The Council for World Mission (CWM) is a worldwide community of mainly protestant Christian churches. The 32 members share their resources of money, people, skills and insights to carry out their mission work.
CWM was established in 1977 in its present form. It grew out of the London Missionary Society (LMS, founded 1795), the Commonwealth (Colonial) Missionary Society (1836) and the (English) Presbyterian Board of Missions (1847). Most member churches have backgrounds in the Reformed tradition. Many are united churches.
The Council was created as an experiment in a new kind of missionary organisation. No longer were the resources to come just from Europe. The Council's churches voted for a democratic structure in which everyone could contribute and receive from each other as equals.
CWM believes that the local church has the primary responsibility for carrying forward God's mission locally. As a global body, the Council exists to help resource-sharing for mission by the CWM partnership of churches.
The Council has four permanent programmes – financial sharing, personnel sharing, mission development and education, and communication – which give encouragement, provide training opportunities, share information and give practical help to the churches' mission programs.
In 2008, CWM launched a partnership with St George's College to operate the 'Face to Face' program in the Holy Land.[1]
The organisation has 32 members in: the Pacific (10), Europe (5), East Asia (6), Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (5), South Asia (4), and the Caribbean (2).
The Council for World Mission has relocated its secretariat from London to Singapore, and held its Opening Worship for the Council Meeting on 28 October 2012 in Glory Presbyterian Church, Singapore.
References
Archives
- The Archive of the Council for World Mission is held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/archives/