Skin-deep mission: how Western missionaries are perceived.
Posted on: 3rd September 2019
Ex-CMS missionary Greg Anderson is now bishop of the Northern Territory. In this, the first of six articles on humility in mission, he writes about the difference that skin colour makes to mission, and how to deal with that difference as a Christian and as a missionary. (The link to the second article is here. […]
Wisdom in white hair
Posted on: 29th August 2019
CMS missionaries Derek and Rosemary Snibson, in their 60s, recently began serving in Northern Australia. Read how God has led them – and how their age has conferred both joyful challenges and opportunities along the way. In mid-2018 we arrived in the Northern Territory. With encouraging support from the Diocese of the Northern Territory, our […]
When success is fragile
Posted on: 8th July 2019
CMS missionary Kate Beer, together with Tavis, admits that sometimes challenges will be easier to see than progress. They work in the Northern Territory. If I have learnt anything from the Territory, it is to hold lightly to whatever we expected. Sometimes it works out better than I could have imagined! Just last week, a […]
Healing ministry
Posted on: 1st July 2019
Terry & Liz McCoy are just finishing their formal service with CMS. Here Liz looks back on one aspect of their work with trauma amongst the Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. When Terry and I arrived in Angurugu on Groote Eylandt in January 2012, we were struck by the trauma that people regularly experience […]
Review: Yulki—Our Aboriginal Sister
Posted on: 10th June 2019
Yulki – Our Aboriginal Sister, Phyllis Mercer; Self-published, 2011 In 1952, prompted by a severe drought, a team from Roper River Mission (now Ngukurr) founded a new CMS settlement at Numbulwar to provide a permanent home for the nomadic Nunggubuyu people – including a young woman named Yulki. A year later, the Numbulwar superintendent, John […]
Review: Gumbuli of Ngukurr: Aboriginal Elder in Arnhem Land
Posted on: 10th December 2018
Gumbuli of Ngukurr: Aboriginal Elder in Arnhem Land; Murray Seiffert; Acorn Press, Melbourne, 2011 Over a decade ago, author Murray Seiffert and some colleagues were discussing the books that have been written about the Arnhem Land communities where CMS has been involved. They realised that all of them have focused primarily on the missionaries, and […]
Love thy Buddhist neighbour
Posted on: 11th June 2018
CMS NSW & ACT Mission Facilitator Josh Ling, a former Buddhist, is firmly convinced by his migrant experience that even those at home in Australia can offer the gospel to their Buddhist neighbours. With half a million Buddhists in Australia, his words are worth reading. As a convert to Christianity, raised in a traditional Buddhist […]
Eastern and Western Buddhism in Australia
Posted on: 14th May 2018
Former CMS missionaries Rolf and Bonnie Lepelaar worked amongst Buddhists in Cambodia for more than 10 years, returning to Australia in 2016. Rolf shares some evangelism tips for those in Australia seeking to share the gospel with Buddhist neighbours, as well as the useful distinction we can make between Eastern and Western Buddhists. I sat […]
Review: The Accidental Buddhist
Posted on: 7th May 2018
Former CMS missionary Rolf Lepelaar reviews The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, enlightenment and sitting still, American style. Rolf served with his wife, Bonnie, in Cambodia for more than 10 years. Of all the books I have read on Buddhism, The Accidental Buddhist by Dinty Moore is the most helpful book for understanding the mindset of Westerners […]
A very surprised Christian
Posted on: 5th May 2018
Raised in a Buddhist Sri Lankan family that immigrated to Australia when he was eight, Kanishka Raffel’s conversion to Christianity came as a big surprise to him in his early twenties. Now the Dean of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, Kanishka’s testimony[1] is an example of the power of God’s word to change hearts, even in those […]
