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

by Harvey Kwiyani

30 July 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Download the flyer

Two ways to book for The Assembly 2026

Stay at Ashburnham

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

Book via Ashburnham website

Day tickets

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

Book here via Eventbrite

• See all pioneer events

The post The Assembly 2026 appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

UK: upcoming PiM conference

CMS’s people in mission conference is coming up in just a few weeks. Pray for clarity and wisdom for CMS staff who are planning this event and bringing all the details together. Pray for the conference to prove useful, restful and encouraging to all who attend.

The post UK: upcoming PiM conference appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What does the future hold for you?

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

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

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

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

Finally, how can we pray for you?

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

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

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The next cohort of CMS Certificate students in the South West Pioneer Hub has got underway, including a group from Bristol Diocese who shared this report from the first weekend.

Over the last weekend of April, 34 students, eight facilitators and a course chaplain from the dioceses of Bristol, Exeter and Truro gathered at Sclerder Abbey in Cornwall for the first residential weekend and launch of the Church Mission Society (CMS) contextual pioneer mission course.

This first weekend was also the first of six modules that make up the course. The module was focused on ‘What is Pioneer Mission?’ and was facilitated by Jonny Baker, Britain Hub mission director for CMS, and Lindsay Smith, an ordained pioneer minister based in Portishead. The learning was a creative mixture of teaching, self-reflection, conversation, and physical movement, using the outdoor spaces at the abbey. The outside space was particularly helpful when Lindsay shared the Pioneer Spectrum with the students.

The weekend contained plenty of opportunities to reflect, visit the Green Abbey onsite, go for a walk or a nap, or speak with the course chaplain. The three days, perhaps due to their location, had the feel of a combination of a retreat and a learning space and gave time for people from across the South West to make connections, share stories, and learn from and with each other.

Lee Barnes, Bristol’s diocesan adviser for Curacy & Fresh Expressions of Church, said:

“It was exciting to see the Bristol cohort of students engaging in this new partnership with CMS. The beautiful sunny weather was an added bonus to what was already a weekend with a great atmosphere, energy and engaged conversations.”

On the Sunday morning, the group headed to a local beach and gathered there for a time of reflective worship and wandering.

One of the students said:

“I am excited to see where all these people will take their learning and what will emerge as a result. It’s really good to be part of that adventure!”

Another shared:

“It feels like I have been stretched and inspired, also, I have found my tribe.”

If you would like to know more about the course or if you would like to register your interest in a course next year,

• in Bristol Diocese, email Lee.Barnes@bristoldiocese.org
• in Exeter Diocese, email Jeremy.Putnam@exeter.anglican.org
• in Truro Diocese, email Lindsey.Morgan-Lundie@trurodiocese.org.uk

Republished with kind permission of the Diocese of Bristol

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Dr Gavin Mart recently completed his DTh exploring ultrarunning as a site of spiritual encounter. He is now working with the Methodist Church and the Church in Wales, helping to practically develop these ideas across outdoor, community enterprise and pioneering contexts.

Dr Cathy Ross, lecturer and tutor with CMS Pioneer Mission Training talks to Gavin about his doctoral research experience.

Cathy: First of all, congratulations. How does it feel to have completed the DTh?

Gavin: It still feels slightly unreal. It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve done, so thanks for being a great supervisor! But it’s also one of the most stretching in terms of how I think and see the world.

The doctorate didn’t just give me answers. It changed the questions I’m asking.

What led you to study this area?

I’d completed both the FdA (Foundation degree in Arts) and MA in Pioneer Mission through CMS and was keen to attempt to answer some of my own research questions. The starting point was very simple. I was already involved in outdoor community and endurance sport, and I kept noticing that people were having profound experiences, myself included. Awe, connection, even moments of what they described as something “bigger than themselves”.

But there was almost no theological language to engage with that.

At the same time, a sports ministry report highlighted a lack of in-depth theological thinking in sport and wellbeing contexts, particularly at ground level. Practice had moved ahead, but theology had not kept up.

That gap became the focus. What is actually happening in these environments, and how might theology respond to it?

So what did you discover?

The core discovery is this:

Ultrarunning can function as a site of spiritual encounter.

Not in a forced or imposed way, but through embodied experience. Through endurance, suffering, landscape and community.

People consistently described moments of awe, surrender and connection, even if they didn’t use religious language. Statements like, “I’m not religious, but I pray when I run,” came up repeatedly.

So, the thesis doesn’t claim that every experience is spiritual. It asks how we might interpret these experiences theologically, and what it means to take them seriously.

That sounds quite different from traditional approaches to mission.

Yes, it shifts the starting point.

Instead of asking, “How do we bring people into church?” it asks, “Where is meaning already happening?”

I draw on John V Taylor here, a former Anglican bishop and missiologist whose work focused on recognising the activity of the Spirit beyond the boundaries of the institutional church. In 1959 he became Africa Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, and in 1963 he succeeded Max Warren as its General Secretary, remaining in post until 1974. His thinking was significant because it gave theological permission to take seriously what is happening in the wider world, not just within church structures.

He describes the Spirit in very physical terms, in the strain of muscles, in the contact between people, in what happens between us.

That opens up a different posture. Not imposing meaning, but noticing where something is already unfolding.

Can you give an example from your research?

One runner described what he called “the crack” around 60 miles into a 100-mile race. A point where something in him gave way.

After that, he spoke about feeling like he was between two worlds, even sensing the presence of dead relatives. He didn’t frame it as belief. He described it as experience.

Others spoke about moving through the night and emerging changed, not necessarily stronger, but clearer.

Rather than deciding whether that is “spiritual” or not, I explore how traditions like the mystics might interpret it. There are clear resonances with ideas like the dark night of the soul and transformation through endurance.

The key is not to reduce the experience, but to take it seriously.

What implications does this have for pioneer ministry?

It suggests a different way of engaging.

I describe something I call the “adventurous pause”. A moment of attentiveness before we rush to explain or act.

In that pause, we begin to notice what is already happening. How people are searching for meaning, how community forms through care and hospitality, how environments shape encounter.

Pioneer ministry, in that sense, becomes less about creating something new, and more about recognising what is already there and joining in with it.

You also explore community and digital culture. What did you find there?

There’s an interesting tension.

In ultrarunning, you see very raw forms of community. People helping each other at their weakest, often without any shared belief system. There is a kind of radical hospitality that emerges naturally.

But then that experience is translated online.

One participant said, “If it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen.”

There’s a kind of modern confession and affirmation loop. We offer the experience up and wait to be recognised.

You might describe this as being alone together. Connected, but not fully known.

So, you get this split between embodied, real experience and its digital reflection, I find this area of research fascinating.

What happens next for you?

The work doesn’t feel finished.

If anything, it feels like it’s opening out.

I’m working on a consultancy basis now both with church organisations and those interested in community wellbeing and enterprise development, and beginning to explore how this kind of attentive, embodied approach can take shape in practice.

What’s becoming clear is that many organisations sense something is shifting culturally, but don’t yet have a framework for engaging it. They can see that people are searching for meaning, but they are not sure how to respond.

That’s where this work is starting to land.

And if people want to explore this further?

I’m already in conversations with churches and organisations who are asking similar questions, particularly in outdoor, wellbeing and community contexts, but also organisations who want to change their approach and posture in the community.

Sometimes organisations want to reimagine their building as an events or creative enterprise space, sometimes they want to get out of the building altogether and venture more meaningfully into the community.

More and more, leaders are asking not how to attract people in, but how to recognise what is already happening and respond well.

This research is really just a starting point for that kind of work.

Find out more about doctoral research with CMS and the University of Roehampton.

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In this month’s student interview, we meet a first year undergraduate from Africa, who lives and works in a minority context, so they remain anonymous.

Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed, could you tell me more about your calling to work on an island?

The call wasn’t a single moment, but a growing “burden of love”. While serving on the mainland in my home town, reaching out to the Masai people in a remote area in a bush village, my wife and I felt a persistent pull toward the unreached coastal communities. We spent months in prayer with our local church, and the more we looked at the spiritual and social needs of the island, the more we realised we couldn’t just visit; we had to move our lives there to truly be a “faithful presence”.

I think it is right to say your work is in education and skills. I understand, for example, that you help people to make shoes and support themselves through workshops. Please could do tell us about the friendships formed and your achievements?

The real achievement isn’t just a finished pair of shoes; it’s the dignity in a student’s eyes when they realise they can provide for their own family. These workshops create a “neutral ground” where barriers drop. I’ve found that when you sit together over a sewing machine, you aren’t strangers anymore – you are friends sharing life’s struggles. Those friendships have become the bedrock of everything we do.

And now you have developed this work and have started a foundation. Could you tell us more?

We are now in the process of registering the foundation and it has not been launched yet. By moving from an informal mission to a registered foundation, we will gain “institutional trust” with the government. This will allow us to own property, hire staff legally and show the community that we aren’t just passing through – we are committed to the long-term flourishing of the island.

What exciting fruits have come from this venture?

The most encouraging “fruit” is seeing local people take ownership of their new life in Christ through faith. For example, seeing a leader from a local village choose to follow this path and then open his home for others to learn is incredible. Also, seeing our local young student from this island finish his studies to come back and lead is a huge milestone for us. It means the work is becoming truly indigenous.

That’s wonderful, people coming back to lead. Please do tell us other ways that your work is indigenous?

I do this by looking at our ‘local ways of doing things’ and asking how we can mature them into lasting spiritual and operational health. Through the CMS training, I am learning to move beyond just ‘pioneering’ into a season of rebuilding and reform. By establishing the new foundation, we are creating professional management structures that don’t stifle the Spirit, but rather provide a strong ‘trellis’ for the vine of our local community to grow on sustainably.

That is great. How can we pray for you?

You can pray for us:

​For the homecoming:

Pray for our local Muslim background believer, a disciple who went to theological studies in mainland, returned from Bible school in Dar es salaam; that he would integrate well and lead with wisdom as he joins our team full-time.

​For the foundation and future island empowerment centre:

Pray for the final registration steps of the foundation. Once this is complete, it will allow us to legally own the land for our permanent Community Empowerment Centre – a huge step for our sustainability.

​For protection and provision:

For continued favour with our neighbours and peace in our community. Specifically, pray for our family as we parent our young children in this context, and for provision regarding their school fees for the coming term.

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In a significant answer to prayer, a project in Cumbria that connects with people on the margins through practical hands-on workshops re-opened at the end of February 2026.

In October 2025, Carlisle’s Community Shed was forced to close for financial reasons. The team, including mission partner Garry Ion, moved the contents of the Shed into a storage unit.

Following an outcry in the local community and a special fundraising effort, the Shed has reopened its doors. Once again, people living with loneliness and mental health challenges, including people recently released from prisons, can find invaluable support.

Garry shares that the new shed is even better than the old one: “We have a spacious workshop and social area with sofas and an indoor games area.

“The original shed started in a garage during the COVID lockdown by myself and Pioneer Chaplain, Rev Chris Harwood. This time, the local community’s involvement, commitment and determination have driven its reopening.

“The new Community Shed is in a very underprivileged area of Carlisle, and it’s truly heartwarming to see the generosity and time given by the community to support its future. We have so much to be grateful for as we begin this new chapter together.”

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Shifting Centres, Moving Peoples

Rethinking Partnership and Mutuality in an Age of Migration

Migration is one of the defining realities of our age. As people move across borders and continents, long-established centres of economic, cultural, political, and religious influence are shifting in profound ways. Across Europe, these shifts are transforming communities, identities, and institutions – creating both new possibilities and complex challenges for the Church and society.

At the same time, in an increasingly post-Christian context, relationships between historic denominations and diaspora and migrant churches are becoming ever more significant. While the language of partnership and mutuality has long been central to mission conversations, these ideals often remain difficult to realise in practice.

This conference seeks to move beyond simply affirming these values to asking deeper and more urgent questions: Why, after decades of discussion, do partnership and mutuality remain unresolved? What historical, theological, cultural, economic, and institutional dynamics continue to shape – and sometimes limit – our aspirations toward genuine mutuality? And what new language, frameworks, and practices might help us move forward?

The Acts 11 Conference Shifting Centres, Moving Peoples brings together church leaders, mission practitioners, academics, students, policymakers, and community leaders to explore these critical issues. Through keynote presentations, panel discussions, workshops, and specialised streams, participants will engage the realities of migration and intercultural mission while examining the complexities, tensions, and possibilities of working together across difference.

Held in Liverpool – a historic gateway city shaped by global movements of people – this two-day gathering offers a unique space for honest conversation, theological reflection, and collaborative learning. Together, we will seek to discern how God is at work through migration today, and what it means to walk together in more faithful, just, and genuinely mutual ways.

Practical details

• Conference days run from 9am to 4pm, with an additional evening dinner on Friday 4th.
• Lunch, tea and coffee, and dinner on Friday are included in your ticket.
• You will need to arrange your own accommodation. There is a wide range of local hotels and some accommodation on the Liverpool Hope University campus.

Speakers

Keynote speakers include Dr Alexander Chow (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Sheila Akomiah-Conteh (Evangelical Alliance), alongside voices from organisations working at the intersection of migration, mission, and church life.

Adam Martin, International Director, Intercultural Churches

Adam has been involved in intercultural ministry for the last 20 years. With his wife Karina, they planted an intercultural church in the centre of Derby and served as senior leaders with a culturally diverse church working across the East Midlands. In 2019 Adam began to develop a network to support the development of healthy intercultural churches across the UK.

In 2025 Adam and Karina relocated to Spain where they are pursuing their call to plant intercultural churches, whilst continuing to expand the Intercultural Churches network across Europe.

Sheila Akomiah-Conteh, Intercultural Unity Lead, Evangelical Alliance Scotland

Sheila Akomiah-Conteh is a Ghanaian theologian based in Glasgow, Scotland. She serves as the Intercultural Unity Lead at Evangelical Alliance Scotland, where she works to foster intercultural relationships, shared leadership, and collaborative mission across the Church in Scotland. Her work and wider research interests focus on African theological perspectives, new and emerging churches, and diaspora Christian missions in the West.

Alexander Chow, Senior Lecturer in Theology and World Christianity, University of Edinburgh

Alexander Chow, a Chinese American, is Senior Lecturer of Theology and World Christianity and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. He is the author or editor of seven books, including Chinese Heritage in British Christianity: More than Foreigners (SCM Press 2025) and The Oxford Handbook of Digital Theology (Oxford University Press 2026).

Take part

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The post Mission and Migration conference appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Have you ever felt a “holy discomfort”? That nagging sense that God is calling you to serve, but perhaps not in a way that fits into a traditional Sunday morning box?

Recently, I stood in the Bishop of Exeter’s Palace to celebrate with a group of people who felt exactly that. I love that pioneer training with CMS doesn’t just happen in Oxford or in one single place. It’s happening – and growing – across the UK.

The latest CMS Pioneer Graduation gathered students from across the South West, including Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.

The palace was filled with creativity, warmth and joy. There were interactive worship displays, beautiful sung worship led by a harpist, moving student testimonies, lots of delicious food and, of course, as befits a celebration, much cake.

A celebration of community 

This was more than simply a celebration of completing a course or receiving a certificate. Again and again, students spoke about finding a home. They spoke about finally discovering a language for what they had sensed God calling them to for years. They found a way of looking at mission – a missiology – that made sense of the places they were serving, and training that helped them do what they do with greater confidence, wisdom and courage.

That is one of the great gifts of pioneer training. It names and nurtures what God is already stirring. It helps people understand that mission does not only happen in familiar church settings, but also out at the edges – in the overlooked places, among those who may never walk into a church building, in communities where fresh expressions of Christian witness and discipleship are needed.

Some of the creative demonstrations of work by graduating students

Jesus calls us to the edges with him 

I had the privilege of sharing a few words during the celebration, and I found myself returning to a theme that has been growing in me for some time: Jesus as the Great Disturber.

That might sound like an odd thing to say at a graduation, but I think it fits. Jesus has always had a habit of lovingly disturbing people into new possibilities. That disturbance is not there to crush us, but to awaken us. It is often how mission begins.

Because pioneering is not first about having all the answers, having a perfect plan, or building something impressive. Pioneering begins with a willingness to follow Jesus into places that are unfamiliar, overlooked, risky, and sometimes uncomfortable. And that is right at the heart of CMS.

You may not always feel ready. You may not always feel confident. Some days you may feel small, uncertain, or underqualified. But the good news is this: God has always loved working through ordinary people who say yes.

And as I said to the graduating students: “Your ‘yes’ matters. So, as you graduate, don’t just think, ‘I’ve finished something.’ Think, ‘I’m being sent.’”

Rt Rev Mike Harrison, Bishop of Exeter, and I handed out certificates to around 24 students, each one representing a story of faithfulness, courage and calling.

As ever, the certificates only told part of the story.

The real story is what comes next: the communities that will be served, the conversations that will be had, the experiments that will be tried, the friendships that will be formed, the prayers that will be whispered, the people who will encounter Jesus in new ways because these pioneers said yes to his call.

Are you being called to something new? Find out about training with CMS

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The post South West: the pioneer stories continue… appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).