Spurred on by CMS supported training, a pioneer in Sidmouth has been finding new ways to create spaces for conversations about faith.

Our story starts with some residential training for curates (vicars-in-training) in the Diocese of Exeter. Rev Julie Wheeler went along to the training with a growing sense “of something dormant waking up” in her.

This particular residential was being led by Greg Bakker and Tina Hodgett, offering Pioneering Parishes training to provide tools to help congregations to look beyond the church and get out into the parish community. Greg and Tina led the group though sessions exploring how pioneering and parish ministry can go hand in hand. They considered ways to engage with people in their parishes who would not usually connect with a church at all.

The weekend acted as something of a wake-up call for Julie, as she sensed a call to pioneering that had gone to sleep. This wake-up call eventually led her to a six-month pilot role, based at All Saints Church, Sidmouth, exploring missional opportunities on the seafront area.

During a fruitful and encouraging six months Julie spent time on the seafront among locals and visitors. Julie spent time simply being present on the seafront area or the beach, where she could chat to people or offer creative spaces to reflect. Alongside acts of kindness like giving away homemade hearts on Valentine’s day or offering space to light a candle at dusk on New Year’s Eve to say goodbye to the year and remember those who have died, Julie offered a listening space and creative prayer opportunities, told stories of Jesus and even helped someone to re-affirm their baptismal vows in the sea!

Julie explains that she has seen the beach, with its tidal flow of water, act as a “liminal” or in between space where the rules of normal life don’t apply and people can be more open to the Holy Spirit’s invitation to connect. It is a great example of someone going to the edges – literally the edges of the land – meeting people where they are with the kindness, patience and creativity of God.

Julie is now deepening her understanding and practice of pioneering on the CMS Certificate in Pioneer Mission, which is offered as a partnership between CMS and the Anglican Church in the south west of England.

Julie’s pioneering role has been made permanent, a recognition of the quiet and steady fruitfulness of this ministry and the hope that God will continue to meet with visitors and locals through her posture of humble listening, prayer and creativity. Julie was licensed as an associate pioneer priest at the end of July.

She says, “I’m very grateful for the wake-up call that happened through the work of Pioneering Parishes, which has led to such a joyful opportunity to join in with the mission of God.”

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“Following Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life,” says Jenny. “For him, nothing is impossible – even for someone who was once lost.”

Words by Amy Church, photos by Victor Villarroel (VictorFrame Photography)

Jenny and her husband Richard found freedom in Jesus from drugs and alcohol. They went on to open a public toilet business, which has grown into a vibrant community where others can find God’s love.

Welcome to Los Pozos.

Life on the streets

Both Jenny and Richard grew up on the streets of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. No school, no stability; just survival.

“We were left as abandoned children,” says Jenny. “We didn’t have anyone to talk to, anyone to advise us or look out for us. So we took to the streets – to drugs, to vices, just trying to live.”

Jenny and Richard met on the streets aged 14, but it wasn’t until many years later that they met again and fell in love. Life was a little better together, but they were still on the streets, still living in poverty and still battling addiction. They knew something had to change.

Life with Jesus

Richard enrolled at a Christian rehab centre, and it wasn’t long before Jenny joined him. From there, they joined a church. Their encounters with Jesus during this time were overwhelming; Jenny has tears in her eyes as she describes the love and hope they found in God.

“Honestly, given the life I led, I felt I didn’t deserve it,” says Jenny. “But God has been so good; he showed me mercy. he reached out and rescued me…. For those who come in repentance, he grants freedom, courage and the fullness of his love and wisdom.” Their faith hasn’t made everything easy for Jenny and Richard – things can still be hard – but it has changed their lives.

Microfinance, macro impact

During their recovery, Jenny and Richard talked often of hopes and plans. They dreamed of running a business – a public toilet, which are often privately owned and run in Bolivia, something that would be useful to the community as well as provide income. They had ideas, passion and motivation, but they lacked the money and skills to get started.

Jenny and Richard spoke with their church pastor, David, who introduced them to CMS partners Andrew and Lisa Peart. And their ideas started to take flight.

Through their microfinance work, Andrew and Lisa provided Jenny and Richard with the mentorship and funding to get their business off the ground. On a practical level, microfinance provides support for ventures. But on a spiritual level, it’s much more. “The word finance is kind of misleading, because it’s not just about money!” says Andrew. “It’s an investment in families, and discipleship,” says Lisa. “And then how that discipleship in families goes out to the community.” They’ve enabled six new businesses to launch so far, including Jenny and Richard’s.

“We never imagined this”

Eight years on, not only is the toilet business flourishing, but a whole kingdom community is growing up around it!

“We’d never imagined we’d have anything like this,” says Jenny. “We run this public toilet, and sell ice, charcoal [and more]. In addition, we host a Bible study and prepare lunches at the end of each month to share a meal and spend time with the people who come here.”

Up to 15 people come to the Bible study in the toilet block every week. “Most people think a Bible study would be in a church or at least in somebody’s house,” says Andrew, who, along with Lisa, still works closely with Jenny and Richard. “They have, like, a central space, and people are coming through to go to the bathroom… and they look at us and are thinking, ‘What are these people doing?’!”

The community lunches happen monthly. A whole team gathers with Jenny and Richard to cook a delicious hot meal for the people who come. The lunches are packed out, with around 100 people each time. Not only is there food, but there’s worship, prayer and time for a talk or testimonies.

Finding community, finding God

The people who come to the Bible studies and lunches have difficult lives. Most grew up on the streets, with few opportunities to progress in life, and have battled addiction from a young age.

“There is great danger here,” says Jenny. “People cut each other, fight and even kill one another. The people feel… scorned. They feel lonely, abandoned, rejected….”

At the toilet block, they find community, acceptance and love. There’s physical help and spiritual support, and it means a lot. “I come here because we’re treated well, they look after us, are friends to us. It makes me feel close to God…”, says Walter, a regular at the lunches. Harold comes often, too: “I come here because I feel loved here, I’m with friends and I like to hear what’s being shared,” he says. “Hearing the Word of God here makes me feel less alone.”

“I see the hand of God in this now,” says Jenny. “I see his power – I see him. He is the One who makes that light shine through us.”

Together, with Jesus

Togetherness is an integral part of this ministry: Jenny and Richard, Andrew and Lisa, helpers like Rafaela. CMS and its supporters, too, are part of this work as we pursue Jesus and his heart for those on the edges of society.

“The difference that CMS makes in this work is, obviously, they enable us to be here…. But you know, the way that it’s done is: ‘we’re together’,” says Lisa. “So it’s about being together and being with Jesus. And then from there we all go out, and we serve and run.”

Jenny and Richard have a sustainable income now, they have hope, they have community. But they’re clear that the toilet block is about mission. And it’s about church.

“Honestly, my greatest desire was – and is – for us to share the Word,” says Jenny. “I have this deep longing in my heart – that what God has done in my life, he would also do in the lives of those who do not know him. I want this to become – well, I’d even call it a church, honestly.”

Only God would plant a church in a toilet. Join us as we follow wherever he leads. Please pray for this incredible work, and give today if you can.

Rafaela is one of a growing team of local cooks, carers, sharers and pray-ers who help make the toilet block ministry possible. Like Jenny and Richard, these helpers used to be on the streets themselves.

Rafaela comes to every event. She prays with, encourages and listens to people, and cares for their physical needs too – bandaging wounds, cleaning cuts, quite literally washing feet.

“I serve in this work… but I myself came from the same place,” says Rafaela. “I’m still in the process of rehabilitation and transformation, and now I’m helping others experience that too!”

Pastor David leads the local church. “If you can step back and see what’s going on, and how God is using people… who themselves have come from a background of alcoholism and life on the streets… it’s just amazing. I’m just amazed by what God has done and what he is doing through them.”

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Church was simply irrelevant to many people in Jane Robins’s Nottinghamshire village – yet last year 11 people were baptised and are now involved in God’s mission.

Here, Jane shares how, equipped by CMS training, she sees God at work and faith growing.

In my journey as a pioneer, I’ve learned that our skill is often our ability to adapt and make the most of what we have. I think of Moses in Exodus 4 – given a fearsome commission by God, he is anxious. God, who could have given him any miraculous help, simply asked Moses what he had in his hand: a staff. This provided the means to rescue a nation and perform signs and wonders in God’s name. The simplest thing, with God’s blessing, becomes a powerful force.

Unexpected direction

No one expected me to lead a church. Raised a Jehovah’s Witness, I spent 25 years away before personal trauma drew me to the Anglican church. Driven to active ministry, I became a licensed reader in 2014, breaking traditional moulds. In 2016, my diocese recommended I train with CMS as an ordained pioneer. Despite ordination no longer being possible under a new bishop, I found my home among fellow pioneers at CMS and persevered.

Frustrating beginnings

Full of enthusiasm after training, I began my ministry as a lay pioneer. I established a successful church plant in a social club in a nearby parish, but it was closed by a new incumbent and I was back to square one. I came back to working with what I had and began to think more about where people were, what was important to them and who were the “influencers” in my village of Ruddington.

I realised there wasn’t any animosity towards the church, simply a view that it was totally irrelevant. An affluent, leafy village full of amenities, little deprivation, with many valuable community groups; why would God need to be part of it?

From disinterest to dear friends

I became a parish councillor because that seemed an obvious way for me to pioneer God’s message by joining the influencers. Through this, church, council and the village partnership group have increasingly worked together for the good of the village. The church is now seen as “one of us”.

I believe success is more than numbers, but at the Christmas services last year, over 1,100 people came through the church doors, up from 300 two years ago. People see it as “us and ours”.

Andrew, the vicar of St Peter’s, Ruddington, is now referred to as “our Andrew” by people he meets, whether they have a faith or not. He regularly walks around the monthly village market, talking to people, listening to their stories. At a recent village event, thanks were given to “our dear friends at St Peter’s” – a massive shift from the disinterest a few years ago.

Planting again

With a hardworking team, I started and now lead a second church plant, Framework Church, which runs from a coffee shop. It is a relaxed and informal community, accessible to people moving on from the Alpha course, or who find church intimidating. It has seen as many as 40 people attending and continues to develop its own unique style: distinct from, yet part of, St Peter’s.

Although primarily a missional enterprise, we have found that discipleship among the leaders has grown too. We’re currently using [CMS Britain hub director] Jonny Baker’s book Fringe Dweller, and the whole team love exploring the pioneer thinking that formed so much of my equipping at CMS. Our incumbent has commented that this plant has been one of the greatest motivators of change and growth within the church.

Pioneering Alpha

You might think there is not much pioneering in running Alpha, but there can be! I follow my inclination to relax things: a welcome time, glass of wine and chat to start.

We allow room for where the discussion takes us. WhatsApp groups for each course have been transformational to form relationships on this road people travel together. Last year saw 11 adult baptisms following the course, with everyone now involved regularly in mission.

Two of those baptised are prison wardens, working in one of the toughest prisons in the region. One has established a weekly prayer group at the prison, which currently has about 20 members including both staff and inmates.

The other warden looks after pregnant women prisoners and regularly speaks of her faith while offering comfort. God is alive and well in this prison!

Another baptism candidate came to faith after a 20-year gap. She had given up a baby for adoption in her youth and had carried guilt ever since, believing that Jesus could never forgive her. She is now truly free, experiencing a wonderful deliverance from her guilt during the Alpha Holy Spirit day, realising how truly loved she is. She certainly is a new creation.

This year sees us planning something totally new for our church – Family Alpha. Last year, three people were unable to finish the course because of childcare issues, so I thought, why don’t we make a course for them? We are now well into planning a multi-generational approach that caters for every age, with pizza, kids’ activities and teaching for the whole family, with over 30 people signed up.

Family pioneering

One of the most unexpected results from Alpha involved my youngest daughter, Liz. She was scathing that her mum had become a “Jesus nut”, had trained to become a pioneer (whatever that means!) and was now running Alpha. Liz decided to see who was brainwashing her mum, so signed up to show these people just how false it all was.

On week one, Liz was bowled over by the food. Then after the discussion, a voice I could not believe belonged to my daughter suddenly poured forth her worries about my granddaughter. A team member suggested we pray for her. Instead of “not likely” there was a heartfelt “yes please”. She was completely overcome by the Holy Spirit, in floods of tears and joined in the discussion later about God as if he was the best friend she had known for years. The story doesn’t end there: Liz is now a vicar running a benefice of six churches and, I suspect, a fledgling pioneer herself!

A long road

It’s taken me over 10 years to get the pioneer message into mainstream thinking in my church context – this is a journey for the long haul, and I have learned not to give up, to believe in the impossible, listen to God and wait for his timing. Key to building bridges with the rest of my church and community has been finding the language they speak and learning to talk in ways they understand. Now, both my vicar and an 83-year-old ministry colleague enthuse about the pioneer thinking in Jonny Baker’s book Fringe Dweller – and we’re all finding life at the edges.

Take part

Are you passionate about discovering creative ways to share the hope of Jesus? Find out more about CMS Pioneer Mission Training:

CMS Pioneer Mission Training

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Earlier this year, as airstrikes and escalating violence turned lives upside down across southern Lebanon, our local partners were thrust into navigating personal grief alongside widespread destruction. 

Yet, as Jad,* a Church Mission Society (CMS) team member from Beirut, shared during the height of the crisis: “As Christians in Lebanon, we feel we must respond – and we are responding.”

Because of your extraordinary generosity and faithful prayers during our summer appeal, local leaders did not have to respond alone.

We are deeply grateful to share that together, we have reached our goal of raising enough money to provide life-saving relief and trauma support to 1,000 displaced families.

More than food

Your gifts have directly supplied urgent practical relief, including emergency food parcels, blankets, essential medicines and hygiene supplies. But as our partners on the ground frequently remind us, physical supplies are only part of the story:

“We don’t just need food – we need peace inside.”

Beyond emergency provisions, adults and children are receiving ongoing emotional care, spiritual comfort and trauma support. Through these personal encounters, displaced families are experiencing the peace and hope of Jesus. Here are three stories that illustrate the impact of your partnership:

Nour’s story: “our lives still mattered”

When relentless shelling hit her neighborhood, Nour* and her family crowded onto a single motorbike in the middle of the night to escape. In the chaos, they were struck by a car – a collision they miraculously survived – before taking shelter in a makeshift tent.

When our local team visited them, they brought they brought practical supplies, yet it was their presence that the biggest impact on Nour:

“Before the food parcel reached our hands, their care reached our hearts. The assistance met an urgent need, but their presence restored something war had tried to take from us: the assurance that our lives still mattered and that we were not alone.”

Easing a family’s fear

Fleeing the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight as bombs fell nearby, another family left behind everything they owned, quickly running out of basic supplies and food. In the midst of uncertainty, local partners stepped in – and stayed with them:

“The team did more than deliver food parcels and leave; they stood beside us and reminded us that we had not been forgotten. The assistance eased our hunger, but their presence also eased the fear and loneliness of displacement.”

Rania’s story: hope rising from rubble

For Rania,* the reality of war struck without warning. As her family gathered inside their home to hastily pack a few belongings, an airstrike destroyed the house, burying everyone beneath the rubble. Rania shielded her two-month-old granddaughter in her arms. Though Rania was eventually pulled alive from the collapse, her hand was badly crushed – and tragically, her granddaughter did not survive.

Multiple surgeries reconstructed Abeer’s hand, but she carried deep emotional and spiritual wounds. In the months that followed, our partners connected with Rania for prayer and trauma support helped her process her profound grief. Through spiritual care and devotional literature provided by our partners, a message reached her wounded heart: “We can trust God with the unknown.”

“The rubble was still part of my story – but it was no longer the end of my story.”

Today, Rania says she feels an inner renewal. While her pain is not forgotten, despair has given way to genuine peace and restored hope.

Standing together between gratitude and grief

Living between deep gratitude for survival and grief over immense loss, local Christians in Lebanon continue to serve on the front lines as a vital lifeline to their communities. 

Your kindness has sent a clear signal to our Lebanese brothers and sisters: the global body of Christ stands firmly by their side.

On behalf of our regional team, our courageously faithful partners and the families whose lives you are touching: thank you for showing God’s love in Lebanon.

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God is using the church in DR Congo to bring healing, reconciliation and lasting transformation to wounded communities. 

For over three decades, the district of Kibumba in the eastern DR Congo has been severely affected by armed conflict, forced displacement and deep trauma. Yet amid the shadows of war, a movement of spiritual restoration and practical aid is proving that fear will not have the final word. At the heart of this renewal is Rev Innocent Kwitonda and the ministry of St John’s Church, Buvira, where he is vicar.

Conversion and calling 

Rev Innocent’s commitment to the people of the Kibumba district comes from an intimate understanding of their pain. When he was just two years old, his father – a church pastor – was kidnapped during an outbreak of local violence. His family never recovered the body, and looters stripped their home of almost everything they owned.

By age nine, Innocent faced another crisis when he was sent home from school because his family could not afford the school fees.

“When I arrived home my mother was sick, I went into her room and I found an old Bible that my father used in his ministry,” Innocent recalls. “There and then, I made a personal oath with God: ‘Lord Jesus Christ… help me to study and when I grow up I will serve you faithfully and proclaim you in all nations.'”

The next day, God performed a miracle and a woman provided the money for his school fees. That answer to prayer sparked a lifelong calling. Innocent rose through Sunday school volunteering and leadership to graduate with distinction from the Lake Kivu Christian Centre. Since then, he has trained nearly 2,000 lay pastors across North Kivu, led 25 Portable Bible Schools and helped to plant six new churches. 

A church for others

For more than 30 years the population of the Kibumba region, north of DR Congo’s capital city Goma, have lived in a state of displacement, seeking refuge in Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps around Goma. “I was born in this area, and my life story is closely connected to the suffering and resilience of its people,” says Innocent. 

In response to this prolonged humanitarian crisis, St John’s Buvira chose to embody a church that walks alongside the suffering people. As thousands fled their homes, St John’s transformed into a sanctuary, welcoming war-displaced households and providing clean water, temporary shelter and essential supplies.

For Innocent, practical aid and the gospel are inseparable. The parish did not just offer physical relief; it offered spiritual hope to families who had lost everything. He quotes the teachings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who describes a ‘Church for others,’ insisting that “the Church is only the Church when it exists for others.” 

Three new churches

After the M23 had taken Goma, a period of comparative peace allowed displaced families to return home and the community of Kibumba issued a plea to the parish of Buvira. Acknowledging how the church had stood by them during their suffering, residents asked for a permanent church presence to help them rebuild their lives, teach resilience and heal from war.

Since 2025, St John’s has planted three new churches in Kibumba that are growing steadily in both spiritual depth and community impact. These churches emphasise resilience, love, reconciliation and holistic ministry through their work in the communities around them.   

Women who suffered sexual violence and harassment are gradually rediscovering hope and dignity through biblical teaching, pastoral care and supportive fellowship. Children, who are especially vulnerable to the psychological effects of war, participate in trauma-healing sessions, educational activities and structured play that contribute to their emotional restoration.

Now studying for an MA in African Christianity with CMS while serving as the vicar of St John’s, Rev Innocent remains grounded in his core mission.

“Through all these experiences, we firmly believe that the Lord alone is the healer of broken souls,” says Innocent. “He heals the broken-hearted, and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3) and the Church remains his chosen instrument to bring healing, reconciliation and lasting transformation to wounded communities.”

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Could you sit in a church pew next to someone who had robbed you? Could you worship alongside a member of a community that, for years, had been locked in a deadly conflict with yours?

In Turalei, northern South Sudan, a bustling town of around 100,000 people, a newly planted church is answering that question every week.

On Sunday mornings, the congregation is made up of both Dinka and Nuer believers. They come from opposite sides of an ongoing violent conflict but share the same service. Afterwards, children play together outside while the adults sit in the shade, eating together and talking.

A few years ago, people on both sides of the dispute would have called this impossible. So, how did it happen? Their explanation is clear: “God has done this.”

The border dispute

The conflict between the Dinka and Nuer communities in this border region began in 2017. While rooted in historical disputes over grazing lands and water sources – realities increasingly under pressure due to changing climate patterns – the tension has been compounded by local political and economic factors.

People from the Dinka and Nuer tribes could tell you many stories about how the long-standing conflict and years of cattle raiding has displaced families, disrupted trade and cost hundreds of lives.

One of the more recent incidents took place in late 2023, when under the cover of darkness, four young Dinka men crossed the border into Nuer territory. Local residents caught the young men in the act of attempting a cattle raid, and a skirmish broke out. Two of the Dinka men were killed. The remaining two fled, seeking refuge with Garang Turoah, a respected spiritual leader among the Nuer community. In line with Nuer tradition, Garang granted them sanctuary. Their lives were spared, but the Nuer community held them indefinitely, refusing to let them return home.

Finding common ground on disputed land

Paul Lueth, a local church planter and theology lecturer, knows the weight of this longstanding division firsthand. A Dinka from Turalei, Paul and his wife Regina Atany (both working with CMS) have lived through the ongoing instability of the border conflict. With no clear path to resolution, Paul and other Christian leaders on both sides recognised that if things were going to change, the two communities needed to start talking.

Paul worked with church leaders from both sides to host an initial meeting in early 2024, hoping a shared Christian faith could help the groups move towards reconciliation. Leaders from both tribes – including Garang Turoah – sat down together.

They started their gathering with prayer and worship, before launching into a discussion about how to peacefully share the disputed grazing land. They were surprised to find that their shared faith gave them common ground and helped them move forward. As one of them put it during that first meeting, “What is this Jesus, that we are able to speak to each other beyond tribes?”

Following this, the Nuer leaders made a formal gesture of reconciliation: they released the two young Dinka would-be cattle raiders they had been holding for several months.

Sustaining the peace

To build on this initial breakthrough, Paul, Regina and other local Christian leaders have spent the last two years running joint training sessions for both Dinka and Nuer believers.

Because traditional church buildings are scarce and often targeted for destruction during border raids, Paul has focused on training both Nuer and Dinka women to lead house churches. The teaching reinforces that the church is a community of people rather than a physical structure, transcending tribal identities.

At the same time, Regina Atany has been hosting savings and microfinance groups where people from both tribes sit side-by-side to learn and work together to build financial stability for their families. Regina also uses these gatherings to run a discipleship framework called Disciple-Making-Disciples, equipping women to share these peacebuilding tools across the border with neighbouring communities.

The ultimate result of this quiet, relational work is the new congregation in Turalei. What began in late 2025 as a small group of Dinka and Nuer pioneers has now grown into a steady, weekly community of over 450 people and counting, where former enemies are choosing to build a peaceful future together.

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In a modest neighbourhood in South Asia lived a young family: S and V and their two children. To many people, they looked like a happy family.

But this “happy” family was not happy at all. S and her husband V fought every day.

Beneath the surface of all the arguing lay a wound that had never been addressed: S had been unfaithful. Her affair had caused a kind of damage that couldn’t just be swept under the rug. But even so, S’s affair quietly continued. Much of the fighting happened in front of the children, and it was bad enough that the police were called almost every week. But no one could see a way out – this was a household in gridlock.

Finding new hope through new friends

Even though S and V couldn’t see a way forward, everything was about to change. They had a neighbour called Sister Nitu. Sister Nitu was a Christian and belonged to a church planted and led by Asia-CMS partners Deepak and Kareena. As well as sharing the gospel and building a Jesus-centred community, Deepak and Kareena support local families through an after-school education programme designed to help children improve their future prospects.

Sister Nitu had been praying for this family, and soon enough, she invited S to her church and began sharing the good news of Christ with her. S didn’t come every week at first, but the team at church were determined to support her and share God’s love with her. They sat with her in her home, opened the Scriptures with her, listened to her pain and prayed for her family. Her new friends didn’t share Jesus’ love with S as an abstract concept – she saw it and felt it in action.

Suddenly, V became very ill. People from Sister Nitu’s church visited him in hospital and he shared openly about the years of struggle, about the betrayal, about the weariness that had settled deep in his bones. As the team listened, V’s heart began to soften. As the team grew closer to both S and V, they began a careful process of counselling. They taught about the sanctity of marriage – how God designed it to be a covenant, not a contract. They unpacked the vows: what faithfulness truly means, to God and to each other. For S, much of this was entirely new. No one had ever explained the meaning of the promises she had made.

A big surprise

In the midst of this season of counselling and fragile hope, S became pregnant. This should have made her happy, but all she felt was despair. She had helped create a world of fighting, instability and shame. How could she bring a baby into all this? Surely she couldn’t keep this baby.

She confided in her new friends from church, who spoke gently about the sacred value of the life growing within her. They prayed. They wept with her. And by the grace of God, S decided to keep the baby.

Several months later, a healthy, bright-eyed baby boy was born. Today, he is an active toddler, always smiling, a living testimony that God can redeem any situation.

Starting something new on a solid foundation

Earlier this year, S and V took the most significant step of their lives together — they were baptised. Standing in the water as a couple, publicly declaring their faith in Jesus Christ, they buried their old life and started something new.

Today, their home is completely different – it is a place of peace. Their neighbours can see it, and are curious about what could have caused such a transformation.

S, who once spent her days in bitterness and strife, now lives a life of peace and takes her Bible to work with her every day. In her work as a nanny, she shares the gospel – not just with words, but through living a changed life. New people have come to church because of her testimony. V has found stability in his work, selling toys to provide for his family. Their two elder children attend Deepak and Kareena’s after-school programme, where they receive an education and the love of a caring community. And little Ashish – that smiling, energetic boy who almost wasn’t born – is a daily reminder of what God can do when a family surrenders to him.

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In a devastated Lebanon, our partners are reaching out to people who have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

In a school courtyard in Beirut, now serving as a temporary shelter, a staff member with Church Mission Society’s local partner, Together Network, was distributing freshly prepared meals to families who had recently arrived with nothing. Samia noticed an older woman sitting quietly with her children, having fled the heavy bombardments in the south of Lebanon just days earlier. When Samia handed her a simple sandwich, the woman’s face broke into an expression of such intense, tearful relief that it stayed with the team long after the crowds had thinned.

Reflecting on that encounter, Samia said: “I never expected to see someone so excited to receive a sandwich.”

That moment illustrates the daily reality across Lebanon today, where the basic certainties of human dignity – a safe room, a hot meal, a moment of security – have become rare treasures. Yet, in the middle of widespread devastation, local Christians are putting their faith into action. Though many have suffered great losses themselves, they are choosing to stand on the frontlines of relief, offering practical comfort and a steady, reassuring presence. Their efforts are leading many people to curiosity about Jesus.

Crisis upon crisis

The violence that erupted between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah in late February 2026 has shattered what little stability remained in the country. Intense airstrikes and sudden military operations have forced more than 1.4 million people – over a fifth of Lebanon’s population – to run for relative safety. Families are seeking shelter wherever space can be found: in overcrowded classrooms, church basements, temporary community centres; some have even been sleeping under highway bridges.

To understand the true weight of this moment, it is necessary to realise that this conflict did not hit a stable society. It collided with a nation already exhausted by a severe, ongoing economic collapse that began in 2019, which had already wiped out life savings, destroyed local livelihoods and left public infrastructure threadbare. Combined with the lingering trauma of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, ordinary families possessed little safety net left when the first bombs fell this spring.

Now, those who have been displaced face total uncertainty. Even during fragile, temporary ceasefires, the relief has been short-lived; many who attempt to return to check on their villages find only fields of rubble where their neighbourhoods used to be. The sense of loss is consuming, leaving people to live day by day. “We have no idea what tomorrow will bring,” people have said to CMS partners.

Between gratitude and grief

“We are living between gratitude and grief,” shared a member of the Together Network team, describing the collective psychological landscape. “Grateful to be alive, but grief because of the deep loss all around us.”

The psychological pressure on ordinary citizens has been relentless. The constant, ominous buzz of surveillance drones and the sudden wail of sirens have kept families in a state of perpetual anxiety. Ceasefires have at times reduced some of the immediate outward danger, but done little to ease the deep trauma carried inside.

Many of the Together Network team in Lebanon – who are believers from Muslim backgrounds and refugees who fled Syria – have lost their homes or loved ones too.

Yet, rather than paralysing their efforts, this heartbreak has focused the team’s sense of mission. They are working with an acute awareness of the uncertainty of tomorrow.

Knowing that any conversation could be their last opportunity to offer comfort, team members have become entirely dedicated to sharing the full message of God’s love and hope with those around them, refusing to let fear silence their witness.

This faithfulness was vivid in an account shared by team member Alia. She recently spent time sitting with a woman who had survived what locals call “Black Wednesday” – an intense Israeli airstrike that killed 20 of her immediate neighbours in a single instant.

The trauma and guilt of being the one left alive was a crushing weight. Instead of offering easy, superficial platitudes, Alia listened to her grief and gently shared the love and hope of Jesus.

A radical presence in a divided land

In Lebanon, though Christians are technically a minority (making up roughly 32–35 per cent of the population), Christianity is not a hidden faith. It is an integral part of the nation’s history, culture and infrastructure: Lebanon is home to numerous visible churches, schools and universities. Christians’ steady, loving witness is manifesting in remarkable ways across a complex and fractured social landscape.

The volume of displaced people has strained Lebanon’s delicate sectarian lines. In some areas, local communities and hotels have felt compelled to restrict who can enter temporary shelters, driven by security concerns that hosting certain groups might make civilian buildings a military target. At the same time, vulnerable populations, such as Syrian refugees, frequently face prejudice and isolation as they look for safety.

In stark contrast to these divisions, the local Christian community has modelled a deliberate choice to serve all people, regardless of their background, with radical compassion. Local churches and Christian institutions have opened their doors to host dozens of displaced families, providing warm rooms, safety and hot meals every day.

Pastor S, a local partner working with Syrian refugees, described how this crisis has deepened their ministry focus: “This kind of crisis pushed us to depend on God, to go out to the streets and share with the people, eye to eye.”

Long-term lifelines

To sustain this critical work, CMS has launched a Summer Appeal. The immediate goal is to provide vital practical relief to 1,000 displaced families, approximately 4,000 to 5,000 vulnerable individuals who have lost their homes or loved ones. This will take the form of:

• Food assistance parcels: essential staples such as rice, sugar, beans, pasta, cooking oil and milk, ensuring a displaced family has enough to eat for an entire month.
• Hygiene kits: daily necessities, blankets, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste and essential sanitary items to help maintain health and dignity in crowded environments.
• Children’s support boxes: designed for the youngest victims of the conflict, these boxes contain nutritious snacks, crayons, colouring books, simple educational materials and small toys to provide a small patch of joy and normality, which is hugely important in times like this.
• Trauma and emotional support: supporting trained local volunteers and church teams as they organise children’s activities, parental support groups and trauma conversations, offering spiritual encouragement to families contending with deep emotional scars.

Sharing in prayer

As local believers navigate this fragile reality, they are anchoring themselves in Scripture. Churches and discipleship groups across the country are finding comfort in Isaiah 41:10: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

The road to recovery and rebuilding in Lebanon will be long and difficult. Lebanese brothers and sisters are asking the body of Christ to pray for peace, justice and for more people to trust in Jesus amid destruction and devastation.

“The things people once trusted in have proved to be so fragile,” said one local partner. “But Jesus never leaves us. This is the message we want to share in word and action right now.”

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A unique theology training centre is equipping a new generation of leaders to transform Latin American communities.

Today, many indigenous people in Latin America are pushed to the edges of society, facing severe poverty and neglect.

Within this landscape, the local church faces a tough challenge to mentor young leaders who can navigate the pressures of the modern world without losing their cultural roots. This is where CMS comes in: helping provide the vital training and support these communities are asking for. Investing in indigenous leaders is crucial to the future of the church and the future of mission.

A journey of faith

Iliana left her community for the first time to study at CeFA (Centro de Formación Anglicano), a CMS-supported training centre for indigenous mission leaders.

The physical distances students must travel to reach CeFA are vast. Individuals journey from different provinces across Chaco, Formosa and Salta, representing the Wichí, Toba and Chorote communities. Because public transportation is non-existent in these remote areas, the logistics are a major challenge; the centre actually hires local pickup trucks to act as taxis just to get students to class.

Geographical distance is only the first hurdle. At the centre, students face the challenge of learning alongside peers from different indigenous languages and backgrounds. But instead of geography dividing people, students unite over their shared faith and goal to help more people learn about Jesus.

“I was 19 years old when I started,” Iliana reflects. “And although it was my first time away from my family and my community, God showed me from the beginning that I was not alone.

Inspired by my father’s example of service, I clearly felt the calling to prepare myself to better serve in God’s work.”

Head, hands and heart

CeFA offers theological and pastoral training contextualised to the unique needs of indigenous communities. The goal is two-fold: to provide students with solid biblical knowledge, and to create a nurturing space where they can develop Christlike character and explore their unique gifts.

To create well-rounded leaders, the curriculum is delivered in three distinct streams:

The academic programme includes a Bible overview, church history, creation care, safeguarding, Christian living and studies on Ephesians and Isaiah.

Afternoons focus on practical subjects such as understanding the spiritual world and the life of Christ. At weekends, students put their skills to use serving in local Anglican congregations.

Each day begins with collective devotions. Character is also formed through the daily routine, with rotating work groups responsible for meals, cleaning and maintenance.

This holistic environment offered Etelvina, a young Toba woman, something far deeper than a qualification.

“Coming to CeFA was a surprise for me and a clear sign from God, because I never imagined that someone would invite me, coming from such a remote place,” Etelvina says. “I arrived with doubts and wounds, but God began to heal me and strengthen my faith. Through the classes, community life and daily service, I grew and came to understand that God uses every situation to shape us. I now desire to share what God has done in me, serving others and being an instrument of his love.”

A growing global movement

Beyond the walls of the CeFA centre, the work of indigenous mission training continues to grow as CMS partners answer the call from indigenous communities asking for theological preparation and support. Today, partners are seeing the fruit of that vital investment:

We celebrate with students who are leading in their churches, strengthening theological teaching and pastoral care as they lead a missional movement.

CeFA graduates from different ethnic groups are transforming their communities, utilising training in communication to strengthen local initiatives.

Elsewhere in the region, in the Paraguayan Chaco, we are supporting local ethnic groups with practical tools, including an electricity course that offers vital new development and employment opportunities in remote locations.

In Paraguay and Argentina more than 500 indigenous adults and youth have completed discipleship courses (many translated into the Wichí language), strengthening and growing a culturally rooted faith.

Planting seeds for the future

By the time Iliana graduated at the end of 2025, her vision had grown and her confidence to teach her faith had strengthened. This internal shift will now benefit an entire people group.

“As the only Chorote student, I am very proud to represent my people,” Iliana says. “This journey is not only mine, but an expression of the faith and hope of my whole community.”

Today, Iliana’s deepest desire is to encourage other young people to study God’s Word. With the skills she has learnt at CeFA, she will inspire the next generation of indigenous leaders to respond to God’s call to mission in Latin America.

Pray together

Thank you God for brave young people like Iliana and Etelvina who are answering your missional call to lead in their communities. We pray for the students and teachers at CeFA as they pursue your heart for mission in Latin America. Amen

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In the heart of a slum community in Bangkok, mission partners Elise and Jon are walking alongside families to break the cycles of poverty, proving that those pushed to the margins are at the very centre of God’s story.

by Elise and Jon Fletcher in Thailand

We have been living in Khlong Toei, Bangkok’s biggest slum community, since 2014. Living alongside people like Praew,* we help to run the Keeping Families Together (KFT) programme – an 18-month programme designed to strengthen families to prevent separation. We support families with income generation training, education opportunities and health access, helping adults to improve the lives of children in their care. 

Praew, 48, moved to the slum community one year ago when her husband died of a stroke and she was unable to pay rent and provide for her 12-year-old daughter. The only option was to move in with her adult daughter and family who rent a single room. Praew quickly found herself caring for three grandchildren whilst suffering from chronic ill health. The only income in the home was from selling drugs and life was highly chaotic.

When our KFT caseworker first visited, Praew was feeling overwhelmed. None of the grandchildren were attending school and the bureaucracy involved in arranging a school transfer for her daughter was too much. We were able to negotiate with the local Catholic school to waive fees and accept all four children immediately. With weekly home visiting, we’ve slowly seen Praew come out of her shell. She’s been able to articulate some dreams and commit to working towards small goals.

Families join the KFT programme for a period of 18 months. Every situation is different but the families are supported to do their own work to improve long term outcomes for their children. Progress is often slow but support from caseworkers and peers can make all the difference. We cover nine modules, the first focuses on the importance of attachment and belonging. Soon we will move to a module on ‘child protection’; knowing the risks and how to guard against abuse is crucial. Most adult participants carry their own trauma related to abuse, so breaking the cycle is key. 

We alternate between monthly training days and family fun days – we recently went to the beach! For many of the kids, it was their first experience of the sea. It was a privilege to see families enjoying time together in nature, away from daily concerns. Playing, eating yummy food and swimming in crystal clear water.

Change doesn’t happen overnight

The children in Praew’s care are now attending school irregularly and their KFT caseworker is working closely with them to incentivise attendance and change habits. There are many pressures working against the very poorest families. Even in slum communities, hierarchy pushes people to the edges. 

In a few months, the KFT families will learn to track income and outgoings. They will work on business and debt repayment plans, and will receive income generation grants to begin working towards financial stability. Praew is a good cook and she hopes to set up a food stall outside her house. It is easy to recognise the image of God in Praew as she comforts a child or sweeps the small home. Our prayer is that she comes to recognise this innate worth in herself and impart that to her family and wider community. 

God at the edges 

Our God consistently upholds the cause of the marginalised, even entering into the physical life of the poor through the person of Jesus Christ. Those seemingly pushed to the edges are actually at the centre of God’s story. As Gustavo Gutiérrez writes, “the preferential option for the poor is not optional; it is rooted in God’s gratuitous love.” That Praew is blessed and bears God’s favour, is a truth that stands regardless of her own profession of faith. 

We hope that one day she will know Jesus as friend and liberator but for now, God is here in the joys and the sorrows, the crowding and the daily injustices of slum life. God does not turn his face from human sin and suffering waiting for us to change, but dwells in our midst – Emmanuel, God with us.

*Name changed to protect privacy

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Where the church is small and under pressure, CMS partners are helping to design relevant training for church leaders who have never been able to access it before.

By Chris and Suzy Wilson who have served with CMS for 10 years in Ethiopia

“When I came here, it was not clear to me that Jesus is my God. But I understand that he’s the one who brought me from darkness to light.”

These are the words of an Ethiopian man, a refugee who is from an ethnic minority group, after being given the opportunity to take part in intensive theology training. His quote shows the difference that this kind of training can make for people who have the potential to become Christian leaders, but who have had their lives upended by violent conflict.

Learning, interrupted

Ethiopia hosts one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. In the western areas of the country, refugee camps accommodate women, men and families displaced by conflict from South Sudan, Sudan, the Great Lakes region and beyond.

Remarkably, churches have rapidly emerged and grown within these camps, yet they face many challenges, as many of these refugees originate from contexts where access to theological education and leadership training has been severely limited and/or suddenly disrupted. 

Faith growing in fragile contexts

This rapid expansion of the church in refugee settings is not new in the church’s history. Time and again, Christian faith has taken root and flourished through persecution, migration and displacement. The book of Acts recounts how, following Stephen’s martyrdom and the scattering of believers, the gospel spread from Jerusalem throughout the Roman Empire. Church history demonstrates how God often works through displacement: Christianity took hold in Ethiopia through Frumentius’ shipwreck, in Ireland through Patrick’s kidnapping and in Georgia through Nino’s captivity.

Even today, God continues to work powerfully in disrupted and fragile contexts, as evidenced by the rapid growth of Christianity among South Sudanese refugee populations over the past 50 years.

As churches expand in refugee camps and many people spend several decades there, a clear need has arisen for theological training that is faithful, accessible and contextually grounded. Additionally, since many refugee camps are geographically remote and language barriers are significant, local Ethiopian churches have limited capacity to invest in these refugee congregations. Therefore, there is a genuine need for theological educators with strong English or Arabic skills (languages commonly spoken) who can collaborate with church leaders from refugee communities.

Responding to refugees

After we returned to Ethiopia following COVID-19, Chris taught at St Frumentius’ Seminary in Gambella to help students catch up on classes they had missed during the lockdown. Due to conflict and instability, several refugees were unable to travel to Gambella, so Chris made two teaching trips to deliver these classes in a refugee camp. While there, many church leaders requested that he return to provide training to help them with their preaching.

Since 2022, we’ve been responding to this request. Over many trips, conversations and thinking on the go, we’ve designed a course for preachers in refugee camps with no prior theological training. The course integrates biblical studies, Christian doctrine, homiletics and discipleship, all delivered with space for discussion and reflection on their relevance to camp life.

During this period, we have run this course for leaders from more than 10 ethnic groups across several refugee camps in western Ethiopia. God has blessed us with a small but great teaching team, including both international and local theological educators. In particular, we’ve been working closely with a man who was one of Chris’s students in Gambella, and it’s been a profound encouragement to see him develop as he has served as a course coordinator, translator, and, more recently, a co-teacher. He’s been invaluable both in helping us develop the course and in delivering it to church leaders in their mother tongue.

Transformation through training

In January 2026, we conducted a new initiative. With generous support from SIM Ethiopia and one of our link churches in the UK, we organised two weeks’ intensive training for a group of leaders from a small ethnic group that has only five Christian churches. God truly blessed this effort, with both instructors and trainees noticing a marked improvement in the quality of preaching. One of the instructors, Dr Simon Harrison, said, “It was amazing to see the clear impact of the training on the participants over the two weeks. Some went from never having preached before and being unsure of the gospel and who Christ is, to being able to preach a Christ-centred sermon that clearly presented the gospel.”

At the end of the training, interviews with the trainees reflected a similar story. One trainee said, “I learned so many things in that training – one of them is I found out Jesus is my Saviour. The second thing is – when I came here, it was not clear to me that Jesus is my God. But I understand that he’s the one who brought me from darkness to light.” Another added, “When I came from there, I didn’t know how to preach at all, but now I have learned to preach.”

It was a real joy to spend time with and invest in young leaders from a community where following Jesus is fraught with difficulties. Given the very positive response to this training, we hope to run more intensive training courses for leaders in places where the church is small and under pressure.

Pray together

Please join us in praying for our brothers and sisters who are displaced, for refugees leading church communities in extremely challenging situations and for wisdom for our team as we partner with them.

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Based in Southeast Asia, co-mission partner Patrick* works with a local institute that provides training for local mission workers and rural church leaders on topics like discipleship, evangelism, and church planting.

by Asia-CMS

In 2025, Patrick worked with many inspiring individuals, including a woman named Pastor Grace.* She was sent to the institute Patrick works at to attend some training modules, which is how Patrick learnt about Grace’s testimony.

She first learned about Jesus at the age of seven from her grandfather. At 13, Grace was unfortunately hit by a car in an accident that witnesses said was un-survivable. Yet, she walked away with minor injuries, describing a man in a white robe protecting her.

Growing up in a remote, jungle village, Grace faced hardship. She dropped out of school at 14 to help her family farm rice and a few years later, she went to Malaysia to work as a housekeeper. Before leaving, she prayed specifically to be placed with a family of exactly four members.

“I had no control over the agency, but I had control over my prayer,” she shares.

Grace was assigned to a household of that exact number and miraculously, despite the agency she worked for trying to ban her Bible, the Christian family she was placed with intervened, allowing her to keep it!

She worked in Malaysia for several years, constantly growing her faith through reading and prayer. After a while, Grace felt the Lord telling her to return to her country for a new plan. She settled back in her village and attempted to work odd jobs wherever she could find them.

“For the next two years, Grace grew very unsure of her next move. She spent a lot of time questioning what God’s plan for her was and why she had to come back home,” shares Patrick.

It was only when Grace got involved with ministries at her small local church that she understood the reason for her return. She realised how deeply the people in her district needed Jesus and began praying that God would use her!

After spending many months serving among her local community, Grace’s superiors recognised her potential and sent her to Patrick’s training institute, so she would be better equipped to lead others who wanted to follow in her footsteps.

As of today, Grace is now a pastor who is training 25 leaders in her church. Together with her team, she travels to surrounding villages to evangelise and run programmes that benefit the children and youth of those areas.

*Names changed to protect privacy

Pray together

Asia-CMS ask our prayers for:

• safety and logistics for ministry travel and events – for leaders and trainers traveling long distances to training centres, especially given difficult or flooded road conditions
• protection and provision for trainers and leaders – for God’s protection and financial provision for the trainers and leaders who are serving voluntarily by faith with minimal stipends.
• effectiveness and impact of Patrick’s institute – that every training session will be conducted under the Lord’s authority and anointing, and that all current students will finish strong. Pray for God to send new students who have a passion and vision for missions.

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