Greenbelt is an annual fixture in the team calendar and we are looking forward to this year’s festival. CMS has a stand so if you are coming do come and say hi to us there.

Church Mission Society at Greenbelt 2026

• Friday 28 Aug, 3.30pm: Pioneer meet-up at Hope and Anchor
• Saturday 29 Aug, 11am: Fringe Dweller with Jonny Baker and David Cotterill + guest artists at Shelter
• All weekend: Come and connect at the CMS stand, and sign up for Fringe Dweller

The theme of the stand this year is based around Fringe Dweller, with a series of postcards using images from the book inviting people to join in God’s mission at the edges.

The popular Fringe Dweller Lent course has been set up as a course you can subscribe to any time which comes to you via email. Each postcard has a QR code so you can do that. Do come and take those and encourage people you’re with to visit the stand and do that.

Part of the charism of pioneering and indeed CMS mission purpose is about joining in with what God is doing and making disciples at the fringes. In fact the name Fringe Dweller was inspired by former General Secretary of CMS John Taylor who suggested in one of his newsletters that if we are followers of Jesus then we will find ourselves fringe dwelling. 

A new prospectus for pioneer training was delivered yesterday to CMS office which looks great – so do come and grab one of those. Our best advert for the course is former students so please invite people to come and talk to us about training. It’s not too late to sign up for September (though it is quite late!).

Last year we had quite a few conversations about Aspen, the new ecclesial community we launched last November. So if that’s something you’d like to talk about we’d also love to do that.

Look out for me (Jonny Baker) and David Cotterill taking Fringe Dweller to Greenbelt in the Shelter venue at 11am on Saturday exploring ‘Flip The Script’ with a series of artists responding to it. It feels such a Greenbelty kind of theme!

We will have a pioneer meet up for anyone and everyone at 3.30pm on Friday at the Hope and Anchor. Do come along and meet other pioneers, Aspen members and so on. 

Speaking of the Hope and Anchor, Methodist pioneer friends will be hanging out there I’m sure. Ash and Anj Barker and Newbigin hub friends are involved in the URC venue. Anj is hosting some conversations each evening that are pioneer/mission focused. 

Greenbelt is always a joy – look forward to seeing you there.

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The Acts 11 Project is convening in September to address essential questions for the church in mission today.

by Harvey Kwiyani

10 August 2026

Shifting Centres, Moving Peoples: Rethinking Partnership in an Age of Migration

For more than three decades, partnership has been one of the defining aspirations of Christian mission. It appears in our strategic plans, conference themes, and mission statements. Yet despite our shared commitment to partnership, many churches and mission organisations recognise that genuine mutuality remains difficult to achieve.

Across the UK and beyond, conversations with church leaders, academics, mission practitioners, and diaspora Christians reveal a common question: How do we move beyond good intentions towards genuine mutuality?

The challenge is not a lack of goodwill. Rather, many of our patterns of mission and church life were shaped in a world where authority, resources, and theological leadership flowed from a handful of centres to the rest of the world. Christianity today, however, is unmistakably polycentric. The demographic centre of the Church now lies in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and among migrant communities around the world. Migration has transformed the landscape of mission, bringing Christians from every continent into our towns, cities, and congregations.

This changing reality invites us to ask important questions. What does partnership look like when mission is no longer a movement from the West to the rest? How can churches move beyond host–guest relationships towards genuine reciprocity? How do we share leadership, resources, and decision-making in ways that reflect the diversity of the global body of Christ?

These are not merely theoretical questions. They shape how denominations relate to diaspora churches, how theological colleges prepare future leaders, how mission agencies collaborate across cultures, and how local congregations witness in increasingly multicultural communities.

These are precisely the questions that will be explored at the Acts 11 Project Mission and Migration Conference, taking place on 4–5 September 2026 at Liverpool Hope University.

Under the theme Shifting Centres, Moving Peoples: Rethinking Partnership and Mutuality in an Age of Migration, the conference will bring together church leaders, theologians, mission practitioners, students, policymakers, and diaspora church leaders for two days of theological reflection, practical learning, and honest conversation.

We are delighted to welcome keynote speakers including Dr Alexander Chow, Dr Sheila Akomiah-Conteh, Adam Martin, and Dr Nuam Hatzaw, alongside workshops led by practitioners from organisations such as Welcome Churches, Agapé UK, WEAVE, and the Acts 11 Project.

Rather than simply discussing migration, the conference seeks to create space for genuine encounter. Together we will explore practical questions including:

• How can established churches and diaspora churches move beyond host–guest relationships towards genuine partnership?
• What can churches learn from successful intercultural ministry partnerships?
• Why is cultural intelligence becoming an essential leadership skill?
• How are refugees and migrant communities reshaping the Church’s understanding of mission?
• What can the multicultural church in Antioch teach us about partnership today?

Our hope is that participants will leave not only with fresh ideas, but also with new relationships, deeper theological insight, and renewed confidence that God is using migration to reshape the Church for faithful witness in the twenty-first century.

Whether you serve in church leadership, theological education, mission, research, or a multicultural congregation, we warmly invite you to join us.

Take part

The conference is available in person or online, with registration options for one day or both days.

We look forward to welcoming you to Liverpool as we continue this important conversation together.

Book now

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We catch up with ordinand Jez Drury at the end of his first year on the MA programme at CMS Pioneer Mission Training.

HH: Hi Jez, and thanks for agreeing to be interviewed a second time. Can you tell us a bit about your context and where you are based?

JD: I am based in the Parish of Maybush in Southampton, a large parish of around 28,500 people. We sit very close to Southampton Docks, the second‑largest container terminal in the UK. The parish includes a large post‑war urban estate originally built to rehouse people after the city centre was heavily bombed during the Blitz.

This area continues to experience significant levels of deprivation. Issues associated with poverty are common – including high levels of child poverty, social housing, single‑parent households, and single‑occupancy households. As of 2019, Maybush had the lowest per‑capita church attendance in the diocese.

Since lockdown, our church community has been actively seeking new ways to respond to local need. On Tuesdays, we have Crafty Cafe and run Marketplace every Wednesday to help alleviate food poverty. From this, we now have social prescribers attending to support people in accessing doctors, dentists, and other essential services. We’ve also begun conversations with Mountbatten Hospice around issues of death and dying.

We are intentionally building relationships across the community – with statutory agencies, local organisations, and residents. This has meant stepping outside our buildings, meeting people where they are, and inviting the community into our churches and halls. It has prompted us to rethink what it means to be church, here. Increasingly, we are creating safe, hospitable spaces where people can gather, belong, and encounter God.

You are studying the Pioneer MA with us; can you tell us what led you to join the course?

I’ve always had a heart for mission – especially for those outside the church walls and on the edges of society. That’s where I feel most at home. I often feel like I’m on the inside looking out, noticing the things we could be doing and wanting to make a difference to the people I meet.

For many years I’ve wrestled with how I fit within the church, and how we welcome people who may never walk through the doors on a Sunday. I’m hoping that being here will help me discern what that looks like for me as I move forward.

When you first joined us, your application said: “This is part of my discernment process towards ordained ministry. I need a better understanding of what it means to be a pioneer and what that looks like for me in reality, within the context of people I meet.” Can you tell us how this has panned out so far?

I am almost 12 months into my journey with CMS, and I’m beginning to get a clearer sense of what a pioneer is. In many ways, it still feels like the beginning, so I’m trying to stay open‑minded about what this might look like as I continue. I’m aware that the word pioneer means different things to different people. What I do know is that I’m called to the margins – to those who are institutionalised, however we understand that term. I’m not comfortable with the church simply repeating what it has always done. I don’t believe God calls us to comfortable Christianity; he calls us to make a difference.

Part of living that out is the Crafty Cafe group on a Tuesday. It began with around eight people, and now, less than a year later, we regularly welcome about 20 each week. I’m taking an organic approach to evangelism, and over the past six months I’ve started to see four or five of our regulars coming along to church on a Sunday morning. They come for their own reasons, and our response is simply: you are welcome.

Jez, can you tell us more about leading an intergenerational congregation?

I have recently begun to lead services that genuinely cater to an intergenerational congregation, helping people of all ages easily understand what’s being shared from the front. This is very much a work in progress – I’ve only led two services in this style so far – so it’s still early to know how effective it is. But the initial feedback has been encouraging, and I’m hopeful about how this approach might grow.

In terms of your lectures and assignments, what have you found useful at CMS; what might make an impact in your future ministry?

The bits from college that have been most useful to me are the sessions on culture and how we understand the culture we find ourselves in, and liberation theology and seeing the reality of this in the community I find myself in. 

It’s helping me understand the people I meet and how I work more effectively with them.  

How can we pray for you, Jez?

A year into this new chapter, please pray that I am able to sustain a good pattern of study alongside my work commitments. Please also pray for my family as we continue to adjust to this rhythm and discern how study, ministry, and daily life fit together. And please pray for the Parish of Maybush as we keep working together to understand and follow what God is asking of us next. My own prayer life continues to grow, and I am finding an early‑morning rhythm of prayer especially life‑giving as I keep trusting God for whatever lies ahead.  

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From books co-authored by CMS staff to anticipated inspiration from (other!) brilliant minds, here’s this year’s list of tantalising titles…

Fringe Dweller, Jonny Baker and David Cotterill, Getsidetracked, 2026

Jesus was loved by fringe dwellers – the poor, lame, blind, lepers, the oppressed, the possessed, foreigners, beggars, outsiders, those deemed unclean, women who experienced shame, tax collectors and sinners. He spent time with them. Fringe Dweller is a collection of 40 reflections with 20 original illustrations by artist Jon Birch, based on encounters in the gospels with Jesus the Fringe Dweller. Each reflection includes a scripture reading, a practice and a liturgy. Ideal for personal use, for groups and for those preaching or curating worship.

Into All the Parish: Pioneering Practices for Every Local Church, Greg Bakker and Tina Hodgett, Church House Publishing, 2026

Arising out of the Pioneering Parishes project, Into All the Parish holds together pioneering and parochial forms of ministry, which are frequently in tension. It honours both as distinct yet connected modes of ministry, seeing pioneering as an integral dynamic within vibrant parochial ministry and essential for widening the possibilities to fulfil the “care of souls” in a local area. Into all the Parish offers practical principles, stories and case studies, forming a framework for corporate discipleship in which congregations identify their aspirations, commit to live out of shared values and create space to pursue ministry within and beyond the church walls.

In the Fullness of Time: A Story From the Past and Future of the Church, Paul Bradbury, Canterbury Press, 2024

This is a book about the present and future of the church in our own challenging context: a secular age, decline, stretched resources, complex and fragmented communities requiring diverse missional approaches. Weaving together storytelling, travelogue and poetry, Paul Bradbury journeys from rural Norfolk to inner-city London, from a radical missional community in Lincolnshire, to a traditional village parish in Dorset, to explore what the church looks like today, and how local parish communities are wrestling with the tensions between the value of inherited church and the need to look to the future.

Being the People of God: Missional Ecclesiology for Uncertain Times, Paul Bradbury, Isabelle Hamley, Andy Smith, SCM, 2025

In unsteady political, societal and ecclesial times, what might a missional ecclesiology offer? Drawn from a consultation by the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission, this book seeks to offer a conversation involving theologians and practitioners across three key themes – the church’s worship as a gathered community, its witness as a scattered community and its walk as a pilgrim community. With contributors including: Jonny Baker, Angus Ritchie and Cathy Ross.

Decolonizing Mission, Harvey Kwiyani, SCM Press, 2025

For the past 500 years, the idea of the mission of God has been synonymous with that of the expansion of Western civilisation and its influence in the world. In Decolonizing Mission, Harvey Kwiyani traces the history of Christian mission alongside the history of empire, showing the influence that one had on the other. Imagining what mission without imperialism would look like, Kwiyani sheds light on the connection between colonialism and mission and invites us to realign our missional methods with God’s. One of the International Bulletin of Mission Research’s Ten Outstanding Books in Mission Studies, World Christianity, and Intercultural Theology for 2025.

Words Fitly Spoken: Everyday African Theology for Millennials and Gen Z, Joseph Ola, Word Alive, 2025

What does it mean to live faithfully as a young African Christian in a digitally connected, culturally complex world? In Words Fitly Spoken, Joseph Ola weaves together powerful quotations, African proverbs and personal testimony to offer a refreshing vision of Christian discipleship – one that honours both global wisdom and African identity. Through 13 compelling reflections, this book addresses the core struggles of millennials and Gen Z: the pressure to succeed, the fear of failure, the tyranny of busyness and the search for authentic faith in an age of performance and comparison.

Chinese Heritage in British Christianity: More than Foreigners, Alexander Chow (ed), SCM, 2025

This is a critical time for British Chinese Christians. On the one hand, the national churches of each of Britain’s four nations have experienced an unprecedented decline in attendance. On the other hand, British Chinese Christianity is among the fastest growing Christian populations in the UK. But there is a much longer history, with the first Chinese Christian in Britain dated to the 17th century. This book tells the story of the rise of British Chinese Christianity, and how British Chinese people have been shaping and reshaping the future of British Christianity. It brings together theological educators, church ministers and parachurch leaders, including a contribution from Mark Nam, chaplain to the Asian Christianity MA students at CMS.

The Starter’s Way: Leading New Contextual Christian Communities, Ed Olsworth-Peter and Dwight J Zscheile (eds.), Church Publishing Inc, 2025

A call for new ways of starting thriving church communities, based on global case studies of churches who have innovated from within their local communities. As many established churches struggle to connect with people in increasingly post-Christian societies, there has been a vital shift in focus toward starting new Christian communities. This book – edited by two leading thinkers around innovation in the Church, one from the United States, the other from the UK – brings a rich and international array of practitioners and scholars together to explore starting new contextual Christian communities as a way of life. Includes contributions from Jonny Baker, Ali Boulton, Tina Hodgett and Harvey Kwiyani.

Imagining Mission with John V Taylor, Jonny Baker and Cathy Ross, SCM, 2020

The impact that John V Taylor, former general secretary of CMS, had on our contemporary understanding of mission is vast – his determination that mission should mean engagement across cultural boundaries has deep resonance today. In Imagining Mission with John V Taylor, leading missional thinkers Cathy Ross and Jonny Baker invite us into a vision of church, mission and society which takes John V Taylor’s ideas seriously, seeking to imagine what Taylor’s insights might mean for these three areas in our contemporary context. The result is a clarion call to the church to take bigger risks and dream bigger dreams.

• The Gratitude Way: Creating Common Ground in a Divided World, Girma Bishaw, IVP, 2025
• When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor… and Yourself, Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, 2014
• Living for Jesus and Justice: Daily Prayers for Radical Christians, Simon Jones, Red Letter Christians UK, DLT 2026
• Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development, Bryant L Myers, Orbis, 1999
• The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission, Lesslie Newbigin, SPCK, 1995 (2nd edition)
• God’s Heart for Child Protection and Safeguarding: Practical Theology from Global Perspectives, Nativity A Petallar, Roseline Olumbe and Martin Munyao (eds), Langham Global Library, 2026
• Positive Urban Theology: Finding God in the Grit and Glory of the City, Revd Dr Cris Rogers, CCX, 2026
• Liturgies of the Wild: Myths that Make Us, Martin Shaw, Rider (PRH), 2026
• Justice of Jesus: Reimagining Your Church’s Life Together to Pursue Liberation and Wholeness, Joash P Thomas, Baker Books, 2025
• Love made me an inventor: The story of Maggy Barankitse, Humanitarian, Genocide Survivor, Citizen without Borders, David Toole, Orbis Books, 2025
• Solidarity: The Work of Recognition, Rowan Williams, Bloomsbury, 2026

• Grace Abounds: God’s Abundance Against the Fear of Scarcity, Walter Brueggemann, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2024
• Earthbound: God at the Intersection of Climate and Justice, Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Orbis, 2025
• Reconciling Mission: Realizing God’s Reign through Community Engagement, Alastair McKay and David Brubaker, T&T Clark, 2026
• The Cross and the Olive Tree: Cultivating Palestinian Theology amid Gaza, John Munayer and Samuel Munayer (eds.), Orbis, 2025

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In April this year, Dr Harvey Kwiyani, African Christianity Programme Lead for CMS Pioneer Mission Training and Director of the Acts 11 Project, travelled to Jamaica to attend the African Forum on Religion & Government (AFReG).

by Harvey Kwiyani

30 July 2026

AFReG emerged roughly two decades ago as an effort to bring together African Christian leaders, government officials, business leaders, educators, and civil society actors around a shared vision for the transformation of Africa grounded in what is described as “God-centred values.”

From the beginning, AFReG sought to move beyond narrowly ecclesial concerns toward broader engagement with public life, governance, economics, leadership, and social transformation. Subsequent gatherings in Kenya, Zambia, and Ghana gradually expanded the movement’s Pan-African vision while strengthening relationships between church leaders, policymakers, and African diasporic communities.

The 2026 conference was the fifth event and brought together around 100 participants, representing 10 African countries alongside a strong Global African presence from the UK, the Caribbean, South America, and North America.

The fifth gathering, held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, marked a particularly significant development by foregrounding the relationship between continental Africa and the African diaspora within the framework of the African Union’s “Sixth Region” vision. Under the theme “Building Bridges: A Call for Pan-African Unity and Transformation,” AFReG 5 brought together leaders from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Americas to explore questions of identity, governance, leadership, economic development, historical trauma, reconciliation, and the role of the church in public life.

What especially impressed me was AFReG’s refusal to separate spiritual renewal from social transformation. The conference treated trauma, mental health, governance, economics, education, technology, and theological decolonisation as deeply interconnected realities. There was a persistent insistence that prayer and spirituality must lead to ethical leadership, institution-building, economic imagination, and collective action. Discussions on healing explored the long shadow of slavery and colonialism not only psychologically but spiritually and culturally, while conversations on AI, leadership, education, and the African Union’s “Sixth Region” framework challenged participants to imagine new forms of African agency and global collaboration.

The range and calibre of speakers reflected the ambition of the gathering. Among them were the former President of Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo, Dr Macaulay Kalu, (Director of the Sixth Region of Africa), Mrs Tsitsi Masiyiwa, (Zimbabwean philanthropist and Executive Director of the Higher Life Foundation), Professor Anna Bailey of Binghamton University, and Dr Lisa Pal, Head of Racial Justice Priority in the Diocese of London. Together, they framed a conversation that moved across public life, economics, diaspora identity, and the moral responsibilities of leadership.

My presentation was delivered in collaboration with Professor Stephen-Dione Jennings of the University of the West Indies. I argued for the need to decolonise not only African theology and missiology, but also the wider expressions of Christianity across both the continent and the Global African world. Professor Jennings offered a historically grounded account of the development of Christianity in Jamaica, providing a rich contextual frame for our shared concerns. Our contributions were mutually reinforcing and resonated closely with the work of Anna Bailey and Lisa Pal on fostering dialogue between Africans and the African diaspora. There was a clear convergence among us that any meaningful outcome from the conference will require intentional, sustained collaboration between us all, both in Africa and in its diasporas.

By the end of the conference, it was clear that AFReG is attempting something much larger than hosting inspirational events. It is helping cultivate a Global African Christian imagination capable of reconnecting fragmented histories, healing wounded identities, and mobilising Africans and members of the diaspora as architects of their own future rather than passive recipients of external agendas.

What I encountered in Jamaica left me deeply hopeful. There was a seriousness to the conversations, a willingness to think beyond inherited limitations, and a growing recognition that African Christianity has entered a new historical moment. The church in Africa and across Global Africa is no longer simply responding to agendas set elsewhere. Increasingly, it is beginning to ask its own questions, recover its own memory, and imagine its own future.

You can read more about Harvey’s trip here and here.

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The latest issue of Anvil, the journal of theology and mission from the Church Mission Society, is out now. The theme of this issue is movements, communities and sodalities.

The idea for this issue was prompted by the launch of Aspen in November 2025. Aspen is a spread-out community, set up to look after the charism of pioneering mission and to generate more of that practice. It is a response to the movement in mission we have seen grow in Britain and other post-Christian contexts over the last 30 years.

There is an article on movements in which Jonny Baker examines this notoriously slippery concept. Ade Green has contributed an article on being a Franciscan, one incredible movement that has been running for over 800 years. It makes quite a good ‘compare and contrast’ with Matt Richards’ article on new monasticism and mission.

Looking internationally, Tim Soerens of the Parish Collective has a conversation with Tina Hodgett and Kris Rocke of Street Psalms speaks to Johnny Sertin. Katharina Haubold reflects on the Fresh X-Network through conversation with others who have been part of the movement in Germany around mission and fresh expressions. Common Grace is a movement in Aotearoa/New Zealand that is focused on activism and justice, seeking to transform unjust structures in society. Alex Johnston tells their story.

There are further articles reflecting on practice. Idina Dunmore reflects on her experience of being part of a mission community, Servants Southall, London. Kairos is a new movement and community in Yorkshire catalysed through the Methodist church’s New Places for New People work. Liane Kensett tells their story and how they have developed a rhythm to the community’s life as they seek to reimagine what that might look like if we become future-facing. Harvey Kwiyani and Nuam Hatzaw have a conversation around Harvey’s book Decolonizing Mission. This conversation took place at the Assembly which is our annual get-together with people in the network.

At CMS we have been pondering what sort of spirituality enables a life lived in mission. Ian Adams has been conducting lots of conversations with people about their own practice under the header “Presence”. Together with a couple of others, this has been distilled to a pattern of five principles to aid a life of prayerful presence, a mission spirituality if you will.

It is a bumper issue of Anvil so do take your time with it. Read Anvil here.

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Meet first year undergraduate student Adam Robson who has discovered life-changing theology and radical honesty at CMS

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.

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 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.

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.

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Following our exploration of decolonising mission, Assembly 2026 asks a deeper question: what kind of spirituality is needed for the future?

Join with fellow pioneers, leaders, artists, activists, and seekers to explore a rooted and indigenous Christianity in the British Isles today. Together, we will consider how Christian formation can become more contextual, embodied, and attentive as we navigate a rapidly changing, post-Christian world.

Gather with us to explore faith, discipleship, and community shaped by:

• Place and Community
• Culture and Ecology
• The Way of Jesus

What does a truly indigenous spirituality look like within a postcolonial world? Let’s explore together!

• Download the flyer

Two ways to book for The Assembly 2026

Stay at Ashburnham

• Full board (arrive Tuesday, depart Thursday morning)
• Ensuite single: £175
• Standard single: £145
• Standard shared: £125pp

Book via Ashburnham website

Day tickets

• Lunch and dinner included. Breakfast not included.
• £50 per day

Book here via Eventbrite

• See all pioneer events

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When we first gathered around a table with paints, brushes and a handful of people, I don’t think any of us imagined what would emerge.

There was no grand strategy. No detailed blueprint. Just a sense that creativity mattered, that people needed connection, and that God might be present in the simple act of making something together.

What began with 10 people meeting to paint has grown into a thriving creative community. Some participants had only experimented with art at school or picked up a brush occasionally; others arrive convinced they have no artistic ability whatsoever. Yet around the table those distinctions quickly fade. We are simply people creating, talking, laughing, sharing stories and discovering that we belong.

As a pioneer minister, I am continually struck by how creativity opens doors that traditional church activities sometimes cannot. Art offers a non-threatening space where people can come exactly as they are. There is no pressure to know the right words, hold particular beliefs or fit a certain mould. People arrive carrying grief, anxiety, loneliness, curiosity, faith and doubt. All are welcome.

Each session begins with a simple spiritual reflection connected to the creative theme for the day. It provides a gentle opportunity to pause, reflect and explore deeper questions before we begin creating together. For some, this is their first experience of engaging with faith in a meaningful way; for others, it becomes part of an ongoing journey of discipleship.

In many ways, our Art for Wellbeing community has begun to take on the characteristics of a Fresh Expression of Church.

Not because we set out to create one, but because the hallmarks of Christian community have begun to emerge naturally. Relationships deepen. People care for one another. Stories are shared. Hope is nurtured. Moments of prayer arise. Conversations about meaning and faith happen organically. We discover that God is already at work among us. Discipleship is taking shape in everyday conversations and shared experiences, and we have seen people take significant steps in faith, including baptism and the renewal of baptism vows.

At the heart of these stories is Jesus. Through the power of His Holy Spirit, we have seen lives changed in ways both quiet and profound. People who arrived feeling isolated have found community. Those carrying burdens have discovered hope and peace. As individuals encounter the love and grace of Christ, they begin to see themselves and their future differently. The transformation is not something we create ourselves; it is the work of Jesus, present among us and continuing to draw people to himself.

The creative process itself can be deeply spiritual. In a culture that often values productivity above all else, art invites us to slow down, pay attention and delight in beauty. It reminds us that we worship a Creator whose first act was not efficiency but creativity.

Again and again I see people surprised by what they are capable of creating. As confidence grows on the canvas, confidence often grows elsewhere too. People begin to see themselves differently. They recognise gifts they did not know they possessed. There is something profoundly hopeful about watching someone discover that they can create beauty.

Another unexpected gift has been the way new leaders have emerged from within the community. This year alone, seven different people have led sessions, sharing their skills, creativity and faith with others. These leaders are not only helping to shape our own community but are also taking what they have learned into other settings, extending the impact far beyond our weekly gatherings.

This year marked a significant milestone as our Art for Wellbeing group was formally recognised as a Fresh Expression of Church. It was a moment of celebration, not because it changed who we are, but because it affirmed what had already been taking shape over the years. The artwork on display at our fourth annual exhibition was remarkable, but what moved me most was not the quality of the paintings. It was the stories behind them. Stories of friendship, resilience, recovery and belonging. Stories of people finding community. Stories of people encountering the transforming love of Jesus and the renewing work of his Spirit.

Fresh Expressions of Church often emerge in unexpected places. Sometimes around a dinner table. Sometimes in a cafe. Sometimes on a housing estate around a paint-splattered table.

As pioneers, we are invited not simply to build new things for God, but to notice where God is already at work and join in. Through colour, canvas and community, I believe that is exactly what we are seeing happen.

The kingdom of God is appearing in brushstrokes, conversations and cups of tea. And that is a beautiful thing to witness.

Hayley Humphreys is an MA graduate of CMS Pioneer Mission Training.

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A new book which has been called “a ‘must-read’ for all who want to see their local churches thrive” has just been published.

It has been written by our very own Rev Tina Hodgett and Rev Greg Bakker, founders of Pioneering Parishes, which provides tools, practices and postures to help churches go into all the parish. The training helps churches cultivate an environment in which new things can thrive in an appropriate way for their context and community, helping engage with people who are unconnected.

In August 2023 Church House Publishing asked Tina and Greg to write a practical book for church leaders on culture change. They prepared a proposal for the editorial board and were delighted with the affirmation that what they proposed was a “hopeful, conciliatory and constructive contribution to contemporary church life and the church’s mission”. After three years of work, Into All the Parish: Pioneering Practices for Every Local Church is available now.

Into all the Parish moves away from attempts at rejuvenation of the parish church based on replicable strategies or programmes into a ‘way of being’. Reviews of the book are pouring in and many are commenting on the ‘practical companionship offered’ for congregations wishing to make this change.

One review says:

“For leaders, dreamers, and blue-sky thinkers, this book offers plenty of imagination and possibility. It challenges churches to pay attention to where God is already active in their parish. For anyone longing to see faith become more connected, hopeful, and rooted in everyday community life, Into All the Parish offers a way to do church differently.”

Rev Marie Meredith, vicar to the churches of Great Wyrley: St Andrew’s and St Mark’s

Another says:

“Long gone are the days when ‘pioneering’ was seen as being in opposition to ‘traditional’ parish ministry. Here is a clear demonstration of how cultivating a pioneering disposition enables parish church congregations to explore afresh their identity and vocation for the present time.”

Rev Canon Jane Maycock, Canon Missioner, Durham Cathedral

CMS’s Jonny Baker, director of mission in Britain, says of the book:

“If I was new in a ministry post or on the PCC in a parish church, I would be thanking God for this book! It is short, sharply focused, and extremely practical. It will really help you lead a church through a process of culture change giving the best chance possible of taking the whole church with you on the journey. The five dynamics explored arise from distilled wisdom learned from putting this into practice in a parish setting over many years and you can tell.”

Lots of lay people and clergy working across the country are already benefiting from the book, as this review shows:

“Into All the Parish is the best kind of “self-help” book – opening space for gathered communities to discern together the movement of the Holy Spirit in their midst. Led by discerning questions, each chapter prompts readers to consider an area of parish life where small shifts might lead to significant relational and spiritual flourishing. No act is deemed too small to be significant and no hope too large to be attainable. Highly recommended for churches desiring to reach the whole parish but uncertain how or where to start.”

Stacey Van Dyk, Children & Families Ministry Leader

The book has also reached the attention of bishops with Mike Harrison, the bishop of Exeter, saying:

“A wise, accessible and practical guide to helping Christian communities discern how God’s Spirit is at work inside and outside the Church. Tools are provided helping congregations to ensure principles eclipse preferences, abundance mind-sets hold sway over scarcity narratives, and different ways of doing and being church are held together synergistically. All this wrapped up in a missional understanding of being caught up in God’s sacrificial loving movement towards the world – personified in Jesus and inviting our participatory involvement. Recommended!”

And Jonathan Frost, bishop of Portsmouth, giving heartfelt approval:

“I am delighted to read this contribution to the vital task of parochial ministry. God’s church needs pioneering ministry in every context. Wherever Tina Hodgett and Greg Bakker share their rich experience, new life happens, and the hope of God’s kingdom becomes breaks out. I commend this work with all my heart”

Buy Into All the Parish: Pioneering practices for every local church now.

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Harvey Kwiyani named in Top 10 list for outstanding books in mission studies

At CMS many of our staff regularly add books to our library bookshelves – by writing and publishing them. In fact colleagues have published more than 26 books!

One of these books has recently been recognised for a prestigious honour.

In August 2025, Dr Harvey Kwiyani – CMS Pioneer Mission Training African Christianity Programme Lead and Acts 11 Centre Lead – published Decolonizing Mission. Through the book, Harvey traces the history of Christian mission alongside the history of empire, showing the influence that one had on the other. Imagining what mission without imperialism would look like, he sheds light on the connection between colonialism and mission and invites readers to realign missional methods with God’s.

The book has had an international impact and been widely celebrated. Most recently, Decolonizing Mission has been named among the 10 Outstanding Books in Mission Studies, World Christianity, and Intercultural Theology for 2025 by the International Bulletin of Mission Research.

Speaking of receiving this esteemed acknowledgement of the book, Harvey said:

“There are moments in academic life that feel deeply personal, yet clearly point beyond oneself; moments that hint at a wider shift taking place within a discipline. I receive this recognition with genuine gratitude. But more than that, I receive it with a quiet sense of recognition that this is not simply about my work, nor even about one book. It feels, rather, like a sign that a conversation many of us have been carrying for some time – often from the margins, often against the grain – is now being heard more widely.”

Harvey is currently raising funds to publish Decolonizing Mission in Africa, with the aim of making it accessible to pastors, church leaders, teachers, students, and mission practitioners across the continent. If you would like to support this project, you can do so here.

Decolonizing Mission is available from SCM Press and other online book retailers.

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Meet South West Hub student Rachel Harrison-French, who shares her learning about participating in the life of God already at work in the world.

HH: Rachel, where are you based and what you do in your life?

RH-F: I’m based in South Devon and am part of Sherford Community Church, a church serving the growing new town of Sherford on the outskirts of Plymouth. My life sits at the intersection of community work, creativity and church ministry.

Over the past few years, I’ve been involved in several community initiatives focused on food insecurity and community resilience. During the pandemic I worked as a project manager with Feeding Devon, helping coordinate local responses to food poverty and supporting communities to develop sustainable food support projects.

Alongside that, I’ve worked as a teacher and forest school leader. That experience has shaped a lot of how I think about learning, creativity, and how people connect with place and community.

More recently, I’ve been developing my emerging ministry as a worship leader at Sherford Community Church, creating reflective and creative resources that help people engage with Scripture, prayer and worship in ways that are accessible for all ages.

You’ve been on the South West Hub pioneer course. Can you tell me how you got onto the course and what motivated you?

Several strands of my life came together in leading me to the pioneer course.

Through my work as a forest school leader and teacher, I became increasingly interested in how faith connects with everyday life and community spaces. At the same time, my involvement in community food projects opened my eyes to the realities many people were facing locally.

The Pioneer course raised questions that really resonated with me, particularly around rural mission. What does the Missio Dei look like in rural areas? How do we recognise where God is already at work in local traditions, spiritualities, and communities? And how can the church learn from rural communities about issues such as food production, ecology, sustainability, and social justice?

Those questions felt deeply relevant to Devon, and the course provided a space to explore them alongside others who were asking similar questions about mission and church in changing contexts.

Can you cast your mind back to lockdown and your work as a project manager of Feeding Devon? What were some of the highs and lows?

Lockdown was an extraordinary and challenging time for many communities. Through Feeding Devon, we were helping coordinate responses to food insecurity across the region, supporting local groups and connecting organisations working to meet urgent needs.

One of the real highs was seeing how quickly communities mobilised. Volunteers stepped forward, partnerships formed, and churches and community groups found creative ways to support their neighbours.  For example, I was involved in engaging local churches with developing food support strategies, including working alongside the lay pioneer Methodist minister in Horrabridge to help develop an affordable Food Hub, which is now also supported by the local Anglican church. We also supported the development of Food Hubs in several other towns and villages, all of which are now operating as independent organisations relying on local volunteers.

At the same time, the scale of need could sometimes feel overwhelming as many households were facing uncertainty and financial hardship. That experience strengthened my sense that the church has an important role to play in listening to communities and responding practically to the needs that emerge.

How did the pioneer course impact your emerging ministry as a worship leader?

The pioneer course has had a significant impact on how I approach worship and ministry.

One of the most memorable pieces of learning came during a module exploring different expressions of church. As part of the assignment, I created a hand-drawn board game called ‘From Pew to Pavement’. The game explored different “zones” of church life – from the traditional parish setting through to community initiatives and more experimental spaces where faith begins to emerge in places that don’t yet resemble church.

Creating the game helped me see mission less as a programme we run and more as participation in the life of God already at work in the world.

This insight has shaped how I now approach worship at Sherford Community Church. I’ve become more confident in developing creative and participatory forms of worship that engage people of all ages and all the senses. Through the Altogether services at Sherford I’ve had the opportunity to develop ideas collaboratively with our pioneer ministry team, Revs Jon and Tammy Oliver, creating spaces where people can encounter God through storytelling, imagery, reflection, and shared experience.

What does the future hold for you?

Right now, I feel very much in a season of listening and discerning where God might be leading next.

In Sherford, we are continuing to explore how church can respond creatively to the realities of a new and growing community. For example, delays in local facilities meant that access to affordable food became challenging for some families, particularly those working during the day. In response we developed an early evening food club so that households could collect food after work – a small but practical example of adapting to the needs of the local context.

I’m also exploring creative ways that churches can connect with communities through wellbeing, creativity, and outdoor learning. For example, at Sherford Day this year I’ll be offering face painting as a free gift to the community – a simple way of creating relational spaces within a local celebration. Alongside this, I’m currently studying for a Certificate in Therapeutic Skills for Outdoor Leaders. Through this I’m exploring how outdoor learning, emotional wellbeing, and creative practices can support children and young people. My hope is that over time these ideas might develop into accessible resources that churches can use to connect with schools and communities.

At the heart of this work is a simple conviction: creativity, community and the natural environment can become spaces where people encounter God in everyday life.

Finally, how can we pray for you?

Please pray for wisdom and discernment as I continue to explore the next steps in my calling and ministry.

I would also value prayer for churches and communities across Devon as they seek to respond creatively to the needs around them, and for more pioneers to be encouraged and equipped for mission in their local contexts.

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