Understanding honour and shame through Coronavirus
Posted on: 1st December 2021
CMS missionaries Dave and Leoni Painter teach at Phnom Penh Bible College in Cambodia. Here they explain how COVID works in a culture of honour and shame. Different responses to COVID Like most places in the world, mask wearing in Phnom Penh is now ubiquitous, well almost. In early March, masks became compulsory along with a heavy […]
When human delays are God’s timing
Posted on: 26th November 2021
CMS missionaries Wim and Maaike Prins have served in Cambodia since 2004. Much of Wim’s work has involved the translation of Bible commentaries, Christian books and the New Bible Dictionary into Khmer. Earlier this year the Prins family were due to return to Australia for final Home Assignment, however border closures and flight cancellations forced […]
Checkpoint Summer 2021: Knowing God
Posted on: 9th November 2021
CMS missionaries Dave and Leoni Painter serve in Cambodia, where the dominant Buddhist religion values ‘acquiring knowledge’ as a good work. How to help students of the gospel understand grace? The lesson was proceeding well. I followed the Khmer language textbook on this subject that I had been developing over the last few years. The […]
Checkpoint Summer 2021: Grace – from beginning to end
Posted on: 7th November 2021
CMS missionaries Howard and Michelle Newby have had a long-term connection with the Philippines and notice that the role of ‘obedience’ can often cause confusion in relation to grace. Howard speaks of how he is learning to teach God’s grace to people with long-held animist beliefs. When we first arrived in the Philippines, we were confronted with teaching that promoted obedience as […]
Checkpoint Summer 2021: Too good to be true?
Posted on: 4th November 2021
CMS missionaries Chris and Grace Adams serve in Timor-Leste, a country where following rules is deeply ingrained and the reality of grace is almost too shocking to comprehend. Chris shares how is helping people understand grace. Religious context “People of Timor Leste I see that in every way you are very religious.” I can imagine the Apostle Paul saying this if he walked around in 21st century Timor Leste, just as he spoke […]
Challenging tradition with hope
Posted on: 26th October 2021
CMS missionaries Chris and Grace Adams serve in the predominantly Catholic nation of Timor-Leste. They share how the Catholic celebration of All Souls’ Day (2 November) has been integrated with local traditional practices into the annual observance of Loron Matebian (Spirits of the Dead Day) and the challenge this poses for Timorese Christians. The joy of faith We recently celebrated the commitment of 19 young Christians who publicly […]
Grace against the grain
Posted on: 9th October 2021
CMS workers Jon and Deborah have served in theological education and training in South East Asia for more than a decade. In this article Jon shares the challenge of teaching grace in a culture that values ‘works’. I teach in a rural Bible College in South East Asia, and every year I meet new students who have been brought up with a ‘works theology,’ that emphasises being good and doing […]
Overwhelmed by Coronavirus
Posted on: 15th September 2021
South East Asia has suffered intensely from Coronavirus, especially the Delta variant. CMS workers who serve with university students and medical graduates in the region describe the impact of COVID-19 on their community. A community in crisis Overwhelmed. It’s a word we had rarely heard our friends use until this last year. South East Asian people are generally used to uncertainty, disasters and trauma. But recently, this term has been used […]
A morning in the life of an online Bible teacher
Posted on: 31st August 2021
CMS missionaries Dave and Leoni Painter teach at Phnom Penh Bible College. For the last year and a half their classes have been largely conducted online. Dave shares some of the challenges of teaching remotely. After 18 months of online teaching, I’ve asked myself, “Why not be a ‘Zoom-missionary’? Now much of our contact with students is online, should we continue […]
Small churches, big faith: Checkpoint Spring 2021
Posted on: 23rd August 2021
CMS workers Malcolm and Leanne teach at a Bible College in South East Asia. They are also involved in a local church that is committed to planting other churches. Malcolm shares some of the history of this growing fellowship of churches. Around 50 years ago one pastor and a handful of people held services in […]
