S5E2 - The Jacobsons love Cambodia – they have been many times over the past 10 years. What started as visiting missionary friends for five weeks turned into many regular visits with their kids. Now Maurice and Amanda are long-term CMS missionaries at a rural bible college in the north of Cambodia. This Tasmanian farming couple have traded in cold grassy pastures for humid rice paddies. But their heart to see the gospel grow and ability to come alongside and serve has remained the same.

 Elim Bible College is a low literacy bible college discipling and growing young people in both the Bible and sustainable farming practices. Join us as Maurice and Amanda share why they kept going back to Cambodia, give us insight into the effects of the Pol Pot regime on Christianity and farming, and tell us how students are reaching their communities to build the local church.

Find out more about supporting Maurice & Amanda at www.cms.org.au/missionaries/jacobsonma

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting www.cms.org.au and selecting your local branch.

S5E1 - Welcome back to season 5! We are kicking off with someone who is a ‘not yet’ missionary. M is currently studying at St Andrews Hall, CMS’s mission training facility in Melbourne, to go and serve in a secure location among Muslim peoples. M has a heart for the gospel-poor and speaks candidly about his journey into mission, singleness, risk and potential danger and how God has encouraged him along the way.

Amongst the uncertainty of location and what ministry and mission will look like M shows us what it means to walk in step with God and his leading. In the location M is seeking to go relationships and trust can take a long-time to form. Find out how M’s training is preparing him for the long-term and how he is goes out, not alone, but in the care of CMS and in partnership with many.

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting www.cms.org.au and selecting your local branch.

To partner with M go to https://www.cms.org.au/missionaries/maxs

S4E6 - T works with some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Children, orphaned, and with disabilities in an Asian country that has not historically had any provision or place for them. It’s been a 20 year journey for T - being a voice and advocate for the most vulnerable at a systemic level, a trainer and teacher as a team has developed, and quite literally the hands of Jesus as T has nurtured and cared for so many children. God’s heart for the vulnerable and forgotten people of this world shines through T and her husband, D’s, work in both Asia and Australia.

There is so much to learn from T as she shares her personal experiences as well as how the gospel has shaped her life and mission. T has seen God do the seemingly impossible to change the lives of these incredibly loved but vulnerable kids.

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting www.cms.org.au and selecting your local branch.

S4E5 - A foundational experience in Greg’s faith and ministry was the months he spent in his 20s living in a remote Aboriginal community in central Arnhem Land. He was there to study traditional Aboriginal music as he pursued a career in music therapy. But he also encountered a community alive in the Spirit and fervent in worship as they met every night to share testimonies, read the bible, sing and pray. God was at work in the Top End and Greg wanted to join in. 

Greg has an immense amount of personal and ministry history working with Aboriginal churches and communities as well as supporting the development of Christian leaders. Many communities have their own rich Christian identity, but are gospel fragile, as they lack resourcing and consistent support. Join Greg as he talks about his passion to see the Aboriginal church thrive and build on the foundations of gospel growth. 

Contact Greg through the Anglican Diocese of the Northern Territory webpage www.ntanglican.org.au or email [email protected] 

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting www.cms.org.au and selecting your local branch. 

S4E4 - The average student in Argentina takes 8-9 years to graduate. Unlike the sprint of most uni ministries of only 3-4 years, Martin and Julie Field have been able to see God at work, disciple and minister with students for a significant portion of their young adult life. While the Catholic church in Argentina in is decline and evangelical Christianity is on the rise, but it has not been without its own conflict and political confusion. This is a real challenge for cross-cultural ministry to navigate where you long to see the local church and leadership take on its own unique Christ-centered identity, but you also want rich theological truths to not be compromised.  

When gospel ministry and deep relationships hurt how do you trust God and remain faithful? Martin shares the complexity of walking with a ministry in conflict and how Jesus provided a way forward during this for both his family and the uni ministry. 

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting www.cms.org.au and selecting your local branch. 

S4E3 - With over 30 years in South Asia, Bruce and Libby have seen closed doors open through fervent, persistent prayer.

They have been privileged to witness three decades of incredible growth through discipleship and prayer.

Bruce and Libby have also witnessed that changing shape of mission from expats leading hospitals and NGO’s to locals now in leadership positions. Bruce expanded his training from the medical field as a GP to include a Masters of Divinity so that he could support the local church by mentoring and discipleship of key leaders in the church.  

The key to Bruce and Libby’s longevity has been their openness to seek God’s leading on where to go, what to do, and how long to go for, all while their character and growth in Jesus shapes their witness to non-Christians around them.

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting www.cms.org.au and selecting your local branch.

S4E2 - “The gospel is the greatest thing we can give.” Adam and Avril were given a real sense of God’s calling to cross-cultural mission after a short-term medical mission trip to Bolivia early in their marriage. They then set the trajectory of serving in the Spanish speaking world while studying at Bible College, maybe South America? Spain? … No! God put on their hearts Madagascar, the tiny East African island nation which has seen a revival with thousands coming to Christ.

With so many young Christians and churches there are many threats to the gospel and the health of the church in Madagascar – poverty, drought, Islam, animism …  So, Adam and Avril seek to go and serve by helping to encourage and develop godly, biblically-sound local leadership to grow this generation of Malagasy Christians and the next.

Join us for season 4 and hear how God is working through faithful Christians for His kingdom purposes in Madagascar … and beyond.

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting www.cms.org.au and selecting your local branch.

S4E1 - Amongst the action of God transforming lives and the world is where Arthur and Tamie Davis found themselves in Tanzanian university ministry. After 10 ½ years in Tanzania they share how mission has been an immense privilege, expanding their own faith and worldview, and giving God the opportunity to bring about rich relationships and opportunities for gospel growth.

Arthur reflects on how partnering long-term with TAFES leaders meant he could work with them towards making student ministry sustainable and effective in new ways. While Tamie was able to complete her PhD on TAFES women and their theology and has rich insight into the deep faith and sophisticated theology of African Christianity.

Other topics they cover are:

- Tolerating ambiguity when working cross-culturally

- Understanding the prosperity gospel and poverty

- Paying attention to how the Holy Spirit is working

- Their amazing journey into mission

- God’s empowerment and provision for them and their children over the past 10 years

Join us for the start of season 4 and hear how God is working through faithful Christians for His kingdom purposes in Tanzania … and beyond.

Acronyms

ES – Evangelical Students (local student group)

AFES – Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students

IFES – International Fellowship of Evangelical Students

TAFES – Tanzanian Fellowship of Evangelical Students

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting www.cms.org.au and selecting your local branch.

S3E6 - How do we work our way through different faith backgrounds to the truth that sets us free? How do we hold out hope and share our faith without descending into arguments? How do we overcome our own ideas of what a conversion experience should look like and actually enter into, not one or two, but years of conversations? 

Richard Shumack lives in Sydney and is the Director for the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

Richard has lived and worked for many years among Muslim communities where he developed his passion for helping Christians and Muslims speak constructively about faith and who Jesus is. Richard shares from his own personal experiences of engaging cross-culturally with Muslims in Australia. Where our secular friends are unable to articulate spiritual things, this is not the case for many of our Muslim neighbours who are willing to have deep conversations about their lived faith and listen to your faith too. 

As we listen to Richard’s wisdom and love for Muslim people may we all be challenged to take the next step in our conversations. 

Richard’s book ‘Jesus through Muslim Eyes’ explores this further. 

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting www.cms.org.au and selecting your local branch.   

S3E5 - Chris and Grace Adams didn’t have to go far to get to another country that, despite its geographical proximity to Australia, is deeply under-resourced in the gospel and many other ways. While the people of Timor-Leste are spiritual, it’s a spirituality that is full of uncertainty, and can result in financial ruin as well as spiritual poverty. There are many Jesuses in Timor Leste, however not many people know Jesus of the Bible. Ten years ago, Chris and Grace made a deliberate decision to live in Timor Leste because, even though it’s one of our nearest neighbours, not many missionaries were there.

Their decision has meant that more people have been equipped to preach, teach and handle God’s Word wisely, and Bible translation has gone from floundering to flourishing.

You can partner with Chris and Grace through prayer or financially - click here.

Find out more about how CMS can help your church partner in global mission by visiting cms.org.au and selecting your local branch.