Preparing to serve in Israel and Czech Republic: Kevin and Jennifer Cable, Petra and
New CMS mission partners will serve churches facing extraordinary challenges
Coronavirus and lockdowns aren’t keeping two new mission partner couples from taking up challenging placements with Church Mission Society (CMS).
Jennifer and Kevin Cable, and Lea and Petra Williams, were both selected for mission partner training with CMS as the world went into lockdown in March. They will begin training in January 2021.
Upon completion of training, the Cables will move to Israel and the Williamses to the Czech Republic – both couples will serve with churches in particularly challenging circumstances.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Patron of Church Mission Society, visits St Peter’s Church to hear about the plans for re-opening.
Kevin Cable, an ordained Anglican priest and former policeman, and his wife Jennifer, a trained nurse, will re-open the historic St Peter’s Anglican Church in Jaffa, whose doors have been shut since 1948. (Jaffa is the ancient Joppa, where St Peter received his vision while staying at the house of Simon the tanner – Acts.)
Dreams realised
The re-opening of St Peter’s is the realisation of a dream for Archbishop Suheil Dawani (whose father served at St Peter’s until its closure) and the Diocese of Jerusalem.
The Cables hope that reviving St Peter’s, which was damaged during the Arab–Israeli war of 1948, will “re-energise and encourage the Christian community in Jaffa and beyond.”
Lea and Petra Williams and their children will lead a small Anglican congregation in Brno in the Czech Republic.
Brno is a vibrant growing city, home to thousands of students and internationals. There are few English-speaking congregations, and according to recent Pew Research, the Czech Republic is the most secular nation in Eastern Europe.
Lea and Petra, who both speak Czech (Petra is from the Czech Republic), hope to create opportunities for Czech and English speakers to worship and explore faith together.
Side by side
Tanas Al Qassis, CMS’s regional manager for Europe, Middle East and North Africa, said, “The training and sending of mission partners to strategic places is an integral part of CMS’s DNA.
“We are grateful that despite current challenges facing our world, we can still send missionaries who will bring God’s love, serve side by side with local partners and provide practical support to communities facing hardship and uncertainty in these unprecedented times.”
Those interested in exploring mission service with CMS should visit churchmissionsociety.org/opportunities