Council for World Mission

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The Council for World Mission (CWM) is a worldwide community of mainly Protestant Christian churches. The organisation works to spread the knowledge of Christ throughout the world and to strengthen their 32 members in their mission work by sharing their resources of money, people, skills and insights.^[1]

The organisation has 32 members in: the Pacific region (10), Europe (5), East Asia (6), Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (5), South Asia (4), and the Caribbean (2). Most member churches have backgrounds in the Reformed tradition and many are Presbyterian, Congregational or united churches.

Rev. Dr Jooseop Keum is the General Secretary of Council for World Mission (CWM). He is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Korea and has taught history and issues of ecumenical missiology as a research professor at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.^[2][3]

The member churches are represented by 128 delegates, four from each member church. The delegates elect the Moderator, Treasurer, and all members of the Board of Directors.

The member churches meet annually to approve any amendments to the Memorandum and Articles of Association, appoint the General Secretary and to admit or expel members upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors.^[4]

CWM was established in 1977 by amalgamating the London Missionary Society (LMS, founded 1795), the Commonwealth (Colonial) Missionary Society (1836) and the (English) Presbyterian Board of Missions (1847).^[5]

The Council was created as an experiment in a new kind of missionary organisation. No longer were 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 for World Mission moved its secretariat from London to Singapore, and held its Opening Worship for the Council Meeting on 28 October 2012 in Glory Presbyterian Church, Singapore.

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.

Member churches carry out theological education, pastoral ministry, healthcare (including HIV/AIDS care), counselling and community work. CWM offers training programmes, missiological research and scholarship to its members.

The ‘Partners in Mission’ (PIM) programme works to share mission personnel between member churches.

The 'Face to Face' program offers theology students overseas placements of up to two months.^[6][7] In 2008, CWM launched a partnership with St George's College to operate a temporary 'Face to Face' program in Israel.^[8] Partner countries for this programme include the US, Fiji, India and Zambia.

The Archive of the Council for World Mission is held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. ^[9][10] They also hold the archives for LMS, CMS and EPBM.

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