The Church Mission Society (CMS) has welcomed its 1,000th student onto the Pioneer Mission Training programme, marking a major milestone 15 years after the initiative first began with just nine participants in Oxford.
CMS, established in 1799 during the anti-slavery movement, has long been recognised for its pioneering global mission work.
Since its launch in 2010, the Pioneer Mission Training programme has expanded across the UK, offering pathways from undergraduate certificates to doctoral study.
New areas of focus, including African and Asian Christianity, are available through the Acts 11 Centre for Global Witness and Human Migration.
The course is designed to prepare Christians to serve outside the confines of conventional church structures, encouraging innovation in ministry.
Graduates have proceeded to create projects ranging from a “boxing church” and outreach to car enthusiasts, to entrepreneurial initiatives that blend faith with sustainable business.
James Butler, who leads the programme, said: “It’s great to be celebrating this significant milestone for the Pioneer Mission Training Programme. All the training we do at CMS is done with a mission lens; we live and breathe mission.
“We are delighted to have a diverse teaching team and diverse student cohort giving huge value to all our students as we all learn together to follow God and engage in his mission.”
Students highlight both the practical and personal impact of the course.
Diana, now a pioneer priest, said the training helped her shape the YEAST Scrapstore into a flourishing charity: “The best course I’ve ever done. It helped me to think really clearly about the missional dimension of YEAST Scrapstore, which I was starting at the time.
“Now we are a charity which owns our own building and are gathering all sorts of people around us through being intentionally missionary whilst not being churchy.”
Another student, Angel, studying African Christianity, reflected that the experience “knocked down walls” in her own heart, filling her with “new courage and determination.”
The curriculum blends mission, theology, church history, evangelism, and hands-on modules such as Make Good, which is designed to equip students with tools for mission entrepreneurship and creating projects that can support themselves financially.
Founded by Jonny Baker, CMS’s Britain Hub mission director, the programme has steadily broadened its reach, now including online learning that connects students as far afield as Peru, Uganda, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Europe and North America.
Butler emphasised the programme’s focus on people who feel “the gift of not fitting in.”
He encouraged others who resonate with this to consider joining, saying: “Through our programmes we seek to give people the theological understanding, practical tools and spiritual formation to thrive in their calling, and engage with God’s work in the world, particularly for mission on the edges of society.”
