Is God Calling you Overseas?

Mar 24, 2025 | News

Gather to Scatter — Shaping Hearts and Minds for Global Mission

NZCMS is a rich com­munity of people from many diverse back­grounds, ages and exper­i­ences — from young stu­dents explor­ing the big ques­tions to middle-aged couples with young chil­dren to returned Mission Part­ners con­tinu­ing to serve God’s mission in Aotearoa. We edify each other, unified in our diversity. We cel­eb­rate you, our NZCMS whānau.

Over the past year we’ve been working away quietly in the back­ground, plan­ning ways to invite and send a whole new wave of Mission Part­ners to serve God. One of the ways we’ve decided to do this is to run an event called “Gather to Scatter”. This is for those who are ser­i­ously con­sid­er­ing serving in global mission.

You may feel called to lead a short-term team from your church. Or perhaps you’ve been invited to serve on a project in an overseas community. Maybe long-term global mission has been on your heart since you were a child

Wherever you fit in this discernment journey, Gather to Scatter welcomes you to join other like-minded mission passionate people in a weekend of encouragement, experience, discernment and prayer.

Register for Gather to Scatter here.

Are you Seriously Interested in Mission?

You might know that you want to serve in global mission one day. But what do you do in the interim? Who can you talk to about it? How do you prepare? NZCMS has launched two small groups for those ser­i­ously inter­ested in mission. They aim to bring like-minded people together to learn, encour­age and grow in their calling into global mission. We are now running these groups in Wel­ling­ton and Christ­ch­urch and we’d love to have you!
Learn more. 

NZCMS Partnership Opportunities 

NZCMS part­ners with short and long-term Mission Part­ners who can commit to either 12 months or more. We also have various options for young adults who are looking for more one-on-one ment­or­ship and train­ing. Check out our oppor­tun­it­ies here. NZCMS is there with you.

Other Short-Term Opportunities 

Golden Oldies Fiji Team

The next Golden Oldies team is sched­uled for 16–25 May. Open to all. This team will learn about and support Fijian people in ‘heart­land’ Fiji, around Suva. Contact us for a no-oblig­a­tion chat or to get a copy of our info brochure.
Graeme and Jane Mitchell — graeme@​goldenoldiesmission.​com Rev. Wendy Robin­son — 022 083 1058 — pwar.​nz@​gmail.​com 

SOMA Mis­sions Teams

SOMA (Sharing of Min­is­tries Abroad) New Zealand is recruit­ing for short-term teams to North­ern Canada from 9–19 May, Uganda from 15–29 August, and Kenya from 6–20 October. These teams will train Anglican leaders in using the gifts of the Holy Spirit, healing, and deliv­er­ance min­istry. For more details, go to the SOMA NZ.

9 Comments

  1. Liz Hay

    Thank you, Tessa. I remem­ber Ray (and Jean) very warmly from our time at St Tim’s before we left for St John’s College at the begin­ning of 1987, and was excited many years later to learn of their visit to the Elli­otts in Uganda. (We visited them in 1997 on study leave.) That visit, and a later one, showed their quiet growth in faith and mission during the years. I praise God for Ray’s life and service, and pray for the Com­fort­er’s pres­ence to be so close to Jean.

    Reply
  2. Caleb Croker

    Hey there,

    A friend of mine told me about you guys and I’d love to come along on Monday!

    Cheers,
    Caleb Croker

    Reply
    • Rosie

      Hi Caleb, I’ve just seen your message. I apo­lo­gise that this was missed. I assume you’re talking about the Ser­i­ously Inter­ested in Mission group? The next one is August 11 and we’d love you to join. Can you email us at office@​nzcms.​org.​nz (Rosie writing here)

      Reply
  3. Pamelq

    Thank you Tessa

    Reply
  4. Katherine

    Thank you Arch­deacon Fran. Mothers Union appre­ci­ated your input when we visited the Far North recently. Your wisdom and wise counsel made it a mem­or­able weekend. God bless you in your new role.

    Reply
  5. Rosie Fyfe

    Rev Fran, you and Rapiata are a gift to the Church. May the Lord bless you as you serve in this next season

    Reply
  6. Pauline Elliott

    With ref­er­ence to the article ‘By invit­a­tion not inva­sion’. My husband and I were involved with CMS from the 1960s onward and this was always the atti­tude of CMS lead­er­ship. They deferred to the church lead­er­ship opin­ions whenever pos­sible, wherever there was a local church. I’m not aware if this has change. It isn’t some­thing new.

    Reply
    • Rosie Fyfe

      Hi Pauline,
      I agree with you!! I don’t think this has changed, just good to re-iterate why and we send mission part­ners. This is Rosie writing — hope you’re doing well!

      Reply
  7. Pamela McKenzie

    Yes Pauline it was the same for Alan and me. When we went to Singa­pore 1966–69 it was in response to a request from the Bishop oof Singa­pore and Malaya.

    Reply

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