Human suffering has a way of overwhelming us, often leaving us asking, “how can I make a difference?” But for some, unimaginable pain isn’t a barrier – it’s a call to action. 

In 2005, while lamenting the suffering of millions of women impacted by Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and forced marriages, CMS mission partner Ann-Marie Wilson asked God: “Who will help girls like this?” To her amazement, the answer came back as an audible voice: “You will.”

Two decades later, Ann-Marie is still answering that call. Through her international organisation, 28 Too Many, she has gathered the stories of over 3,000 FGM survivors and built a global movement dedicated to ending FGM worldwide and advocating for women’s reproductive health. 

We pause to celebrate her achievements and thank her for her long-term service as a CMS mission partner.

Here are some of the people and places that have shaped her world-wide fight.

The girls who launched a movement

Fatima: The catalyst

Ann-Marie’s fight began with an encounter that forced her face-to-face with unimaginable suffering. In 2005, she and her team found Fatima, a 10-year-old girl, alone and seven months pregnant following a rape by militia in the scrubland of West Darfur.

They rushed her to a clinic where a caesarean section saved her life. As Fatima recovered, Ann-Marie learned more about the devastating health complications that followed her FGM experience at age five. Fatima’s desperate circumstances echoed the biblical words, “for such a time as this,” from Esther 4:14. Her story was Ann-Marie’s Esther moment, serving as the launchpad for a mission to free girls from FGM and the forced marriages that often follow.

Hannah and Grace: changing a community’s mind

Just 10 and 12 years old, Hannah and Grace shifted an entire community’s view on FGM. 

When famine struck Kenya, their families relocated to a new settlement. The move allowed the girls to start attending school, where they learned about FGM practice’s illegality and severe health consequences.

The girls immediately planned to run away, seeking refuge with relatives. They bravely refused to return home until they were guaranteed safety from FGM. Their courage forced the community chiefs to meet, who guaranteed the girls would be heard. Hannah and Grace addressed the entire community, which, convinced by their testimony, decided then and there to never perform FGM again. No girl younger than them in their community has been cut since.

Mary: breaking the cycle

Mary’s life shows how devastating cycles of harmful practices can be stopped. As a teenager, her mother convinced her that FGM was a harmless procedure that would bring glory and respect. Mary eagerly awaited her turn to be cut, but her eagerness turned to terror. She spent a full month recovering.

Married at 19, Mary began to understand the full extent of the lies she’d been told when she required surgical intervention to safely deliver her first child. Eventually, her husband abandoned her and their three children. Through this ordeal, Mary came to understand that her value existed far beyond her relative worth to a man.

Now an anti-FGM activist, Mary helps run alternative rite of passage ceremonies, replacing the harmful practice with a celebration of womanhood.

Lydia: lasting educational impact

Anti-FGM efforts are often hindered by cultural taboos and a lack of open discussion about female sexuality. Recognising this knowledge gap, Lydia, a British teacher, volunteered her summer to help educate educators in Uganda.

While running safeguarding workshops in rural southwestern Uganda, Lydia made a startling discovery: only one in 20 teachers had any knowledge of FGM. Lydia trained them on how to recognise girls who had been subjected to the practice and prevent potential complications. A year later, she returned to find the teachers had successfully implemented improved school policies and safety measures. 

Her dedicated work was later scaled up into a nationwide programme promoting girls’ education and preventing female students from dropping out of school after puberty.

Global impact: from New York to Kenya 

Ann-Marie and the 28 Too Many team haven’t just changed individual lives; they’ve shifted global policy and fostered grassroots change across continents.

The UN: securing the Sustainable Development Goal

In 2012, Ann-Marie set her sights on a monumental task: ensuring FGM was included in the final document of a major gathering in New York at the full Commission on the Status of Women with over 10,000 attendees. Her team worked relentlessly: holding seminars, asking questions at key events, addressing world leaders and handing literature to dignitaries. After seven days of non-stop work, she got the result she wanted.

“Those three small letters FGM are now in the document, and therefore in the Sustainable Development Goals,” Ann-Marie says. “This is one of my greatest achievements.” 

Her work secured its place in Sustainable Development Goal 5.3: ‘Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.’

West Africa: outreach and media

In 2015, the 28 Too Many team traveled across West Africa, delivering critical reports and findings. In Senegal, Ann-Marie delivered four talks a day, including a training session to 30 women in a remote village, translated live. The rapid pace continued in Gambia, where they recorded an interview with a newspaper. The next day, the entire story, featuring their work, was printed word-for-word on pages 2 and 3 of the national newspaper. In Mali, they successfully met with UNICEF, who agreed to host the first NGO gathering in the region, providing a critical platform for stagnant anti-FGM efforts.

Kenya: teaching healthcare through cricket 

In a unique partnership opportunity, 28 Too Many collaborated with Cricket Without Boundaries (CWB) in the Central Maasai area of Kenya. CWB uses cricket coaching to deliver vital health messages, and Ann-Marie was invited to deliver FGM training to both the CWB team and the local communities.

Upon arrival, seeking permission from the stern-looking Elders was the critical first step – a refusal meant being sent home. After explaining their mission, Ann-Marie paused and asked, “I don’t even know if I have permission to speak of FGM and sexual matters in public or in mixed company.”

The Chief immediately stomped his stick on the ground and declared with a single, powerful word: “You have permission!”

With clearance secured, they delivered FGM awareness sessions to over 3,000 people across schools and community forums. They trained 25 local adults – including teachers, youth workers, and health professionals – to become ongoing FGM and cricket coaches. 

The project culminated in a celebratory day led by the Maasai Cricket Warriors, where the community publicly committed to ending FGM and pledged to carry this anti-FGM message into neighbouring villages, ensuring the movement was self-sustaining.

Ann-Marie Wilson’s journey is a powerful testament to how a single person can spark profound global change. Her achievements, the lasting change she and her team have impacted across the world, didn’t come from a place of status, power or genius, just the simple, radical act of daring to ask, “Who will help?”

It shows that when you align yourself with God’s mission, anything is possible.

If you want to follow Ann-Marie’s work, you can sign up to her updates.

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In Juba, South Sudan, many more families are taking home healthy babies following changes at a local hospital over the past 18 months.

When mission partner Nicci Maxwell arrived in Juba in mid-2024, the mortality rate on the neonatal ward at Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital was at 15 per cent, meaning up to 35 families each month were grieving the loss of a newborn baby.

A paediatrician with a particular interest in newborns, Nicci was determined to change this, and senior management at the hospital was committed to supporting any progress that could be made.

Nicci has been grateful to work with a core group of nursing staff dedicated to the mothers and babies they care for.

Together, during the 18 months since Nicci arrived, staff at the hospital have improved overall cleanliness and facilities, even adding a high dependency unit to better support the sickest babies.

As a result of their hard work, the mortality rate on the neonatal ward at Al Sabbah hospital has dropped to just below five per cent at the time of writing.

Where 18 months ago, on average 35 families a month were grieving the loss of a child, that number has now dropped to 12. And in Nicci’s words, “There is so much more to do!” 

Nicci supports and trains local staff alongside caring for babies and children at Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital and in the local refugee community.

Wanting to improve paediatric care more widely as well as locally, together with colleagues from Al Sabbah and representatives of the WHO, Nicci is involved in the production of a Paediatric Pocketbook.

This will be an accessible guide to the important basics of paediatric and newborn care for health workers across the whole of South Sudan. This exciting development will hopefully benefit children all over the country.

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For someone like K, at one point the odds of becoming a leader in theological education would have seemed slim. As a Christian and a woman in Pakistan, you might say she is doubly marginalised.

Only 2 per cent of the population in Pakistan are Christian. And it’s traditionally been considered a male-dominated, patriarchal society.

Yet, in recent decades more and more women have taken up leadership roles in theological training, thanks in part to the work of CMS mission partner F, who has retired after 38 years of service.

F provided vital theological education for the minority Christian community in Pakistan, helping them stand strong in their faith.

Limited opportunities

For the first 14 years of that time F taught at the United Bible Training Centre (UBTC) for women in the city of Gujranwala.

This interdenominational training centre, founded in 1939, was for many years the only residential training centre in Pakistan where women could receive theological education, apart from the Salvation Army Training College. Otherwise, there was only the option of Theological Education by Extension (TEE) offered by the Open Theological Seminary (OTS).

Although UBTC was originally founded to train young women as Bible teachers and hospital evangelists, by the time F joined it in 1986, it mainly offered short Bible courses and retreats to various groups of Christian women: adult literate village women, secondary school students, school-leavers, college students, nurses, teachers, Sunday School teachers and hospital evangelists. Additionally, there was a three-year part-time pastors’ wives training course for wives of the students at the nearby Gujranwala Theological Seminary (GTS).

A generation gap

As the previous generation of workers came up to retirement age or died, the Christian hospitals in particular saw the need to train the next generation of evangelists and Bible teachers, so UBTC started a new three-month intensive course for college graduates, called the Foundations for Bible Ministry Course (FBMC). A few years later, it started a new programme, the one-year Discipleship Course for young women with only matriculation (school leaving certificate).

Many graduates of these two programmes are now working as hospital evangelists, Sunday School teachers and in various roles with Christian NGOs and para-church organisations. Several went on to do further formal theological education after the mainline seminaries opened their doors to female students.

One of these is K. Having completed her BA degree from Sargodha University, she enrolled in the FBMC in September 2006. After graduation she joined UBTC as junior staff, receiving on-the-job training in teaching and preaching.

In 2009 she completed her training and was awarded the Diploma in Christian Education, and became senior teaching staff.

After a few years, as well as teaching various Bible subjects, Christian doctrine and discipleship, she became programme coordinator for UBTC.

In 2016, K gained her bachelor of theology degree from OTS followed by a Master of Divinity degree from GTS in 2018, at which point she moved to Lahore to work with the OTS in the youth department, and soon became department coordinator.

From student to colleague

By that time CMS mission partner F had been working for the OTS for several years, while still giving some time each year to teaching at UBTC, so she had known K as a student and then as a colleague there, and again as a student at GTS, where F taught Pakistan Church History.

During her time at OTS, F had been advising on the development of a new Christian education curriculum for teenagers. Nine courses had been prepared and the final course was in preparation, called Me and My Faith. The task of writing this course was given to K and another colleague, which was completed by December 2020.

K continued teaching and preaching alongside writing and administration, and in 2023 she had the opportunity to travel to the US to study at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, from where she graduated with a Master of Theology degree in 2024.

Returning to Pakistan, she was invited to join the staff of her alma mater, GTS as a teacher, and started her ministry there in August 2024.

Founded in 1877, by the United Presbyterian Mission, GTS has been a union institution since 1954, with CMS mission partners serving there from time to time.

The first female student, the wife of one of the male students, graduated from there with a BTh degree in 1992, and the first single women students were admitted in 1996.

In 2016, the GTS demonstrated its appreciation for women’s contribution in theological education by appointing a female principal. At that time 50 per cent of the full-time faculty was female. Now K has joined in this key role of training the next generation of Christian workers.

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We go with a CMS mission partner in Asia to a steadily growing church within a marginalised community.

So much rice-snack was prepared that all the space in the small kitchen and the next room was taken up – all chopped on boards, arranged in pots, and served onto plates, along with other snacks and drinks.

An hour later, it had all gone. The rice-snack ran out – and that was a good thing.

In these cramped back streets, the flat roof terrace is normally quiet. Amy (name changed) hangs out washing in the mornings; the clothes are dry before noon, and the roof is again empty and quiet – except for the noise of horns and engines from the main road into the city, only a couple of blocks away, and the sound of children playing in the street.

Tutorials on the terrace

Yet, on some afternoons Amy’s house is suddenly noisy. Recently, Amy started inviting children for tuitions and other activities. There is huge demand for after-school tuitions, to help children do better in their exams. In this community, many of the parents never went through school themselves. So, there is no way they can help their children with homework. And tuitions are not something the families in these streets could afford.

But Amy did get an education. And, since she began to follow Jesus, she has been wanting to make a difference. So, with her husband’s agreement, she started offering free tuitions. In the afternoons, many of the parents are still working, but with their parents’ permission these local children happily come on their own, or with siblings and friends.

Christmas for the community

Last Christmas, Amy wanted to do something special for the season, so she mentioned this to her fellowship. She is part of a new local-language fellowship, made up of people who have only recently begun to follow Jesus; and their fellowship is connected with an English-speaking fellowship which has been running for several years.

So, one special afternoon, people from both of these fellowships turned up with all the ingredients for enough rice-snack for dozens of people. They prepared rice-snack, cold drinks and tea, sitting on the floor to chop vegetables.

Soon, there were two dozen excited children on the terrace, enjoying stories, games, singing, dancing and, of course, the food. Adults joined too; some lingered to chat over tea. Unexpectedly, that vast quantity of rice-snack actually ran out – and that was a good thing.

Church at the edges

After Christmas, Amy carried on with tuitions at her home. Week by week, friends from her fellowship have helped provide snacks – on a smaller scale! In this region, some small churches and groups of new believers have experienced hostility, aggression and claims that it is illegal for them to meet (unless they are properly registered). But it is a blessing that this small, new fellowship has started out with some good relationships with the wider communities around them.

Local Christians have been supportive. The English-speaking sister fellowship provides prayer, encouragement, volunteers – and the helpful status of being part of an officially-registered organisation. The local-language fellowship has been able to meet early on Sunday mornings because another local church – believers who have migrated here from another region – has let them use their building for a very low rent. That church had been praying about outreach to local people, but were not sure how to make connections. This collaboration has been an encouraging answer to prayer for both the local-language fellowship and the migrant church.

And yet traditional Sunday services are not necessarily the most important meetings. More people are comfortable coming to people’s homes on weekday evenings for Bible study and prayer. So “house-church” meetings may well be the way forward for this growing fellowship – including meetings in Amy’s house. Being part of this movement has given Amy a new confidence to take initiative, both within the local-language fellowship and in making her home a centre for community connection.

CMS partners making it possible

These healthy connections between Christians of different communities cannot be taken for granted. Behind this fellowship, there is a background of prayer, outreach and collaboration over many years.

The fellowship started through the initiative of local CMS partners Philip and Lyla (names changed). I got to know Philip when I was teaching him five years ago – before they started this local-language fellowship. He is from a small town in a neighbouring region, born into a Roman Catholic family. Lyla is from the local community, born into a family of another faith; and her family became followers of Jesus when she was a teenager. By the time they married, he had studied theology, become involved in various ministries and moved to this city. She had worked for a Christian NGO in various locations. Together, they felt called to train and encourage young people, especially young pastors. Through this training and support, they have played an important part in planting 20 new churches – including Amy’s fellowship.

What I find encouraging about this fellowship is the infectious enthusiasm of those who have chosen to follow Jesus. Amy is used to running her home; but now, supported and encouraged by others around her, she is using her gifts in new ways and having an impact on many people – especially the local children and their families.

It helps that this fellowship does not depend on one authority figure; rather, they are encouraging people to get involved and developing a team of leaders with different gifts and roles.

As the fellowship grows in numbers, it is a challenge to work out how best to organise themselves. They could try to copy existing churches, with their kinds of services and meetings and structures, but moves in that direction have not been comfortable for them. At least for now, what seems to work best is small meetings in people’s houses. Jesus used to do a lot of ministry that way. It seems like he still does.

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Celebrate the 10-year anniversary of AMARE with Catherine Le Tissier, who was there from the beginning.

What began with a handful of women in Northern Argentina in 2014 has grown into a movement of more than 1,640 women from all of the people groups not only in the Diocese of Northern Argentina but also across Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Peru (where it is called AMA).

by Catherine Le Tissier, former mission partner in northern Argentina

A cry for help

The movement began with a cry for help from praying Wichì (indigenous) women looking to the church for practical help for their families.

These indigenous communities, who lived so well in the forest, were thrust into modern life with all its new technology.

Although they benefitted from essentials such as schools and hospitals, parents felt the pressure from the increase of Western influences as they were ill-equipped to guide their children in interacting with unfamiliar culture and technology.

Traditional skills were lost and parents felt powerless as they saw their way of life eroding.

This sparked the vision of one Wichì woman, Isabel Vilte, who worked with a team of Wichì, Toba and Criolla (white settler) women, alongside (now retired) CMS mission partners Catherine Le Tissier and Shelley Stokes, to bring women together.

From MU to AMARE

The idea of a women’s group focused on the family was not totally new – some older women remembered the Mothers’ Union, which had been introduced to northern Argentina some 80 years previously but had sadly declined.

A new “shape” was needed so, encouraged by the worldwide Mothers’ Union, AMARE was formed as an affiliated group.

AMARE seeks to teach Christian basics, gather women and affirm that they are loved, forgiven by God and so precious!

To many women, who often felt invisible culturally, this basic principle was really important.

AMARE encouraged them to know that their love and work are important and so to find new ways to serve God.

Early growth

In the early days of AMARE there was huge growth (numerically and geographically), especially among the indigenous communities. Many women heard teaching and soon wanted to become members.

We soon saw how the teaching on love and forgiveness would lead to reconciliation, sometimes of individuals and sometimes of whole families!

We spent many an hour sitting quietly while Isabel and other leaders listened and encouraged women to sort out their differences and find a way to love and forgive.

It spread to urban centres too – and some members of the church in Buenos Aires even came to the north and caught the vision!

The message was simple, but so powerful and practical, and God’s Spirit moved!

AMARE was not just another women’s group – it was a way of life, and on receiving membership every woman would promise “to love God, and my neighbour, to serve him in my family, in the church and in the community”.

Getting organised

As the movement grew, so did the need to establish the organisation, so in 2016, again with some help from Mothers’ Union, AMARE drew up its first constitution.

A General Assembly was held, supported by the bishops and the local mayor. It was quite a task finding places for everyone to sleep, and ensuring there was enough food for over 300 women, many of whom brought their families!

Workshops during the weekend covered issues such as Bible study, gender-based violence, administration and the family. The first executive committee was chosen, including representatives from several different ethnic groups across the diocese.

Training for family life

In 2017 and 2018 women from AMARE groups across the Province of South America were equipped to facilitate training offered by Mothers’ Union called MULOA, aiming to address the need for support in family life.

MULOA (Mothers’ Union Listen Observe Act) has had a huge impact, helping individuals and groups to listen to God and to others, to observe the needs and priorities, and to take action.

Through Bible study, dynamic games and dramatisations, the way forward becomes clear, and everyone has a lot of fun.

CMS local partner Mirna Paulo continues to use the method among the indigenous communities with huge success.

However, family needs were not all being met and there were many families in crisis. Training using a Mothers’ Union parenting programme had some success, but it didn’t flourish in our context.

In early 2020 parenting facilitators from across the region came together to pray, evaluate the training, consider the challenges facing families and develop strategies to increase outreach.

Facilitators adapted the format to connect better – and some held a group soon after that greatly helped parents and carers.

Times of change

As 2020 progressed, suddenly everything changed with COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, gathering in community was hugely important to AMARE.

Members undertook uncomfortable journeys, slept on church floors and accepted uncertainty around food to be together. So, with tight restrictions on movement and gathering, how could they connect?

Part of Mothers’ Union’s rhythm is a daily “wave of prayer” – every day Mothers’ Union groups are prayed for by others.

For the women of AMARE in Northern Argentina, this prompted a daily WhatsApp prayer group – with women posting and praying daily at noon. This was intended to sustain the group during the early days of the pandemic, but it continues more than three years later!

During lockdowns, some of these messages were broadcast to more remote areas via radio.

Love in action

The heart of AMARE’s vision is to put love in action. As well as supporting parents, prior to the pandemic this included praying for public organisations, such as the police during times of turmoil and launching a football team made up of young men who had been caught up in addiction.

In Ingeniero Juarez, women from AMARE were warmly welcomed by staff and patients as they visited the hospital and prayed with patients.

During the pandemic, the enforcement of restrictions in some areas was heavy handed. There was fear: of the virus, of the police, of being hospitalised.

In Buenos Aires, the group from San Marcos was not deterred, and formed a group of helpers from the community to reach out to struggling families from their local school. They remained strong as they met as a group online.

Joining global voices

Over the years, AMARE held General Assemblies in 2019 and 2022, and leaders were able to connect with Mothers’ Union members from around the world in Rwanda in 2019 and at the Lambeth Conference in 2022.

In addition to serving their own communities, the women of AMARE joined with others around the world in the Mothers’ Union “No more 1 in 3” campaign against gender-based violence. In 2020, AMARE women spoke out on social media and took part in web-based events focused on eradicating abuse and violence towards women.

Challenges and hopes

Since the pandemic, life has been restored to “normal”. Being able to be together is no long seen as a given, but something to strive for – and there have been amazing times together. AMARE continues to be supported by CMS as part of facilitating an indigenous mission group across South America.

AMARE members meet together faithfully, to pray, to love and to serve. There is still strife, apathy, bewilderment, disappointment and sadness, as in communities all over the world. Practical love is not always an easy path to tread.

Yet there is much hope and joy. We see AMARE members taking initiative, taking time with their families, using their God-given gifts as Sunday school teachers, hospital visitors, cleaning, helping, serving.

The old gives way to the new, but we know that the Lord is the same:

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 15: 58

As we look back over 10 years, AMARE has discovered many creative ways to love God and to love others, relying on the Holy Spirit to guide and empower.

It has brought some unity across culture and class, breaking stigma and prejudice, bringing hope to the downtrodden and abused, and help for families – but there continues to be much need.

Our prayer for the future is that AMARE continues to find ways to bring hope, joy and God’s transforming love to families and communities across the vast continent of South America.

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After a desperate start to an unexpected journey, Betty eventually found peace, healing and hope in a refugee camp in northern Uganda.

by Camilla Lloyd

Back home in Lainya county, South Sudan, Betty Kigeni used to help her brother look after his children, who had already lost their mother.

When the war came to their village, they didn’t have time to plan their escape.

Very quickly, gunfire was all around them. Taking the children by the hand and leaving everything else behind, she and her brother ran.

As he looked back, Betty’s brother was shot down.

What could Betty do? For the sake of the children, she had to keep running. They ran all the way to the border with Uganda, where they were taken to Bidibidi refugee camp.

They were safe now, but Betty’s brother, and the children’s father, was gone forever.

Wasting away through bitterness

Betty had left South Sudan, but what had happened there stayed with her.

She was safe in a refugee camp, but she couldn’t move on from the fact that her brother had been killed. Her emotional pain caused her chest pain and made her not want to eat.

Over time, she became very thin, wasting away through bitterness towards those who had killed her brother.

Like many others in the refugee camp, she couldn’t see a way through her pain, and seriously considered suicide.

Healing through forgiveness

A ray of hope came in the shape of a small black device, about the size of a phone, which someone handed her one day.

This, she discovered, was a digital audio player (DAP), and it played Bible stories such as the story of Joseph being betrayed by his brothers but later forgiving them. This story particularly resonated with her.

Betty was also invited to a trauma healing group, where she could open up and talk about her trauma when she was ready.

Gradually, Betty’s life started to change.

Through meeting Jesus, spending time in God’s Word, sharing with others and actively working at forgiveness, she has found God’s healing and now has peace in her heart.

She has even been able to forgive those who killed her brother, and others can see the difference in her. She started eating normally again and has returned to a healthy weight.

Without the trauma healing programme, Betty says she would not be alive today. “Because of this message of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, now I have hope.”

Now, she wants to share the hope of Jesus with others.

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For decades, violent conflict has tormented parts of eastern Africa. Joan Busolo, CMS manager for Africa, believes peace is possible. But to achieve it, she says, we need to follow Jesus and listen to women.

Interview with Naomi Rose Steinberg

Naomi: Joan, thank you for talking with me about this topic, which is timely given the continuing violence in Sudan, South Sudan and DR Congo. Can I ask, do you think that for the most part women have been left out of peace-making in those contexts?

Joan: Actually, it’s not they are left out of peacemaking; they are often left out of everything, even just making decisions about themselves. So, we have to start there.

Naomi: But it’s women who suffer most during war?

Joan: Yes, even apart from sexual violence which we know occurs…I’ve listened to many stories from women who were pregnant during times of war – imagine a pregnant woman having to run, to hide, to go without food for many days because of what’s going on around her that she never asked for. She may have children looking to her for help. They are the last people who want to see wars. Many of them say it would be easier to have peace and go hungry than to have plenty amid war. Women will be the ones to receive and care for the wounded, they will bear the brunt of those who are angry because they lost the battle. And it’s on that front where their peacemaking begins.

The key players in peace

Naomi: So, women in eastern Africa have a vested interest in bringing about peace – tell me how they can do this from a marginalised position?

Joan: It’s important to understand that many women are peacemaking. They are doing it already. They’re key players in peace. It may look small. It may be ignored. It may look like they are just doing their wifely or motherly duties. But they are peacekeepers.

Women spend 90 per cent of their time with the family, in community. Now that’s crucial. So, what they tell their children when they are fighting, goes beyond just a little fight. It’s a bigger thing. What they say even to their own husbands when there is a dispute with a neighbour or a complaint about one community or another – her voice may come in very quietly, but it can move and change a difficult situation. So, at a grassroots level, they are impacting. They are impacting right from the roots. Truth be told, they prepare the ground for the bigger decisions.

Give women more space!

Our cry in CMS is; give them more space to do that, allow them to come out even more strongly. So, when we run women empowerment programmes in conflict zones, or trauma healing programmes, women are given an opportunity to speak out and to recognise themselves as the peacemakers that they are and can be.

Naomi: Can you tell me about some women peacemakers you know?

Joan: The first person who comes to mind is CMS local partner Regina Lueth in South Sudan. This woman has gone beyond borders. Talk about ministry in hospitals, Regina is there. Talk about counselling, Regina is there. Talk about going to schools to say to young people, you don’t need to carry guns, you can relate and resolve issues by speaking to each other…she is there. She carries a lot. She is an example of how women are accelerating everything we are doing in terms of wanting to make disciples of Jesus in areas of armed conflict.

There is also Annette in DR Congo who leads the Graceful Warriors programme in Goma; their core business is trauma healing especially with children and young people. They also share the gospel and are supporting some Muslim-background believers who are facing persecution.

Those are just two examples of women who are helping bring about peace.

Shifting expectations

Naomi: Do you think more men will start listening to women and respecting their potential as peacemakers? Can the Church play a part in this?

Joan: It’s true that women are the majority in the Church, though there are very few in leadership. However, we recently helped run a consultation about bringing peace in Wau, South Sudan. There were women and men present, church leaders and their wives. We had lots of questions and discussion around how to best end violence and promote peace. I noticed that for the most part the women would just smile and go along with what was being said in the groups. The men were making the presentations; the women stayed seated. I spoke with my colleague Karobia at CMS-Africa and said, “Do you see what I’m seeing?”

So, in the afternoon we separated the women and men and I sat with the women and suddenly they felt freer to open up and share their own thoughts. They had very deep and moving things to say about being a woman in conflict contexts. About how women are often treated as children or viewed as property, more or less. How they are not expected to have a voice. How in church they are expected to be quiet and not challenge.

Naomi: Were those things shared with the men? How did they respond?

Joan: None of them objected or said there was anything untrue in what the women were saying. The men were looking at their wives with love and respect.

We have to understand that culture change is a journey. Bit by bit. We have a saying: “You can take a man out of his village, but you cannot take that village out of the man.”

But with Jesus, we can begin to see the miracle of change. It is only through Jesus that peace can come and so the Church has a vital, leading part to play as peacemakers. And listening to and including women is a big part of this.

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The post Women: refusing to give up on peace appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

An incurable cancer diagnosis. Living with chronic pain. Plus pursuing an immense, often-misunderstood, calling. If anyone could be excused for giving up, it might be CMS mission partner and anti-FGM activist Ann-Marie Wilson. We asked her a basic question: how do you keep going? Following is distilled practical wisdom from a woman who refuses to give up.

Look to Jesus

I think Jesus doesn’t give up, because he was sent by the Father for a purpose, a job to do. And I too was sent with a purpose and I haven’t given up – because the job’s not done. Which doesn’t mean it’s not difficult. But I wouldn’t dream of giving up. I’m not done until I’m done.

Remember your purpose

I’m helped by the fact that my calling began with hearing the audible voice of God. I know it’s not that way for everybody.

I was volunteering in West Darfur when I met a girl, Fatima, age 11. She’d undergone FGM (female genital mutilation) at age five and at age 10 she was raped and became pregnant. We helped her give birth safely.

Realising Fatima was one of thousands of FGM victims impacted me greatly. I was due to return to the UK and I cried out to God: “Who’s going to look after these girls when I’ve gone?”

And he said: “You are.”

I figured God hadn’t talked to his HR officer. I wasn’t nearly qualified for this. But I’d heard his voice and I didn’t want to be like Jonah – if you run away from God you never really escape. I spoke with people from my church and others, recognising that I was a white woman wanting to work in the majority world and I needed to discern what part I was called to play in eradicating FGM. I had to be humble and re-train completely.

I wasn’t called to do everything; I was called to do my part. I’ve kept this in mind as I’ve merged the charity I founded 10+ years ago with another charity, and step back from being chief executive for a more advisory role. By grace, I do so with love.

Be truthful about struggles

Of course, I get tired. Or overwhelmed. I can get frustrated at the systems that keep women oppressed. It can be tempting to give up, but never on God. Because he’s called me and he’s with me in all my difficulties. And he helps me learn from them.

Not giving up doesn’t mean not resting

I make space for rest days weekly. Sometimes people say there’s too much work and no time to rest. But the work you do when you’re exhausted is slow. I say this as a recovering workaholic – rest should be part of our discipleship. God rested and if we trust God we will take rest and Sabbath seriously.

Remember blessings

When I started, this was really pioneering work. Back then, churches didn’t know what the initials FGM meant, never mind being prepared to hear me speak about such a graphic subject. So I’m grateful for the early successes and blessings – which weren’t always the same things.

You can’t go it alone

To resist giving up, we need people to encourage and challenge us. We know different people have different skills to bring to the table. And not just people in the present, but I also draw inspiration and sustenance from missionary pioneers who have gone before me. During the pandemic, due to my health I shielded for 18 months and was pretty much on my own. So I know the weariness isolation brings.

Glimpse grace

When I think of things I find difficult to accept, like my health or my singleness, I have to really press in to God. I’ve had to give up the hope of having children, which I would have liked. I do have seven godchildren, which gives me joy. And God has given me the opportunity to train and serve as a midwife in Pakistan and Nigeria. I’ve helped 10 women give birth. God brings fulfillment in amazing ways.

Recently, I had a hip replacement that went horribly wrong and I now have paralysis in my leg and constant pain. It’s something I have to put up with, but it doesn’t make me want to stop. I have to make sure people understand that I’m not Superwoman; I need more help than I used to. It’s tough to be vulnerable but probably a good thing.

Stay curious

When I was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, I saw an oncology psychologist. I told her I’d made a bucket list of 96 things I still wanted to do in my lifetime. She said most people with cancer wait until it’s too late to make this kind of list. After my first chemotherapy session, I did my first bucket list activity: I went to a ballroom dancing lesson and got spun around by the instructor across the wooden floor.

I’ve now done all 96 things. To commemorate my 60th birthday I’ve come up with 60 more things, including some exotic travel I couldn’t do during the pandemic. I don’t want any part of me to feel like it’s time to check out – I feel proud of the things I’ve been able to do and that I have followed my calling and, come what may, that feels like a special place to be.

Pray together

Pray for Ann-Marie as she works for an FGM-free world and advocates for disability awareness. Pray also that she will have continuing wisdom in how best to use her time and energy.

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The post “I’m not done until I’m done” appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

UK’s first NIV audio Bible voiced fully by women proclaims the message that women’s voices matter to God

The UK’s first NIV audio Bible voiced by solely by women will be launched on 8 March to coincide with International Women’s Day. ‘Her Audio Bible UK’ is the brainchild of Rev Katy Partridge, an Anglican curate based at Holy Trinity, Combe Down, in Bath, and features the voices of women drawn from across the country. Each contributor brings her own style, accent and interpretation, resulting in a unique blend of cultures, ethnicity, and church backgrounds, representative of the worldwide Church of God.

At a time when many women are struggling to see God as relevant, Rev Partridge hopes that that Her Audio Bible UK can bring healing to women who have felt the pain of exclusion and can bring alive the truth that God welcomes all. Rev Partridge explained: “The way women are treated in religious spaces impacts the way they see God. If they are excluded from leading, or speaking, or worshipping, the message they receive is that their voice does not matter to God.” 

Rev Partridge is studying for an MA on Church Mission Society’s pioneer mission training programme. She first had the idea when she noticed a general lack of women’s voices in many of the Christian resources available. In response Rev Partridge and her team of volunteers auditioned over 60 women, and based on their tone, diction and ability to narrate, chose 17 women to record the New Testament. Voices include the Rev Prebendary Dr Isabelle Hamley, former chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev Sonia Hicks, a previous president of the Methodist Church, and writer and teacher, Rev Canon Liz Shercliff.

The team behind Her Audio Bible UK recognised that the UK is rich in its diversity, and so wanted to involve a wide range of backgrounds and voices. As well as sharing their individual testimony, each reader speaks from a place of faith and adopts a personal approach as if they were reading to a friend, in order to engage listeners. Rev Partridge said: “Listening to the Bible not only has the potential to bring a new vibrancy to the words of Scripture, but also makes it more accessible to those who find reading a struggle, or those with visual impairments. A woman’s voice is particularly helpful to those for whom male voices can be triggering, such as women who have experienced domestic abuse, or human trafficking.”

Dr Cathy Ross, Head of Pioneer Mission Training at CMS, said: “It has been amazing to see Katy develop this project while she has been studying with us. She has a real passion for women being able to hear God’s word in a way that speaks to us, so I am thrilled that she has pioneered this wonderful audio Bible.”

Her Audio Bible UK is free to listen to. Rather than being accessed through an app, it will be available through digital audio services such as Spotify, as well as its own dedicated website. The initial launch will include the Gospels and the Book of Revelation, and more books will be released each month, with the complete New Testament available by end of the year. Recording of the Old Testament will start later in 2023.

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The post CMS Pioneer leads new women’s audio Bible project appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Ground-breaking work to end the global practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been highlighted in King Charles’s first New Year Honours List as campaigner, humanitarian aid-worker and Church Mission Society mission partner, Dr Ann-Marie Wilson, received an MBE.

The citation reads that Ann-Marie is being recognised “for services to the prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls”.

In 2010 Ann-Marie founded the charity 28 Too Many and set out to end FGM in the 28 African countries where the practice of FGM is prevalent. By building on more than 3,000 FGM survivors’ stories, while collating and interpreting research data for use with international bodies, and mobilising grassroots organisations with advocacy tools, Dr Wilson has helped secure widespread change. She is a global expert FGM advisor to the United Nations, the World Bank and the Metropolitan Police, among others.

Ann-Marie first became aware of the prevalence of the practice when working in Sudan in 2003 with aid agency Medair. In 2020, following 28 Too Many’s legal report Sudan: The Law and FGM, FGM was outlawed in Sudan and is now punishable with a three-year prison term for perpetrators. In a country where an estimated 87 per cent of girls and women between 15 and 49 years have undergone FGM, Ann-Marie’s campaigning has impacted the lives of millions of women and young girls.

Debbie James, Church Mission Society’s Deputy CEO, said: “What wonderful news for Ann-Marie! She has shown remarkable dedication to the cause of anti-FGM campaigning. Her faithful service has highlighted a huge injustice and impacted the lives of thousands of women and girls.”

The Bishop of Truro, Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, a former executive leader of Church Mission Society where Ann-Marie is a mission partner, commented: “Ann-Marie is truly inspirational. In the face of significant challenges she has been an indefatigable campaigner, faithfully pursuing God’s call to champion the rights and dignity of some of the world’s most vulnerable women. I’m in awe of all she’s done and this honour is a fitting and hugely well-deserved recognition.”

Her efforts combatting FGM have won wide acclaim, including a British Citizen Award 2015 and Good Housekeeping Magazine’s Heroine of 2016. Her Ogilvy and Mather FGM publicity campaign won the prestigious Global Advertiser of the Year, beating multi-million dollar brands like Nike and Amazon. Ann-Marie had previously trained in community midwifery in northern Pakistan, fistula rehabilitation in northern Nigeria and worked as a psychologist at a UN camp for displaced Somalis on the northern Kenyan border.

By 2022, 28 Too Many’s 10th anniversary, the charity had achieved Ann-Marie’s founding aim of seeing a 10 per cent reduction in the practice of FGM across 10 countries in 10 years. 28 Too Many has now published over 120 research reports on the law against FGM, raising a call for action from many European governments. 

In 2015 Ann-Marie was diagnosed with incurable non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). The story of her charity’s work is published in her book, Overcoming – My Fight Against FGM, published by SPCK in 2021. 

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The post CMS partner’s fight to end FGM recognised in New Year Honours List appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Mission partner Catherine Le Tissier shares exciting news from AMARE, an Anglican women’s network in Latin America (affiliated with Mothers’ Union) gathering women and helping them experience and understand God’s love for them so that they can love and serve others. The network has now moved to have fully local leadership for the first time since it was founded in 2016.

On 11 June, AMARE held their third General Assembly, at which I handed over to a capable team from the dioceses of Argentina, Northern Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay. It’s an ongoing process but nevertheless an exciting and positive step towards self-governance – and it will be exciting to see how they help develop AMARE.

The assembly was held on Zoom, and attended by over 200 members and non-members crowding around their laptops, in craft workshops, our home and churches. Some places projected the assembly while others taking part used their mobile phones, and reports were shared through pre-prepared videos.

It didn’t have the atmosphere of other years but it was effective, so encouraging and we could all attend!

Please pray for this time of change and transition and that AMARE will continue to thrive and grow, encouraging women to share God’s love in practical ways, knowing that they are loved unconditionally by their Heavenly Father. (Find out more about AMARE.)

Love in action

AMARE’s main aim is that women should know just how loved they are, that they are precious in God’s sight and of much worth in a society that does not always value them or their children. As they know more of God’s love so they can and do reach out to others.

As I reflect over some very busy weeks, the most exciting thing for me has been seeing local AMARE Wichí friends take little (but very big) steps to love others by taking initiatives to raise money to enable children’s ministry, hiring a vehicle to visit and to listen to and encourage the women and families in far flung communities.

As we evaluated the visit to one church (which had been particularly heavy going), one of the women surprised me by saying “we must repeat Lectio Divina – it is the first time that I really felt God speaking to me so clearly.” I am sure that God will continue to speak to her – she is listening!

The local Toba AMARE group has also been busy and were invited by school teachers to visit, to listen and to teach, alongside visiting psychologists, as they cope with increasing violence in the local school.

Amanda Garcia, who visits the school, shared how it was a privilege to be able to visit the school but heartrending as so many children are suffering from some sort of domestic abuse – physical, psychological, and emotional – as parents who have inadequate tools, it seems, struggle to bring up their children in an increasingly fragmented society.

Pray for the Toba group as they reach out both to teachers and children, but also for Amanda and her husband, that they will know how to use their skills as parents and as parenting facilitators to encourage others.

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The post Momentous move for AMARE appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

28 Too Many, the charity founded by CMS mission partner Ann-Marie Wilson, is celebrating 10 years of working to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM).

Registered as a charity in 2012, 28 Too Many has compiled detailed country profiles for each of the 28 African countries where FGM is practised. Ann-Marie explained: “28 Too Many’s reports are used by DFID, the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office, as well as NGOs around the world.”

It is estimated that every year three million women continue to be at risk from FGM in countries where the practice is still considered the cultural norm. In 2020 Sudan introduced legislation outlawing the practice of FGM, a first step on the long road to societal change.

Ann-Marie remains hopeful: “Thank you to all the people who have supported us in this vision over the last 10 years. There is still a long way to go but together we can end FGM.”

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The post A decade of difference: anti-FGM charity marks a milestone appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).