in the rail industry, dealing with commercial disputes, contractual governance and assurance. I am also a former business owner.
I was raised in a single-parent family and did not meet my father until I was 11 years old, so I experienced many of the financial and class challenges that often come with that kind of journey.
I feel really blessed to have been taught by people who are truly doing mission and ministry on the front line.
I feel called by God, in some way, to help flip the script on how class is currently viewed and managed in mission, ministry and society. That is a big part of what shapes me, my faith, and the way I understand mission. I see so many people in the community with gifts that are often overlooked.
Jesus came and did mission on the fringes of this world, and I think recognising that is a big part of what it means to be a disciple.
I am dying to ask about your role as Mission Lead in Soup for the Soul Cafe.
Soup for the Soul Cafe is part of a larger St Frideswide community outreach mission called the Water Eaton Community Hub, or WECH. This includes a cafe with a free meal once a week, a food larder, pastoral care, debt advice and a Bible study class.
The WECH is located in Bletchley, Milton Keynes and it is an initiative that began during the Covid pandemic, in response to the rising food and loneliness crisis.
Soup for the Soul Cafe feeds, on average, around 60 people each week, and it serves enormous amounts of tea and coffee.
We are an open space where we have a 20-minute God slot while people eat, and it is always theologically rich.
We welcome any theological questions, and we operate on the basis that people can ask us anything they want about the Christian faith and the nature of God.
It is also not uncommon for whole tables of atheists to request prayer or join in with prayer. It is a place where we witness the Holy Spirit at work, and I feel so blessed to be part of it.
How do you feel the course is going so far, and have you been able to use what you are learning outside the classroom?
From the day you turn up to CMS for your first lesson, you know that your theology is going to be challenged, in a good way.
The contextual and cultural theology tools I have been given have been life-changing.
I feel really blessed to have been taught by people who are truly doing mission and ministry on the front line, in places near and far that we, as Christians, sometimes prefer not to venture into.
The contextual and cultural theology tools I have been given have been life-changing. I now approach my own mission by first looking for where God is already at work, because he is always at work, you just have to slow down enough to see it.
Studying at CMS has been fantastic, when you remove God from a box and the manmade limitations we sometimes place upon him, his mission emerges from the fog of our assumptions.
What might be next for you, Adam? Is it more study, or is it a change of direction?
I am staying on to complete the BA, while I continue the process of discerning ordination.
I am open to wherever God might be calling me, but I also feel very assured that I am supposed to be at CMS.
How can we pray for you?
Please pray for WECH. We are currently rolling out a fundraising framework with the aim of becoming self-sufficient, or at least less reliant on grants, and we would really appreciate prayers for success in that.
Please also pray for our wonderful WECH volunteer team, clergy and ministry leaders at St Frideswide. I am always deeply moved by people who are willing to help others, while they themselves are often healing in the process.
And finally, please pray that we all continue to value the ordinary: the tea shared with one another, the tears and laughter, and the simple moments of human connection. This is the theology that holds Soup for the Soul so tightly.
