Philippines: syntropic farming

Mission partners Eric and Sandra Read are leading the way in syntropic (regenerative and sustainable) farming, using their farm in the Philippines to demonstrate syntropic farming methods and encouraging people of all ages to care for creation.

Pray for a meeting taking place next month where local farmers will gather to discuss syntropic farming methods – pray for people to be engaged and to see the value of these methods.

Pray for a few farmers to come forward to train and work with Eric and Sandra. Please also pray for a swift and full recovery for Sandra, who injured her knee in March and has not fully recovered yet.

The post Philippines: syntropic farming appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

South Asia: theological education

Former mission partner F, who has spent many years teaching theology in South Asia, asks for prayer for preparations for upcoming training for theology students. Next month, around 90 theology students at various levels will attend a residential camp where three courses will be taught: Christian Family Life, Asian Church History and a new course called Biblical Mission. Pray for the students as they register and begin their course work this month and for the teachers/facilitators and Bible study leaders as they prepare. Especially pray for N, who still has to complete writing the final lessons of the mission course.

The post South Asia: theological education appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Asia: rooted in Christ, peace in transition

As persecution increases across the region, Asia-CMS ask for prayer for Christians to remain faithful and firmly rooted in Jesus. Pray also for partners who are in the process of relocating their families: for peace for each family during this time of upheaval, and for practicalities to fall into place as they step forward into what God has for them next.

The post Asia: rooted in Christ, peace in transition appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

India: Manipur conflict

Please pray for God’s comfort and peace for the families of three pastors who were killed recently on their way home from an inter-church peace conference. Pray for reconciliation among the communities involved in the conflict, which broke out in 2023. Pray for people’s hearts to be turned to peace and for an end to the conflict.

The post India: Manipur conflict appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

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

Stay connected

Want to hear more from Elise and Jon Fletcher about CMS’s work empowering people who have been pushed to the edges? You can sign up to get their latest updates sent straight to your inbox. 

Connect with the Fletchers

Related posts

Get our email updates:

SIGN UP

The post Breaking the cycle of poverty in Bangkok’s largest slum  appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Philippines: loss of homes in fire

Mission partner Tim Lee, working to help children and families living in poverty in Manila through Jigsaw Kids’ Ministries, asks for prayer for the 24 households who lost their homes in a recent fire in Quezon city where Jigsaw has served for many years. Please pray that their homes may be rebuilt, losses restored, and that they would find peace, security, and the love and strength of Jesus. Pray for all the children, young people and families connected with Jigsaw – that in the midst of challenges they would know Jesus as Lord and Saviour, and that many more people would come to faith through his love.

The post Philippines: loss of homes in fire appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Thailand: strengthening families

Please pray for mission partners Elise and Jon Fletcher, based in Bangkok and their involvement with the ‘ethical engagement campaign’, which educates international schools in Thailand on the harms of institutionalised care for children and encourages engagement with family strengthening work. Pray for a great turnout at the launch event on 22 May and for Jon as he coordinates the event. Pray that there will be a great interest and uptake from schools. 

Please also pray that Jon’s three-month visa, due for renewal this month, is approved.

The post Thailand: strengthening families appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Cambodia, Thailand: border dispute

Please pray for a resolution to the ongoing border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand. This week, Cambodia failed to open the Khlong Luek checkpoint as agreed, leaving 600 Thai nationals stranded on the Cambodian side of the border. Pray for an agreement to be reached so that these Thai nationals and others can return home and for the overall dispute to be resolved.

The post Cambodia, Thailand: border dispute appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Find out more about the stories mentioned in this month’s Hope from the Edges:

Be sure to receive Hope from the Edges every time!

GET OUR EMAIL UPDATES

More stories you may like:

Video transcript

Hello everyone and welcome to Hope from the Edges. I’m Andy Roberts, CEO for CMS.

In the next few minutes, we’ll bring you inspiring news from three edges in our world. Stories that you are making possible through your gifts and prayers.

First, we will go to South East Asia for the story of an inspiring woman who is reaching her village with the love of Jesus.

From there we’ll go to Paraguay. And celebrate one mission partner’s remarkable 44 years of service and a linguistic legacy that will live on for generations to come.

Finally, we’ll go to Tanzania and zoom in on places where it’s tough to be a Christian, and we’ll meet our newest mission partners who are preparing to serve there.

First, meet Grace, whose name we’ve changed for security reasons.

Grace grew up in a remote village in a jungle area of South East Asia. When she was seven years old, Grace’s grandfather told her about Jesus. At age 14, Grace left school to help her family farm rice. A few years later, she signed on with a housekeeping agency and went to Malaysia to work for a family there. Though the housekeeping agency tried to take Grace’s Bible away from her, the family she worked for fought for her to keep it.

Over the next few years, she grew in her faith, through praying and reading her precious Bible. After several years of working in Malaysia, Grace felt the Lord telling her to return to her country for something new.

Back in her village, she worked odd jobs for the next two years, and looked for God’s purpose in bringing her back home. Grace got involved in her local church, and she realised how deeply the people in her district needed Jesus. She began praying that God would use her.

In 2025, church leaders offered her training to help her become more effective in her ministry. This is how Grace met Patrick, whose name we’ve also changed for security reasons. Patrick is an Asia-CMS partner who works with a local institute, training local mission workers and rural church leaders in discipleship, evangelism, and church planting.

Following her training, Grace returned to her village. Today, Grace is a pastor and is training 25 leaders in her church for mission and ministry. She also travels to other villages to share the good news of Jesus and work with local children and young people.

God is using CMS partners in Asia to transform vast numbers of lives across the region.

Now let’s go to the Chaco region of Paraguay where mission partner Tim Curtis is now retiring after an amazing 44 years in mission among Indigenous peoples.

Tim has spent 44 years helping translate the Bible into the Énxet languages and supporting the Indigenous Énxet people to interact with God’s Word. Tim first went to Paraguay in the early 1980s, teaching at Indigenous and Government schools.

He soon became involved in Bible translation, supporting a team of three indigenous translators to revise the Southern Énxet New Testament and translate the Old Testament from scratch. After many years’ hard work, the full Southern Énxet Bible was launched in 2016. In Tim’s words, “from start to finish it was surprising, even miraculous, how different people from different organisations, churches and institutions came together for the translation.”

In the years that followed, Tim and others worked to help people engage with the word through producing an audio version of the Southern Énxet Bible and dubbing the Jesus film into the language.

A related language group, the Northern Enlhet, also needed help translating the Bible into their language. In 2018, Tim joined their Bible translation team part-time as a consultant and continues support them from the UK even now. Northern Enlhet speakers hope to celebrate the completion of the Bible in their language in the late 2020s.

We’re so thankful for Tim’s hard work and the invaluable linguistic legacy that will live on among Indigenous peoples in Paraguay, empowering them for generations to come.

Now it’s my great pleasure and privilege to introduce to you our newly selected mission partners, Dave and Tricia Rollett, preparing to swap their life in the East Midlands for East Africa.

We believe God is calling Dave and Tricia’s family to Tanzania to support Christians who are in a minority to grow in their faith and work together to be a loving witness to their neighbours of other faiths.

They are hoping to move to Zanzibar this August so that they can get stuck into discipleship, partnership building and more as quickly as possible. We have faith that God will provide the money for them to move in this short time frame.

Could God be calling you to support the mission work they’ll be involved in? Dave and Tricia are featured partners in CMS’s Global Edge Church programme. This means if you sign up to support them, you’ll also be supporting other mission partners and local partners who are quipping and encouraging where followers of Jesus are in a minority. Go to churchmissionsociety.org/rollett to find out more.

And be sure to check the Trek for Tanzania sponsored challenge Dave will be doing, walking the length of Zanzibar to raise support.

Lastly, May is our recruitment month. Could God be calling you to go to the edges with CMS globally or locally? Go to churchmissionsociety.org/serve to discover more about how you could go to the edges with CMS.

Well, thank you all for joining me for these stories from the edges and for your prayerful support which makes them possible.

Please share this video with your church, small group or anyone you think could use some fuel for their faith.

Until next time, we are so grateful for your gifts and prayers as together we go:

With Jesus
With each other
To the edges

ENDS

Be sure to receive Hope from the Edges every time!

GET OUR EMAIL UPDATES

The post Hope from the Edges May 2026 appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

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.

Related posts

Get our email updates:

SIGN UP

The post From cleaning homes to building churches appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

South East Asia: a particularly stressful time

Pray for peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) for A and L, CMS partners supporting people to live in freedom from addiction (A) and working with and for children with special educational needs (L). As L does her best to provide inclusive practices for a neurodivergent student amid hostility from other class parents and leaders, pray for God’s blessing on her efforts and for God to shield her and the student from negative attitudes. Pray for a full and uncomplicated recovery for A, who has shingles and has been in a lot of pain.

The post South East Asia: a particularly stressful time appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Thailand: coming to the end of service with CMS

Please pray for Jason and Tracy Day as they prepare to return to the UK from Chiang Mai and finish serving as CMS mission partners. Pray for good handover of jobs and ministries, for them to end well after many years working in Thailand and for them as they settle into life in the UK this summer.

The post Thailand: coming to the end of service with CMS appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).