I recently had the privilege of visiting some CMS and people on location who CMS missionaries work missionaries on location, while on holidays with my alongside. husband. Though we’d never met, they welcomed us into We open the edition with CMS-A Development and their home and made us great coffee, shared a meal with us Training Secretary David Williams’ article on the Biblical at a local café and invited us along on their weekly trip to foundations of partnership (pp 4–5) and its critical, two-way the markets. nature in world mission today. International partnerships They shared some of the challenges they are facing in their play a significant role in the process of placing missionaries ministry, what a typical week looks like for them and about in their particular ministry and location. CMS-A Federal their hopes for the growth of their ministry. Even though Secretary Peter Rodgers explains the importance of a we live in different places, our visit brought home the deep common gospel vision in determining who our international unity we share with our missionaries in God’s mission. Our partners should be. goals, our passions, our concerns are aligned in the gospel – Many CMS missionaries work under local churches. this is the essence of true partnership. We share how our partnerships with Higashinada Baptist It is such a joy that as members of the body of Christ, we – Church in Japan (p 7) and the Church of Toraja in Indonesia like puzzle pieces – each have a unique part to play in our (p 13) started and how they have developed over time and partnership in the gospel. the fruit being produced as a result. In this edition of Checkpoint we focus on our For CMS, one of the ways we see partnerships in the gospel international partners – the churches, organisations flourish is when CMS missionaries train local people to take over leadership. This happened recently through the ministry of missionary David Greeff in Namibia (p 8). Handing over leadership to a local was also significant in the partnership between CMS and ABUA in Argentina (pp 10–11). At this time of year, we encourage you to give through the CMS Looking for the Perfect Gift? Catalogue. CMS scholars studying at various theological institutions, are key beneficiaries of your giving through the catalogue. On page 12 we interview Qaiser Julius, about the strategic nature of his studies as part of our partnership in the gospel with the Pakistani Church. Like any relationship, CMS’s international partnerships have their joys and challenges. As you read this edition and use the enclosed calendar throughout 2013, I encourage you to pray for the ongoing growth of the kingdom of God as CMS works with diverse people, churches and organisations across the globe.
Church Missionary Society – Australia Ltd Complaints Protocol VICTORIA WESTERN AUSTRALIA President: Most Rev Peter Jensen CMS Australia contracts an Independent Contact 9 –13 Queen Street (PO Box 410) 31 Acheson Crescent, Woodvale WA 6026 Person to handle complaints. Blackburn VIC 3130 (08) 9408 1296 CMS AUSTRALIA OFFICE Telephone: 1800 774 945 (03) 9894 4722 Fax (03) 9894 3995 Email: [email protected] Level 5, 51 Druitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Email: [email protected] General Secretary: Rev Canon Ray Arthur BRANCH OFFICES (PO Box 20095, World Square NSW 2002) State Director: Rev Dr Wei-Han Kuan Checkpoint is published four times a year by the (02) 9284 6777 Fax (02) 9267 3626 QUEENSLAND WITH NORTHERN NSW Tasmania Church Missionary Society, a voluntary society within Email: [email protected] Level 2, 126 Barry Parade (PO Box 526), the Anglican Church of Australia. Federal Secretary: Rev Canon Peter Rodgers 23 Clarence Street, Bellerive TAS 7018 Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 (03) 6244 3926 Mission Personnel Secretaries: (07) 3112 6530 Fax (07) 3112 6559 A member of Missions Interlink. Mr Peter Blowes, Ms Judith Calf Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] State Director: Rev David Boyd © 2012/2013 Church Missionary Society – Australia Ltd. St Andrew’s Hall General Secretary: Rev Jeremy Gehrmann Permission to reproduce material may be obtained 190 The Avenue, Parkville VIC 3052 SOUTH AUSTRALIA/NORTHERN TERRITORY from the Editor. NEW SOUTH WALES & ACT 4/195 Victoria Square, Adelaide SA 5000 (03) 9388 1663 Fax (03) 9387 1372 Level 5, 51 Druitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Editor: Naomi Jones, CMS-A Communications Officer Email: [email protected] (08) 8212 4838 Fax (08) 8212 4177 (PO Box 21326, World Square NSW 2002) Email: [email protected] Designer: Jarrod Lambert (02) 9267 3711 Fax (02) 9267 3703 Regional Director: Mr David Williams Front Cover Images: (Clockwise from top left) Rt Rev Email: [email protected] Hilkiah Omindo Deya, Bishop of Mara, Shutterstock image, General Secretary: Rev Canon Malcolm Richards CMS missionary Peter Sholl, woman from South Asia. For information and feedback, 02 email [email protected] Please send CHANGES OF ADDRESS to your branch office. Partnership in the Gospel 4–5 How We Work With Partners 6 An Evolving Partnership in Japan 7 God’s Timing is Perfect! 8 Our Gospel Partnership in Argentina 10–11 Training Future Leaders 12 A Very Personal Partnership 13 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because News 14 of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, Giving Thanks 15 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The 2013 CMS calendar can be found after page 13. Philippians 1:4-6
Image: Mikayla (daughter of missionaries Leigh and Tamara ) receives affection from an elderly friend in a village. 03 Partnership in mission is one of CMS’s core values. CMS-A Development and Training Partnership Secretary David Williams explores why partnership is central to who we are and in the gospel what we do:
A friend of mine is a missionary in Madagascar. He is A TWO-FOLD challenge clear that those who ‘share in Christ’ are given a status that helping to equip African evangelists for a church planting actively involves us in the work of the gospel. This ‘partnership in the gospel’ is a initiative that they pray will see thousands of people come to Over the last 25 years, mission has been changing very rope woven with four strands – doing, Christ. After having flown to Madagascar, my friend spent rapidly, confronting us with a two-fold challenge. On the A TWO-WAY partnership months learning the local language to enable him to teach one hand we must hold firmly to the unchanging truth praying, communicating and supporting. the good news of the Lord Jesus clearly. He is supported of God’s word – the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the Paul uses this model of partnership to describe not only by his home churches, which give sacrificially to a mission only hope of rescue for a lost and broken world. On the the local fellowship of Christians but also the relationship agency that coordinates his financial and prayer support. other hand, we must be radically flexible, willing to do between Christians who are geographically separated. Serving together in partnership away with old stereotypes as we seek to proclaim this good When we consider how we can extend our influence As I’ve told that story, perhaps you’ve painted a picture in news to our ever-changing world. This double challenge beyond our local reach, we are to engage in partnership We are the Church Missionary Society. We exist to help your mind of the tropical jungles of Madagascar. As you’ve demands that we think carefully and biblically about how with others ‘there’ just as we engage in koinonia, locally, the Church do mission. We don’t exist to do mission apart imagined the scene, let me ask you: what is the skin colour we work in partnership with others as we serve together with each other ‘here’. It is the same pattern of relating from the Church. Our role is to enable God’s people to of the missionary? Black or white? I’d guess that the in mission. with each other, but requires careful thought, effort and work together across geographical and cultural boundaries. pictures most of us have painted give the missionary white communication because of geographical separation.1 CMS offers a high level of training and preparation to skin. So the part of the story that might surprise you is that BIBLICAL foundations of partnership help missionaries to navigate these differences of language my friend is a black Kenyan, the supporting churches that This ‘partnership in the gospel’ is a rope woven with and culture. We enable gospel-minded people to serve Paul’s letter to the Philippians offers us a biblical foundation are funding him are all Kenyan and the mission agency four strands – doing, praying, communicating and together in gospel-centred partnerships. In this edition for our understanding of partnership. Paul used the Greek that has sent him is Kenyan. supporting. Partnership is about doing the work of the of Checkpoint we introduce you to some of the people word ‘koinonia’ to convey the deep spiritual fellowship gospel, proclaiming and living it; it’s about praying for and ministries around the world who share in gospel which believers share through their partnership. All one another; it’s about communicating with one another partnerships with God’s people in Australia. Christians are in partnership with one another because we in order to encourage each other in our gospel witness; Care are in Christ and share God’s grace. We therefore have the and it’s about sharing with one another materially, from Read Philippians and reflect on privilege and responsibility of being a world-wide family those who have been blessed to those who need support, 1 Partnership in the Gospel – a thematic study of Philippians, Crosslinks, London, 2007. the partnership you share with of fellow-workers. We share in the task of advancing the in whichever direction is necessary. Every single one of other Christians through Jesus Christ. Encourage your link gospel by preaching Christ to the ends of the earth. Paul is these strands of the rope runs both ways. missionaries in their gospel witness with a letter, Skype call or an email.
Photos: CMS missionaries working in partnership with local people. Left: CMS missionary Nigel Klein (right) and a local evangelist, helping build a toilet for a paraplegic Top left: CMS missionary Helen Hoskins with Mzee Peter after his baptism. Bottom right: CMS missionary Jenny Bennett with a friend in Murgwanza,Tanzania; Centre: CMS missionary David Greeff (left) shares a joyful moment with a NETS study group in Namibia. child at Murgwanza hospital.
04 05 CMS partners with Australian churches, members and supporters, missionaries and HOW WE WORK international partners. CMS-A Federal Secretary Peter Rodgers explains how we work with WITH PARNTERS international partners:
In October I went to East Timor for three days. This the right missionary with the right partner for the best was CMS’s first visit to East Timor, but I didn’t go gospel outcome. to do ‘mission’, nor to preach. I met with leaders of a 4. The ministries of our partners are important to us. rapidly growing local denomination, who have asked for We long to see the ministry of our partners grow and Christians to help them with Bible teaching and leadership prosper so that God’s Church may grow and many development. We are excited by what we have heard. We come to Christ. Today we have over 100 partners hope that sometime in the near future CMS missionaries around the world. Our partners include churches, will be working with this new church. Bible colleges, universities, hospitals, schools and Working with global partners to bring the gospel to Christian organisations. the world is at the core of how we engage in cross- 5. We visit our partners regularly. cultural mission. Let me explain how CMS works with Once we place a missionary with a partner we visit international partners: our partner every year during our missionary pastoral 1. CMS works with partners around the world. visits. We meet with leaders and sometimes preach CMS never seeks to do its ‘own thing’ in mission. at church or teach a class at a Bible college. Through In every place where CMS missionaries serve, they regular visits we keep up to date with their work and always do so in partnership with a local church or deepen our friendship and commitment to them. organisation, serving humbly under their leadership. 6. Our partners are a blessing to us. 2. We look for partners who share our gospel vision. Belonging to God’s worldwide family is an amazing We look for partners who are involved in ministries privilege. We work with partners around the world that fit with our vision and purpose. Sharing a because we have a passion to serve God through his common understanding of faith and mission gives Church. The blessing is ours too as they teach us and us confidence that our missionaries will be able to do we grow in our faith. good gospel work. As you support cross-cultural mission through 3. We get to know our partners before we place a CMS, you too have the joy of joining these strategic missionary. global partnerships and seeing gospel ministry grow CMS staff workers will visit potential partners, often throughout the world. several times, before we agree on the placement of a missionary. This puts us in a good position to place
We have a growing partnership with the Anglican Church in Myanmar. As yet we have no missionaries serving in Myanmar, but our friendship has been growing as CMS personnel have visited regularly in recent years. We have Above: Buddhist monks in Myanmar, invited Archbishop Stephen to speak at the CMS summer conferences in (Shutterstock). 2013. We will learn from him about ministry among Buddhists and he will get to know us better. Our hope is that in the near future we will have missionaries working along the Thai-Burma border and in Myanmar itself. Praise God! 06 An evolving partnership CMS missionaries Brad and Michelle Jackson are involved in many different ministries with the in Japan Higashinada Baptist Church in Kobe, Japan. Brad writes:
Why is CMS Australia associated with an independent New ministry opportunities Baptist church in a wealthy Japanese city? Very few Japanese people have heard of Jesus Christ. We are Different expectations meant some early tensions, but partnering with Higashinada Baptist Church (HNBC) so over time trust and understanding developed and deep that many more Japanese will hear the gospel and be saved. bonds have formed. Greater trust has now led to expanded Together we long to see his kingdom growing in Japan. responsibilities and opportunities. Last year we helped launch the Kids Adventure Club The RELATIONSHIP forms outreach, and this year we’ve been part of the team that has started a new service. Adding this new service has CMS’s involvement with HNBC began during the 1990s, helped to increase regular attendance at church. New when CMS missionaries Grahame and Cathy Smith families have begun attending and others are coming got to know the pastor and key members of the church more regularly. The service also marks a major shift in the through the KGK (IFES in Japan) student ministry. CMS church’s outreach strategy because it aims to reach youth then formalised the partnership through the sending of and young families who have never heard about Jesus. It long-term missionaries. is exciting to be part of a ministry team that is adaptable and open to change, so that more people can hear about Mutual benefits God’s love. When Michelle and I came to Kobe with the aim of teaching the Bible, along with fellow CMS missionary Under God, strong, long-term Kellie Nicholas, we were warmly received into the HNBC. Initially the church benefited from our assistance relationships between CMS, the local with their English outreach classes. As new missionaries, church and KGK are nurturing future we were blessed with a caring church family to help us leadership and growing Christ’s kingdom. through the early years of language and cultural adaptation. Investing in people Through partnership, this local church benefits from the gifts of CMS missionaries, and the missionaries are pastorally cared for. The partnership has also enabled CMS missionaries, particularly Kellie, to better serve the interdenominational student movement (KGK). Under God, strong, long-term relationships between CMS, the local church and KGK are nurturing future leadership and growing Christ’s kingdom.
Above left: Gospel partners – Michelle Jackson and Maya; Below left: HNBC Kids Adventure Club (with CMS missionary Kellie Nicholas on left); Right: Brad (left) with a KGK Bible study group.
Go! Get involved in this great partnership and teach English classes to diverse ages through the HNBC outreach program. Contact your local CMS branch or go to www.cms.org.au/opportunity 07 CMS partners with the Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS). God’s timing CMS missionary David Greeff trains coordinators for their Department of Distance is perfect! Education (DDE). He writes:
Above: David and Erastus (to right) with a NETS study group in Erongo. Vision for growth In April 2010, after several years working in Owambo, During the the NETS leadership decided that in order to expand whole two- the reach of the DDE (Distance Education) courses we year training should move to the coastal Erongo region of Namibia. In period, Erastus Erongo I would establish study groups and continue the worked tirelessly intensive training of coordinators. My wife Alisan and I as a volunteer, were open to God’s leading in this new ministry, but we enthusiastically did not know where to start! building the kingdom of God. In God provides mid-2012, just before Then, one afternoon in May, we heard that Erastus, a we left for Home graduate from NETS, was now living in Erongo. He Assignment in Australia, wanted to enrol students in NETS DDE courses and God, again in his perfect launch a study group in the Erongo region. God works timing, provided NETS in mysterious ways! He had already sent Erastus ahead with funding to employ of us to the Erongo region to be an integral part of this Erastus full-time. I handed pioneering work. over all the responsibilities of NETS Erongo coordinator to Erastus. He wept with Raising up local leaders gratitude as we farewelled him en route to Australia. After our family moved to Walvis Bay in Erongo, Erastus Partnership makes a difference and I set up NETS DDE study groups comprising students of different denominations and languages. As When we arrived in 2006, there was only one coordinator we did everything together – from promoting the courses in Namibia, a country the size of NSW, and no more than and visiting pastors, to launching and running new classes 10 graduates a year. Now, after six years, and through (including classes in the two local prisons) – we brought the work of three Namibian coordinators, more than 50 together different gifts, experience, cultural knowledge students are graduating from the NETS DDE programs and language abilities. each year and over 200 students are regularly meeting together in study groups around the country. There are now six study groups under Erastus’s capable leadership, made possible by CMS’s long-term partnership with its missionaries – equipping and empowering local missionaries for the sake of the gospel. Give Partner with NETS through the CMS Looking for the Perfect Gift? Catalogue and sponsor a Namibian theological student to study the Certificate in Christian Leadership for one year by ordering Above: NETS DDE Coordinators Erastus and the $100 gift on p12 of the catalogue or Tuhafeni, at NETS Graduation. 08 online at www.cms.org.au/giftcatalogue theessentials
Love for Jesus Health Professionals A servant heart Passion for mission Church Planters Bible training Homeschool Teachers Cross-cultural training
Professional training Youth Workers Openness to God’s leading Bible Teachers
Do you have a passion for making disciples of Jesus? Engineers There is a great opportunity for people who love making friends, sharing Christ and starting groups to be involved in church planting in neighbouring countries in Asia. Medical Professionals CMS is looking for people willing to learn language, culture and church planting with a respected partner organisation. University Lecturers
Boarding School Staff Do you have media skills and a desire to see the Good News proclaimed in the Middle East? Media Workers A Christian media company is seeking people who can use their IT, media, School Teachers web, social media and other creative skills to communicate the message of the gospel to Muslim people. Church Workers This is a long-term opportunity to develop programs and training that can impact lives for Jesus where few know EFL Teachers his name.
Pastors
Student Workers
Do you have a heart for Business Managers ministry among university students? Theological Lecturers In the diverse residential area of Latra Bang, near Bangkok International Airport, there Administration Staff is a slum, an upper-middle class residential area and a University Centre with accommodation for about Children’s Workers 25,000 students. The Anglican Church of Project Managers Thailand, one of our international partners, is looking for a university student worker to help plant a church in this unreached neighbourhood. CMS-A Mission Personnel Secretary, Peter Blowes*, writes OUR GOSPEL PARTNERSHIP about the gospel partnership between CMS Australia and the Argentine student group, ABUA, which began in the 1970s and IN ARGENTINA continues today. Above: Former General Secretary of ABUA Sylvia Chaves with Terry and Peter Blowes and Martin Field.
Argentina, 1979. A country experiencing civil war. Partnership amongst equals project did not advance. John submitted to the national The General Secretary of the Christian student group, The partnership has matured as authority. I also saw it in other CMS missionaries in their Asociación Bíblica Universitaria Argentina (ABUA), had both parties have gained a deeper In 1987, John handed over the role of General Secretary promotion of national leadership training, and search for just had a breakdown. Yet out of this turbulence, God was understanding of the support that they of ABUA to Argentine staff worker, Silvia Chaves. CMS local resources.” working. In the years since, a strong gospel partnership rejoiced to see the organisation led by an Argentine once formed that continues today. were able to offer each other. again. Silvia says, “Fellowship, Partners in Mission, Work Partnership today amongst Equals: these are the synonyms I think of when Many CMS missionaries have helped to strengthen this to be bold in evangelism – even when their lives were I think of partnership with CMS – from south to south Partnership development vital partnership over the years. CMS-A missionaries at risk because of the civil war which was happening all [Australia to South America]. In a period where the ruler ABUA, the Argentine group of evangelical students, has Martin and Julie Field have been working with ABUA around them. John reflected that even in the midst of of the day was in the north [North America and Europe, been active in universities in Argentina since the 1940s. It is since 2007. The current ABUA General Secretary, Hector crisis, students were highly committed and received him particularly the United Kingdom] and there were tensions affiliated with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Franco, is excited about the integral part Martin and Julie with great affection on his visits to the provinces. He and misunderstandings with other mission agencies, Students (IFES). play in evangelising and discipling students within their wrote, “Gaylene and I endeavoured to strengthen these especially at an ecclesiastical level, CMS showed us a partnership with ABUA. Hector says, “CMS has not only The arrival in 1979, of John and Gaylene Harrower, the bonds, receiving the students into our home, spending different model”. provided great missionaries including the Fields, but also first CMS-A missionaries to work with ABUA, was met time with them and attempting to take into account their Silvia continues, “There were lessons to remember and provides pastoral care to ensure ‘good fruit’ from their with high expectations. CMS sent John and Gaylene integral needs.”1 cherish. The one who pays is the boss, so John helped us efforts. I’ve learned that the partnership works where to support this important work amongst students in John says, “At the outbreak of the Malvinas/Falklands [when he was General Secretary] to open a bank account there is respect for the goals and policies of the national Argentina. Despite challenges, the partnership matured as war in 1982, other missionary organisations ordered their in US dollars, and CMS would send the money there student movement. Without that it is impossible to grow both parties gained a deeper understanding of the support missionaries to leave Argentina. CMS made money and for the support of the missionaries, who were then paid mutually”. that they were able to offer each other. tickets available, but left the final decision of whether we by ABUA. He listened to the native born as equals. We Through the decades, this international partnership would ABUA and CMS had a united purpose of gospel outreach. stayed to ABUA and ourselves. ABUA saw it as a trust and argued together over names, leadership and projects not have lasted without the faithful and godly support As General Secretary of ABUA, John encouraged students partnership of the highest order”. and if there was no agreement with the nationals, the of local partners in Australia. John says, “Argentines are highly relational people and the visits of CMS Australia personnel – both CMS staff and CMS supporters … were very important in building both friendships and trust in CMS Australia”. In January 2013, CMS missionary Amy Stephens will be joining Martin and Julie in continuing this vital work of gospel outreach among university students in Argentina.
1 La Historia de la Asociación Bíblica Universitaria Argentina: Una Familia en Mision, ABUA, Argentina, 1989, p 36.
*Peter and Terry Blowes were CMS missionaries in Argentina with ABUA from 1986 to 2004.
Pray Continue to pray for the partnership of CMS Australia and ABUA in seeing lives transformed through the gospel.
Left: University students gather in Martin and Julie’s lounge room for a monthly meeting that includes prayer, Bible training and a meal; Above: Former CMS missionary John Harrower. Above (Back, L to R): Peter Blowes, Madim Boronat, Terry Blowes, Ingrid Boronat, Rubén Boronat (ABUA President), Hector Franco (ABUA General Secretary); (Front, L to R): Fany Beliorano (ABUA supporter), Joel Boronat. 10 11 Qaiser Julius, a leader in the Pakistani Church, is sponsored by Langham TRAINING Australia together with CMS Australia and Melbourne School of Theology (MST). Checkpoint interviewed Qaiser about FUTURE LEADERS this partnership:
st One way that CMS partners with churches around How do you see gospel partnership in the 21 the world is through offering scholarships to gifted Century? leaders to do further studies. We currently support The Pakistani Church could not financially support more than 30 people to study God’s word to help someone like me to do this high level of study in another equip Christ’s Church around the world. country. I will be the only person in the Pakistani Church with this level of training. I hope to have maybe 20 years of What are you studying at MST? ministry in the Church when I return. I’m thankful for this I am researching the Christian response to injustice and great partnership in the gospel and I look forward to how it oppression in Pakistan, particularly resulting from political will strengthen local churches in Pakistan in the years ahead. issues such as the blasphemy laws. How might your studies benefit the Australian What is your role in Pakistan? Church? Since 2003 I have been the director of a theological My studies are giving me a fuller understanding of the institution. I am currently on study leave. struggles the Church in Pakistan is facing, and that despite stress and oppression, the Church is faithful. This helps How will your PhD equip you to more effectively me to share the true situation of the Pakistani Church with people in Australia when I am asked to preach in churches impact the Church in Pakistan? here, so they too are aware and enabled to share and support After gaining my PhD in Australia my main role will be to us through the difficulties we face. In the future, if my work help get a Masters in Theology program started in Pakistan is published, I hope it may be an eye-opener for the Church by training people who will in turn train others. The vision in Australia and the west. for the Masters program is to help grow and strengthen church leadership in Pakistan, particularly as the Church General giving to CMS and through our annual is becoming increasingly isolated. This training will help gift catalogue provides the funding to support these produce deep thinkers and writers who will guide and help student scholarships. These scholarships strengthen Christians to better handle the difficulties they experience the leadership of our partner churches by providing day to day, as they live in a predominantly Muslim country. good quality theological education.
Above: Qaiser (centre) with Langham conference leaders, including CMS missionaries Steve Sonneman and Paul Barker (left).
Give Order the $25 gift from the Looking for the Perfect Gift? Catalogue and support Qaiser in his PhD studies by providing for his living costs for a day. Ask your local branch for a catalogue or order online at www.cms.org.au/giftcatalogue 12 Over the last 10 years a strong partnership has A VERY PERSONAL developed with the Church of Toraja in Indonesia, as CMS missionary Andrew Buchanan has worked to strengthen PARTNERSHIP pastoral leadership. He writes: Cause for celebration Toraja is located in the central part of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. In 2013 the Church of Toraja will celebrate 100 years since the gospel came to the region. There are currently over 1000 congregations with about 400 serving ordained ministers. I was planning on being on Home Assignment for much of next year, but people in the Church have suggested that my absence at the 100-year celebrations would be noticed. They are thankful to God for their partnership with CMS through me, and I am thankful to God for the partnership I have with CMS supporters that enables me to stay here. Small beginnings I am the first person from CMS to be working in Toraja. Above: Ordination trainees cleaning up rubbish – an opportunity to learn I began ministry at a denominational college in 2002, as a about environmental issues as they serve. lecturer in Biblical Studies. In those early years I benefited from the relationships of trust established with the Church Learning together through the faithful ministries of previous missionaries For the last two years my focus has been on guiding from other organisations. candidate ministers through a two-year ordination Within this partnership I have continued to contribute to program. They leave behind family and friends, often the ministry of the Church in different ways. God has used going to remote locations, sometimes without electricity some of my gifts to complement local strengths. Those I or mobile phone signal. I have learnt much about sacrificial worked with valued my perspective as an outsider, and I ministry from them. Morning devotions are a daily part of took opportunities to give feedback where I saw the need. the training program and it brings me great joy when I see One of the main problems I saw was the lack of Bible a truth of God’s word ‘sink in’ for one of the candidates. subjects in the degree program. I was privileged to be a part of a curriculum review where that component was God at work much strengthened. God is working more widely as well. As a result of the Since 2008, I have written a weekly blog on the set Church’s ‘back to the Bible’ course, several minister friends passage for the Sunday sermon in all churches in the have now read through the whole Bible, determined that denomination. The denomination produces a yearly guide it become not just a tool for ministry, but central in their with notes aimed at lay elders, but my blog digs deeper own walk with God. for those with theological training, and is now accessed by hundreds of ministers each week.
Left: Ordination trainees presenting on gospel and culture; Right: Andrew Buchanan with church elders following a seminar on Bible reading and preaching. Pray Give thanks to God for the growth of the Church of Toraja, Indonesia. Pray for Andrew as he continues to equip the future pastors for gospel-centred ministry and pray that the Church continues to grow. 13 Sabah’s Golden Jubilee highlights long-term partnership with CMS
On 24 July 2012 the Diocese of Sabah celebrated its 50th Anniversary in spectacular fashion. Former CMS missionary Gordon Boughton writes: The celebrations included a groundbreaking ceremony for the proposed new ‘Celebration Centre’; a Thanksgiving Communion in the Cathedral with lively singing, choir items, Jewish horns blasting and Bishop Vun’s rousing sermon; and a Jubilee Dinner attended by 1000 people. The dinner included an address from Archbishop Bolly and the launch of my ‘Jubilee History’, commissioned by Bishop Vun in 2010.
As CMS played a very significant role in the growth of Above: Congratulating Bishop Vun after the groundbreaking ceremony. the church, CMS-A Federal Secretary Peter Rodgers and his wife Marcelle, former CMS missionaries Sylvia Jeanes (1967–2010) and Laylee and I (1978–88) attended the celebrations on behalf of the society. A partnership between CMS and the Anglican Church in North Borneo (modern-day Sabah) started to emerge in the early 1950s, as part of a response to the needs of the Anglican Church in South East Asia. In May 1954, the first CMS missionaries to modern-day Sabah, Rev Walter and Camille Newmarch, arrived in Tawau, where Walter was in charge of St Patrick’s Church and School. By the time the Diocese was formed in 1962, 14 CMS missionaries were contributing to its continued growth. Above: Rev Canon Peter Rodgers, Archbishop Bolly Lapok, Bishop Albert Vun. They introduced evangelical Anglicanism together with excellent education and pastoral care. When Laylee and I arrived in 1978, the Diocese was recovering from mild persecution. Our ministry was mainly at Christ Church Likas, where the congregation grew from 35 to 150 members in ten years, with ministry in three languages: English, Hakka Chinese, and Malay. Many people came to Christ and matured in serving him. After we left, the church doubled in five years and doubled again in the next five years! Some members set up church plants nearby and others settled in churches overseas.
In 2012, under its fifth local Bishop, there are over 100 Above: All Saints Cathedral Choir singing at the Thanksgiving Service. clergy looking after 300 congregations in the Diocese, with an average Sunday attendance of 27,000 people and 2,500 baptisms annually. In the course of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, the Diocese presented CMS Australia with a plaque, which reads: We thank God for your partnership in the gospel of Jesus Christ that has brought the knowledge of salvation to so many in our Diocese and beyond.
Contact CMS NSW & ACT to obtain a copy of the Golden Jubilee History. Above: “Praise the Lord...with trumpets.” Psalm 98:6,7
14 Give God thanks for Shirley Feuerheerd retired to Bowral and were actively involved in supporting CMS and their local church. We bring Shirley Feuerheerd grew up in Melbourne in a our Christian sympathy to his widow, Rita and their Christian family. When her brother, Wellesley, son Graham and his wife Deborah, and to their who was a missionary in Mvumi, Tanganyika, was daughter Narelle and her husband Ian Hadfield bereaved of his first wife in 1944, Shirley went (with CMS in Jakarta) and the four grandchildren. there to care for their son Lister, for two years, until Wellesley remarried. In 1947, Shirley married Arthur Dietrich (‘Dick’) Feuerheerd, who was teaching at Give God thanks for Georgie Langford Arusha School. They became CMS missionaries We give God thanks for the life of Mrs Georgina and served in Rungwe, Kongwa and Iringa. Shirley (‘Georgie’) Langford. Georgie and her late husband home-schooled their daughters, Charis, Erica, Jack were involved with CMS and St Hilary’s, Kew, Naomi and Stephanie. and served the Lord with CMS At Rungwe Shirley taught the trainee teachers music in the Northern Territory and encouraged the use and development of their from 1962 to 1968. Jack was own tribal hymns. At Kongwa she helped compile the the field superintendent for new Swahili hymnbook for the Anglican dioceses of the six communities that CMS East Africa. They left Tanzania in late 1966 but Dick had founded as Aboriginal died in Melbourne in January 1967 from leukaemia. Missions. Jack and Georgie retired to Trentham in 1980, Shirley was actively involved in St Andrew’s, where Jack died in 2004. Their Rosanna and CMS until 1980 when she moved to daughter Robyn came to live Buderim to care for her older sister. Charis and with Georgie in 2008 until Georgie moved into the Erica and their families later moved there and were a Trentham Nursing Home in March this year. Georgie great blessing to Shirley in her senior years. Shirley died, aged 98, on 10 October in Trentham, Vic. We passed away in Buderim, Vic, on 23 August, aged 96. pray for her three daughters, five grandchildren and We thank God for Shirley and pray for her daughters seven great-grandchildren in their loss. and their families. Give God thanks for Glenys McBride Give God thanks for David Brake We give God thanks for the life of Glenys McBride We give God thanks for the life of David Brake, who (née Loan), who died aged 71 on 24 October in Mt died in Liverpool, NSW on 1 October. David and Gambier, SA, after a long illness. Glenys served the Rita served the Lord with CMS Lord in Sukkur Hospital, Pakistan, from 1968 to in North Australia from 1962 1972. When she returned, she and Barry McBride to 1964 and again from 1968 to married and she was involved with the Bible 1979. David was a builder and College of South Australia and CWCI. Barry and Rita had a ministry through Glenys moved to Mt Gambier in 2008. We bring our their home. They resumed their Christian sympathy to Barry and their family. service with CMS in 1992 in Iringa, Tanzania, where David ~ Tributes prepared by Hugh Prentice, Former Missionaries’ supervised the construction of Fellowship several buildings, including the new Cathedral and a house where other missionaries have lived since they left Tanzania in 1999. They
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