5 raisons

En fait, il y a 20 raisons..!

Another new year, and another CMS Summer School!!

I love going to CMS Summer School, the early January annual conference of the Church Missionary Society of NSW.

I thought I’d start 2014 by solidifying at least 5 reasons for why CMS SS is, by far, my FAVOURITE of all holiday/weekend Christian conferences.

However, as I made notes on why I think this conference is SO good, I ended up with at least 20 reasons for going, instead of just 5.

And this is by no means a comprehensive list.

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You may be wondering  -  what happens at CMS Summer School that makes it such a good time away? Well, here are 5 general reasons why it's worth the week...

En générale

1.  Faithful, challenging Bible teaching with direct & personal applications to Christian life AND witness

(incl.emphasis on going to the ends of the earth)

2.  Detailed, current information about the needs of Christians and/or churches living outside of

-  or far away from  -  gospel-rich Western cultures

(e.g. most of South America, Asia and Africa)

3.  Hearing from any missionaries who have been serving in the gospel-poor fields of Europe

-  particularly those in France with the GBU (www.gbu.fr)

4.  Extended times of prayer, often in response to missionaries’ reports about God’s faithfulness, work and/or teaching in the situations where He placed them

5.  Catching up with link missionaries whom my Sydney city AM church* supports and/or with friends who have become missionaries (plus any of their children)

Missionnaires (missio’s)

1.  Chances to chat with with missio’-friends in the local Aldi or Coles, or just on the main street

(e.g. this year included a spontaneous catch-up with Leoni P. on HA from Cambodia)

2.  Chances to meet and/or chat with missio’s at the morning tea or shuttle car pick-up zones, in the Tribes&Nations Fairtrade coffee queues or other locations on the KCC site

{e.g. this year’s chance meetings included former missio’s such as Deborah M. (back from France since ‘12), Judy S. (back from Singapore since ‘13), Owen C. (back from France since ‘08) and Steve B. (back from Tanzania since pre-’07..)}

3.  Multiple video clips with different missio’s currently on location or back for HA  -  during not only the morning but also the evening programs

4.  Daily mid-morning sessions with missio’s sharing personal reflections on aspects of cross-cultural ministry or life such as contentment, perseverance, poverty, transitions, conflict resolution...

5.  Supper sessions after 2130h  -  often featuring missio’s who have served for over 10 years;

though these seminars were of much longer duration than the AM ones, yet always, ALWAYS it was worth the extra hour of downtime or sleep lost by going

Musique (chants de louange)

5 hymns I love singing from the CMS playlist but almost NEVER get a decent airing at my own Milson’s Point PM church** service

(note these are genuine PRE-1970’s hymn versions, thank you so very much!):

And Can It Be

Be Thou My Vision

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah

O For A Thousand Tongues

5 other songs I love singing from the CMS playlist but rarely ever get a decent airing at my own Milson’s Point PM church (*sigh*):

Great things (Smith & Begbie)

Nothing but the blood of Jesus (Morrow)

Send me out (Fee)

This life I live (Morrow)

Undivided (Smith)

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Why do I consider CMS Summer School?

In short

  -  if I say that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour (ie. if I call myself a Christian)  -  

then as His disciple, just as He directed the first ones in MATT. 9:35ff, He wants me to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out His workers;  and to be involved in witnessing to Him "to the very ends of the earth" (ACTS 1:8)  -  that God's name be glorified.

But how can I ask if I don't look at His harvest fields and take an interest in what needs there are?

And how can I witness, not only to "all nations" (MATT. 28:18ff) but to the extremities of the earth without knowing anything of what God may be already doing there?

CMS Summer School is such an invaluable resource for the twofold task of asking & witnessing.

It never fails to be encouraging and challenging and always forces me to rethink where I am, what I'm doing with the rest of my life, and what God might intend before that life is over...

L/T.

*Anglican cathedral.

**Chinese-background, English-speaking, most attending are aged 17 to 27 y.o.