Naomi Rose Steinberg, head of communications at CMS, finds out more about our new chair of trustees Jeremy Moodey.

Growing up in faith

Naomi: Can you tell me something about your faith story?

Jeremy: I was brought up as a Roman Catholic, and was baptised and confirmed. When I went to university I got involved in the Christian Union and I started going to a Church of England church and found that was probably much more my kind of happy space, so I could say I became an Anglican at university. There was no Damascus road experience – I was brought up in the faith and can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a faith.

Naomi: Do you have any favourite passages of Scripture?

Jeremy: There is a verse in John’s Gospel (John 12:24) about how a kernel of wheat, when it falls to the ground and dies, begins to produce growth. That has been quite a powerful verse in my life, as there have been moments of loss and death, but then there has been growth that follows. I think that sometimes needs to be a word for all of us. What is it in us, in our lives, that needs to die before God can do something new?

Naomi: Do you think that’s true for organisations as well?

Jeremy: It might be, yes. I took organisations like BibleLands as it was [now Embrace the Middle East] and then Sons and Friends of the Clergy [now Clergy Support Trust], where there were certain things that did need to die before there could be new growth and new flourishing. That was part of my role as CEO in those organisations.

Growing in experience

Naomi: Before you were a charity CEO, you worked as a diplomat. I would think diplomacy would be pretty good preparation for being a board chair?

Jeremy: Coming back to that verse from John’s Gospel, that something has to die before there’s new growth, we also take things from each stage of life.

Taking the experience of working in the Foreign Office, the interpersonal skills, which were helpful. In the City at Rothschild I had financial skills, which is good for any board. From my 12 years as a charity CEO, there are charity governance skills, management skills and HR skills. So I’m taking those collectively on to this next challenge.

Called to mission

Naomi: Why CMS? Being board chair is a big deal and big responsibility.

Jeremy: I’ve been on the other side of the table, as it were, as a charity CEO. I’ve worked with really good chairs and I’ve seen what works.

CMS is as good as it gets in terms of an opportunity. So I was really excited when the opportunity came, and delighted and honoured to be appointed.

Naomi: You’ve been a part of Anglican church circles, and now you are an ordained minister. What’s your perception of how big a priority mission seems to be, or what might be some misconceptions you think people might have about mission?

Jeremy: The church has to be about mission. We all have our marching orders with the Great Commission, whichever form it comes, whether in Matthew 28 or different versions in the other Gospels and in Acts.

I think the Church of England is particularly preoccupied at the moment with declining numbers, and how it can reverse that. To become a church that’s growing, that’s bolder, that is younger, in that sense it needs to reflect on how it goes about its mission, the different ways of doing it. But mission is also about just responding to the needs on our doorstep and I think social action, which of course is part of what CMS does, is also part of that. I think there needs to be a broad, holistic definition of mission that as much meets people’s needs as it talks about Jesus.

Naomi: And do you think a person sitting in church thinks about mission in that way, or do you think they think about mission at all?

Jeremy: I think a lot of churchgoers do think about mission, but it’s likely that they will have a fairly traditional view of mission and particularly of mission as sending people abroad.

It does include sending, but it also includes receiving, it includes working on our own doorstep, it includes empowering local Christians. That is all part of CMS’s strategy, but trying to encourage people to think about mission afresh is a big challenge.

Naomi: One of the things that we’ve been talking about more lately is what migration means for mission. Are there any other big global trends that you feel will be impactful on or overlap with our work?

Jeremy: Well, and this is linked to migration and population movements, one is political instability. We’re seeing that in DRC right now and the impact that’s having on our work. I think the world is becoming increasingly unstable. The post-war certainties that I grew up with and relied on are now disappearing rapidly. So how can we, as a mission-focused organisation, respond to instability, violence, war?

I think one of the great merits of the new strategy of CMS is that there’s a sense of going to the edges and seeing what we can encourage and catalyse with what’s happening now, rather than imposing solutions from outside.I think that’s very powerful and especially given the increasing post-Christian identity of Britain, what can we be learning from the edges to bring back into our own context? I think that’s another dynamic of global mission that we’re seeing, that it’s not just a one-way street. It needs to be two ways.

Challenges to come

Naomi: What do you sense are some of our biggest challenges right now?

Jeremy: Obviously we need to find a new CEO, so that’s a key challenge for me.

The board isn’t as diverse as it could be and so bringing diversity in, however you define that, I think is important. Ethnic diversity is a key challenge.

Engaging a new generation of supporters in the new CMS is a big challenge especially in the context of people who have a traditional kind of sending model of mission in their mind.

Working out how CMS as a mission organisation from the Anglican tradition navigates changes in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, I think that’s something we will have to address as an organisation in the coming months and years.

For any organisation, it’s striking a balance between focus, prioritisation of resources, which are limited, and also being flexible and able to respond to where the needs are. My impression is that CMS is doing that very well for now.

Naomi: How can the CMS family pray for you?

Jeremy: Charles Clayton is a very tough act to follow. I’ve known Charles for many years and so it was a real privilege to know that I was sort of taking over from him. He is a very godly man, very experienced. So please pray for me as I begin this role.

Pray that as a board we take all these challenges prayerfully, that we’re able to strengthen the board, especially in particular areas of skill that we need, and that that we find the right person to succeed Alastair.

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We are delighted to announce that Rev Jeremy Moodey has been appointed to succeed Charles Clayton as chair of trustees from April 2025.

Following a prayerful and extensive search and interview process, the CMS board of trustees has unanimously chosen Rev Jeremy Moodey to be the next chair.

Jeremy is an ordained minister in the Church of England and brings extensive experience as a Christian charity CEO.

He also spent 10 years in the UK Diplomatic Service, serving in Pakistan and Italy, and 15 years as a City investment banker.

He has been appointed as a co-opted trustee and will take over as chair when Charles Clayton steps down from 1 April 2025.

Jeremy says: “I first came across CMS back in the 1980s, while working in Pakistan, meeting amazing people like Dr Ruth Coggan (daughter of Archbishop Donald Coggan), who ministered at the Pennell Memorial Hospital in Bannu, in what was then the North-West Frontier Province. The pastor in the church in Islamabad where I worshipped was also a CMS mission partner.

“The witness even then was very much ‘at the edges’, so I am delighted to be re-engaging with CMS so many years later as a trustee, and in due course as chair of trustees.”

Jeremy moved from the City into the Christian charity sector in 2009, serving first as CEO of BibleLands, a Christian development charity focused on the Middle East and established in 1854. He led its successful rebranding as Embrace the Middle East in 2012 and had the opportunity of working with some of CMS’s partners in the region.

In 2017 Jeremy moved to become CEO of Sons & Friends of the Clergy, an Anglican clergy benevolent charity founded in 1655. This too he led through a successful and award-winning rebranding, as the charity became Clergy Support Trust in 2019.

In 2021, after retiring from full-time work, Jeremy was ordained into the Church of England. He currently serves as a self-supporting and part-time assistant minister at St Mary’s Church in Chesham in the Diocese of Oxford.

He also sits on the General Synod of the Church of England, and as trustee-treasurer of Trinity College Bristol, an Anglican theological training college.

Alastair Bateman, CEO of Church Mission Society, said: “I and the rest of the leadership team are very grateful to God for providing a new highly-skilled chair for CMS and for how good the whole process has been.

“We are also extremely grateful to Charles Clayton for serving so well in this role for nearly a decade.”

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Book review: Yes! Anglican Inspiration: The Anglican story and thoughts on the mission of this Church today by Maurice Sinclair

by Daniel Kirk

This small book traces the history of Anglicanism in a simple and engaging way. Written by the missionary Maurice Sinclair, also bishop of Argentina and primate of the Southern Cone of South America in his time, his love for God, his Word, his Anglican church and his missionaries shines throughout the book.

Although perhaps for the serious student of church history and rather the Anglican expression of it, there is not much new here, it is a useful summary that highlights important figures of the faith, especially forgotten women of history. It has a particular focus on the church in the Americas and the Middle East where Sinclair worked, although he does not leave Africa and Asia out of his historical account.

What he accomplishes very competently is to inspire us with the divine drama in the midst of the Anglican church. He does not hesitate to mention the weak moments of the Anglican church, for example in the 17th century or the mistakes of some leaders, but he highlights his passion for God’s global mission and the most inspiring parts are precisely when he speaks in the fourth chapter of the brave missionaries who left England. He does so without falling into hagiography, rescuing characters from other countries who have an important role in the expansion of the gospel.

Sinclair ends his inspiring book with some reflections for the Anglican church today. Just as Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11 were very important texts for the 16th century Reformation, he proposes that Genesis 1:27-28 and Matthew 28:19 may be crucial passages for the church today. The Genesis passage for the challenge today of taking care of the environment and also for the importance of being happy with how God has created us, man and woman, assuming the identity that he has sovereignly given us. The passage from Matthew to emphasise once again the vitality of intentional discipleship within the church to go and make disciples of all nations.

This is a valuable history of the church, especially useful for Christians outside the UK who want to know the history of Anglicanism and how it managed to establish itself around the world. If you read it you cannot finish without reflecting on your place in God’s missional plans and being motivated to say to God, echoing the prophet Isaiah, “Here I am. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)

This and other of Maurice’s books are available from his web page Materials for Intentional Discipleship.

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After returning from serving as mission partners in Uganda for decades, David and Heather Sharland are following their missional instincts in a small town in Northern Ireland.

by David Sharland

Love of the land, plants and animals has led me to many strange projects over my 40 years in mission with CMS and Jesus: in Tanzania, Zaire, Congo, South Sudan and Uganda.

Flying pedigree dairy goats to Tanzania, and giving them to an isolated, malnourished but keen community in the mountains, not only led to a transformed community, but renewed the local church to see its mission to the whole person.

Purchasing wild donkeys from a Karamajong community in north east Uganda, hiring a lorry and lining it with grass so the donkeys wouldn’t hurt themselves, unloading them in Arua for health inspection, where no one had ever seen a donkey, let alone handled them. Then finally hauling them on foot into Zaire, where I trained the donkeys and took them to a women’s group to help transport sugar cane up a treacherous path to the market, where their offspring still work today.

Flying a tank full of small fish in a tiny Cessna aircraft to a game park, where apprehended poachers were being trained to keep fish as a more lucrative alternative to killing elephants and rhino.

Mission can be a funny old game! Love, service and gospel passion can lead you in directions you had never imagined.

And old missionaries never really retire! After leaving Uganda and finishing service with CMS, Heather and I bought an old run-down farmhouse in Northern Ireland. It’s been fun bringing it back to life, and we find ourselves in a very mission-minded church in Donaghadee (which some of you might have come across as Hope Street, on BBC iPlayer).

Last spring, a few of us brainstormed an idea of making a garden centred round a large wooden cross in the church car park. We collected potted plants great and small, created shaol paths to and from the cross and placed two colourful garden seats in strategic positions. We were amazed at how many folk, who would never come into the church, sat and meditated, prayed or if they wanted, chatted at the foot of the cross.

And the judges of Britain in Bloom were impressed, too! Surely this wee missional initiative contributed to the result of our gold medal as the best small town in the whole of the UK. A bloomin’ surprise.

How could we point people to Jesus as Christmas approached? Old pallets painted with old engine oil and screwed together in the car park became a stable, and the figures were imaginatively painted on other pallets – and all survived the storms off the Irish Sea. A star above the stable, flowers and trees in pots to the side, and words from carols painted to carry thoughts towards Jesus, attracted many to step in and see and rest awhile. Many magazines were taken and many a conversation had, as folk thought about the Jesus of Bethlehem bringing us hope in Donaghadee in 2023.

When mission stretches the imagination, there are no limits to what God can do! Step out and let’s DO IT!

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We celebrate a devoted life of service to God and to Church Mission Society as Rt Rev Harry Moore turns 100 on 2 November 2023.

A very happy hundredth birthday to Bishop Harry Moore, who was part of the leadership of CMS over many years, including leading the society as general secretary (CEO) from 1986 to 1990.

A life in mission

Born in 1923, Harry served as a CMS mission partner in Masjed Suleiman, Iran from 1957 to 1960. He was CMS Home Secretary from 1974 to 1980 and Executive Secretary from 1980 to 1983 before becoming the second bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf in 1983.

In 1986, Harry’s predecessor as general secretary, Simon Barrington-Ward, left to become Bishop of Coventry. The then president, David Bleakley, persuaded Harry to return to CMS to ‘steady the ship’ during a tough period.

The London base at Partnership House was being refurbished so a third of staff were based with USPG in Tufton Street. The society was facing a million pound deficit, and the Finance, Personnel and Communications Secretaries had all retired and new people were in post.

“He did what was needed,” says long-serving CMS mission partner and staff member Philip Bingham.

Philip vividly remembers a semon he heard Harry preach in Cambridge, before Philip was involved with CMS:

“He spoke from Isaiah 40:

“’Those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They shall rise up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.’

“At one point, he said that some mission agencies focus on short-term mission – on those ‘who shall run and not be weary’, and acknowledged that was their calling. Then he said, ‘At CMS we are looking for people who will walk and walk and walk, and not faint.’

“We still are.”

A call to the edges

CMS today is committed to helping people become disciples of Jesus “at the edges” – the edges of church, of our society and of our comfort zones. Bishop Harry’s first editorial as general secretary in a 1986 edition of the CMS magazine expresses a striking similar idea; though he uses the language of “crossing frontiers”.

“We are all called to discover the frontiers of mission around us right where we are”

Harry Moore (pictured during a visit to CMS in 2015)

It’s stirring stuff – and still worth reading – so we re-publish an extract below:

You are invited

When my appointment as general secretary was announced, one old and valued friend wrote to me of the urgency for CMS “to get its act together as a voluntary society working on the frontiers of the Church.”

Wherever CMS has made a real, appropriate and constructive contribution to the life of the Church (and it has done so in its long history) it has been working on the frontiers.

In the early days, geographical frontiers tested us. Today there are other frontiers of mission waiting to be crossed, (and my friend was right – there is some urgency in the matter).

[…]

Therefore, we are all called to discover the frontiers of mission around us right where we are and to give ourselves wholeheartedly to crossing those frontiers with Christ.

It is a daunting but exciting prospect and God does not waste his servants’ time. He has something for each one to do.

If one is called to the frontiers of prayer, let prayer be deep and costly. Let frontiers be crossed.

If another is called to the frontiers of our multi-faith society, let there be sustained effort to meet, understand and relate to people of other faiths. Let frontiers be crossed.

If yet another is called to go with Jesus across frontiers of political and economic life, let there be depth and perseverance in the search for God’s will. Let frontiers be crossed.

Let every member of CMS hear this call. Use the Society’s network for support and for sharing insights and experiences of God’s grace, that we may all benefit from what is done.

There is, before us, an immense opportunity in the service of our Lord as we hear the call to cross the frontiers of mission. The response to that call will take some far from Britain – there are still many ways in which service can be given; the response to that call will bring others to Britain to serve with the church here; but for most of us, our response to that call will bring us to the frontiers of mission right where we are.

I invite you in the name of the Lord to join us in a new phase of pressing on the frontiers of mission. The cost may be considerable, but the reward will be great, for at the frontiers we shall surely meet Jesus afresh.

Harry Moore

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How can we help and support our neighbours from near and far?

Venue: High Leigh, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire

To book: please download the form below.

Speakers:

Lea and Petra Williams

Lea and Petra Williams are CMS mission partners in Brno, Czech Republic, where they lead the Anglican congregation, a young community committed to missional hospitality and connecting with the significant student population. Since their arrival in late 2021 the Czech Republic has welcomed almost 500,000 refugees, the highest per capita intake within the EU. From the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, Lea and Petra have supported a local NGO offering essential aid and information to hundreds of refugees. Their efforts have evolved to encompass long-term support, including emergency accommodation, emotional support and educational programmes.

Phil and Sylvie Good

Phil and Sylvie Good were CMS mission partner in Lebanon until last year, connecting and sharing life with people who desperately need to know the God who leaves no one behind even when everyone else has moved on. In Beirut, people were reeling from multiple crises and hungry for the hope the gospel brings. Many Syrian refugees have committed their lives to Jesus and are exploring their newfound faith, while others are waiting to hear the good news. As well as investing time in people in Beirut, Phil and Sylvie helped CMS local partners in the north of Lebanon with developing a new building for a school providing education to Syrian refugees.

Our chaplain

Rev Susan Height has been a parish priest for the last twenty years, retiring from full time ministry in South London in April 2022. She has experience in pastoral care within a parish setting and is a trained spiritual director and life coach. Her ministry has involved working with many asylum seekers and refugees both in Birmingham and South London. Currently she is part of a team who manage a Christian community – church, Bible study, a community garden project and social activities – for Iranian asylum seekers in local hostels.

The Church Mission Society Southern Conference welcomes members, supporters and friends of CMS. It is organised by a team of CMS members from the south of England and runs from 6pm Friday 19 April to 2pm Sunday 21 April 2024.

Jesus spent much of his time with people at the edges, and that’s where we want to be too. Church Mission Society invites people at the edges of church, the edges of society and the edges of our comfort zones to follow Jesus and play a part in his story. Come with us to the edges and discover God at work in ways you might not have expected.

High Leigh is a major Christian conference centre at Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. It is easily accessible from the A10. Detailed maps will be sent with the conference programme to all participants in early March. High Leigh has single and double rooms with en-suite bathrooms. The conference will also be accessible online through Zoom – contact Jane for details.

Take part

For more information, contact Jane Fulford: janecfulford6@gmail.com or call 01189 695039, mobile 07764 947495
Fiona Litchfield: fiona.litchfield@googlemail.com

Download booking form

Take part

Book now

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During a special gathering, leaders from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the UK connected across languages and cultures, working together to see lives transformed through the love of Jesus.

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Congratulations to some former CMS colleagues, who were recognised by the Archbishop of Canterbury in this year’s Lambeth Awards.

The Cross of St Augustine for Services to the Anglican Communion was awarded both to Paul Thaxter, former CMS international mission director, and to Pauline Walker, who worked with CMS and CMS-Africa for many years in South Sudan.

Paul was commended “for his outstanding contribution to sustaining and strengthening the bonds of love and unity across the Anglican Communion”.

“Paul Thaxter connects with contexts and cultures effortlessly,” the citation continued. “He has an insatiable interest in people and places, sharing the good news of Jesus with everyone he meets.”

Pauline received the award “for almost 44 years of missionary endeavour in Sudan and South Sudan through which she stimulated the development and training of a new generation of Christian leaders, many of whom are bishops today.” Having first worked in Sudan as a CMS mission partner in 1978, she later helped establish Scripture Union Sudan, was a CMS a regional manager and then joined the CMS-Africa team.

Also receiving the Cross of St Augustine was Asia-CMS trustee Andrew Khoo, for his role in supporting the Anglican Communion’s global strategic response to the pandemic, which helped to sustain connections, share learning, promote mutual prayer and build solidarity and hope.

Rana Khan, the chair of CMS’s Asia Forum, received the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation, cited for his many and varied contributions to interfaith dialogue across the communion.

Former CMS-Africa trustee Claudette Kigeme was recognised for her work among people in Burundi with the Langton Award for Community Service. By training and developing a team of 25 staff and 900 volunteer facilitators, she has empowered over 78,000 people to use literacy to improve their lives.

They join a number of other members of the CMS family who have been recipients of Lambeth Awards since the archbishop reinstituted them in 2016.

That year former mission partners Deaconess Susan Essam and Rev Pamela Cooper received the Alphege Award for Evangelism and Witness.

Other recipients since included former mission partner Rev Canon Dr Adrian Chatfield, Rev Canon Dr Bill Musk, Rev Bob and Mary Hopkins (2017); former mission partner Rev Canon Joanna Udal and former chair of trustees Rt Rev Paul Butler (2018); and former mission partners Rev Graham and Gillian Burton and Rt Rev Graham Kings (2019) and John Clark (2020).

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Rev Clive Main, a Church of England vicar and former Church Mission Society mission partner is embarking on a quirky community fundraising project that he hopes will raise thousands to support a vocational training centre for people with disabilities.

The church Rev Main leads, St Barnabas Homerton, in East London, dates from 1847 and is surrounded 725 perimeter railings. Inspired by CMS’s ‘Two-gether for Mission’ fundraising campaign, marking the 222nd anniversary since the organisation was founded in 1799, Rev Main decided to ‘pick up his brush and paint’.

He estimates the task will take until October to complete.

Prior to his time as a vicar in East London, Rev Main served as a CMS mission partner in DR Congo from 1985 to 1992 and has continued to support CMS ever since.

He explained how the occasion of CMS’s 222nd anniversary inspired him to start a unique community fundraising initiative.

Rev Main explained: “Remembering that a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, I started to scrape and paint the first railings, and as I did so, I got the inspiration to double the harvest – paint at least 222 rust-free shiny black railings and at the same time raise money for CMS to celebrate their 222 years of creative, gospel-centred mission.”

Rev Main’s herculean efforts have so far raised over £4,000, including Gift Aid.

He said: “I have been amazed and humbled by the response. People have contributed from far and near. I’ve never done anything like this before. People like the idea that there’s something useful to show for it, as well as money raised for a great cause.”

He continued, “It’s tedious work – three hours to scrape 40 railings, two-and-a-half hours to paint them, but we’re managing to paint at least 40 railings a week and more than half are now completed.”

He is being helped by a church member and because the railings face the high street, Rev Main has become a visible presence, and all sorts of people stop to chat about the project…and even shout encouragement from passing vans!

The money raised will go primarily to support Neema Crafts, a CMS supported training centre in Tanzania for people with disabilities. Comprising seven different workshops, a cafe, conference room and guesthouse, the centre provides education, vocational training and employment for people who would otherwise be discarded by society and left to beg on the streets for a living. St Barnabas have supported this project for over 10 years. 

Jim Barker, Director of Fundraising at Church Mission Society, said: “Clive’s effort is a great example of the imagination, humility and faithful dedication characterised by CMS missionaries over 222 years. All of the CMS community is with you – praying for you, painting with you [in spirit] and willing you on, as you take on this epic challenge.”

Call to action

For more information about Clive Bain’s fundraising challenge go to his JustGiving page:

Donate via JustGiving

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