About Council for World Mission

CWM believes that the 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 community 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 programmes.

The organisation has 31 member churches in: the Pacific (9), Europe (5), East Asia (5), Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (5), South Asia (5), and the Caribbean (2).

By giving to CWM, you will contribute to ground-breaking mission initiatives in countries around the world, supporting the world church and local christians as they seek to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can make a donation by clicking here.

Our history

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.