August 2012

COUNCIL FOR WORLD MISSION at ST JOHNS

On August 9 the Northern Presbytery of our church will commission The Rev Feiloaiga Taule'aleausumai Davis [formerly minister at Henderson Presbyterian church and PCANZ Trustee for CWM] to the new position of Pacific Region Secretary of the Council for World Mission. People from all over the world will be gathering that evening at St Johns and the General Secretary, The Rev Dr Collin I. Cowan, will be preaching.

Our own Te Ako Puaho will welcome the visitors to the PCANZ. The Very Rev Pamela Tankersley is the deputy moderator of the Pacific Region. We are hosts to this gathering and everyone in St Johns is invited to come to the service of commissioning on Thursday night.

In July 2012, the council established its Pacific Region office at St Johns Church. This is an appropriate place to be as St Johns is a parish where the Presbyterian and Congregational churches have come together and we welcome the Council sharing our new building and being part of our church community.

who are the Council for World Mission?
Although CWM is just over 30 years old it is built on a long history of mission. CWM arose out of the London Missionary Society in 1977. Its forerunners in mission – includes such names as David Livingstone, John Williams and Robert Moffat – for sharing the word of God and Christianity across the globe from as far back as 1795. It is now a worldwide community of churches, representing 13 million believers, committed to practising partnership in mission.

Wikipedia gives us a short summary.
"The Council for World Mission (CWM) is a worldwide community of Christian churches. The 31 members share their resources of money, people, skills and insights to carry out their missionary work.
CWM was established in 1977 in its present form. It grew out of the London Missionary Society (LMS, founded 1795), the Commonwealth (Colonial) Missionary Society (1836) and the (English) Presbyterian Board of Missions (1847). Most member churches have backgrounds in the Reformed tradition. Many are united churches.
The Council was created as an experiment in a new kind of missionary organisation. No longer were the resources to come just from Europe. The Council's churches voted for a democratic structure in which everyone could contribute and receive from each other as equals.
CWM believes that the local church has the primary responsibility for carrying forward God's mission locally. As a global body, the Council exists to help resource-sharing for mission by the CWM community of churches.

The Council has four permanent programmes – financial sharing, personnel sharing, mission development and education, and communication – which give encouragement, provide training opportunities, share information and give practical help to the churches' mission programs.
The organisation has 31 members in: the Pacific (9), Europe (5), East Asia (6), Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (5), South Asia (4), and the Caribbean (2)." These represent 13 MILLION Christians world wide.

The Council for World Mission has the following statement
Vision: Fullness of life through Christ for all creation
Mission:Called to partnership in Christ, to mutually challenge, and equip churches to share in God's mission
Values: Justice in relationships mutuality, equality and inter-dependence generosity of spirit, and unity in diversity

Who are the member churches of the Council for World Mission?

The Pacific Region
Congregational Christian Church in American Samoa,
Congregational Christian Church in Samoa , Congregational Union of New Zealand,
Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu,
Kiribati Protestant Church,
Nauru Congregational Church,
Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, United Church in Papua New Guinea,
United Church in Solomon Islands.

South Asia Region -
Church of Bangladesh,
Church of North India,
Church of South India ,
Presbyterian Church of India,

Africa -
Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar ,
Churches of Christ in Malawi,
United Church of Zambia,
United Congregational Church of Southern Africa, Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.

Caribbean
Guyana Congregational Union,
United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands,

East Asia
Gereja Presbyterian Malaysia,
Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China,
Presbyterian Church in Singapore,
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan,
Presbyterian Church of Korea,
Presbyterian Church of Myanmar,

Europe
Congregational Federation,
Presbyterian Church of Wales,
Protestant Church in the Netherlands,
Union of Welsh Independents,
United Reformed Church

May we support the staff and work of CWM in prayer and in the hospitality we offer as they live in our building.

Rev. Margaret Anne Low