For 30 years, Bruce and Libby have served as CMS missionaries in South Asia. Before that though, Bruce and Libby were just a regular, young couple, seeking God’s guidance for their lives. Here, Libby shares about the role Summer School had on her life as she considered cross-cultural mission.

It’s easy to elevate missionaries, to imagine them as people with superhuman powers of faith and virtue, possessing a dazzling list of skills, and perhaps even a red cape flying from their shoulders.

For Libby, who has served as a missionary in South Asia with husband Bruce since 1992, CMS Summer School gave her real-life interaction with missionaries that shaped her understanding of the role forever.

“There was a missionary mum in the bathroom trying to get chewing gum out of her daughter’s hair and I thought, wow, they’re just a normal family dealing with everyday things,” Libby said.

“It was so reassuring to know they were still dealing with life’s little chewing gum experiences!”

Little did she know that God would flame the passion for mission in her own heart so that one day, she would be that normal family returning for Summer School and sharing the extraordinary things God was using them to achieve.

It all began with CMS Summer School

Libby (now a CMS missionary in South Asia) attended her first CMS Summer School as an 18-year-old, and has been attending every year since, when she has been able to.

“It’s been very much a part of my life.”

Prior to her first Summer School, Libby already had cross-cultural experience as an exchange student.

“I learnt a language and my relationship with God just flourished. It was me and him. I’d lost all my props; my family and my friends. So there was definitely a sense of God and me taking a day at a time together and Him showing me that cross-cultural ministry was where he wanted me to go.”

When she attended the CMS Summer Schools, she met missionaries and mission-hearted people just like her, and she found the time both inspiring and educational, discovering what God was doing around the world.

“Summer School was feeding that incredible sense of call that I had on my life,” she said.

Libby met husband Bruce at a Scripture Union beach mission in 1981, and brought him along to Summer School as well. Since then, they have attended many in an inquisitive and
supportive capacity, and then as missionaries.

“Summer School is the most significant event for where we have contact with the broad CMS family,” Bruce said. “It’s hard work but it’s an incredibly encouraging time. It’s… a unique opportunity to realise the broad range of people keen to be involved in God’s missions,” Bruce said.

The coming generation of missionaries

Bruce and Libby have four children, and they started their missionary journey in South Asia with three children already in tow, aged one, three and four. Each time the family returned to Australia and were able to attend CMS Summer School, the children found a tribe of like-minded youngsters, in a culture so different to the one they were used to.

Bruce and Libby’s children are adults now, and one of their daughters and her family have recently become missionaries with CMS.

In God’s strength, they really are achieving superhuman things, but we’re glad that Summer
School provides the opportunity for down-to-earth connections with missionaries like Libby, Bruce and their family.

CMS Summer School in January 2023

We’ve been equipping Christians for God’s global mission through Summer Schools for 60 years, encouraging people to serve by going or sending. Our next Summer School will continue to be a place of fellowship, coming together to grow in understanding of the Bible and cross-cultural mission; growing our collective hearts for global mission.

People of all ages are welcome, and we have a dedicated children and youth program (creche to grade 12). We would love to see you there.

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Summer School is not just for families. Summer School is for everyone. Young or old. Single or married. For anyone who has a heart for God’s plan for the world and cross-cultural mission.
Register for Summer School today by clicking here.