It was wonderful on Tuesday to celebrate graduations and ordinations and completions and admitting pioneers into the Church of England as lay workers and various other things. I can’t believe we have now run five years of the pioneer training at CMS. This year was the first year of pioneer ordinands who have done their whole training with us in partnership with Ripon College Cuddesdon and that was particularly moving to see those guys reaching that stage. I am so glad we cracked open this new pathway. I love this photo – we have had a lot of laughter (and some tears on the way).
We took the theme of improvisation and two musicians Chris Read and Huntly Gordon played beautifully. Chris elaborates on the improvisation here for those who have been asking. The last song Chris sang is recorded on an EP with Flock.
Hopefully a bit of a change of pace over the summer now though we are busy interviewing and recruiting and planning and still summer school type stuff ahead. All of us on the team love what we do and love the gift that pioneers bring and the gift they are – here’s to the next five years and whatever they may bring.
There’s a piece here on the CMS site – CMS mission pioneers’ graduation gives the church a glimpse of the future.