The London Missionary Society (LMS) which was founded in 1795, the Commonwealth (Colonial) Missionary Society founded in 1838 and the English Presbyterian Board of Missions founded in 1847 combined in 1977 and gave birth to the Council for World Mission.
A new model of mission emerged through the Council for World Mission. The churches voted for a democratic structure in which everyone could contribute and receive from each other as equals rather than the belief that all assets and missionaries could only come from Europe as was the case before.
Today the Council for World Mission is a worldwide community of Christian churches who committed themselves to sharing their resources of money, people, knowledge and skills so as to pursue God’s mission at a local level. This is done through four programmes, namely; financial sharing, personnel sharing, mission development and education and communication. For more info view: www.cwmission.org
The 31 member churches of CWM who mostly have backgrounds in the Reformed Tradition are located in the following regions:
- The Pacific
Rev. Dr. Paulo Koria, Regional Representative
- Europe
Francis Brienen, Mission Enabler
Rev. Dewi Hughes, Regional Representative
\n francis@cwmeurope.org
, www.cwmeurope.org
- East Asia
Dr. Natalie Lin, Regional Representative and Moderator
- Africa
Rev. Cheryl N. Dibeela, Mission Enabler
Ennah Nsofu, Regional Representative
www.cwmafrica.org.za
- South Asia
Rev. DC Haia, Regional Representative
- The Caribbean
Ayana McCalman, Regional Representative
WHO WE ARE...
AFRICA REGION
The Africa Region is comprised of five member churches that extend over Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean. These churches are spread across 8 countries, namely Botswana, Namibia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
• Churches of Christ in Malawi (CCM)
• Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM)
• United Church of Zambia (UCZ)
• United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA)
• Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa (UPCSA)
Corporation amongst the above member churches within the region was initiated as early as 1996. It was during these years that the member churches were able to build a spirit of community and develop an African regional identity.
In 2002 when the region was formally constituted, each denomination nominated one Trustee member to the board. This became the formal decision-making structure that governs the life of the region. The Trustee body meets twice per year in lieu of the regional Consultation that meets triennially.
The Mission Enabler is the only fulltime employee of the region and is responsible for the implementation of programmes and assignments set in agreement with decisions taken by regional consultations and trustee meetings. The region recently employed a part-time officer that is responsible for carrying out programmes that relate to the Community of Women and Men in Mission.
