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Mission partners
CMS currently supports about 160 mission partners in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Most are British Christians who have been called to work overseas.
Twelve mission partners have been sent by African, Asian or Middle Eastern churches to serve in Britain.
CMS cannot directly send people who are not rooted within the British churches but the Society can, sometimes, help to enable their own national churches to send them as mission partners.
Find out more
There's some basic information on this page. If you'd like to speak to someone to explore your vocation further or for more information, email Bex or Alison at vro@cms-uk.org or call 01865 787416.
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Frequently asked questions
Q. What are CMS mission partners?
A. CMS mission partners combine professional skills with Christian commitment and take on the challenge of serving God with a local church in a different culture. Most CMS mission partners work under the authority of local church leaders. Openings are generally created at the specific request of such churches.
Q. Who are CMS mission partners?
A. People selected to be CMS mission partners are
- actively involved in their local church
- growing in their faith
- sensing God's calling to service in a different culture
- prepared to adapt to life in a different culture
- able to discern that God is present and at work in cultures different to their own
- capable of working harmoniously with Christian traditions which are different from their own
- suitably qualified to meet the needs of partner churches
- able to meet the visa and work-permit requirements of host countries
Q. What work could I do?
A. Presently, CMS has over 40 openings for mission partners. There are nearly always openings for clergy, development workers, theological educators, teachers of English as a foreign language and other subjects, doctors, nurses and other health professionals.
However, since the needs and priorities of partner churches are constantly changing, CMS is also keen to hear from people in categories and professions other than those listed. (To explore possible openings, please write, enclosing your CV.)
Q. Where could I be sent?
A. CMS mission partners work in Europe, East, North and West Africa, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and Central and South East Asia. A good number of CMS partner churches are small, struggling and under pressure. You may be asked to work in a situation that is very different from any that you have encountered before.
There may be a different local understanding of the demands of your job, so you may need to draw on your personal store of physical, emotional and spiritual resources.
The most common experience of those in CMS mission service is frustration and the most needed virtue is long-suffering. Some locations involve the risk of physical danger. Previous overseas experience can prove invaluable.
Q. How long do mission partners serve?
A. In our experience it requires a minimum commitment of four to six years for a mission partner to adapt to a new environment and make a useful contribution. A small number of openings are viable on the basis of a two-year or three-year commitment.
Q. What is the selection process like?
A. CMS selection procedures are not about passing or failing. We believe it is important for you and us to discover and test your particular calling. This process may lead you to a vocation as a CMS mission partner, to service with another agency, or even help you to confirm that you should stay in your present area of work. The CMS mission partner selection programme involves a series of interviews and a full medical examination. The process culminates in a residential selection conference.
Q. What about training and preparation?
A. CMS provides training for all aspects of being a mission partner. Through discussion with the Learning Adviser, an individual learning programme is put in place that equips mission partners to live and work effectively in a new culture. CMS is committed to lifelong learning and promotes this among mission partners.
Q. What about prayer and financial support?
A. CMS believes it is important to share the experience of God’s mission with Christians elsewhere. As a mission partner, you will link with a number of churches in the United Kingdom and overseas. These 'link churches' are encouraged to provide prayer and financial support, and to learn as much as they can about the situation in which you serve.
The range of resources needed to support a mission partner include the cost of pre-service and ongoing training, a regular living allowance, housing costs, children’s education, health care and old-age pensions. CMS works with mission partners and their supporting churches and communities to ensure that they are fully resourced.
CMS commends the principle of planned and generous giving by British Christians to support God’s mission worldwide.
Find out more
If you'd like to speak to someone to
explore your vocation further or for more information, email Bex or
Alison at vro@cms-uk.org or call 01865 787416.
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